I tried turning my Forbidden Druid Lite into a Druid Core, and surprisingly, the bike hardly changed. That result actually made me realize something important about this bike.
I recently reviewed the Forbidden Druid Lite, and if you have not seen that review, go check it out. I wanted to get my hands on a Core for a direct comparison, but I could not make that happen. So I did the next best thing and pushed my Lite as close to a Core as I could.
When I reviewed the Lite, it scored really well. The drive unit scored a +2, climbing scored a +2, descending scored a +1, suspension performance scored a +1, handling scored a 0, versatility scored a +1, and intangibles scored a 0. That gave me a really solid baseline going into this experiment.
To make the change, I removed the shock spacer to unlock the full stroke, which bumps the rear travel up to the Core’s 150 millimeters. Then I installed a 170 millimeter Push Nine One fork. At that travel, the axle-to-crown measurement is very close to the height of a 160 millimeter Fox 38, so this setup is reasonably close to the front-end geometry you would expect from a Core-style build. Other than that, I left the bike alone because it was already built up pretty proper.
The one thing I could not change, and the reason this is not a full apples-to-apples comparison, is the battery. I still had the 600-watt-hour battery in the bike instead of the larger battery that comes stock on the Core. That obviously affects range, but I was more interested in what it would do to the handling. Honestly, this might even be my preferred setup anyway: big travel and the smaller battery.
Now let’s talk about how the bike actually rode after the changes.
Even with the added travel, this is still easily the best climbing eMTB I have ridden. The climbing score stays at a +2 because the body position remains largely unchanged. The bike still puts you in a strong, forward climbing position, and it still has the same traits that made it such a monster on the way up in the first place. If anything, the Push fork adds enough suppleness and control that technical climbing may have improved slightly. The front wheel tracks a little better through awkward ledges and bumps, and it feels a touch calmer when the trail gets weird.
Descending is where I expected the biggest change, and this is where the result surprised me. The bike’s DNA remained largely the same. It still felt like the exact same bike: fast, stable, and confident. It just had a little more headroom.
The best way I can describe it is with the ceiling analogy. If you go from eight-foot ceilings to ten-foot ceilings in your house, your day-to-day life does not change all that much. You just have more room above you. You can jump higher without smacking your head.
That is exactly what happened with this bike.
That is what the extra travel feels like on this Core-ish setup. The bike has a little more margin for bigger hits and harder landings, but the off-the-top feel, the mid-stroke support, and the overall handling did not change in a dramatic way.
That is why I would only move descending from a +1 to about a +1.5. The bigger fork definitely helps, and the extra rear travel does not hurt, but the improvement is smaller than I would have guessed going in. It feels more like a refinement than a transformation.
Suspension performance also stays at a +1. The kinematics are still fundamentally the same, and the bike still has the same supportive, controlled feel it had before. You are getting a little more travel, but you are not suddenly getting a different suspension character.
Handling stays at 0. The personality of the bike does not really change. The added weight from the fork does not upset the balance in any major way, and the smaller battery helps keep the whole package from feeling too heavy or dull. That is an important distinction, because I do think a true Core build with the bigger battery could feel a little different in this department.
Versatility drops from a +1 to a 0. This version of the bike loses a little bit of its lower-end range when it comes to easier trails. With the bigger fork and extra travel, it can start to feel slightly more sluggish on green trails or mellower terrain. The motor does a good job of masking some of that, but it is still noticeable enough that I would pull the score back a notch.
The drive unit stays at a +2, and the intangibles stay at a 0 because neither of those really changed in any meaningful way.
At that point, the real explanation started to become obvious.
Most of the Druid’s capability never came from the travel number in the first place.
The geometry, the high-pivot wheel path, and the weight distribution are what define the bike.
The extra travel helps a little, but it does not fundamentally change what the Druid is.
Turns out the Lite already knew what it was doing.
Honestly, I would probably pick this version over the stock Lite or the Core. I did not notice any real drawbacks. I just found a little more headroom on the descents while keeping most of what made the Lite so impressive in the first place.
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