Scott Contessa Active eRIDE 920

The Scott Contessa Active eRIDE 920 is an electric hardtail built for riders who want to cover more ground off-road, tackle steeper climbs with less effort, and do it all without taking on the extra weight, cost and maintenance of a full-suspension e-bike. A Bosch Performance CX motor and a removable 625Wh battery sit at the heart of the appeal, giving it enough assistance and capacity for longer, hillier days on fire roads, gravel tracks and easier singletrack. This isn't a bike built for technical descending; it's one built to make assisted, exploratory off-road riding more accessible, and on that brief it's well equipped.

Power and battery for longer, hillier rides

The Bosch Performance CX motor is one of the more capable systems Bosch makes, and here it's paired with a removable PowerTube battery holding 625Wh, a genuinely large capacity for a bike in this category. Assistance is limited to 25km/h, as it is on every UK and EU e-bike sold for road and shared-path use, so the benefit isn't a higher top speed but smoother, steadier support on the climbs that would otherwise wear you down on an unassisted bike. Because the battery is removable, you can take it indoors to charge with the supplied 4A charger rather than needing a power source next to wherever the bike is stored, which matters if you keep it in a shed, garage or flat without an outdoor socket nearby. Controls are handled through a Bosch LED Remote on the bar and an Intuvia 100 display, with Scott noting E-Bike Flow app connectivity for keeping track of ride data and battery use from your phone. Worth bearing in mind: a battery's capacity tells you how much energy is on board, not a fixed riding distance, since how far it takes you depends on terrain, assistance level and rider weight.

Equipment built for fire roads and easy trails, not technical descents

The rest of the build backs up that fire-road and easy-trail brief. Up front there's a 120mm-travel SR Suntour XCM34 coil fork with a handlebar remote lockout, so you can firm it up for smoother gravel or tarmac stretches and let it work when the surface roughens up. Gearing comes from a SRAM 1x12 setup, an NX Eagle rear derailleur and SX Eagle shifter, running a 36-tooth chainring against an 11-50T cassette; that's a wide enough spread to find an easy gear on steep, assisted climbs without a front derailleur to manage. Stopping power comes from Shimano BR-MT200 discs with 180mm rotors front and rear, sized to cope with the extra weight an e-bike carries. The 29x2.6in Kenda Booster tyres sit on Syncros MD30 rims that are tubeless-ready, though the bike isn't specified as supplied tubeless, so setting it up that way would be something to do yourself if you want lower pressures and fewer pinch punctures. There's also a fixed Syncros seatpost rather than a dropper, which is consistent with a bike aimed at flowing easy trails rather than technical, seat-down descending.

Sizing, fit and how much weight it can carry

This build is offered in small, medium and large frame sizes. Scott directs buyers to its own measurement-based Smartfit tool for choosing a size, and the published geometry across the three sizes isn't intended as a stand-alone fit recommendation, so it's worth using that tool alongside the frame's reach, stack and standover figures rather than picking a size by height guesswork alone. Approximate bike weight is 25.46kg by Scott's own figure, worth knowing if you need to lift it onto a car rack, up stairs or into storage without help. The maximum system weight is set at 128kg, and that figure covers the bike, rider and any luggage or accessories together, not a rider-only allowance, so it's worth adding up realistically if you plan to ride with a loaded rack or bags.

One current UK build, and matching the right listing

Scott specifies a single, fully equipped UK build of the Contessa Active eRIDE 920, priced at £3,519.00, combining the Bosch LED Remote and Intuvia 100 controls, the 625Wh battery and the 1x12 drivetrain described above. Bosch light cabling is also pre-installed on the frame, ready for a compatible light powered from the main battery if you want to add one later, even though lights aren't part of the supplied build. It's worth knowing that Scott doesn't currently list this exact specification in its own UK catalogue, so you're more likely to come across it through retailer stock than the brand's current range pages; the safest way to check you're looking at the same bike is to match that fitted equipment against what a retailer has listed, rather than relying on a stated model year alone.

What that adds up to is a bike that makes assisted off-road exploring straightforward to live with day to day: a big enough battery for a proper ride out, controls simple enough to use without thinking about them, and a chassis built around comfort and climbing rather than outright technical capability.