On September 1, BikeRadar named the Atherton S.170E.2 its 2026 Mountain Bike of the Year, and the result should sting a little for two much bigger bike companies. The Welsh-built e-enduro bike beat a six-bike shortlist down to a three-way final against the Merida Lithos 8000 and the Yeti LTe T4, then won that final on a bike that cost less than either rival. Cheapest frame, smallest battery, biggest trophy. That’s not how these things usually go.

We’ve written about the Avinox motor family before, from the Avinox vs. Bosch CX shootout to Bafang’s attempt to outgun the Avinox M2S on paper. This is the first time we’ve seen an Avinox-powered bike win a major outlet’s top award outright, against full-power Bosch CX-R competition from two brands with a lot more marketing budget than Atherton’s got.

Quick Take

Winner	Atherton S.170E.2 — BikeRadar 2026 Mountain Bike of the Year
Price	£7,999 — cheapest of the three finalists
Runners-up	Merida Lithos 8000 (£8,500, 2nd), Yeti LTe T4 (£12,999, 3rd)
Motor	Avinox M2S — 150Nm, 1,500W peak, 800% max assistance
Battery	700Wh — smallest of the three finalists
Travel	180mm front / 170mm rear, mixed wheels
Fork	RockShox ZEB Ultimate
Drivetrain	SRAM GX Eagle Transmission
Brakes	Hayes Dominion A4
Wheels	Mavic E-Deemax (29in front / 27.5in rear)
Tires	Continental Kryptotal DH SuperSoft
Test result	Fastest timed descent of the three finalists (55.44 seconds, Forest of Dean)
Weak points flagged	Smallest battery of the three, rear rim dented during testing
Best for	Enduro-leaning riders who want full-power assistance without full-power weight or full-power price
Skip if	You need maximum range for long backcountry days — the 700Wh battery is the trade-off here

Who Actually Beat Whom

Three bikes made BikeRadar’s final round, all e-enduro platforms, all tested back-to-back on the same trails including a timed run at Forest of Dean:

1. Atherton S.170E.2 — £7,999, Avinox M2S motor, 700Wh battery, 180/170mm travel. Winner.
2. Merida Lithos 8000 — £8,500, Bosch CX-R motor, 800Wh battery, 170/174mm travel. Second place.
3. Yeti LTe T4 — £12,999, Bosch CX-R motor, 800Wh battery, 160/170mm travel. Third place.

Both the Merida and the Yeti run the same Bosch CX-R unit: 120Nm, 750W, 600% max assistance. The Atherton’s Avinox M2S claims more of everything — 150Nm, 1,500W peak, 800% assistance — in a bike that costs £500 less than the Merida and a full £5,000 less than the Yeti. On raw spec-sheet math, that shouldn’t be possible. Usually the biggest motor and the lowest price don’t show up on the same bike.

Why the Motor Numbers Aren’t the Real Story

Big peak numbers are cheap to print on a spec sheet. What actually separates a good motor from a good-on-paper motor is how it behaves in the ten percent of the pedal stroke where you’re trying not to loop out on a technical step-up, or trying to feather power through a loose corner without the bike lurching. That’s where BikeRadar’s testers say the Avinox M2S won the test outright: “the most controllable high-power motor” of the three, with power that scales with how hard you push rather than snapping on like a switch.

The Bosch CX-R units on the Merida and the Yeti got dinged for the opposite problem. Testers found that simply resting a foot on the pedal could make both Bosch bikes surge forward earlier than intended — not a huge deal on a fire road, a real deal on a rock garden approach where you’re feathering the cranks for balance, not power. We flagged something similar in our mid-power motor comparison: the gap between motors that hit the same numbers on paper and motors that feel the same on the trail is often bigger than the spec sheet suggests. This is the full-power version of that same lesson.

What You’re Actually Trading Away

The Atherton didn’t win by being the best bike at everything. It won by being the best bike at the things that matter most for the money.

Battery: smaller, on purpose. At 700Wh, the Atherton carries the smallest pack of the three finalists — the Merida and Yeti both run 800Wh. In BikeRadar’s range test on maximum assistance, that gap showed up directly: the Yeti covered 29.3km and 1,760m of climbing, the Merida 26.6km and 1,650m, and the Atherton 23km and 1,250m. That’s a real difference on a long backcountry day. It’s a smaller deal if your rides are typically under two hours, which covers most trail-center and after-work laps.

