In deciding if any bike is a solid choice for a hard tail eMTB, I ask the following questions:
- Is the motor good? Does it feel under-powered, over-powered? Is it an extension of the power I’m putting into the bike, or does it feel unnatural while pedaling?
- Am I going to have to take off and swap a bunch of parts that are bringing the bike down? Or does the bike come stock with good quality components?
- Price – is the bike overpriced, underpriced, or priced just right (and yes, tariffs are still making bikes more expensive than they should be)
- Is the bike comfortable on flats, on climbs, and on descents? In other words: is the geometry modern, and is the overall build quality solid?
- And most important – how big is the smile on my face while riding?
So, is the Aventon Ramblas ADV a good eMTB? Short answer: yes, it’s a fantastic option for those looking for a full-power, hard-tail eMTB and don’t want to spend over $3,000.
In fact, it might be the best on the market (I’d say the Ride1Up TrailRush or the Trek Marlin+ are the bike’s most natural competitors).
In the ‘E-Bike World’, not everything that gets called an eMTB really is. But, Aventon has done an impressive job here. The Ramblas ADV features a 12-speed drivetrain, 4-piston hydraulic disc brakes, a dropper post, and (now) tubeless tires. They also got the geometry of the bike right; the Ramblas handles like what I would expect an eMTB to perform.
My Experience Riding The Aventon Ramblas E-Bike
I’m going to be honest and say that when most direct-to-consumer e-bike makers claim to have made an eMTB, what they are selling falls short of what riders need for real off-road riding. They lack things that people riding mountain bikes and eMTBs all agree are necessities. To qualify as an eMTB, the suspension fork needs to be quality. The eMTB also needs at least an 11-speed drivetrain; that’s because eMTBs feature single chainring drivetrains (called 1x—say one-by); in order to offer a rider a broad enough range to get up hills and back down the other side, a cassette needs to give a rider an at least 400 percent gear range, and the 8- and 9-speed drivetrains don’t do that.
The Aventon Ramblas ADV performed as expected – admirably. While Aventon only made a few updates to the bike, those updates matter and give the bike an even better, more natural feel than the first version had.
I like how Aventon kept the geo of the bike the same, with a 66.5 degree head tube angle and 455mm reach. Pretty much every geometry decision that Aventon has made with the bike is conservative, which is a great choice. Aventon isn’t trying to push the limits on frame and kinematic design – they are trying to make a solid bike that almost everyone will love.
In terms of sizing, Aventon sent us a size LARGE, which fit me really well. The sizing feels a little smaller than most other brands and gives the bike a fun, playful feel. It’s easy to control and just fun to ride.
Of course, as a hard tail, you’re going to feel the rocky parts of the trail (which we have more than our fair share of out here in the desert), but the front fork does a nice job up front. Its 130mm of travel is a good choice for a hard-tail, and even though the fork does not have any adjustability. For me, at 185 lbs, the fork felt great; however, for larger riders I think the fork might feel a bit too soft. At some point, I’d love to see Aventon spec this with an air fork with compression and rebound adjustments….but at $3K I can understand why they didn’t.
Range (and Battery)
Estimated Range (from Aventon): up to 90 mi.
Real World Range Test Results: Coming Soon
Aventon equipped the Ramblas with a 708Wh battery using LG 21700 cells. Considering the 250W rating of the motor, riders will be able to ride for hours on a single charge. Aventon estimates that riders can expect to get as much as 90 mi. on a single charge.
Given we’ve only had this bike for a few days, we haven’t had a chance to do a range test. However, with a 708 Wh battery I do think that 90 miles is possible – but ONLY if you’re using the bike as a commuter around town, and pedaling in ECO mode.
For normal mountain biking, I think you’ll get around 30 miles in TURBO.
Power (Motor)
Power Rating: 36V, 250W mid-drive motor with torque sensor, 100Nm of torque
EBR readers may recall that Aventon produces their own frames, but not their own motors. The A100 was a new direction for the company, as they collaborated with Gobao to manufacture their 250W mid-drive motor. That’s notably smaller than the 750W hub motor common to many of their models, but that doesn’t mean the Ramblas is under-powered. In fact, with 100Nm of torque and a max output of 750W, the A100 is among the most powerful class 1, single-track approved mid drive motors. It’s right there with the new Bosch BDU38, and just below the Specialized 3.1 motor and the Avinox drive system.
In other words – it’s powerful and you won’t need more power. In fact, while I generally like to tune the motor to give me the full 100% power output on TURBO, I prefer riding this one at 90%-95% – which I can do since Aventon has ride tuning in their app where you can customize the max torque (Nm), assistance (watts), and acceleration (how fast the bike responds to you turning the pedals).
I also really have to give credit to Aventon on making the updated A100 quieter (quite a bit quieter, btw) while also making it feel more natural. And I really like the AUTO mode. My only complaint is that Aventon’s app doesn’t let me adjust the power output for AUTO mode. It’s a small gripe, but something I would like to see Aventon add in a future OTA update.
