The Best $500 Folding Ebike at Walmart? | GOTRAX eFold Review
Let’s face it, ebikes can be expensive. Even folding models that people claim are affordable, people like myself, are still around $1,000. But what you’re looking at today costs [music] literally half that. It’s Gorax’s new e-fold. It’s available right now online or directly from Walmart. In this review, we’re going to find out if it’s worth its $500 price tag. I’ll walk you through all the components. >> [music] >> There’s actually some surprises here, like an actual display. Then I’ll see what its 350 W motor is capable of. And then I’ll give you the pros and cons and talk about who should buy this electric bike. But first, let’s take a closer look. So, first, Gorax as a company. They’re perhaps more well known in the electric [music] scooter market, but trust me, they’re no stranger to electric bikes. They are a direct to consumer company. And before we dive in, I have one favor to ask of you. If you plan to buy a Gora eBike, check out the link in the description or scan the QR code on your screen before you buy. It’s a free way to support content like this. Thank you so much for your support. For the highle specs, it has a 350 W motor that is engaged with, not surprisingly, a cadence sensor. But get this, it still has a 48vt battery, 7.8 amp hours. I’ll show it to you when we fold the bike. While this is a smaller electric bike thanks to the 20x 2.6 in wide tires that have a little tread on them, it still can accommodate tall riders like myself. I’m 6 feet tall with a 32 in inseam. The handlebars are adjustable and they’re raised to their highest position. But yes, the seat post goes even further. Minimum insertion point right here. And look how tall the seat is. My wife is 5’5. Also fits. The bike weighs in at just 49 lb. Has a nice grab handle. 264 lb max payload capacity. You get fenders front and rear. Even a rear rack with a 39 lb capacity. The front light runs off the main battery. No rear light though, just a reflector. There’s mechanical disc brakes with 160 mm rotors. The levers have motor cut offs. Cables run beneath the frame. There’s ergonomic non-locking rubber grips. A right-hand twist grip throttle included bell to turn the bike on. Power button on the bottom of the controls. We have battery capacity. Speed front and center. Pedal [music] assist 0 1 2 3 4 and 5. To turn the lights on, hit the bottom button on the side. Screen goes dim. At the bottom, we have additional information. Hit this top button to cycle through trip, odometer, max speed, and average speed. To engage walk mode, hold pedal assist down. And you can get into the advanced settings by holding pedal assist up and down at the same time. And that wraps up the display and controls. Folding pedals, a stand for the bike to rest on when it’s folded. There’s a rear-mounted kickstand, and all I can say is I’ve seen worse on more expensive electric bikes. The pad helps it from sinking into the ground. There’s a rigid front fork, four mounting points for mounting a front rack. And hey, the seat isn’t bad either for the price. This is a single speed setup, so no gears. And really, the important thing is what that translates to when riding. So stay tuned for the first-person riding footage. And this is a class 2 electric bike with a top speed of 20 miles per hour. Next, let’s fold it. I’ll bring the handlebars down. Gives you a little bit more slack on the cables. Lift up. Pull out. I’ll fold the plastic pedals. Push in. Fold up. And then the main lever here. Slide and pull out. Put the kickstand up. Bring the frame around. Can lower the seat post to make it take up less space. And there you go. a folded Gora e-fold. Now, what’s important here is the battery is located inside the frame. We’ve seen a similar design before. There’s a locking pin that keeps the battery in place. To remove, [music] I have the keys. Keyhole at the bottom of the frame. With the key in, I can turn it one click to the left. That will not allow the bike to turn on. But if I want to remove the battery, I’ll have to turn the keys all the way to the left. That retracts the pin and I can slide the battery out. It’s a 48vt 7.8 amp hour battery. You can charge it when it’s in the bike or while it’s out with the port here. The entire bike’s electronics are certified to UL2849. You can charge the battery up with its 1.5 amp charger. Just over 5 hours to charge it from empty. If you plan to travel with whatever ebike you end up buying, check out our battery bags. They’re waterproof and flame resistant. Ebike batteries are expensive, so it’s a good thing to take care of them. It’s a roll top style and you click it and you have a nice handle. And with folding bikes in particular, what’s nice is it makes them lighter for when you load your ebike into your vehicle. To put the battery back in, remember that keyhole is going to be at the bottom terminals facing