Moustache Clutch 150.7 EQ First Look and Range Guide
I've spent the last few days getting the new Moustache Clutch 150.7 EQ out of the box, into the workshop, and out onto the bridleway behind us in Little Dartmouth. I made a video covering the whole thing and you can watch that first if you want, but this post is the written companion to it. Specs, pricing, what is good, what I would change, and who I think this bike actually suits.
We've added the Clutch to the ebikeist range alongside our Riese & Müller line-up because it sits in a different place to anything we already sell. The R&Ms we offer are touring bikes at heart, with the Delite5 in particular being a properly capable full-suspension bike that will take a bridleway in its stride. The Clutch comes at off-road from the other direction: a trail bike first, with a sensible commuter kit on top.
Where the Clutch fits in our range
The R&Ms we sell are touring and trekking bikes at heart. They are brilliant on a canal towpath, on a Devon B-road, on a long week of e-bikepacking. The Delite5 in particular will happily take you onto a bridleway too, with full suspension and a 120 mm fork; it just does that as a touring-tuned bike, weighing in around 30 kg. The Clutch comes at the same job from the other end. Frame travel, head angle, mullet wheels, Pinion gearbox, more aggressive tyres: this is a trail bike that has been given a sensible commuter kit on top, weighing 27.9 kg in size M.
Two families share the same frame and powertrain. The Clutch SUV 150.7 EQ is the trail-and-commute trim, with the full EQ pack (rack, mudguards, lights, kickstand). The Clutch 160.7, 160.8 and 160.9 are the pure-MTB trims with longer travel and bigger forks, no commute kit. The bike I rode for this first look is the 150.7 EQ.
If you are torn between something more touring-focused and the Clutch, our Range Finder is a good starting point. Most of the people I have shown the Clutch to so far had been looking at a Charger or a Delite first, and the question is always the same: how much actual off-road riding will you do?
Quick facts: Moustache Clutch 150.7 EQ
- £7,399 UK RRP, two colours (Dune matt, Slab Grey glossy)
- Pinion MGU 12-speed integrated gearbox motor, 85 Nm at the motor and up to 160 Nm at the wheel
- 780 Wh Moustache battery, internally integrated
- 150 mm rear, 150 mm fork, mullet 29" front and 27.5" rear
- 27.9 kg in size M with the full EQ kit fitted
- Gates CDX belt drive, no chain to clean, no derailleur to bend
What you get with the EQ pack
The "EQ" in 150.7 EQ is short for "equipped". On this version of the bike, that means the bike arrives kitted out for real-world UK use rather than as a bare MTB.
You get full mudguards (front and rear), an alloy rear rack with QL3 lateral fixation rated to 20 kg, an adjustable kickstand, and integrated front and rear lights running off the main battery. The front is a Supernova Mini 3 Pure at 500 lumen, the rear is a Supernova TL3 Z. Both come on with the bike, no separate charging or batteries to worry about.
UK road-legal reflectors are taken care of by the alloy platform pedals, which have integrated reflectors built in. So as supplied, this bike is properly road legal in the UK without you needing to add anything.
If you compare the 150.7 EQ to the bare 160.7 (£7,199), the EQ trim is £200 more. For that money you get a belt drive instead of a chain, a rack, mudguards, lights and the kickstand. For anyone who actually rides on UK roads in the rain, that is good value.
The Pinion gearbox and belt drive
The Clutch sits on a Pinion MGU motor unit. In plain English, that is a motor with a 12-speed gearbox built into the same housing, sitting at the bottom bracket where most e-bikes have a separate Bosch or Shimano motor and a chain-and-cassette drivetrain. With this layout you do not have a derailleur dangling off the back of the bike, you do not have a chain that needs degreasing every fortnight, and you do not need to be on the move to change gear. You can shift while stopped at a junction and pull away in your chosen gear.
Power numbers are written as "85 to 160 Nm". The first number is motor torque at the crank. The second is the peak torque at the wheel after the gearbox reduction. The power and control of the motor are really impressive.
Pair that with a Gates CDX belt instead of a chain and you have a drivetrain that wants almost no maintenance for thousands of miles. No oil or degreasing and no stretch. The belt is silent, the gearbox does its work behind a sealed housing, and the only routine job is keeping the belt clean of grit. If you want a deeper read on how gearbox motors compare to traditional setups, our Learn section covers it in more detail.
A note on a small Pinion quirk: when you first push off, there is a soft click as the gearbox engages. It is normal, every Pinion does it, and you stop noticing it after the first ride.
Out on the bridleway: how it actually rides
I took the bike up the bridleway behind the workshop, onto the rougher sections where a trail bike's geometry and tyre choice really earn their keep, and the Clutch came alive. The 150 mm of well-tuned rear travel and the RockShox PSYLO Silver RC fork eat the chatter you get on Devon hardpack at this time of year. The mullet wheel set-up (29 front, 27.5 rear) gives you the confidence of a big front wheel and the manoeuvrability of a smaller rear, which is the right choice for a do-it-all bike like this.