Suspension: less forgiving, more rewarding. Testers described the Merida’s suspension as the plusher, more natural-handling package of the three — genuinely excellent at speed, with less demand on the rider. The Atherton’s chassis asks more of you, particularly on technical climbs, in exchange for more precision when you’re pushing it. That’s a fair trade for a confident rider and a less fair one for someone who wants the bike to smooth over their mistakes.

Wheels: the one real durability flag. The Mavic E-Deemax wheels came in for criticism as harsh over chatter, and the rear rim was the only one among the three test bikes to take a dent during testing. That’s worth knowing before you buy, not a dealbreaker on its own — wheels are also the easiest part on a bike to upgrade later, and it doesn’t change the frame or motor package underneath.

How It Won Anyway

None of those trade-offs canceled out what the Atherton did better. It posted the fastest timed descent of the three at 55.44 seconds on the Forest of Dean test loop, nearly a second clear of the field, on a bike with the smallest battery and the lowest price of the group. It’s also available in 12 frame sizes, against four for most full-power rivals — a genuinely unusual amount of size-specific dialing for a bike built in Wales in comparatively small volumes, not off a mass-production line in Taiwan.

That’s the actual headline here, more than the motor numbers. A small British manufacturer that started out building bikes for its own World Cup downhill team put a lugged-and-bonded 7075 aluminum frame, a screaming-fast motor tune, and a sub-£8,000 price tag on the same bike, and it beat two much larger companies at their own top-of-category game. Atherton Bikes is still best known for the family that runs it — Gee, Dan, and Rachel Atherton have a combined trophy case that takes up a wall — but the S.170E.2 is proof the brand’s manufacturing approach translates to a bike normal enduro riders can actually buy and race.

What’s the Best eMTB of 2026?

Based on BikeRadar’s 2026 shootout, the Atherton S.170E.2 is the best all-around eMTB of the year for riders prioritizing motor control and descending speed over maximum range. The Yeti LTe T4 wins on range and climbing composure for riders with bigger budgets, and the Merida Lithos 8000 splits the difference with the most forgiving ride of the three. Which one’s “best” depends entirely on whether your rides are measured in laps or in hours.

Who Should Care About This

Riders cross-shopping full-power eMTBs under £8,000. The S.170E.2 undercuts nearly every full-power Bosch or Shimano-equipped enduro eMTB on the market right now while out-torquing most of them. If you were about to spend Yeti or Specialized Levo 4 money on a full-power bike, this is worth cross-shopping first.

Anyone deciding between Avinox and Bosch power delivery. This test is the clearest real-world data point yet for the argument we made in our Avinox vs. Bosch comparison: Bosch’s reliability and dealer network are real advantages, but Avinox’s power modulation is now winning head-to-head tests against Bosch’s newest CX-R hardware, not just older units.

Riders who do short, punchy rides over long epics. If your typical ride is under two hours and technical rather than long and rolling, the smaller 700Wh battery is a non-issue and the better motor control is the thing you’ll actually notice every ride.

Who Should Skip This

Long-range and backcountry riders. The 23km/1,250m range figure at max assist is the real number to weigh against the Yeti’s 29.3km and 1,650m+. If your rides regularly run past the two-hour mark, the smaller battery is a genuine limitation, not a minor spec difference.

Riders who want the plushest possible ride. The Merida’s suspension feel drew the most praise for composure and natural handling among the three. If you want the bike to forgive sloppy lines more than reward clean ones, that’s the better fit.

US buyers who want one right now. The S.170E.2’s pricing is listed in GBP and EUR, with no confirmed US availability yet. Worth watching if Atherton expands distribution, but not a bike you can walk into a US shop and buy today.

The Bottom Line

BikeRadar’s 2026 Mountain Bike of the Year test came down to a genuinely close three-way fight, and the cheapest bike in the room won it on motor control and descending speed rather than spec-sheet padding. The Atherton S.170E.2’s 700Wh battery and firmer suspension are real trade-offs against the pricier Merida and Yeti, not fine print. But a Welsh manufacturer beating Merida and Yeti at full-power enduro with a bike that costs thousands less is the kind of result that should make the bigger brands nervous, and it’s the strongest argument yet that Avinox’s motor tuning, not just its horsepower claims, is for real.

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Reporting sourced from BikeRadar’s award announcement and its full head-to-head test, plus the outlet’s S.170E.2 review. No test unit has been ridden by our team at time of publication.