you. Slide in. And don’t forget to turn your bike on. And don’t worry, you don’t need the keys in the bike in order to ride. With that, I can’t wait to see what this 350 watt motor can do. Let’s go see. Here we go. 3 2 1 throttle only. Love the twist grip throttle. And it’s more power than you’d expect for this price. There’s 15 16 18. Now the Gorax display is reading 19.8. GPS lagging behind a little bit. Not sure which one is accurate. Usually the GPS does read 20 though. You have full access to the throttle as long as you’re in a pedal assist level one through five and zero. No access to the throttle. Let’s go through the various pedal assist levels. Now, this is a single speed, so they have to pick a gear ratio. It’s usually a little bit harder to get started, but you’ll appreciate it when you’re at the higher speeds. I’ll talk all about that. Pedal assist level one. It does take about a half turn for the cadence sensor to engage. Remember, as long as I’m spinning my legs, I’m going to get power from the motor. Of course, depending on the pedal assist level that I have selected, and this is speed based. So, in pedal assist level one, looks like 9 miles an hour is the cutoff. And I’m not going to get any more power from the motor. So, if I climb in speed, it’s for my own effort. So, it’s a slower cadence, but still doable. All right, pedal assist level two. Looks like just a slight bump there to 11 miles an hour. This is a class 2 electric bike, so 20 mph is going to be the top speed. All right, pedal assist level three. I’m going to use the throttle to get started, though. Starting to hear the motor a little bit more there. Cruising at 13 miles an hour. 12 according to the GPS. Pedal assist level four looks like 15 miles an hour. Cadence getting a little bit faster. This is actually a pretty good cadence in my opinion. And let’s go up to pedal assist level five. There we go. Getting full power from the motor. And we are cruising at 20 according to the Gorax display, 18 according to the GPS. Here’s my cadence at that speed so you can get an idea of what to expect. Legs certainly are moving a little bit faster. Let’s do a little brake test at this crosswalk. They are mechanical disc brakes. All right. So, I can lock them up. Have to pull certainly harder than you would with hydraulic, but you know, at time of recording, this bike was $399. Again, you might want to make sure you check up-to-date pricing down in the description and also support the channel. All right, geometry, comfortwise, seat is average, these are pretty much the standard T-style handlebars you see on a lot of folding bikes. Nothing special. I do like that you can raise them up, which I’m going to do right now cuz it is more comfortable for me. And I also appreciate that I can get full leg extension. I’m pretty upright and yeah, pretty standard ergonomics for a vast majority of folding ebikes on the market today. No suspension. Might want to consider suspension seatost though. I do like that they have a little bit more of a mixed terrain tread on the tires. So, this motor is certainly capable of holding you at 20. But how does it do upper hill climb test? Let’s find out. All right, this hill is massive. We’ll put the specs on the screen because the GoPro makes it look so much smaller than it is. And we will see what the minimum speed is. This might be a slow climber. Down to 8 miles an hour. Seven. Six. One thing I forgot to mention is with these twist grip throttles, they’re easier to modulate the speed. So, it’s not a all or nothing like we see with some of the thumb throttles. You can actually twist it just a little bit. Looks like 5 miles an hour is going to be the minimum speed up this hill. And so, the reason some people like the throttles like this is because you can go a little bit slower if you want to. [snorts] All right, we hit four for just a second and I’m reading three of the five bars. We’re at about five miles for the distance that I’ve ridden and it was fully charged. All right, so four miles an hour minimum speed, but how does this single speed do while pedaling? Let’s find out. All right, here we go. Pedal assist level one, though. I’m going to assume I’m going to have to go all the way up to five really fast. And not surprisingly, a hill like this on throttle alone is just going to burn through a smaller battery like this. Pedal assist level one. It wants to keep me at that 9 mph mark. And so it’s still giving me gosh, it almost feels like full motor power. The cadence is slow certainly, but as long as you can spin your legs and that cadence sensor can engage, you’re good to go. And certainly I’m helping a little bit. Let’s go up to pedal assist level five. Yes. So no difference. I’m actually getting full power in every pedal assist level. It’s just cutting out at those different speeds as we saw in flat ground. And yeah, cruising up at 7 mph. Legs moving nice and slow. I