New Rotwild Schwalbe E-Enduro Team Signs Kelan Grant, Torben Drach & Helen Weber

Feb 3, 2024
by Ed Spratt  

Rotwild has announced its new gravity racing team that will be taking on this year's E-Enduro World Cup race season.

The newly formed Rotwild Schwalbe Gravity Team has signed on enduro racers Kelan Grant, Torben Drach & Helen Weber for its first season of eMTB racing. Both Torben Drach and Helen Weber are moving from racing under the Raaw // BC.Bike Gravity Team while Kelan Grant has come from nine years riding for Nukeproof.

bigquotesThe Gravity Team goes electric! ⚡

Excited to introduce the Rotwild Schwalbe Gravity Team!

Mountain bike racing has always been a big part of the Rotwild DNA. Now that passion, which helped athletes win medals and world champ titles, is reignited.

The Gravity Team, consisting of Torben Drach, Kelan Grant and Helen Weber, is teaming up with Rotwild and Schwalbe to kick off a new chapter in racing history.

Season starts in May 2024, let the electric adventures begin!—Rotwild

The new team will be kicking off the E-Enduro race season in the Finale, Italy at the start of May.

Posted In:
eMTB Racing and Events Enduro Racing Racing Rumours Rotwild Kelan Grant


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66 Comments
  • 98 7
 Depressing to see the demise of ews teams in favour of e ews teams. I am far from an ebike hater but definitely an ebike race hater. Just see zero point in the format.
  • 21 32
flag lostlunchbox (Feb 3, 2024 at 12:13) (Below Threshold)
 Personally I'm not a huge fan of racing in general outside of being impressed at how fast the DH riders are onterrain I probably couldn't even ride, but I could see an argument for a ebike racing given that the climbs can be as challenging as the downs offering a unique style of racing. I mean, if people are out there riding them everyday then obviously there's going to be people that want to race them.
  • 9 14
flag everythingsucks FL (Feb 3, 2024 at 14:34) (Below Threshold)
 @lostlunchbox: “ given that the climbs can be as challenging”

I believe that’s what makes it a challenge and competitive.
  • 14 11
 @everythingsucks: so moto isn’t challenging or competitive? This argument doesn’t hold water. It’s the popular thing to say on PB, though.
  • 2 3
 @everythingsucks: also, username checks out!
  • 6 10
flag Blownoutrides (Feb 3, 2024 at 21:29) (Below Threshold)
 Agreed.

However…

I can see a DH format where racers have to get back up the hill (untimed) on their e-DHbikes. This would cut the uplift traffic jam and foster the development of (e)DH bikes that consumers can actually use on a daily basis. Sacrilege, I know. But it makes loads of sense.
  • 6 8
 I disagree. Its a race from A to B and the faster person wins. Whats zero point there?
  • 4 19
flag ThatEbikeGuy (Feb 4, 2024 at 6:24) (Below Threshold)
 Not really. The whole purpose of racing is to advertise a brand and their bikes. No-one is buying legacy push bikes these days. They are over. Museum pieces. Consigned to history. Ebikes are outselling them many times over these days.
  • 6 4
 @ThatEbikeGuy: I dunno, electric bikes are fun and stuff but after testing a whole bunch recently I ended up buying a mountain bike because all the electric bikes were so dang cumbersome. I also don’t want to get fat and lazy.
  • 4 2
 @ThatEbikeGuy: not really, people race bikes whether they’re sponsored or not.
  • 4 2
 @ThatEbikeGuy:
Only because people with lots of money who like the latest and greatest are buying an eMTB at £10k, instead of the newest plastic-fantastic "legacy" creation that has been pushed in the media.

I also detest the fashion of calling anything that is not the latest model "legacy". A standard pedal cycle is not a legacy product. There are millions (billions) out there and similar numbers who are perfectly happy with them.

