First Ride Review: Forbidden Druid CorE

With a couple of very well received hard charging trail bikes already in their line up in the Druid and Dreadnought, (along with a world cup race bike in the Supernought) it was only a matter of time before Forbidden made the next big leap and produced their first E-Bike. 

Rumours had been circulating for some time, with a ton of speculation as to what the bike might be? Would it be based on the Druid or the Dreadnought? Would it be a high pivot bike? What motor would they pick? Some spy pics leaked on the internet and then a formal launch has now answered many of those questions and generated a huge amount of interest, especially with the bike being specced with the new and absurdly powerful DJI Avinox motor. 

Pre-orders for the bike have been huge, but until very recently the bikes had not made it to the UK, so how they looked and rode in real life remained a mystery. That all finally changed for us a few weeks ago with Forbidden passing by for a few days with their demo Druid CorE, giving us a chance both to show it off to the public and to sneak a few rides in on this much anticipated platform. With Neil, Matthew and Andy all logging time on the bike, we now have a pretty decent handle on how the new Druid CorE rides so let’s go through all the details on the new bikes, and then get into how it performs on our trails. 

The Bikes

Despite expectations that the new bike would be based on either the existing 130mm Druid or the 160mm travel Dreadnought, it is actually neither and more or less splits the difference between the existing models, at 140mm (LitE) / 150mm (CorE) rear travel despite it being named after the smaller bike.

For an all round E-Bike, that 140/ 150mm rear travel bracket makes a lot of sense, giving enough suspension to take on most trails at full speed without pigeon-holing the bike into a gravity only application, especially when coupled with a good suspension system and modern geometry.

There are essentially two sub-models, both using the same chassis and motor but differently sized batteries and build kits to create quite different overall packages. The LitE series bikes use a 600W battery and a lighter parts kit to make a nippy trail bike weighing just over 20kg, while the longer travel CorE that we tested pairs an 800W battery with a burlier set of parts and tires to make a harder charging but heftier machine at 23kg. 

Geometry on both is thoroughly modern and for those familiar with Forbidden bikes, keeps with the overall philosophy that they have become known for. As with their mountain bikes, the Druid varies chainstay length by size, not just by a few mm but truly in proportion to the front centres. That means two things. Firstly, all riders should get a similar weight balance on every size, but also that the largest sizes have some seriously long chainstays, creating super stable, ground hugging monsters of bikes.

Reach numbers are relatively short compared to what we’re used to seeing on trail bikes of late, but don’t be deceived into thinking that the bikes are going to come up small. Head tubes are long (with the S3 sportng a whopping 138mm HT) creating bikes with plenty of stack and tucking the rider in behind the bars. Wheelbases are also generous, especially in the larger sizes, giving the bikes a bigger feel on trail than when sat on them stationary. For anyone who’s spent time aboard a DH bike, they’ll be instantly familiar with that same shorter reach but longer bike feel. That shape of bike can feel a bit odd in the car park if you’re used to ‘normal’ longer and lower stack bikes, but get it moving and it all makes sense, especially when you start to tip the bike more steeply downhill. 

Forbidden’s high pivot designs have earned them a loyal following over the previous few years with incredible bump eating performance coupled to high speed stability and climbing traction and as expected, the Druid is another high pivot bike, with the pivot locations adjusted to fit around the constraints of the motor. It’s a platform that would seem to lend itself perfectly to E-Bike use, with the motor eliminating any perceived drag from the idler letting the rider make the most of the traction and active suspension.

The motor itself is a defining part of any E-Bike and the DJI Avinox motor first seen on the AMFlow bikes last year has caused quite the fuss since it appeared on the market. With power and torque figures that blast beyond anything else out there at 1000W and 120Nm, it’s also a relatively small and light system creating the option to produce beyond full power bikes at competitive weights. Control of both power and displays are from wireless controllers which is a nice touch and for those into screens there is also a touch screen top tube display with built in GPX. That screen can show almost any data you’d like, log rides and allows you to custom tune your bike changing everything from overrun to power levels and sensitivity. Low on phone battery? A USB C charge port will let you charge it from the bike.

Until recently, the Avinox motor could only be accessed via the AMFlow brand, but that now seems to be changing with Forbidden and a few other small manufacturers getting on board. It’s an exciting system and one that we’ve been really looking forward to riding in the real world. 

Looking around the bike elsewhere, the overall build quality looks as good as we have come to expect from Forbidden. Everything is very neatly packaged, and all the bolts and bearings are re-assuringly big. The idler has been made even larger than the already beefy one on the mountain bikes and is now a steel 18T pulley specifically engineered for the loads of E-bike riding. 

