Exclusive First Look & Interview with Patrick Morewood on the new PYGA eMTB
After two years of development, we spotted a prototype of the new PYGA eMTB at the Joberg2c event a few weeks ago. With details on the bike yet to emerge, we reached out to Patrick Morewood, the guru behind the brand, to find out more.
Before we get into the details of the new bike, you are a highly respected legend of the sport who has been around mountain biking since it began. What are some of your earliest memories on a bicycle?
Thanks bru. I guess racing Cyclecross [an early format of BMX] at Roy Hesketh track, riding on the modified bike my Dad fettled with.
At what point did you realize mountain biking was going to be an integral part of your life?
I guess when I started making parts for my bikes such as suspension forks, chain guides as well as modifying my rockers to change the kinematics and travel.
You are one of the first bike manufacturers (globally) to build and develop trail bikes. Your original 5-inch trail bike first debuted around 2005 if I’m not mistaken. Take us back to the development of that first trail bike, what inspired it, what lessons did you learn and how is it that a relatively small outfit from Pietermaritzburg ended up being one of the main pioneers of trail bikes?
If you’re referring to Morewood days, my first trail bike the Shova was in about 2004. Then in 2009, I designed the Zula which was a good little bike that could be thrashed like a trail bike. I always felt that if one could have a bit more travel and a more stable confident ride without sacrificing overall energy loss and speed, then why not. This was the philosophy behind the Pyga Stage. We launched the Stage in 2015 and had great success winning many races with our Pyga Eurosteel team. The Stage had a 68-degree head angle and 120mm travel which was unheard of for XC/Marathon racing at the time. Eventually, we had to change it to 100mm because light 120mm forks were unavailable. I guess, at this time, we were a little too ahead of what the big brands were doing so it kind of backfired for a year or so, then slowly they started to do the same thing then amazingly Nino [Schurter] wanted 120mm travel in 2018 which lead the fork manufacturers to produce what we wanted, all be it three years later. Unfortunately, it took another year or two for them to become available. The Stage is still relevant to many of today’s current frame geometries. Next up was the MoBu that we make locally with BST in Northriding. We were able to go ahead with updating the whole bike design and geometry making it a market leader not only in performance but also in the manufacturing process.
What is your day-to-day like now at PYGA?
I get in just after 7 am and have a cup of tea. Usually, check mails and do some drawing/design work. I check on how things are going in the factory and help with all aspects of the mechanical side. I make jigs and fixtures and do the odd prototype 3d print. Now and then I’ll have a meeting with distributors or suppliers. Prototyping is my most enjoyable aspect of the business and getting to ride the first bike is what makes everything worthwhile. I do unfortunately spend a lot of time fighting with some Taiwan suppliers due to their lack of communication. Mostly I won’t have lunch and just rather carry on right through. Generally, we finish around 3.30 or 4.00 pm. In Summer I’ll try to get a little burn in Cascades once or twice a week.
As a South African brand, how much of your production are you managing to do locally and are there any changes likely in the near future?
We are able to make all of our dropouts, turned parts, linkages bolts and nuts here. Local production is still viable for the small parts but the tubing is something we need to do in Taiwan if we want to have shaped and butted tubing. Realistically it will remain this way for the foreseeable future.
You’ve made world-class XC, Marathon, Trail, Enduro, DH, Slopestyle and Dirt Jump bikes through the years and have a tremendous global following. Your bikes have raced many a World Cup, World Championship and major Marathon events with wins and championships secured. Now, there is something new brewing there. Talk us through the new eMTB. What prompted the push into this space?
A good few years ago I was very anti eBikes. I only rode the early unrefined ones and wasn’t impressed. However, about four years ago I test rode a few of the new generation bikes and was so impressed. I’m also a bit older with less time to ride than I’d like so getting out on an eBike works well for me. It’s super easy to blast up for a quick shred down.
Does your new eMTB have a model name yet?
Not yet. That is it’s not 100% confirmed yet.
Can you tell us about the ride quality you have been looking for with the design of this bike? What are the main ride features and characteristics you wanted to achieve?
Firstly it must feel like a Pyga. Being an eBike there is loads of power at one’s disposal, so using this power efficiently and effectively by having great traction and power transfer, is key. This added power also means that climbing steep tight turns is not the same as a regular bike and this allowed us to slacken the head angle without having the negatives that may be felt on a regular bike. This slack fork angle gives ridiculous amounts of stability at speed over really rough ground.
Talk me through the reasoning to go with the mid high-pivot design?
One of the things I didn’t want is for customers to have to buy a special length chain or to join chains when replacing them. The full high-pivot design that some brands use needs this. I also saw this ‘lower’ high-pivot layout can provide all of the benefits of the high-pivot but with the rear wheel path being slightly less rearward, I felt it may be better in many aspects. It also provides incredible pedaling ability by all but removing kickback on rough climbs and low-speed drops. There is less than 3-degrees of pedal kickback rotation when riding in the middle of the cassette.
Share some of the numbers with us please, travel, geometry, frame sizes and so on?
So we are using 6066 T6 alloy for the frame and there will be three sizes available. The bike has 160mm of rear travel and is suited to a 170mm fork. The head angle is 63.5-degrees, the seat tube angle is 77-degrees and a size large has a 485mm reach. The headtube on the large is 130mm. We are using a 16t idler pulley made from hardened stainless steel. We will also sell the bike as a frame-only [with drive-unit] option, allowing riders to build their own bikes – or simply swap parts across from their current bike.
What led you to settle on the Shimano system?
I did test out several bikes with different motors, one has to look at things like local and international support, the battery, and of course most importantly the way it performs along with the ability to tune and personalize the profiles. Shimano ticked all the boxes for me with a really natural feel and more than enough power, as well as great range.
Will riders have wheel size options?
The standard wheel size will be 29er front and rear, however, we will offer a choice for those who want a Mullet rear. We have a different seatstay for the mixed wheelsize option.
How much time have you spent on the bike and are there big changes still to come before production?
With Covid, it’s taken longer than the usual amount of time to get to where we are. The main design/layout was done over two years ago but the extra time waiting for tubing and motors has allowed me to spend more time and focus on the smaller details. We’re pretty much done with finalizing everything, now it’s a case of preparing everything for production.
Timelines. Is production likely to start within the next 6 months and how soon would there be a finished product (with pricing and spec) available for riders to look at?
I estimate the first frames to come out in the next 2 months, we should have fully finished bikes for people to look at in about a month from now.
Incredible work. We can’t wait to ride it.
Thanks for showing interest in what we do and for the interview. Hopefully we’ll have some more cool bikes to show you soon….
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