Aventon Ramblas Review

It seems that lately, I've spent quite a bit of time shouting at my monitor, telling a wide swath of “bike companies” to stay in their lane! So when Aventon announced the Ramblas, a full-power mid-drive mountain bike with their own motor and spec we find on bikes far more expensive, I was sure I'd soon be writing, “This isn't a mountain bike,” but that's not the case. The Ramblas comes storming into the market with a budget-friendly alternative to the motorcycle-priced bikes that have defined the sport thus far. So, is this thing legit? Does it really compete with the bikes at twice its price? Read on to get our thoughts and test results from over a month of riding the Aventon Ramblas.

Looking over the spec sheet, it's hard to believe Aventon gets this bike to the consumer at this price. Mid-drive motor with 100Nm of torque? That's more than the Specialized Levo. RockShox 35 fork, 708Wh battery, SRAM NX Eagle drivetrain, SRAM DB8 brakes, dropper post, Maxxis tires; for $2899?! What's the catch, and why does it have taillights in the seat stays?

Performance Comparison

Downhill Performance

The Ramblas is an aluminum hardtail 29'r with middle-of-the-road geometry paired with a 130mm of coil-sprung RockShox 35 fork. The headtube sits at 66.5 degrees, keeping it calm enough to have some descending prowess but firmly in the do-it-all camp. The steering response is ideal under 20 mph but gets a little twitchy when the trail gets blurry. The tapered headtube and 110mm thru-axle legitimize what's going on with the front end; RockShox isn't exactly slacking on suspension duties, but the 35 isn't their sharpest tool. Still, the 35mm stanchions housing a coil spring and adjustable rebound hang out in the shadow of this bike's price tag. Unfortunately, aside from rebound speed, the fork is not adjustable; it's a one-spring-fits-all approach that leaves a little to be desired when you get rowdy on this bike. At 170 pounds, I felt the spring was firmer than I would have preferred.

Armed with a dropper post, the hardtail becomes far more capable of handling bumpy stuff, allowing you to get the saddle out of the way and lower your center of gravity. The bike's 54-pound mass works mostly in your favor on the way down. It's less nimble than we would have liked, but it carries confidence like it does momentum. The non-tubeless Maxxis Rekon 2.4" tires play their role well, but anyone who has experienced tubeless tires on a mountain bike will miss the additional traction and dampening they provide. The DB8 brakes, which are mated to 180mm rotors, do an admirable job of slowing your roll, and the lever feel is quite good, even after prolonged heat exposure.

Let's consider the Ramblas downhill performance with respect to its target audience. This isn't a rowdy, slack, all-mountain hardtail or replacement for the svelte 5-figure e-bikes. I've been riding this bike on aggressive single track, challenging lines, and not always keeping the rubber on the ground. It's handled my lines adequately, but where this bike shines is on the milder cross-country ribbons, fire road ascents, and buffed-out forest trails. At lower speeds, the bike feels more composed and in its element; if you gravitate to smoother lines, the Ramblas rewards you with an exhilarating experience that thrills beyond expectations. The Ramblas trades some sportiness for stability, owing much of that stability to 465mm long chainstays. The bike isn't quick to pivot or change directions; manuals and wheelies aren't its forte. Long, wide berms, on the other hand, are this bike's breakfast; its 1230mm wheelbase is as long as many of the full-suspension bikes we test, and it gives it a calm, stable disposition.

Where the Ramblas really excels is pulling out of corners and tearing through the flats; the bike's ample assist gives you a punch of acceleration like you borrowed legs from a pro. The built-in torque sensor feels a little slower than those on the TQ, Fazua, Brose, or Bosch motors, but it engages within a fraction of a pedal stroke. Its performance will wow those without experience on a more expensive mid-drive. With 455mm of reach on our large test bike, there's plenty of room for bike/body separation, and using the dropper post adds to the space.

Climbing Performance

You might be tempted to think of the motor handling the climbing experience, but this is a pedal-ASSIST bike, and you're very much an active part of the ascents. The Ramblas has a 74.5-degree seat tube, which favors less extreme climbs, but it also has long chainstays that keep the rider fore of the rear axle at a greater pitch. The geometry is fairly conservative for a trail mountain bike, but this bike is likely to see more than single-track service. While a steeper seat tube would provide better power transfer in steeper sections, the Ramblas has abundant torque to fall back on.

The 100 Nm of torque coming from the A100 motor masks the bike's weight and gives it a lively, caffeinated feel on the climbs. In ECO mode, the bike does more than compensate for its weight; you feel like you're climbing on a bike that weighs a fraction of what it does. In TRAIL mode, the power arrives with a noticeable boost; the bike feels sportier, the front end comes up with less effort, and the whir sound of the motor reminds you that the bike is fueling the fun. Any lag in your pedaling is met with a drop in power that can feel abrupt and discontinuous; you get used to the power and almost take credit for it. In TURBO mode, the whir is turned up a few decibels, and the bike pulls from beneath you; you feel the front edges of the grips and saddle as the bike conveys a whole new dynamic. This bike puts out more power than any of the other electric mountain bikes we've tested. The torque was enough to break the chain; after several rides, we opted to be very careful while shifting in TURBO mode. The SRAM NX Eagle e-bike shifter shifts only one gear at a time, and generally, this is fine; it puts less load on the chain, and that turns out to be important. This is the only bike we've ever broken a SRAM Eagle chain on.

