Aventon Bets Big with Its New Ramblas Electric Mountain Bike

Takeaway: Aventon’s new Ramblas is the brand’s first mid-motor-equipped e-bike and its first trail-capable e-MTB. With solid and dependable components, decent geometry, and a powerful motor, the Ramblas is sufficiently appointed for off-road use. This bike’s sharp price and accessibility help open up mountain biking and trail riding to more cyclists.

Since their initial introduction about a dozen years ago, electric mountain bikes have held much promise for making trail riding more accessible for many people. Unfortunately, good quality e-MTBs—capable and durable enough for riding on anything more than easy doubletrack or buffed-smooth singletrack—are often prohibitively expensive for most riders. As a result, most hardtail e-MTBs get equipped with low-range components or heavy and clunky hub-drive motors to achieve a lower price.

With its torquey mid-drive motor, name-brand components, and $2,700 price tag, Aventon‘s Ramblas hardtail looks to flip the script and change the perception of hardtail e-bikes—and it succeeds. The Ramblas is the most exciting new e-bike of 2024 and might mark the beginning of a new product category—and a new era—for mountain biking.

Aventon’s First Electric Mountain Bike

Mountain biking is back in fashion. Lots of cyclists are returning to the trails to escape congested roads and city streets, more teens are getting into mountain biking through programs like NICA, and new riders often find mountain biking more approachable. With their pedal-assist motors, electric mountain bikes are a big part of mountain biking’s resurgence by helping more people get into the sport or extend their rides.

Some new riders looking for a low-priced e-MTB might look at Aventon’s product line, see the Aventure model, and think “mountain bike.” However, while it has 4-inch wide tires, an upright riding position, and a suspension fork, the Aventure is unsuitable for actual trail riding. The Aventure’s components selection, rear hub motor, and nearly 80-pound weight make it very difficult to ride on singletrack trails—it’s too unwieldy, the gear range isn’t low enough, and the components do not hold up to heavy-duty use.

An electric mountain bike requires balanced motor power, bike weight, and component durability for optimal use on more technical trails. Aventon recognized the Aventure’s shortcomings and saw an opening to create a more affordable and capable electric mountain bike. The resultant product is the new Ramblas hardtail—the brand’s first true mountain bike and its first mid-drive motor e-bike.

A100 Mid-Drive Motor

At the heart of the Ramblas is Aventon’s all-new A100 motor. Co-developed with electric motor manufacturer Gobao, the Aventon-branded mid-drive unit features 250 watts (sustained)/750 watts (peak) of power and 100 Newton/meters of torque. It is cleanly mounted to the Ramblas’ front triangle, low-slung on the frame but with sufficient clearance for rocks and riding over logs.

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While perhaps not as (yet) refined as motors from Bosch, Shimano, Specialized, or Brose, the motor is excellent given the Ramblas’ price (and considering it’s Aventon’s first mid-drive offering). The A100 motor delivered pep and torque, even for my 200-pound weight. And even on sustained, double-digit grade climbs, the motor continued power delivery without getting bogged down or fading. The bike has an audible motor whine when powering up smooth climbs and on fireroads. However, the noise is less noticeable on more technical trails (it’s overpowered by the sounds of brake squeal, chain slap, and hard breathing).

The Class 1-rated (20mph max speed) Ramblas has three power settings—dubbed Eco, Trail, and Turbo—adjustable via a left-side button controller. The modes come preset but are independently adjustable for power and torque via the Ride Tune function in Aventon’s mobile app. The Ramblas’ full-color LCD (which resembles a Shimano E8000 unit) is located directly to the left of the stem. The display is neatly tucked away to avoid damage in a crash and has sufficient contrast to read data while cruising along the trail.

Powering the A100 is a hefty 708-watt/hour battery located in the Ramblas’ downtube. The 36V battery uses LG 21700 cells, and the bike is certified to meet UL 2849 standards. Aventon claims an 80-mile range for the battery. But as with any e-bike range claim, your mileage may vary based on the terrain you’re riding, how often you use maximum assist, and your weight. For e-MTBs, a more accurate measurement than miles is “playtime” when on the trail. For an off-road day with the Ramblas, I drained about 60% of the battery over approximately two hours of playtime and 19 miles of trail.

At the bike’s launch event in San Clemente, California, I experienced a small issue with the pre-production test bike’s motor. The motor randomly surged a handful of times on the trail—it wasn’t dangerous, just unexpected—and I couldn’t purposely trigger the issue. After a firmware update (on the spot via the Aventon app) the problem seemed to go away, and it hasn’t occurred on the production bike Aventon shipped to Bicycling’s office for long-term evaluation.

Aside from my day of testing with Aventon in California, I have not had sufficient trail time on the Ramblas due to snow and muddy conditions on my local trails. In my testing around town, I experienced the motor power cutting out and the display turning off on two occasions. I restarted the system by holding the power button on the controller, and the motor restarted within 30 seconds. I will watch for this issue over the next few weeks of testing for any more problems.

This, however, highlights the issue when purchasing any brand-new e-bike motor system—long-term durability and service. Unlike more established players like Bosch, Shimano, or Specialized, Aventon is new to the mid-motor game and doesn’t have years of experience to work out bugs and iterate on its motor. Luckily (and unlike some other consumer-direct e-bike brands), Aventon has hundreds of dealers across the U.S. to which riders can turn if they encounter an issue with their Ramblas’ motor or electronics.

Changing the Game

After riding the Ramblas and checking out other hardtail e-MTBs over the past several years, I think Aventon just reset the entire category with this bike. Before the Ramblas, mountain bikers with a budget under $3,000 had a choice between an under-equipped hardtail e-MTB, a well-equipped hardtail without pedal assist, or an entry-to-mid tier full suspension bike without assistance. The Ramblas adds another type of bike to that mix. And for many riders, it might be the best choice for them.

The Ramblas has no true competitors for comparatively priced, trail-ready e-MTBs. From the big, mainstream bike brands, Trek’s Bosch motor-equipped Marlin+ 6 is priced the same but has lower-tier components throughout. The $3,250 Specialized Turbo Tero 3.0 also has lower-tier components than the Ramblas and is not really suitable for more technical trail riding. Giant’s Talon E+ 3 is priced at $400 less than the Ramblas, but like the Specialized and Trek, its components are not suitable for trail riding.

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Every so often a bike comes along that entirely shifts the bicycle market—the Ramblas might do that for mountain biking. And once more bike brands see and ride the Ramblas, I expect several will soon follow Aventon’s lead with sharp-priced, trail-capable hardtail e-MTBs. The Ramblas will soon gain more visibility and begin showing up at trailheads across the country because it nicely fills a niche every other brand has missed.

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