Mokwheel Obsidian ST Review – Fast Full Suspension Offroad EBike

Updated November 16th, 2024

If you’re in the market for an ebike that’s tough enough for off-road trails yet comfortable on city streets, the Mokwheel Obsidian ST might be exactly what you need. This fat-tire, full-suspension ebike comes packed with features designed for riders who love both speed and comfort. It is a super fun bike to ride that is fast and comfortable. Let’s dive into the details and see what makes this ebike stand out.

Birch Grolar

What we liked:

Smooth, Comfortable Ride: Thanks to the full suspension, air shock, and fat tires, this bike rides like a dream on rough and smooth surfaces alike.
Powerful Motor and Great Range: The 750W motor and 20Ah battery provide an ideal combination of speed and endurance, making it suitable for long rides.
Great for Off-Road Adventures: Whether you’re on gravel, grass, or a mountain bike trail, the Obsidian ST holds up well.
Easy Assembly: The assembly is straightforward, taking only about 45 minutes. The bike even comes with the necessary tools

What we didn’t like:

Weight: At 73 pounds, the Obsidian ST is on the heavier side, which can make loading and unloading a bit challenging.
Headlight Brightness: The headlight is functional but could be brighter and have a wider beam for night rides on curvy paths.
Limited Adjustments in Controls: While the display shows helpful metrics like speed and battery life, the settings don’t allow for much customization.

Specifications

Max Speed – 28 mph
Range – 80 miles
Max Rider Weight – 350 lbs
Bike Weight – 77 lbs
Motor Power – 750 watt hub motor
Battery – 48 volt 19.6 ah
Speeds – 8 Speed Shimano
Brakes – Hydraulic disc
Wheel Size – 26 inch x 4 inch tires

Video Review

Mokwheel Obsidian ST Review and Test

Mokwheel provided us with this Obsidian ST for review. We have reviewed several Mokwheel bikes now and have enjoyed all of them. I was excited to get their flagship full suspension offroad bike to try out. I am an avid mountain biker when not riding ebikes.

There are a bunch of jeep trails and rails to trails trails in the area that aren’t paved but are fun to ride and explore. I had high hopes that the Obsidian ST would be a blast riding on these and was not disappointed.

The Obsidian is available in a step over and step thru frame in a few colors each. Most of the time I prefer step thru frames for ebikes. They don’t hurt the performance at all and are easier to get on and off.

Let’s dig into the features and performance of the bike.

1 – 750 watt hub motors

At its core, the Obsidian ST houses a 750W motor, which is capable of 1000W peak output. This motor provides plenty of power for high speeds and steep hills. With a top speed of 28 mph when pedaling, it’s classified as a Class 3 ebike, perfect for riders who want that extra bit of speed.

2 – 48 volt 19.6 ah removable battery

With a 48V, 19.6Ah battery, the Obsidian ST has long range. The bike has a published range of 80 miles. Most riders should be able to get over 50 miles in real world conditions with hills and faster riding. The battery charges easily on or off the bike, and there’s even an optional inverter if you want to power small electronics on the go.

The battery is UL Listed for those who are concerned about safety of the battery.

3 – Full suspension with rear air shock

The Obsidian ST features 26-inch fat tires paired with a four-link rear suspension system. The rear suspension is equipped with an air spring rather than a coil, providing better absorption on rough terrain. The rear shock has a lockout switch as well if you want it to feel more like a hardtail bike.

The 4 link suspension design is inspired by high-quality mountain bikes, making it ideal for trails, fields, and rough paths. Even on uneven trails, the bike feels stable, smooth, and easy to control.

4 – 26 x 4 inch offroad tires

The 26-inch fat tires provide excellent traction and stability, even on loose or uneven surfaces. They’re perfect for handling dirt paths, grassy fields, and even snow or sand. You can reduce tire pressure for even better traction and cushion on loose surfaces like sand or snow.

4 – Dropper seat post

The Obsidian comes equipped with a dropper seat post that lets you quickly adjust the height of the seat a few inches. If you want a lower seat for downhill riding you can change it quickly. If you just want to throttle around without pedalling, you can give yourself a lower, more comfortable seat. Just pull up on the handle below the seat and slide it up or down.

