The Best Example of “Trendy” E-Bikes: WindOne E2 Adventurer Review
Well, it’s time once again for a bike in a box from FedEx video. Obviously, this means it’s an electric bike, but this one’s a bit different, and if it’s as advertised, could become my ultimate sleeper. Go ahead and type into Google electric off-road bike. You’ll find hundreds upon hundreds of listings from brands that are known and even more from brands that are not, with price differences that boggle the mind. which makes you wonder to what extent are you paying for quality and to what extent are you just paying for a brand name? This bike however may answer that. This is a wind one or wind done if you prefer. Punctuation matters. As of recording this, this bike costs under $1,000 and looks exactly like many other bikes out there, some of which cost four times that. Specifically, this is their E2 fat tire adventure. And my thanks to the people at Win1 for graciously providing this to me for my thoughts. Link in the description if you’re interested, by the way. And so we can see if this is a quarter of the cost or a quarter of the bike. Starting with the packaging, nothing too special about it, but it was packaged well. I mean, there was no part of cardboard that was not covered with packing tape, so this thing was 100% sealed. And it put my cutters to good use with a sheer number of zip ties. And after a fairly painless install, we can see what we actually get. And what we get looks promising. Everything looks pretty sturdy and wellb built. It’s got this tubular beefy chassis, which looks like it can take a beating if need be. And like I said, installation was pretty easy. This bike comes with a tool kit, so you can put everything together as is without needing tools already. And this tool kit is actually a pretty good one. It has these really long hex keys with ball ends, which are super helpful and definitely something I’m going to keep in my own toolbox. And the wrenches provided are actual wrenches, not those horrific pieces of stamped metal that come with other bikes. Moto tech. It even came with its own air pump. Controls feel decent. It has everything you’d expect, including a nice looking center screen, even a belt. And this is where things get a little bit different because this bike comes with these, which I’m told are called pedals. That’s right. It’s not just an ebike, it’s an ebicycle. And that is where the potential for this thing to be a sleeper comes into play. Because with bikes like these, the use case is limited. And let’s be honest, morally questionable unless you stick to private roads, private property, or OV areas. These pedals, however, open it up to everything else. I can literally take this bike anywhere I want, mostly. So stats. If this is a quarter of the price, is it a quarter of the power? The E2 here produces 750 watts of power. It has a top speed of 20 mph or 28 if you’re pedaling. It has a 48volt battery and is capable of about 46 mi. However, the top-of-the-line models boast 750 ws of power, a top speed of 20 mph, and a 48vt battery capable of 40 to 55 mi of range. Wait a minute. With pedals comes rules and classification. According to the government, this bike is a class 3 ebike. So, what that means is that it’s limited to 750 watts of power and a top speed of 28 mph with pedal assist. So, to stay within the rules, every bike out there is going to be nominally 750 watts and just as fast. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if these bikes are using the exact same motors and controllers as some of the name brands do. And that kind of supports my theory that if you’re paying premium prices, what you’re really paying for is the sticker on the side. But that’s just a theory at this point. We got to ride it to be sure. And off we go into the unknown. also known as a bike lane. Yes, this is a bicycle. I’m pedaling, but I’m wearing a motorcycle helmet. It’s all I got. And if you think about it, this bike is a little bit more of a motorcycle than it is a bicycle in a few aspects that I’ve already discovered, but I’ll get into those a bit later on. But so far, it’s smooth sailing. I’m in the highest gear. So, I’m going as fast as I can, which as I said is 28 mph, and it’s 27.9 showing right now on the dot. And as we go, I guess we’ll get to experience another side of commuting, something that’s not gas powered or public transit related. And this is what excites me most about this bike, that I can actually use this around town, not just a designated Ato riding experience or something that I need to load up into my car and take to a designated riding spot. Something for around town that might actually be fun. We’ve gone a little ways now. According to this, minus the mileage that I’ve done already, I’ve just clicked over 6 miles. But I did notice that my battery bar has lost one. I have no idea what that means, but it means I’m losing battery life, of course. And it does make me think a little bit about the range. So, the