could push harder if I wanted to. That’s going to conserve some battery. All right. So doable with the single speed though, you’re going to be happy that you have that throttle. Let’s get into some thirdp person riding footage. I’ll give you the pros and cons of the Gora EFold. It used to be that I would simply avoid reviewing electric bikes at the $500 price point. While it’s an accessible price, the trade-offs are often too significant, especially when it comes to brand recognition. Imagine spending $500 on an ebike only to have issues later and find out that the brand has vanished. That’s why I was interested in the Gorax EFold because Gorax is a name I’ve actually heard of. And speaking of price, be sure to check the links in the description for up-to-date pricing. I’ll link to Gora’s website, and it’s also sold at Walmart, which is a nice bonus. At $500, this is a fair price. Here’s what I like. Fenders and a rear rack are included, which is a nice surprise at this price point. This is also a smaller ebike, making it great for shorter riders, but even at 6 feet tall, I felt comfortable with its upright standard folding ebike geometry. To go along with that, at a relatively light 49 lb, it’s easier to carry around and handle the way a folding ebike should, taking it in an elevator or easily throwing it in your car. It includes a display and a 48vt system, which are both things you don’t often see in this ultra affordable category. The 350 W motor may not sound like much, but because this bike is lighter, it still actually felt pretty zippy, especially on flat terrain. While there is no suspension, the slightly knobier 2.6 in wide tires offer a little bit more confidence if you’re riding takes you slightly off-road. though for the most part this bike is best suited for pavement. Next, here are the things you should consider, especially if you’re thinking about maybe spending more. Price directly coincides with battery capacity, so expectations should be managed. At 7.8 amp hours, it’s just over half the capacity of what I’d call an average ebike battery. You’ll definitely need to keep your range estimates in check. After my 10mi ride, traveling at high speeds and including our hill climb tests, I had about half the battery remaining, sticking to flat ground and lower pedal assist levels and providing plenty of effort should get you close to Gorax’s 40m claimed range. I was happy to see the battery certified to UL2271 and the entire bike’s electronics certified to UL2849. And it’s worth noting that you will find the same battery capacity on more expensive ebikes. Next, this is a singlese drivetrain, which yes, is great for simplicity and being lowmaintenance, but there are trade-offs. While the cadence was still doable as I neared 20 mph, just know it will be a faster cadence. Also, I never quite reached the 20 mph mark according to the GPS speed. At this lower price point, mechanical disc brakes is pretty much what you get. They work fine, but they don’t have the premium feel of hydraulics, which yes, you just have to pay more for. Don’t worry, though, they will still stop you just fine. If $500 is the price point that allows you to pick up an ebike, then I think the Gora E-fold is a good buy. Gora has managed to put a genuinely good package together. Yes, there are compromises, but that’s expected. Frankly, this bike has made me pause. I need to spend more time digging into the $500 ebike market so I can pick out the absolute best of the budget ebikes to recommend because clearly there are some decent ones. If you plan to pick up an ebike from Gorax, do me one favor and click the link in the description before you buy. It’s free and supports the channel. Thank you so much for your support. Let me know what you think in the comments section. Are there other ebikes from reputable brands that we should be reviewing around this price point? Thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.
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Ebikes can be expensive, with even “budget” folding models often costing over $1,000. But the new GOTRAX eFold cuts that price in half. Available directly online and at Walmart, this electric bike promises a lot for a sub-$500 price tag—but is it actually any good?
In this review, we test the 350W motor, the 48V battery system, and put the bike through a full hill climb and range test. We break down the specs, the folding mechanism, and the ride quality to help you decide if this is the best budget ebike for you.
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0:00 Intro: The $500 Ebike Challenge
1:22 Specs, Weight & Sizing
2:28 Handlebars, Display & Controls
3:46 How to Fold the eFold
4:14 Battery Removal & Charging
5:38 Top Speed Test (Throttle)
6:14 PAS Levels & Single Speed Gearing
8:01 Brake Test
8:21 Comfort & Geometry
9:10 Hill Climb Test
12:14 The Good (Pros)
13:12 The Bad (Cons)
14:35 Final Verdict
