Moots Express Flat Bar Gravel eBike

It’s too easy to draw parallels between flat bar gravel bikes and mountain bikes of the 90s. Shoot me down all you like, but it all too often feels like brands are attempting to reinvent the humble mountain bike – calling it something else. And of course, we must all add that something else to our ever-growing quivers for fear of missing out. Perish the thought.

Yes, this morning I am a bit of a scrooge. But, beyond my capacity to call a spade a spade, I also know that somewhere within me lies an understanding of the undeniable truth that all bikes, no matter the form they take, have their perfect customer. And, that is to be celebrated.

So, while the Moots Express Flat Bar does trigger the deep-rooted British cynicism within me, I also appreciate that it occupies a niche, and probably occupies it tremendously well.

It rolls up on the very same frame and motor system as seen on the Drop Bar Moots Express launched last September, only with a flat bar for those who prefer the more upright seated pedaling position that comes with it. That means it has the same generous tire clearance of 700c x 50mm, three water bottle mounts, three-bolt pack mounts on the fork and, love it or hate it, thru-headset cable routing.

Those familiar with Moots may be somewhere on a spectrum between mildly confused and wholly affronted to learn that the brand has not used titanium to produce this frame. Here’s what they had to say on that:

Simply put, titanium is not the right material for a high level/performance ebike. Over the years of working with titanium, we have learned a number of things about where and how to use the material, but we still pushed to see if we could push the boundaries further. We spent a lot of time looking into how we could pull it off and what it would take to make an ebike out of titanium only to get to the same conclusion each time: when building the frame to a level of stability and robustness out of Ti the feature benefits of the Ti tubing is lost in the amount of material needed to secure a large battery and powerful drive unit. In short, we would need to use so much titanium in spots on the frame to make it safe to ride that legendary ride quality characteristics would be lost.

Let’s simply say that there are no other carbon models in the Moots line, and none even in the thought process. The Express along with any bike Moots produces will always use the best material for the application. Our hearts are with Ti, carbon just made the most sense for the e-gravel bike. Ride quality is critical for Moots, and building this out of Ti would have compromised the ride feel that Moots is known for.

The Express Flat Bar is powered by the Shimano EP801 motor and a 504 Wh battery that is removable for ease of charging off the bike. There’s also an in-frame charging port. While the standard EP801 motor delivers a maximum torque of 85 Nm, Moots have had this one retuned such that it gives a maximum of just 60 Nm torque – simply to prioritize range over oomph. It’s a tactic we’ve seen utilized on a number of eMTBs that slot into the lightweight mid-assist category – like the 2022 Orbea Rise, for example.

As shipped, the system has two reconfigurable assistance mode. Those are:

The Express Flat Bar is considerably more affordable than the drop-bar equivalent. In fact, it is a whopping $2,500 cheaper. There are a few good reasons for that.

The original drop-bar model benefits from an 11-speed Shimano Deore XT/Ultegra Di2 drivetrain. The electronic shifting combines with the EP801 motor to deliver the premium Autoshift features, wherein the derailleur shifts the gear ratio in line with the rider’s cadence and torque inputs. It also rolls on Shimano GRX carbon wheels, home to 50 mm Panaracer Gravelking + tires.

The Express Flat Bar model is a little more budget-oriented. It runs a mechanical 1 x 11 speed Shimano Deore drivetrain, and rolls on an FSA AGX i25 wheelset with 2.1″ WTB Nano tires. Other key specification details are as follows:

moots.com