Geometry is properly modern: 64.4° head angle (slack and stable), 77.1° seat angle (puts your weight forward over the bottom bracket on climbs), 462 mm reach in size M. This bike is built around how mountain bikes actually ride in 2026, not a tweaked version of a touring frame.
Dan says
"It is a more playful, more grin-inducing bike than anything else we sell. The first time I dropped into the rocky bit halfway down the bridleway I laughed out loud. That does not happen on a touring bike."
A favourite small detail: the Custom Multi-Tool. Moustache have built a multi-tool into the headset assembly, accessed at the top of the steerer tube. You twist the top cap off and there is a proper tool kit waiting for you. Brilliant on a ride when something needs adjusting and you do not have a tool roll on you.
Two things I would change
I am not going to pretend this bike is perfect. Two things stood out to me on the first build.
The front mudguard is plastic. The rest of the EQ kit (rack, rear mudguard, mounts, hardware) is the same proper-bike-shop quality you would expect at this price, and then the front mudguard arrives in a slightly cheaper-feeling plastic. It does the job, but it is not the same level as everything around it.
The rear-wheel snubber is fiddly. When you take the rear wheel out for a service or a tyre swap, the small rubber piece that locates the wheel into the dropout has to be reassembled in exactly the right way. It is not impossible, but it is more fiddly than the equivalent job on a Riese & Müller, and it is a job worth letting us do at the workshop the first couple of times until you have the knack of it.
Neither is a big deal-breaker. Both are little things rather than fundamental issues with the bike.
Who the Clutch 150.7 EQ is for
The Clutch is for the rider who wants one bike that genuinely covers the whole week.
Monday to Friday, on the road, with mudguards and lights and a rack for a pannier of work stuff or shopping, this bike is happy. The belt drive and Pinion gearbox mean almost no maintenance, and that matters when you are using a bike day in, day out, in a wet British winter. It is a strong fit for Cycle to Work for anyone who wants the same bike to do the commute and the weekend ride.
Then on Saturday morning you take the lights off (or leave them on), point the bike at a bridleway, and you have a proper trail e-MTB underneath you. Not a touring bike pretending to do off-road. A trail bike that happens to be set up for the road.
In practice
"If you are choosing between a Riese & Müller and the Clutch, the question is which direction you are coming from. The Delite5 is a touring bike that handles off-road well; the Clutch is a trail bike that handles the commute. Both will take a very rough trail or bridleway comfortably. The Clutch is lighter and sharper there; the Delite5 is more comfortable and a more natural fit on a long touring week. The Charger5 is the right call if your week is mostly tarmac and canal paths."
Who is the Clutch not for? If you want a smooth, touring-style ride for B-roads and seafronts, this bike will feel like more bike than you need. The 150 mm travel and aggressive geometry shine on rough ground; on a canal towpath they are not doing anything you can feel, while you carry the weight and the trail-bike fit. A Charger5 or a Nevo5 will suit that rider better. And if you are a pure cross-country racer chasing low weight above all else, the Clutch is not the bike either; this is a do-it-all e-MTB, not a featherweight.
If the 150.7 EQ is not your bike: the 160 family
The other three Clutches in the line-up are pure mountain bikes. Same Pinion-and-belt platform, same Moustache 780 Wh battery, same mullet wheel set-up, same alloy frame. What changes is the suspension, the brakes, the build kit, the price, and crucially the absence of the EQ pack. No mudguards, no rack, no kickstand, no lights fitted (though the front-light cable is pre-routed through the frame, so a Supernova retrofit is a workshop afternoon). What you get instead is more travel (170 mm fork, 160 mm rear), a slightly slacker head angle (64.2° instead of 64.4°) and a build kit aimed at descending hard.
If your week is "ride trails most weekends, drive to the trailhead, do not need a commute setup", the 160 family is your bike. The choice between the three trims is mainly about how aggressively you ride and how much you want to spend on suspension.
Clutch 160.7 at £7,199
The entry into the platform and the cheapest way to get a Pinion-driven Moustache. Crucially, this is the only Clutch in the range with a chain rather than a belt. Pinion narrow-wide 34T at the front, a single-speed Moustache cog at the rear, KMC e101 chain in between (the Pinion gearbox does the actual gearing; the rear sprocket is fixed). It is a £200 saving over the 160.8, and you keep the same gearbox motor. You give up the silent, no-maintenance belt for a chain that needs the usual occasional clean and oil. That is the trade-off.
The fork is the RockShox Domain R, a step down from the ZEBs on the 160.8 and 160.9 but still a properly capable trail fork at 170 mm. The shock is a Super Deluxe Select. Tyres are Maxxis Assegai 29x2.50 with EXO+ casing, slightly lighter and more puncture-prone than the DD-cased Assegais on the higher trims. Dropper is a 125 mm EXA 900i, the shortest in the range.
