On Test | The 2022 Scott Patron eRide hides shock AND motor inside frame

Freshly unboxed in the Flow workshop is the new 2022 Scott Patron eRide, which is perhaps one of the most striking e-MTBs we’ve ever had on for review!

Not only does the Patron hide a custom Fox Nude shock inside its top tube, the cables and battery are also concealed, and the motor sits inside the frame. Following in the footsteps of the new Spark, the Patron eRide is the second mountain bike from Scott to lean on the design ethos of fellow Swiss outfit Bold Cycles, which Scott purchased in 2019.

Indeed the new Patron e-Ride is one of the most interesting and likely polarising e-MTBs in recent memory — let’s dive in to the details.

2022 scott patron eride 900 tuned
The new Scott Patron eRide is going all-in on integration to create one of the sharpest-looking e-MTBs to date.

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All on the inside

While the Spark has 120mm of rear travel packed inside the seat tube, the new Patron eRide has a whopping 160mm of squish hidden inside the top tube. Bold Cycles offers its Unplugged enduro bike with 165mm of internal rear travel, with enough room to hide a piggyback shock inside the seat tube, but it still has a similar silhouette to the Spark. So stashing this much suspension inside the top tube is quite a development.

2022 scott patron eride 900 tuned
The Patron is a 160mm travel 29er e-MTB that uses some novel engineering solutions to accommodate its whopping 750Wh battery, while still having room for a water bottle.
Scott Patron eRide
Like the Spark, the new Patron eRide sees the shock mounted inside the frame. This it’s hiding in the top tube.

Scott has moved the shock to the top tube because the Bosch Performance CX motor is now mounted where the suspension would have gone. The motor has been rotated 46-degrees and is now housed inside the front triangle, with the frame creating a ‘nest’ for added support and additional impact protection. Don’t worry, there is still room for a water bottle too.

Scott also claims with the motor supported from the bottom, the housing can act like a chimney to improve cooling and heat management. We’ll concede that hot air rises, but we’re taking this claim with a grain of salt.

2022 scott patron eride 900 tuned
The Patron combines Scott’s iconic TwinLoc suspension system with the Kiox display and controller from Bosch.
2022 scott patron eride 900 tuned
Like the latest Spark, the Patron tucks all of its cables, wires and the rear brake hose through the upper headset.

With the TwinLoc suspension system, brake lines and shift and dropper cables, the front end of Scott mountain bikes can be a bit of a rat’s nest. Add in the extra wires for the eBike controller and display, and you have a recipe for a tangled mess. Here, Scott has done well to wrangle everything through the headset into the frame, where it disappears, never to be thought about again — until you need to replace a headset bearing.

Beyond creating clean lines, hiding the motor and rear shock inside the frame offers some protection from the elements, and the wide-set tubing that surrounds these components bodes well for chassis stiffness.

Being inside the top tube, of course setting sag, and adding and removing volume spacers will be a bit more involved; however, in this orientation, the shock appears to be a bit more accessible than on the Spark.

2022 scott patron eride 900 tuned
Scott has rotated the motor 46-degrees upwards and mounted it inside the front triangle.

To our knowledge, the Patron eRide is the first e-MTB to fully support the motor inside the front triangle, and we’d speculate the stiffness through the BB area is substantial. We have seen bikes from Whyte and Haibike with the motor in a more upward orientation, but we’ve never actually seen the frame wrap totally around the housing. That said, we are a little worried about the ground clearance of the lowest part of the frame, especially since there doesn’t appear to be a bash guard or armouring.

The 750Wh battery slides into the downtube, in a similar fashion to Norco’s new Sight VLT. This does make us wonder if Scott is expecting Bosch to launch different sized Smart System PowerTube batteries for similar customisability.

TwinLoc + dropper

Scott has long based its suspension around the Twinloc system, a three-position lockout that changes the compression damping and spring curve at both ends from with the push of a lever.

