[R]eviewed // Husqvarna ‘Mountain Cross’ MC6

The MC6 is part of Husvarna’s mid-travel range of bikes, with 150mm both front and rear. With a full carbon fibre frame construction, a mullet wheel setup and some pretty unique and functional design cues makes for one very cool bike! 

What kind of a geometry package have Husqvarna gone for with this bike?  

Husqvana went for a pretty safe geo package, which equated to a predictable and fun ride out on the trail. My medium test bike offered a 65.5° headtube angle and a 77° seat tube angle, making for a comfortable ride back up the hill and a solid, predictable descent. Length wise, I had a 450mm reach, 633mm stack and 445mm chainstays thanks to the 27.5″ rear wheel. So nothing crazy by any means, but overall a package that makes total sense for a bike in this travel range.  

It has to be noted that this is definitely a very sweet looking bike when you see it in the flesh, especially the frame detail where the rear shock is neatly positioned through the middle of the front triangle. Would you agree?  

Absolutely! The MC6 has a few very cool features, as mentioned the shock passes through a clevis where the top tube forks and heads towards the motor. The motor itself is also in a pretty unique orientation, being rotated counter-clockwise within the frame, this is to allow the battery to be mounted further down the downtube, lowering the centre of gravity of the bike overall. The combination of these two design features is quite striking and makes for a pretty futuristic design I think, maybe the only let down is that more wasn’t done with the same design cues for the rear end, at the end of the day though there is only so much you can do and retain the correct suspension characteristics. 

Give us a run-down of the motor and battery package Husky have built the bike around?

Husky have gone with the tried and true Shimano EP801 motor, boasting it’s 85Nm of power and combined that with a 720Wh battery. Plenty of juice to get the MC6 around the trails at top speed. 

What’s the weight of the bike like and does that weight feel evenly distributed between the two axels or not?  

The MC6 comes in at 23.5kg’s, which is pretty standard for a full power, larger battery e-MTB, where the MC6 differs from most is the way the weight feels out on the trail. As mentioned, thanks to the clever placement of the motor, Husqvarna have lowered the centre of gravity of the bike. This has positives and negatives like everything, the biggest positive though is that out on the trail it has a lighter feel and is more stable and predictable at higher speeds. One downside to this however is that it is harder to change the direction of the bike side to side, not by much though and thanks to the steeper head tube angle it is pretty well negated anyway. The bike is weighted very evenly front to back too, with the mullet rear wheel as well it makes back wheel antics a breeze. 

Compared to the big, burly, gravity hungry HC5 that you recently reviewed from Husqvarna, what type of rider would you say that the MC6 is going to favour? 

The HC5 was like a wrecking ball, in the best possible way, regardless of where you were to point it on a trail, it would simply deal with whatever was in front of it. The MC6 on the other hand is much more like a Swiss Army Knife, to be used with more care and precision, yet it has a much wider wheelhouse of capabilities. The MC6 will happily trail ride all day long, adventuring for hours on end which would feel like a bit of a slog on it’s burly brother. However, with more precise line choice and likely a little less overall speed you could still descend the rough and raw trails that the HC5 excels on.

Let’s dive into how the bike rides. What were your first impressions after ride number one back when the bike originally arrived?

It was refreshing to ride something that has been designed around climbing as much as it has been descending. The bike feels very refined out on the trails and offers a good amount of trail feedback without there being an overwhelming feeling that the bike is in over its head, it allows the rider to have a feeling of total control rather than leading you into a false sense of security and then finding yourself in trouble. It offers a very sharp feeling in and out of corners due to its 65.5° headtube angle, while this may be considered “steep” these days, it certainly serves its purpose.

It is easy to get wrapped up in slacker, longer, lower, but the precise feeling you get from the MC6 is awesome. Naturally the flip side to that is when the going gets steep, it can feel a little hairy, but it can’t be all give and no take.

How would you describe the overall ‘feel’ of how the MC6 rides, playful or planted or something else altogether?

The MC6 falls bang in the middle of playful and planted, which might sound boring, but it certainly isn’t. It is such a versatile bike, which is what a mid travel trail bike should be right? While it doesn’t standout above the crowd and do anything crazy, it is a solid performer all round and does so ride in and ride out. It has a very reliable build and the overall frame/linkage construction is very solid, offering a confidence inspiring ride. 

How did you find the ‘range’ of the MC6 given its power output and battery volume?

The 720Wh battery was a good call for the MC6 in my opinion, being a more trail orientated machine the larger battery walks the fine line of the bikes overall weight and giving you enough juice to really get out there and adventure to your hearts content. Naturally the actual figures of the bike’s range purely come down to how the power modes are used, rider input and the vertical profile of where you are riding, but you’d be doing well to drain the E battery if you were giving it a good effort before your battery was drained.  

Out on the trails in what areas did you feel the bike excels and also where did you feel it could have maybe improved?

For me the MC6 does a fantastic job of being a Jack of all trades.  Again, while it doesn’t break records in any one particular area it is more than happy to take on anything you’re willing to throw at it all the while trying to make your life easier doing so. The only real criticisms that I have of the HC6 are that of the cockpit componentry, for the price I would have liked to have seen some higher end components. Other than that, the internal cable routing entering through the headset is an absolute pain to work on and really doesn’t offer that much to keeping the aesthetics any cleaner. 

Finally, did you enjoy your time riding the carbon Husky and would you recommend it to a mate?  

I did enjoy the Husky, while it wouldn’t be my personal go to bike, it did open my eyes to a range of bikes that didn’t have a pure focus on descending or going huge on jumps, but that there is more to be had from the mid-travel class of e-MTBs and I’d certainly recommend it to a mate who was chasing a Jack of all trades type of e-MTB.

KEY INFO

Frame: Full carbon front and rear ends.

Travel: 150mm at both ends

Wheelsize: Mullet,

Motor: Shimano EP8, 85Nm max torque

Battery: 720Wh

Weight: 23.5kg

Price: $12,499

Browse: www.husqvarna-bicycles.com