When I saw Upon learning the price of the Ramblas, Aventon’s first electric mountain bike, I scratched my head and asked myself: “How do this one?” Okay, so $2,699 isn’t exactly cheap. But most top-of-the-line full-suspension e-MTBs cost $15,000. That’s a difference of more than $12,000, which can’t be explained by the lack of a rear shock absorber.
The company has been around since 2013, the year it began manufacturing fixies in Long Beach, California. In 2015, Aventon’s factory women’s team won the Red Hook Crit in Barcelona, a 20-lap race over a 1.2 kilometer course at speeds in excess of 35 km per hour. Despite having a devoted fixie following, Aventon entered the commuter e-bike space in 2017. Seven years later, the Ramblas e-MTB was born.
Now based in Ontario, California, the company does almost everything in-house, from engineering and development to assembling small parts and manufacturing its own frames. On the Ramblas, Aventon even designed its own mid-drive engine. As a result, the manufacturer can eliminate the middleman and produce higher volume than its competitors, which means lower prices for the consumer.
Make it or break it
Aventon works with more than 1,500 bike shops nationwide, but also sells directly to consumers, so I asked the company to send me a demo of Ramblas directly. My partner built the bike in under an hour, thanks to his mechanical skills and easy-to-follow instructions accessed via the QR code on the box.
At first glance, I was impressed with the bike’s well-appointed components, including a Rockshox 35 suspension fork with 130mm of travel, a 12-speed Sram NX drivetrain, and Sram DB-8 four-piston mineral hydraulic disc brakes. In less technical jargon, that means more brake fluid is distributed over a larger surface area, making it easier to stop. Additionally, the Ramblas comes with a telescopic seatpost and integrated front and rear lights.
As for electronics, the Ramblas use an Aventon 708 watt-hour rechargeable lithium-ion battery and the new Aventon-designed 36-volt A100 mid-drive motor with 250 watts of sustained power and 750 watts of peak power. that can be customized through the companion app. I’d never ridden an e-MTB that wasn’t powered by Brose, Bosch, or Specialized, so I was curious to see how the A100 would compare.
Photography: Stephanie Pearson
My first ride in early May was a 25-mile loop of dirt and paved roads interspersed with bits of trail dry enough to ride. My first adventure on a new e-bike always provokes battery anxiety, so I stayed almost entirely in Eco mode, the lowest of the Ramblas’ three power modes, which is standard on most e-bikes. MTB.
Even in Eco mode, I was impressed with the smooth, consistent power with every pedal stroke. If I maintained my cadence and completed each stroke, Eco mode provided enough constant power to climb long, steep hills without having to switch to Trail or Turbo mode. The A100’s tiger in the tank is probably due to its 100 newton meters (NM) of torque (the higher the torque, the greater the power and responsiveness of the engine), about 20 NM more than most others. e-MTB engines.
Heavyweight
At 52 pounds and with a medium frame, the Ramblas are no lightweight. At one point on a steep, paved hill, I turned off the bike to see how well I pedaled under my own power. That didn’t go well and I had to restart the bike long before I reached the top of the hill, quickly realizing that it would be a huge bummer if the bike ran out of battery during a long ride. The positive, however, is that after 25 miles, I still had 70 percent of the charge left, indicating that Aventon’s promise of an 80-mile range is accurate.
Photography: Stephanie Pearson