4 – 350 lbs capacity

The Obsidian is designed to work with heavier riders or carrying a lot of gear. It has a weight limit of 350 lbs. The rear air spring shock is adjustable so you don’t bottom out while riding with more weight. (no pump is included with the bike to adjust it).

4 – Torque sensor and throttle

The bike can operate using a torque sensor and pedal assist or throttle only using the thumb throttle. The torque sensor is smooth on startup. It does give a bit of a delay when you start pedaling after while coasting above 10mph. It’s not quite as sensitive as the torque sensor form other brands. This has been true for every Mokwheel bike we have tested.

6 – Power (9.5/10)

I did a max speed and hill climbing test with the Obsidian ST to see how much power it had. All tests were done with a heavier 250 lb rider for good real world performance.

Top Speed

I rode the bike on a flat smooth path to see how fast it would go. I measured the top speed using both the display on the bike and a GPS.

With throttle only I measured 19.9mph on the display and 19.7mph with the GPS.

With max pedal assist I measured 28.3mph on the display and 28.2mph on the GPS.

The published mas speed for the Obsidian ST is 28mph. The bike exceeded that by a small amount. The display gives very accurate speed measurements.

Hill climbing

I took the Obsidian to my standard hill climbing test hill. This is a half mile long hill with some 10% grades. I used a 250 lb rider. I do the test once with throttle only and once with maximum pedal assist.

Using throttle only I recorded a time of 1 minute and 50 seconds. This is average to slightly faster than most other 750 watt hub motor bikes we have tested. See the following list for some other times.

• Obsidian ST – 1 minute 50 seconds
• Aventon Aventure 2 – 1 minute 53 seconds
• Himiway Zebra D5 – 1 minute 57 seconds
• Himiway Cobra – 1 minute 51 seconds.

I repeated the test using pedal assist using PAS 5. I recorded a time of 1 minute and 30 seconds. This was quite a bit faster than several other popular fat tire ebikes. The Aventon Aventure 2 was a full 20 seconds slower. The Himiway Zebra was 22 seconds slower. See the below list for some other popular bike times.

• Mokwheel Obsidian ST – 1 minute 30 seconds
• Aventon Aventure 2 – 1 minute 50 seconds
• Himiway Zebra D5 – 1 minute 52 seconds
• Himiway Cobra – 1 minute 43 seconds

The Obsidian has very good hill climbing abilities. It gives a lot of power with pedal assist and factory 28mph top speed allows it to go fast up hills.

7 – Range (9/10)

I took the Obsidian ST for a couple rides to test how far it would go on a charge. Our standard range test includes a bunch of hills and a 250 lb rider. I ride the bike as close to 15mph as possible. This is a more real world test of range than a flat road without hills and a lightweight rider.

I did the pedal assist range test using PAS level 2. This gives enough help to make hills easy without taking away all the pedal effort. The bike went 50 miles using pedal assist on level 2. This is right about what we would expect form a 20 ah battery. All the 20 ah battery bikes we test typically go between 50 and 55 miles.

I took the bike out using throttle only. The bike went 40 miles going 15mph on the same route. This is about average for a 20 ah battery powered bike.

8 – Ride and Handling (10/10)

The ride and handling is where the Obsidian really shines. It would be hard to find a bike that feels more smooth and steady riding fast. It is very stable feeling at 28mph and makes you feel confident going fast.

The rear suspension does a very good job of absorbing any cracks or pot holes in the pavement. It has an upright feeling rider position that makes the bike very comfortable to ride. The dropper seat post also has a little spring in it which further aids shock absorbtion.

Cornering

The bike just feels really smooth in corners. It feels like it just goes around like it’s on rails. You can lean the bike over and just get it into a groove and it feels great. This is one of the best feeling ebikes I have ridden.

9 – Off roading with the Obsidian ST

We didn’t just ride the Obsidian on pavement. We took it off roading too. This bike is a lot of fun on smoother Jeep trails and double track. You can blast down these surfaces and the suspension keeps things feeling smooth. The bike handles well on both dirt and gravel surfaces. The fat tires make you feel hooked ino to the surface.