maximum range with pedal assist is 46 mi or so. I think they claim 46.6, but it also specifies that if you’re not using the pedal assist and you’re just using the throttle full electric, it’s down to something like 20 something miles. I don’t remember exactly, but almost half. But when I’m in level five going my max speed, my legs aren’t really doing anything. Like I’m pedaling away, but there’s no resistance on the pedals. I’m not actually putting in force to actually get this thing going along. It’s entirely the electric motor. Which makes me wonder about that claim because I don’t think just randomly swinging my legs around and around in a circle like this is going to give it double the mileage. The math ain’t math. So, I do need to add a correction to this after the fact. I went back to the website again and saw that it’s actually 28 m with 28 m an hour and the potential of going 46 with actual pedal assist. So, they actually want you to put some effort into the pedaling so that you get the full range estimate. That said, though, even in the highest gear, I was only finding pedal resistance when I was going 13 m an hour or less. So, that means you can go 46 mi theoretically, but it’s going to take you more than double the time. Status update. We’ve gone officially 10 miles and I lost another bar. So, I had five total. Now I only got three. I hope I don’t run out of range cuz I’m almost to my halfway point and then I was going to turn around and go back, but we’ll see. At least these downhills help. Woo! That’s a little scary. So, when you turn on the bike, this is the screen that you get. It’s pretty self-explanatory. You have miles per hour in the middle. You have the speed modes just below that and then a menu on the bottom which you can toggle between things like trip, average speed, max speed and a few other things. You got your battery indication level up top and then to control this on the lefth hand side there is a little control panel with a big plus and a big minus and the power thing of course and a few buttons on the side which are a little hard to get to but I guess you’re not using it as much which is the info button and the headlight button to turn on the front headlight. So, all you really need to do while you’re riding is use the plus and minus buttons to go through the different speed modes. It goes from zero all the way up to five. And this is what’s used during pedal assist. And from what I found that these speed modes are really just gears, whether you’re pedaling hard or soft, it’s going to give you a set mile an hour depending on which speed you go. All right, let’s show you what the different levels are and how they basically act like gears. So, level one here is set at basically 10 m an hour. If we jump up to two, we get to a whopping 13 mph. Level three, 16 mph. Level four is 20 mph. And level five, the full 28. You know what? So far so good. But things started to take a turn as soon as I turned to go uphill. I reached an incline. It’s probably a good time to tell you about the issue that I discovered with this the second I got on the bike. And to make a long story short, this seating position sucks. You might be able to tell right away, but allow me to demonstrate. This seat is actually a lot taller than you think, even for someone as tall as me. Not only that, but the bars are low and the pedals are high. So, the rider triangle right here is quite tight. And with regular pedaling, my knees are coming dangerously close to the triple trees right here, which protrude on the side because it’s styled like a motorcycle. And for reference, I am six feet tall with a 34 inch inseam, which does seem like a lot, but according to the website, this bike is suitable for riders that are as little as 5’6 up to 6’7. Imagine someone 7 in taller than me riding this. There’s no way that their knee is not going to be hitting this. It’s just way too cramped and awkward. Not only is it cramped and awkward, but it’s even worse when you’re going uphill. And even worse on top of that, if I wanted to actually get some pump into my pedaling and stand up, because now my knees are hitting the triple tree, especially in a really steep one, it makes it even harder to pedal. That makes no sense. All right, we made it to our self-proclaimed halfway point. And I think we can now find some trails to actually test the off-road aspect of this because it is an off-road bike after all. Here we go. Some off-road. Let’s enjoy the trail. This is where I was hoping to find more upsides. The website does like to remind us of the full suspension and the fat off-road tires and aggressive styling, but I can already say with confidence, this is the worst off-road bike I’ve ever ridden. Like, the seating position is bad. I get it. But then, oh, oh Jesus. Then there’s the suspension. Let’s try that jump again, but a little slower here. This is not suspension. This is pogo sticks. You hit the jump, you bounce, bottom out. So much so that it springs