Riding the CorE

For those used to normal E-Bikes, just a few seconds of riding lets you know that the Avinox motor is indeed something different to the normal. There is simply wildly more power and torque available compared to everything else out there. With the bike in trail mode or above, a solid drive through the pedal is met with a wall of acceleration giving climbing speeds that will leave every other motor trailing behind. Even in trail, the CorE will comfortably outrun a Bosch Gen 5 bike in full turbo up a steeper climb, while turbo applies even more power again. There is also a generous amount of overrun (tuneable) built into the system, so for technical sections where it’s not possible to maintain an even cadence the motor simply fills in any gaps in your pedaling. 

All that power would be of limited use if the motor wasn’t easy to modulate but the DJI system is surprisingly good here. Response to variations in effort are quick and easy to measure and the motor is pleasantly easy to control when climbing technical sections, letting the rider really make the most of the power without it running away. It’s also relatively quiet, both up and down so all in all, it’s an impressive system and it’s easy to see why it has been generating the hype. 

The Druid itself is also an impressive climber, just as we expected it to be. The seated position is quite upright and comfortable and we had very little idler or drivetrain noise on our test rides. The combination of a long chainstay and active suspension platform makes for a bike which resists looping out exceptionally well, while simultaneously applying as much traction as possible to the ground. Couple that to the power of the Avinox motor and with practice you’re going to be able to ride this bike up just about anything. As a few points of reference here, Andy cleaned all the push up climbs at Yair in far from ideal conditions, Matthew pedalled up the famous and super steep old Rocky descent at the Golfie and Neil went from the Buzzards nest car park at Glentress to the Mast in 8 minutes (including a couple of slightly naughty sections of descent in reverse). Neil’s test ride was done in a hurry after work a little short of time, so he was pushing on and rode 1400m of height gain in under 90 minutes. It’s simply a monster uphill. 

There is of course a price to pay for all this pace and power, and it’s that the ranges are a little shorter than you might expect for a bike with an 800W battery. We’ve ridden the CorE alongside some Bosch 600W bikes and while it might go slightly farther than a Bosch 600W system if ridden carefully, the gap in range is much closer than just the battery numbers alone would lead you to believe. It’s a hugely impressive overall system, and if you want the power, then (for now at least) it’s in a league of its own but if you’re looking for the longest possible range per watt of battery then it might not be the best motor for you.

When it comes to descending the Core is very recognisably a Forbidden bike. Somewhere between the Druid and Dreadnought in both travel and feel it strikes a long footprint on the trail with plenty of stability at speed. The S3 we tested has a relatively long 1276mm wheelbase and 456mm chainstay (with a rear end that grows during compression) keeping plenty of weight on the front wheel despite the overall length of the bike. The combination of the longer bike and stability from the motor and battery make for a very planted bike which carves longer corners exceptionally well, muting out chatter and remaining incredibly calm when the speeds increase.

On faster, open sections with step drops and chatter the bike is amazing, with the high pivot suspension simply ironing out the trail and luring the rider into letting the speeds pick up ever more. The long rough berms of the new Glentress trails were a great example of somewhere the bike excels with it simply railing around the arcs making a clean line despite the degraded trail surface under the tires. Not a one trick pony, in slower and tighter situations the Core is also still a decent performer. At 23kg, and with the 800W battery in the downtube it doesn’t have the agility of the lightest bikes when it comes to quick direction changes, quick pops, or a slow speed manual but the weight distribution is very well managed making for very good front wheel grip and good traction generally.

Awkward chatter doesn’t disrupt the bike or rider so it’s easy to hold off camber or wide setup lines and there’s plenty of grip available for hard braking with the CorE squatting into its travel when hard on the rear brake. Andy rode it down some very steep chutes indeed at Yair and on the Golfie and for a first ride on an unfamiliar bike he was able to press on in some quite intimidating sections. 

In terms of sizing, a 467mm reach might seem slightly short for a Large, but on trail the CorE rides bigger than that number alone would suggest. Andy is just under 6 foot tall and felt the S3 was good for him, while Neil at 5,10’ would ideally have gone down to an S2 finding the reach to the bars fine, but the wheelbase just a bit long for him in tighter sections. Matthew is 6,1’ and ended up unsure whether he’d be better on an S4 but even at that height found the S3 very rideable. 

Overall we found the CorE to be a planted, wheels on the ground kind of bike, with a ride that biases stability and high speed performance over quick agility. Best suited to faster enduro trails, bikepark style stuff and chunky ground it’s calm, fast and easy to ride at speed. If that doesn’t sound like you, and you want a lighter, less ‘full power’ feeling ride, then remember that Forbidden also offers the LitE version of the Druid which we expect to be an exceptional bike in tighter technical terrain with a lower overall weight and smaller battery speeding up the handling. 

Uphill, it’s quite simply the fastest and more ridiculously potent climbing bike we’ve ever ridden. For quick evening power laps and technical climbs, there is nothing to touch it so if power output matters to you, then you will absolutely love this bike. 

We’ve still just a couple of CorE and LitE bikes not reserved, so if you are keen to pick up one of these brand new machines then let us know and we can get you in line for one of the more exciting bikes of recent times. 

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