Who picks the 160.7: someone who wants the most riding bike for the lowest price, is happy to add their own rack and lights later, and does not mind a chain. The honest pitch is "the cheapest way into the Pinion-and-160-mm-travel platform".
Clutch 160.8 at £7,999
The sweet spot of the range, in my view. £800 over the 160.7, and what you get for it is meaningful. You go from a chain to the Gates CDX belt drive (the same one fitted to the 150.7 EQ and the 160.9). The fork upgrades from Domain R to RockShox ZEB Select with both rebound and compression damping. The shock upgrades from Super Deluxe Select to RockShox Vivid Select with a proper 2-position climb-and-descend lever. The tyre casing moves to DD (Double Down): more puncture resistance, more support, slightly more weight, but you only feel it on rough downhill terrain where you would notice the difference anyway. The dropper grows to a KS Rage-i 170 mm, which is a properly long drop on most bikes.
Who picks the 160.8: the rider who is going to spend most weekends on real trails, wants enduro-grade suspension without the top-tier price, and does not need every component upgraded. It is the trim I would put on a long-list if you asked me which 160 to buy.
Clutch 160.9 at £8,899
The no-compromise build. Another £900 over the 160.8 buys you the top tier of every component group: RockShox ZEB Ultimate fork (high-speed and low-speed compression, plus the Buttercup elastomer inserts that take the buzz out of small bumps), RockShox Vivid Ultimate shock (full rebound and compression adjustment), Magura Gustav Pro brakes instead of MT5 (more outright stopping power for the heaviest descents), heavier-duty MDR-S 2.5 mm rotors instead of the 2 mm MDR-Cs on the lower trims, Mavic XM1030 Maxtal rims on Centerlock Moustache by Mavic hubs, a Fizik Terra Aidon X5 saddle, and a 175 mm KS Lev Integra dropper post. It is 0.5 kg heavier than the 160.8 because all those upgrades add weight, but every bit of that weight is in the right place for hard riding.
Who picks the 160.9: the rider who wants the absolute best build of this platform and rides hard enough to actually notice the difference. E-MOUNTAINBIKE Magazine reviewed this exact bike, and their verdict matches what the spec sheet predicts: "highly composed, confidence-inspiring, gearbox driven eMTB that excels on fast, rough terrain". The same review notes that the Clutch is not the bike for trail acrobats and playful jibbers who just want to session jumps, and that is a fair call across the whole 160 family.
One geometry note across the 160 family
All three 160 variants run identical geometry. Same head angle (64.2°), same seat angle (77°), same reach, same stack, same chainstay length, same wheelbase. The trim choice is purely about suspension, brakes and build kit. If you book a test ride on the 160.7, the way the bike steers and sits under you is the same as the 160.9; what you do not feel is the extra plushness of the higher-end fork and shock and the extra grip of the heavier-duty rotors.
The full Clutch range and what each model costs
| Variant | Travel (front/rear) | Drivetrain | Fork | UK RRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clutch SUV 150.7 EQ | 150 / 150 mm | Belt (Gates CDX 39T) | RockShox PSYLO Silver RC | £7,399 |
| Clutch 160.7 | 170 / 160 mm | Chain (KMC e101) | RockShox Domain R | £7,199 |
| Clutch 160.8 | 170 / 160 mm | Belt (Gates CDX 39T) | RockShox ZEB Select | £7,999 |
| Clutch 160.9 | 170 / 160 mm | Belt (Gates CDX 39T) | RockShox ZEB Ultimate | £8,899 |
All four bikes share the same Pinion MGU motor, the same 780 Wh Moustache battery, and the same mullet wheel set-up. The 150.7 EQ is the only one with the full SUV pack of mudguards, lights and rack. The 160 family is for someone who wants a pure mountain bike and is happy to add a rack later if they need one.
All variants come in two colours (Dune matt or Slab Grey glossy) and four sizes (S, M, L, XL) covering rider heights from 1.55 m to 2.03 m.
Test ride or order through ebikeist
If you want to try one, come and ride one. The Clutch 150.7 EQ is in the shop and we can run you out onto the bridleway behind the workshop, which is the kind of ground this bike was built for. If you want to see the full Moustache Clutch line-up on our site, the collection page has every variant with current pricing.
A few things worth saying about how we sell these bikes. The price is the price; we do not discount and we do not push you. Cycle to Work and 0% finance are available at no extra cost. If you order one, Dan delivers it personally with a full handover anywhere in the South West (Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire). And there is a free return-to-base check-up four weeks after delivery to make sure everything has settled in correctly.
If you have any questions before booking a test ride, the easiest thing is to call us on 03330 151 979 or email hello@ebikeist.com. The unit is on a working farm in Little Dartmouth, postcode TQ6 0JR, and we open Monday to Friday 9-5 and Saturday 9-1.
The Clutch is a bike I am genuinely excited to have in the range. It does something none of our other bikes do, and it does it very well.