In the commuter bike world there are some who are using them in place of a car, but they are MTBs.
  • 3 1
 Let me know when E-XC kicks-off. I didn't even know this was a thing, thought it was an April fools joke in Feb.
  • 32 6
 Who cares?? E-bike racing is a joke.
  • 11 0
 Is it just me, or has the last 6 weeks been filled with names few have heard of? changing of the guard I guess.
  • 9 0
 cheaper riders in low budget times
  • 8 0
 EWS probably much larger in Europe than people realise. And the European centric teams dont get as much coverage on PB / VITAL etc. Kelan has been on Nukeproof for about 7 years
  • 11 0
 My only question, will they be on the Pinion MGU bike or not?
  • 4 2
 From what I heard from other teams, Pinion doesn´t seem to be keen to give race support unfortunately. But I still hope to see a a bike with the MGU beeing raced in the E-EDR this year
  • 1 0
 @IamGroot5482: aren’t Pinion stating the box and motor don’t need any support?
  • 1 0
 @hitarpotar: I mean there is more to race support than just servicing the motors. But I don`t know more about it.
  • 10 3
 you guys that call e-bike racing a joke gotta loosen up. the bike industry is a business, they are trying to sell more ebikes by creating an entire race series to give them the spotlight and normalize the riding of ebikes.
  • 9 3
 i was always thinking ebike racing sucks. might still be the case for E-XC in a lot of ways, but seeing eEDR live in person changed my mind for Enduro:
its still the same race like the regular EDR plus the climbing stages, so theres actually more to it than to the non-electric race, since the long suffer days with more than 2k vertical to climb are no more happening..
sure climbing is harder without the motor but i think for professional riders its more challenging to have more stages to race on per day than having to pedal about 1000-1500vertical without motor assistance.

also its nice to see a german brand with a long heritage in racing stepping back into racing and giving support to some of the most promissing riders in germany! kudos on that!
  • 6 3
 I would say watching e-bike racing isn’t fun, but entering is. The point of the team is to show off Rotwild’s e-bike and help people decide if they want to buy one to race.
  • 5 2
 Q: With the allowance for two battery changes during the race how do the technological innovations developed to win an E-Enduro trickle down to me, the consumer?
A: It doesn’t.
  • 4 0
 E-EWS should be like Hard Enduro motorbike races. I want to see people run through talus fields in clipless slippers falling into rock jails
  • 21 16
 for the wankers cup
  • 2 4
 haha!
  • 10 6
 I’d rather watch paint dry in the dark
  • 2 5
 Don’t let the door knob hit ya!
  • 5 3
 EEW(S)…Also spelt 'Ew'. Disgusted-disgusting-disgusts. To excite nausea or loothing in; sicken. To offend the taste or moral sense of; repel.
  • 1 1
 I am very Ok with E-enduro racing to showcase the bikes maneuverability, playfulness and capabilities But I would not encourage “fun or technical” climbs… I can foresee newbs seeking fun, trying to climb local downhill runs ending in disaster…
  • 3 0
 Thanks. I’m gonna watch supercross though.
  • 3 0
 So are they timed on the ascents too??
  • 2 0
 It says "gravity team" so I suppose that goes both ways. They're just not timed on the flat sections.
  • 4 1
 They have minimum 2 uphill stages and this is not easy stages. Plus 2-3 times more downhill stages than normal ews/edr
  • 10 8
 Pity that those up and coming German racers now have to race Ebikes instead of proper enduros
  • 9 6
 Enduro actually started in the moto world, so try again.
  • 6 5
 If you're too health compromised, or too weak to pedal a real bike, you probably ought not be racing. Let the downvotes from the weaklings pour in... hahaha.
  • 2 1
 So in e-enduro they "Salmon" (ride up) the same track while others are attempting to go down? This sounds very exciting.
  • 4 1
 Pass
  • 1 0
 Wonder if that is a try to revive some form of Enduro, or just another try to sell even more ebikes...
  • 2 1
 The proliferation of e-bikes in mountain biking is embarrassing enough without e racing.
  • 2 1
 For them that may know; Rotwild is a big ass, red Deer.
  • 4 3
 Ebike racing being forced on us.
  • 3 3
 You do know, you don't have to watch it
  • 3 0
 @psullivan65: if only it were that simple. There's a huge opportunity cost to deleting a culture to prop up a fake one.
  • 2 4
 @Dogl0rd: it's not fake it it's actually happening. Can't wait to do one.
  • 4 0
 @psullivan65: it's as real as one of those empty cities china built in the middle of nowhere
  • 1 3
 @Dogl0rd: ok dude. China? WTF are you on.
  • 4 0
 @psullivan65: lololll it's an analogy sir
  • 1 0
 it’s easier with a chairlift !!!
  • 2 1
 Who ?
No, who cares…
  • 2 3
 You do or you wouldn’t have commented
  • 5 7
 This is the team to watch out for ⚡️
  • 24 9
 Except that no one will be watching silly ebike racing.
  • 6 5
 @generictrailrider: Well that's your opinion on it my man
  • 4 5
 @JamieRead22: he needs to say that to keep his PB rep strong
  • 4 1
 @JamieRead22: fair enough but by judging my upvotes to your downvotes this may hold true.
  • 2 3
 @BermJunky: I don’t care about my rep on here or any other social media platform. Totally anonymous and really not that important.
  • 6 7
 stupid
  • 1 4
 Get er done! Wheeeeooooo
  • 1 4
 Mooga Oomgawa!
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