It’s not that we haven’t seen our fair share of some weirdly named e-bikes before, but there’s something confusing about an electric bike named after an engine. I know that technically motors and engines can be the same thing, but it still feels weird to associate engines with e-bikes in American English. I’ll give Engwe a pass on the confusing and barely pronounceable name for the Engwe Engine Pro electric bike for the sole reason that it’s actually quite a good deal when you consider the performance to dollar ratio here.
Engwe Engine Pro tech specs
- Motor: 1,000W peak-rated geared rear hub motor
- Top speed: 24 mph (38 km/h)
- Range: Claimed 62 miles (100 km) on pedal assist
- Battery: 48V 16Ah (758 Wh)
- Weight: 83 lb (37.8 kg )
- Max load: 300 lb (136 kg)
- Brakes: Hydraulic disc brakes on 160mm rotors
- Extras: 8-speed Shimano drivetrain, large LCD color display, LED headlight and tail light, thumb throttle, mag wheels, full-suspension, removable battery, rear rack, fenders, kickstand
Engwe Engine Pro video review
Check out my real-world testing in my video review below. Or keep scrolling if you prefer to read… nerds.
Big, heavy and bulky – but fun!
Right away we have to address the elephant in the room, which is the e-bike itself. It’s as heavy as an elephant.
This thing is over 80 pounds of aluminum, steel, copper, magnets, rubber, and lithium. That’s a lot of bike to pick up.
Yes, it folds into a nice and compact bundle of metal, but it’s still a deadlift to get it off the ground. Like most e-bikes, though, the fairly low battery and the wheel-mounted motor help keep the weight low, and thus you don’t notice how heavy it is while you’re riding.
Once you get past the weight, though, things really start looking up. With 1,000W of peak power, the Engwe Engine Pro is ready to blast off as soon as you blip that left-side thumb throttle. The pedal assist is there to support you as well, though I generally give a little throttle on starts even when I plan on using pedal assist since there’s a bit of lag from when you start pedaling and when the power kicks in.
For comfort, Engwe gives us front and rear suspension, plus a set of 4-inch fat tires. I love the 20×4 tire size because it’s a good compromise between wide tires for comfort and all-terrain riding. Larger 26×4 tires roll a bit nicer and give a better ride over obstacles, but they are just so massive and heavy that they can sometimes feel unwieldy. The smaller diameter 20″ wheel size is a nice middle-ground, in my opinion.
For that suspension, the front fork is nicer than the rear shock. The fork is hydraulic and works pretty well for our recreational type of riding. The rear shock isn’t terrible, it’s just not too fancy. But combined with the front suspension and the fat tires, I don’t think anyone can complain about lack of comfort built into this design.
I did a mix of street of trail riding on the Engwe Engine Pro and found that the bike works well in both worlds. It’s not very efficient at either with those fat tires, but the big 758 Wh battery makes up for the lack of efficiency by simply shoving more battery cells in there. There’s two ways to solve the range problem and Engwe chose the “more battery” method.
As usual, the company follows the typical route of giving us some pie-in-the-sky range that no one will likely achieve in real life. In this case, they label the bike with a 62 mile (100 km) range. And as usual, that’s probably technically true if you’re sticking to the lowest power pedal assist mode. But don’t be fooled into thinking that you’ll get 62 miles of range on every ride.
If you’re like me and want to cruise at a solid 20-25 mph and blast around on throttle or in high power pedal assist levels, then you’ll get considerably less. The company says that at full power you may get around 22 miles (35 km) of range, which feels realistic to me based on my experience.
But the real kicker here is the price. For $1,699 you’re getting a lot of mileage. Not in terms of miles, but in terms of stuff. And the $1,369 price on Amazon is even more of a killer deal (or even just $1,299 if you clip the $70 coupon on the Amazon sales page)!
You get 1,000W of peak power, full suspension, hydraulic disc brakes (though on measly 160 mm rotors), a big ol’ rear rack, included fenders, LED lights, and a color display. The list just keeps on going!
There’s some serious value here, at least in terms of bang for your buck on the bike itself. I have no idea how well Engwe’s customer service and support stacks up against the more traditional US-based e-bikes companies. It could be fine, but they just haven’t been around for as many years to build up a reputation. In fact I had a small issue with the gearing and customer support helped me out immediately. But then again I’m an e-bike reviewer and so they’d have to be stupid not to put on a good show for me.
So there’s some tradeoff there, of course. You’re going with a company that doesn’t have a long and storied history in the US. But what did you expect? You can’t get way more performance like this for less cash than the competitors without giving something up.
Pound for pound, though, the Engwe Engine Pro gives you some great performance and some very nice features for your hard earned dough. If you don’t need a folder or full-suspension, this might not be the bike for you. But if you want it all in one package (and you want that package to fit in your trunk), then this might be the ticket.
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