I tried the Obsidian out on an actual mountain bike trail too. This was a more flow trail type with smooth windy corners. The bike handles these great. You have enough power on PAS 3 or 4 to give good acceleration out of corners. The bike does great at absorbing small roots and rocks.

The place where the Obsidian isn’t great offroad is steep technical climbs on mountain bike trails. These cause the motor to bog down. It will get up them if you pedal. It’s not the thing this bike is built for. Leave that kind of trail to the dedicated Class 1 e-mtb’s with mid-drives.

The Obsidian is great for flowy trails and double track that can blast through at speed. It likes to be a go fast bike.

10 – Braking (9/10)

The bike has 180mm rotor hydraulic disc brakes. They are adequate for stopping the bike and that’s about as much as you can say for them. They aren’t over powered. They don’t leave you wishing for more every time you stop fast.

11 – Controls (9/10)

The bike has a 5 button controller. The buttons are power, up, down, lights, and horn. It has a thumb throttle on the left handlebar next to the button cluster. The buttons are easy to press while riding. The horn is obnoxiously loud.

The Obsidian has a color LCD display that gives you speed, battery remaining in bars, trip, and what PAS level your in. I would prefer battery display as a percent instead of bars. This bike has 10 bars from full to zero which is better than the 4 or 5 bars you sometimes get.

The settings menu is accessed by pressing in the plus and minus button for a few seconds. This will let you reset the trip meter. There is no setting for adjusting the top speed for PAS which is 28mph from the factory.

One other thing to note about Mokwheel bikes. It takes about 5 seconds to turn them on holding the power button. This is about 3 seconds longer than anyone else. It’s long enough that you might think the bike is broken. It’s not. Keep holding the power button down longer until you see the “Hello” greeting show up.

13 – Accessories

The Obsidian is a basic bike that comes with a front light, and fenders. They give you a small snap on rear light that has it’s own battery. The bike does not have a wired in rear light. It doesn’t come with a rear rack.

The front light is bright enough for riding 10-15mph on straight paths and streets. It has a narrow beam so it doesn’t work great riding on a bike path with a lot of sharp curves. A helmet light really helps when riding the Obsidian at night.

14 – Size and Fit

The Obsidian ST works for riders down to at least 5’6″ and maybe 1 to 2 inches shorter. The tallest person we had try the bike was 6’5″. The frame feels larger because of the full suspension and big fat tires. The adjustable air spring and large feeling frame make the Obsidian a very good bike for larger riders.

The below images show the Obsidian ST with a 6′ and 5’6″ rider.

Check out our guide to the best ebikes for large guys for other bikes that are good for bigger riders.

12 – Assembly Ease (9.5/10)

Assembly takes about an hour to go from unboxing to ready to charge the battery and ride. Enough tools are included to complete the job without needing anything else. The front brake tube was routed on the wrong side of the fork on my bike. I had to remove the caliper from the fork, route it correctly and bolt it back on and then adjust the caliper. The added an extra 10-15 minutes for me.

The rear derailleur was adjusted correctly and the bike shifted smoothly out of the box. This is rare on ebikes. At least 60% of the bikes we have reviewed needed adjustment to shift smoothly.

12 – Transporting the Obsidian

The Obsidian ST weighs in at 73 lbs with the battery removed and it has a long wheelbase. It does require a heavy duty bike rack to transport it. Not just any hitch rack will work with it.

We use a 1UP USA Super Duty rack that can handle 100 lb bikes.

Recommendation – Buy or No Buy?

The Mokwheel Obsidian ST is a powerful, comfortable, and versatile ebike that’s perfect for riders who want an adventure-ready option that doesn’t sacrifice comfort. While it’s on the heavier side and the headlight could be improved, these are minor drawbacks compared to the overall performance and features this bike offers.

If you’re an outdoor enthusiast or commuter looking for a reliable, powerful ebike with excellent off-road capabilities, the Obsidian ST is a fantastic choice.

Check out our guide to the best fat tire ebikes for other great options.