Another nice upgrade on the new Ramblas ADV is that you can ride the bike as a Class 1, trail-legal eMTB, and then unlock the bike to Class 3 (28 mph) when you’re commuting on the road.
This combination makes the Ramblas a great option for people who want to ride a bike around town but who also would love to ride some mountain bike trails on the weekends (or even more).
Components
It’s one thing to produce a quality e-bike that can serve the masses. It’s quite another to produce a proper eMTB that will allow a reasonably athletic person to ride into technical terrain and perform well enough that an experienced rider wouldn’t think the eMTB was holding them back. The opportunities to make mistakes in design are numerous.
One of the most frequent mistakes we see companies make is by going with a drivetrain that isn’t up to the task. The Aventon Ramblas includes a SRAM NX Eagle drivetrain; this is a 12-speed drivetrain that includes an 11-50t cassette—that’s a nearly 500 percent gear range. While this is a more budget-oriented version of SRAM’s upper-end drivetrains, the NX Eagle drivetrain is a great value and performs well.
One change Aventon made on the Ramblas ADV vs the original Ramblas is downgrading the brakes to the SRAM DB6 from the D8s. I guess with tariffs Aventon had to compromise somewhere, and given that the DB6 brakes are still good brakes, they obviously chose to save some money there. My recommendation would be to upgrade the brakes later unless you fall into the 5-10% of people who are going to ride this bike hard and fast downhill.
Another sign that Aventon did its homework with the Ramblas is that they spec’d a dropper post. A dozen years ago, dropper posts were still a little bit novel. That’s no longer the case. It’s hard to claim that an eMTB is really an eMTB if the rider can’t drop the seat for a technical descent. Aventon included a 150mm-travel X-Fusion Manic LC dropper which functions really well and is better than the previous version (at least in my opinion). If we were to get super-ultra-picky, we would complain that they went with 150mm-travel droppers on the large and XL rather than going with 175mm-travel posts. These potatoes are very small.
Aventon spec’d Maxxis Recon tires on the Ramblas, which is a terrific move. Maxxis is one of the most popular tire makers for mountain bikes and eMTBs. And, most importantly, the Ramblas ADV now comes with tubeless ready tires and rims. Tubeless tires result in fewer flats, better traction and superior rolling resistance, plus riders can run less pressure in the tires which offers the impressive triple whammy of better comfort, better traction and reduced opportunities for flats.
Screen / User Interface / App
The Display that comes with the Aventon Ramblas isn’t as big as the ones we see on other Aventon e-bikes, but that’s okay as this is an eMTB and riders may dump the bike from time to time, so we appreciate their decision to go with a smaller screen (still full-color LCD) that is tucked just behind the handlebar where it won’t easily hit or be hit by anything.
Riders can choose from three different PAS levels: Eco, Trail and Turbo.
Aventon produces one of our favorite smartphone apps. In it, riders can adjust the assistance level in each PAS level, dial the maximum torque level for each PAS level and then alter just how the Ramblas accelerates, giving them an unusual degree of control over their e-bike’s performance.
Is The Aventon Ramblas Worth It?
Oh lordy, yes. To use a technical term from this generation – this eMTB slays (i.e. is awesome).
In many ways, you see the progression that Aventon has made these past 5 years. They are now in over 1800 dealers. This is great for servicing the bike, and makes it even easier to buy the bike online since you’ll have a shop who can help you maintain the bike.
In general, it feels like Aventon is going to continue to play in the high-performance sandbox with future e-bike releases. Given that they have developed a stellar mid drive platform and already have solid manufacturing capabilities, it would not surprise me if we continue to see higher level performance bikes from Aventon in the future.
And if the Ramblas ADV is any indication, Aventon might also have the ability to price their bikes very competitively – which is great for riders.
We suspect that many of the early-adopters for the Aventon Ramblas are likely to be riders who have been exploring dirt roads and trails on all-terrain e-bikes with fat tires. Much as we love the Aventon Aventure 3, if you want to ride mountain bike trails, then you will want the Ramblas.
Another group of riders who I think will like the Ramblas ADV are riders who haven’t ridden in a while but are trail-curious. If you look at a mountain bike trail and think “That would be fun to ride!”, then this is a good option at a much more approachable price level.
Our guess is that the big legacy manufacturers such as Specialized and Trek are going to start taking more notice of Aventon, if they haven’t already. It will be interesting to see how they respond if the Ramblas continues to gain traction for riders looking for a hard-tail. Again, not many brands offer full-power motors as good as the A100 at sub $3,000 prices.
Overall, we couldn’t be more impressed by the Aventon Ramblas. Will someone buy this e-bike instead of a $10k Specialized Turbo Levo? No. The Ramblas won’t compete with the high-end of the market, but what it will do is open up riding increasingly technical terrain for riders who may not have seen themselves as Weekend Warrior Athletes.
And now with an improved motor, I could also see experienced riders who are happy with a hard-tail ripping on a Ramblas ADV as their next bike.
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