Conquering uphill technical challenges is easy with the bike's brute force; turbo mode feels less conducive to finessing the problems, instead, crushing them. There's enough power that you need to focus on maintaining traction from the rear wheel. The combination of high power and non-tubeless tires results in rocks and sand being spat backward. Uphill corners are thrilling as you lean into them with the same body dynamics you'd utilize while descending. Switchbacks aren't where this bike excels; its length, coupled with the less refined motor dynamics, can leave the rider feeling precarious. You can adjust most of the motor dynamics, but it still feels slightly less refined than others. If you learn to maintain your torque on the drivetrain, sometimes with a bit of braking, the motor's power can be harnessed for maximum benefit.

You can ride the Ramblas with no assistance at all, and you don't even need to power the bike on to do so. The A100 motor doesn't feel like it's adding much drivetrain friction, but the bike's mass makes you feel like less of an athlete than you probably are. When the battery dies, or you simply switch the bike off, it feels like being at a fun dance club when the music stops and the house lights go on. The party is over but if you're a glutton for punishment, there is certainly a workout to be had. There is no lockout on the fork, so your standing climbs feel less efficient on top of its 130mm travel.

Range

A 708Wh battery and Aventon's own A100 motor give the bike significant torque and a respectable range. During our normal testing rides, we never fully depleted the battery; we sometimes lowered its power to conserve energy but may not have needed to. We conquered some fairly large rides with significant vertical gain and our hands needed a rest before the battery did.

To test the range on a pedal-assist mountain bike, we strive to reduce as many variables as possible. We use the same rider, who weighs in before each test and controls for any weight discrepancy. We set the bike in its highest setting with a full battery and attack a section of pavement on a steep, closed road. The rider contributes only enough power to engage the motor while riding up and down the road until the battery is completely exhausted. We track the mileage, elevation gain, and time using three separate devices. We use Strava on the iPhone, Apple Fitness on the Apple Watch, and a Garmin 805 and compare them to the bike's display to calculate range and accuracy. In this range test, we were able to ride the Ramblas for 30.1 miles, conquering 5980 feet of vertical gain in 99 minutes. Perhaps most surprisingly, the A100 motor continually pushed us to its top speed of 20 mph throughout the test. There were times when we thought the battery was faltering, only to look down and realize that we had topped 19.9 mph on a steep grade. The bike maintained full “turbo” power until we hit 10% of the battery life, at which point, our assist was limited to “trail” power, which it maintained until about 40 seconds after the bike's display registered 0% charge.

Power Output

The most surprising thing about the Ramblas is its torque figure; the A100 motor puts out a claimed 100 Nm of torque, which is more than any other Class 1 mountain bike is advertising currently. Using a modified motorcycle dynamometer and Garmin power meter pedals, we set out to test this figure. The power rating of the motor is never equal to the power at the wheel due to drivetrain inefficiencies, sometimes taxing as much as 80% of the power coming from the drive unit. With a rider on the bike pedaling as near to a constant 100 watts as possible, we performed the dyno test several times to gather data on the power output where the tire meets the ground. We found the A100 motor to generate 27Nm of torque at the wheel. In plain English, this is the most powerful feeling electric mountain bike we've ridden.

The Ramblas runs on a 36V system, which provides enough juice to the motor to give it 250W of constant power output. However, it's capable of a peak output of 750W, which is a full horsepower. The three levels of power output can each be tuned; the Aventon App allows you to adjust the Torque, Assistance, and Pedal Response of each level independently. Adjusting the torque is fairly straightforward; factory settings give the bike 60, 75, and 100Nm of power. The assistance level is tunable from 0 to 100%, and it “dictates the motor's support based on your pedal input.” More torque or assistance requires more battery power, so tuning your values higher will result in less range. Pedal response is also tunable from 20-100% and refers to how fast the motor reacts to your pedaling input; tuning this higher results in a more responsive ride feel. Overall, an impressive amount of adjustments can be made to tune the ride quality and power output of this motor; we were almost able to tune away our criticism of the motor.

The A100 motor generates a bit more noise than others we've tested, but it has an overall whir instead of whine sound that we didn't find annoying, but we realize that it can be subjective. As expected, the motor's noise ramps up with its power output, but even at high torque, it isn't too loud. It isn't exactly stealthy; anyone you pass on the trail will know that you're on an e-bike, but it doesn't distract from trail chat.