There are three modes: Descend, Traction Control and Lockout. Descend and Lockout don’t really require any explanation; however, the Traction Control mode is unique. When you push the lever to the middle setting, it closes off one air chamber in the rear shock, effectively reducing its travel from 160mm to 115mm. This increases progression, which also causes the shock to sit higher in its travel, in turn steepening the seat tube angle.

2022 scott patron eride 900 tuned
Your left thumb is not going to get bored.

All of this should equate to a more efficient climbing position, where you can generate power without sacrificing efficiency or velcro-like traction.

Like the Spark, the Patron eRide gets the updated TwinLoc remote that incorporates a dropper lever underneath the suspension paddles. It’s still pretty busy, but it’s a helluva lot more ergonomic than the previous system that employed an over the top dropper remote.

2022 scott patron eride 900 tuned
The display is crystal-clear and gives you access to all of the metrics.

Bosch Performance CX Smart System

Bosch’s new Smart System has been around for a while, but this is the first bike we’ve had on test with the latest system. The Performance CX motor still has the same output with 85Nm of torque and up to 340% assistance, though it receives a software upgrade and a new riding mode. The new LED controller and Kiox 300 display are on the bars, which all speak Bluetooth — along with the motor — and can connect to the eBike Flow app for firmware updates and customisation.

The bike will come with the new PowerTube 750 battery regardless of frame size, and Scott says you can get 100km or 2000m of elevation out of a single charge on eco mode or about half of that if you go full turbo.

Included with the bike is a rear fender with integrated lights powered by the PowerTube 750, but that’s not the only extra you can plug into the main power source.

Patron eRide Geometry

The new Patron eRide slots right between Scott’s current e-MTBs, the 150mm travel Genius and 180mm Ransom.

With 160mm of squish at both ends, the geometry sees a 65-degree head angle, 76.9-degree seat angle, a stack of 642.2mm and a reach of 445.8mm in a size medium. With the motor tucked up inside the frame, the Patron has the shortest rear end of any Scott e-MTB, sporting 454mm chainstays, with a 29in wheel in between them. There are e-Bikes with shorter rear ends out there like the Polygon Mt Bromo, Trek Rail, Specialized Levo, and Canyon Spectral:ON; the latter two achieve this by using a smaller 27.5in rear wheel.

Unlike the Genius and Ransom, the new Patron does not have a flip-chip, or adjustable headset cups like the Spark.

Scott Patron Size Chart
2022 scott patron eride 900 tuned
The Patron is designed to be capable, but also comfortable for all-day riding.

Patron eRide pricing and availability

The Patron eRide and women’s Contessa Patron eRide — same chassis, with different touch points — will be available in models based around carbon and alloy frames at a range of price points.

Each version comes with the same Fox Nude T eRide Evol shock, as this is the foundation of the Twinloc system. Scott has also spec’d the same tyres on every model, with 2.6in Maxxis Dissector EXO+ rubber on both ends.

In Australia, we’ll see three models of the Patron eRide, the 900 Tuned, 910 and 920. Read on for pricing and spec details, and stay tuned for our in-depth review coming soon!

2022 scott patron eride 900 tuned
The Patron eRide 900 Tuned is the only carbon version we will get here in Australia.

2022 Scott Patron eRide 900 TUNED

2022 scott patron eride 910
The Patron eRide 910 swaps to an alloy frame, a Fox Performance fork and Shimano drivetrain components.

2022 Scott Patron eRide 910

2022 scott patron eride 920
The Patron eRide 920 will be the base model here in Australia, trading the Fox 38 for a Rockshox Domain and spinning Shimano drivetrain components.

2022 Scott Patron eRide 920

2022 scott patron eride 900 tuned
It’s certainly a striking machine, but we’re curious to see how the Scott Patron performs on the trails compared to some of the other e-MTBs we’ve been testing lately. Stay tuned for our in-depth review.

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