you back up. I wasn’t ready for that. And that may seem exaggerated, but does this look stable to you? And this is even with all of the adjustments made. There is preload on the front forks, which I cranked all the way up. And I even adjusted the preload spring by tensioning that on the rear. But still, it’s as much a pogo stick as well, a pogo stick. Oh god. And here’s that terrible position emphasized by the steepness of this hill. Oh my god. I’m killing myself to get up this. Not only that, my knees keep smacking the triple tree every time. And on top of that, the derailer is terribly out of alignment for first gear. Nice. So bouncy. I almost lost my bike lock here. And I know what you’re probably thinking. Use the rest of the seat. It goes long enough that you can put yourself further back and get your knees out of harm’s way, right? Yeah. No, because if I slide all the way back here now, my ass is just hanging out and the bars are even lower. But hey, I did find one positive thing I’ll note. We’re in a parking garage, so I can use my headlight. It’s not totally dark, but it’s actually really, really good at night. I did try it earlier. Maintenance in progress. Oh worst suspension ever. Well, we have now just crossed the halfway point of the theoretical range. So, we’ve gone 23 miles. and status report. I have one bar left of the battery index. I have no idea what that means again, but I hope that means I have enough to get home. At least I’m going in the right direction. I’m headed home now. This bike is exhausting in all the worst ways. I feel like they tried too much to make it like a motorcycle rather than a regular pedal bike because I finally figured it out. Riding this thing feels like a cafe racer for those of you familiar with motorcycles because they’re very good-looking, but they’re very hunched, low bars, you’re leaning forward a lot, but with the added pressure of pedaling it. It also doesn’t help that the suspension is so bouncy that every time you hit anything, it just throws you out of the seat. All that said, I can see a use case for this. I know exactly the use case for this. See, this is what this bike is made for. just super flat, super chill, under 10 mph riding. It’s places like this, your city squares, your boardwalks, anywhere where there’s little to no effort in actually riding the thing. Cuz once you start putting some pedal power into it, this position is god awful. But it makes me think again on the whole quarter of the cost of some of the name brand stuff. And after having ridden it, I can see now that yeah, this is kind of a quarter of the bike. However, these are styled on the name brands. So now the question is, how does the Super 73 or some other ones that have this exact same styling feel when you ride around? Is it just as uncomfortable? Is it still just a style form over function statement? Uh-oh. Uh-oh. During that rant, I just realized I ran out of battery power. I am on 100% pedal power now. And god, does it suck. 35 mi on the trip, which means I did 25 mi, not exactly 46. See, I was optimistic with this bike in my review because I was thinking, well, the great thing about this is that it’s electric powered, so I can go super fast without having to put too much effort into it. But once it runs out of juice, I have pedals, so I can keep going. But now that I’m on only pedal power and I’m on a flat surface right now, it is the worst feeling ever. The pedals are too far forward. My seat’s too high. My bars are too low. What else can I complain about? I know I’m being really harsh on this. This is not a commuter bike in the way that it’s styled. Bikes like this and the name brands are purely for looks and for throttle use only. Putting pedals on a bike like this is purely for government regulation. But knowing that, I would still expect it to be good in the other aspects that it advertises, off-road ability. However, with the Wind One, suspension was also an afterthought, or at the very least the lowest bid, because no one in their right mind would tolerate this. I had an image in my head of what ebicycling could be. I expected a reasonable commuter that could take me from home to the fun stuff like the beach or the park, and back again without the bike dying or without massive aches in my knees. But maybe I’ll find another. Or maybe I did already. So if you’re interested in one of these lovely bikes, if you have a death wish, use my affiliate link. Gives me a cut. Thanks wind one. I’m not your rhyme with one. I’m no thought that rhymes.
The Wind One E2 Adventurer ebike is an “off-road” oriented electric bicycle, taking the styling of a motorcycle to world of pedal bikes that can be used wherever. But is it as good as says? Does it live up to the hype? Or can it not get beyond the stereotypes of trendy e-bike riding and what they can actually be used for? We take this electric bike for test ride and review to see what it’s all about.
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