E-Bike Controls

The Ramblas uses its own display and remote. While the form and function are very similar to a Shimano EP system, there are some key differences. The three-button wired remote sits next to the lever clamp on the left side of the handlebar. The top button powers the system on or off, while the lower two are plus/minus buttons that control your power setting or navigate the bike's settings. The ergonomics of the remote are excellent and easily accessible with your thumb. The dropper lever uses a matchmaker mount attached to the brake lever clamp, so there aren't a bunch of clamps vying for space.

The full-color display is mounted on the handlebar to the left side of the stem, where it is easy to read. Each mode has a different color, which makes it simple to differentiate. The main screen shows the current speed, a trip odometer, power setting, remaining battery life, and the time. It's odd to see an actual clock on a display, but we loved that they included it. The remaining power is shown as a percentage and as a bar chart.

Flipping through the screens, you can find an odometer, total time ridden on the bike, total average speed, and the bike's remaining range. While looking at the remaining range, if you press the plus/minus buttons, the range estimate changes based on the bike's power setting. There is also a trip odometer, trip time, average speed, and max speed field. Holding the plus button turns the lights on, which are conveniently powered by the bike's main battery. Holding the minus button engages walk mode, which allows the bike to “push itself” at up to 3 mph while you walk or hike a steep or treacherous section of trail.

The charge port on Ramblas is located on the non-drive side of the seat tube under a rubber cover. It's a reasonably good spot to connect the charger as it's mostly out of the mud and debris kicked up from riding. We're always weary of where charge ports are located, as the fewer opportunities for dirt and water intrusion, the better. The bike carries an IP-67 rating; the IP stands for ingress protection, and the 67 means that it's essentially waterproof or protected against short periods of immersion in water.

Build

Some aspects of this bike are incredibly well thought out, and we were frankly surprised to see. Headtube cable routing, while not fun to work on, gives this bike a simple, clean appearance. A 760mm handlebar with lock-on grips and a 40mm stem give the steering just the right amount of response. The SRAM NX Eagle drivetrain and DB8 brakes are nearly ubiquitous in the market but not on bikes at this price point. We're fond of both choices. The Eagle drivetrain provides a 500% gear range, and the brakes with 180mm rotors have ample stopping power; they'll please consumers of many different skill levels. The 150mm dropper post makes a huge contribution to the bike's performance, and while it's a heavier model, saving some grams here wouldn't have been noticeable on this bike. The 29 x 2.4" Maxxis Rekon tires are a solid choice for a variety of terrain, and while they hooked up well, it would have been nice to have them and the rims be tubeless compatible. Aggressive riders will likely want larger knobs and more width up front, which the fork can accommodate.

Other aspects of this bike have less mountain bike appeal but give the bike more versatility. The included kickstand doesn't feel at home on a mountain bike, but this bike will undoubtedly appeal to more than just trail riders. The included headlight is quite nice and illuminates the terrain sufficiently for night riding. The integrated tail lights feel right at home on Aventon's cargo bike but seem like a strange addition on the Ramblas. They probably don't add much weight, but we were the only ones with taillights on our night trail rides. The least impressive part of the build is the RockShox 35 Silver R because it lacks adjustability. The fork does have a tapered steerer, thru-axle, and adjustable rebound, but without adjustable compression or a lockout, it's a poor fit for some percentage of riders. Our testers for this bike range in size from 145 to 180 pounds, while the Ramblas has a maximum weight of 300 pounds. Having just one fork setting for everyone in this weight range doesn't yield optimal performance. That said, this is the least expensive electric mountain bike we've ever tested, so we expected some nits to pick; we did not expect its overwhelmingly powerful motor.

Should You Buy the Aventon Ramblas?

The Aventon Ramblas likely represents the best value available on a trail-worthy electric mountain bike. This bike has modern but neutral geometry, making it versatile enough for bike path cruising or sporty trail riding. The bike climbs and descends comfortably, and its tech is impressive yet user-friendly. It's heavy but not so heavy that it distracts from your ride or doesn't fit on a bike rack. The A100 motor impressed us with its torque but felt less refined than models that cost twice as much, which is totally acceptable. This bike is wildly versatile, fun to ride, and budget-friendly. This bike is going to please a wide swath of consumers and absolutely gets our recommendation.

What Other Electric Mountain Bike Should You Consider?

At this price, there aren't many legitimate electric mountain bikes to consider. Even non-electric bikes with these components sit at this price point, so where I could usually list off a slew of comparable bikes to consider, I'm left with only a few bikes to recommend. The Commencal Meta Power TR at twice the price provides full suspension comfort and handling in an attractive package. The build kit has changed slightly since we tested it, but the geometry is the same. Boasting 140mm of rear travel mated to a 150mm fork, there isn't much it can't conquer, and it's still a bit lighter than the Ramblas. The Specialized Turbo Levo Comp is also considered an outstanding value with the best motor and software integration on the market. The Specialized Levo starts at $5800 this year and while it's a great value, we're comparing it to a bike that costs half as much.