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Meet the Competitors
Aventon Ramblas First up is the Aventon Ramblas, a top-notch consumer-level eMTB. Aventon's debut in the true eMTB world, this hardtail is priced at $2,899. It boasts an Aventon a100 mid-drive motor rated at 36v, 250W nominal, 750W peak, with 100Nm of torque, and an IP67 rating. It features an all-SRAM 12-speed drivetrain and SRAM DB8 quad-piston hydraulic brakes. The front suspension is a RockShox 35 Silver R with 130mm of travel.
Mod Bikes Mod Black 3 Next is the Mod Bikes Mod Black 3, the only full-suspension bike in today's lineup, priced at $2,999. It packs a 750-watt rear hub motor, 100mm of travel with Mozo front forks, an EXA Form A5 rear shock, a 7-speed Shimano drivetrain, and hydraulic brakes.
Velotric Summit 1 Last but certainly not least, we have the Velotric Summit 1, the most affordable eMTB at $1,999. It features a 750-watt rear hub motor with 100Nm of torque, hydraulic front suspension with 120mm of travel, a Shimano 8-speed drivetrain, and Shimano hydraulic brakes.
Now that we know the contenders, let's get into the competition!
Hill Climb
Mod Black 3 Starting us out is the Mod Black 3. It has a pretty powerful motor, and we had some high expectations of it making it to the top of the hill, but this hill is pretty extreme and it just didn’t have the torque required to make it all the way to the top.
Ramblas Next was the Ramblas’s turn. Being the only mid-drive in the field, we felt pretty confident in its ability to conquer the hill, but even though Tyson tried his best, it was good he was wearing his full-body armor here. Now, to be fair, the DB8 quad-piston brakes could have easily held him up on the slope (probably could have held him still on a wall) but where is the entertainment value in that, am I right?)
Summit 1 Finally, and the only bike to make it up the hill, was the Summit 1 from Velotric. I guess we should have known it would make it to the top, I mean, it’s in the name. Even though it struggled a bit toward the top of this extreme incline, it did manage to make it all the way up, and earned itself 10 sweet points.
All in all, the bikes did fairly well, and even through the Ramblas has a mid-drive motor, and some top-notch low-end torque, it was pretty impressive that the only bike to make it to the top was the Summit 1.
Agility Test
A good mountain bike needs to handle off-road terrain like a champ. In our Agility Test, we tackled quick ups and downs, banks, jumps and climbs.
Mod Black 3 First up was the Mod Black 3. Being full suspension made the entire course pretty smooth sailing for me. The rake on the front wasn’t quite as angled as the other two competitors, and that made the steeper downhill sections feel a bit steeper. It had pretty good power throughout the course, and while it made up some time in the straightaways, the jumping sections slowed it down a little bit, and it ended up crossing the finish line with a time of 1:00.69.
Ramblas Next up was the Aventon Ramblas. While the low-end torque here is pretty insane, it was a bit harder to maintain it’s top speed through the jumping sections. I’ll get into why a bit more in-depth when we get to the Jumping Test. It was a true-to-form mountain bike, and I felt right at home on this course. It cruised up the final hill and bombed through the finish line with a crossing time of 59.12 seconds.
Summit 1 The last to take on the Agility Test was the Summit 1. It’s a hardtail, and while the ride was not QUITE as smooth as on the Mod Black 3, there wasn't a whole lot of difference on this particular course. It was surprisingly nimble through the choppy sections, and without giving too much away, was the easiest bike to jump in the jump section. It crushed the final hill and crossed the finish line in 58.59 seconds.
Braking Test
In this simple but crucial test, we assessed how well these bikes stop in an off-road environment.
Mod Black 3 The Mod Black 3 came to a stop first, with an average stopping distance of 27.6ft. The Mod Black 3 comes with hydraulic brakes, 180mm rotors, and a fairly decent off-road-ready tread, so the results were pretty good here, based on the speed and the loose dirt at the bottom of the hill.
Summit 1 The Summit 1 was next. It had an average stopping distance of just 21.6ft. It also has hydraulic brakes and 180mm rotors, but has a slightly more aggressive tread on the tire, which may have helped it come to a halt a bit sooner when compared with the Mod Black 3.
Ramblas The Ramblas was the favorite going into this competition. SRAM DB8 quad-piston brakes are pretty top-of-the-line brakes, and the larger 200mm rotor (yes 200mm…it’s a SRAM thing) in the front, and a 180mm rotor in the rear, placed it above the field on paper. However, it actually tied with the Summit 1 with an average stopping distance of 21.6ft, which was one of the more surprising endings we had while filming.
Jumping Test
Now if you’re anything like me, and odds are you’re not, because my mom told me I was special, but if you are, you probably want to do a little bit of jumping on an eMTB at some point. So, that’s why we did what we’re about to do: some jumping. Now, part of this is subjective, but I’ll do my best to describe what I’m feeling when I’m approaching the jump, in the air, and landing. Be warned: I am not a mountain biking expert, but I do love a little hang time now and again.
Mod Black 3 The hardest bike to jump was the Mod Black 3. The main reasons are:
The weight
The rake angle
The cockpit
Diving down into those we’ll start with the weight. The geometry and how the weight is placed here, make it a bigger bike to control when in the air. The rake angle being a bit tighter than its competitors, makes the ups and downs feel a bit more extreme, and it can be hard to gauge how to hit the right attack angles on the jumps. The cockpit feels a bit out of place when we’re talking mountain bikes, and that also makes it handle a bit strange. Now don’t get me wrong, landing a jump onto the full suspension is pretty nice, even if there’s not a whole lot of travel or adjustability here.
Ramblas The bike that performed a bit better was the Ramblas. And here’s why:
Motor cut-off on approach
This is really the only reason the Ramblas came in second here. If you’re approaching a jump at a certain speed, and you’re feeling the acceleration you’re at and preparing to jump, when you set up for the jump, and stop pedaling, the deceleration here is pretty dramatic, and it kept throwing me off. When compared with my traditional mountain bike, the Ramblas felt like it had less coasting capabilities and the slowdown was more dramatic here. When in the air, it handles really well, and landing on a rear wheel that doesn’t have a motor laced into it was also some pretty decent peace of mind.
NOTE: Something worth discussing is the fact that the Ramblas is a true Class 1 eMTB, while the others are not. Some trail systems and MTB parks only allow Class 1 bikes, so if you're planning on riding your eMTB in places like this, it's worth checking the local rules and regulations to ensure you're following all the rules. Nobody wants to get kicked off the trails!
Summit 1 The bike that I enjoyed jumping the most (I told you this part was pretty subjective) was the Summit 1 from Velotric. And here’s why:
Weight distribution was pretty good, despite the fact it was a rear-hub.
The addition of the throttle meant I could keep up my desired speed through the jumps, which meant I didn’t have to decelerate at all.
Rake angle felt just right for doing some jumping
This was the most intuitive bike to get airborne with. The inclusion of the throttle was something that helped maintain my speed through the jumps, and while that may limit it in certain MTB parks, it’s really fun for the types of trails I would normally ride on. The rake angle felt great, and if you’ve been off-road on a bike that wasn’t set up for that, you know what I mean. The only negative here is the rear hub. The rear wheel will take a beating, especially when jumping to flat, so if you’re looking to do some serious aerobatics, you may want to lean more towards the mid-drives in that scenario.
Final Scores
After a full day of testing, here are the results:
3rd Place: Mod Bikes Mod Black 3 with 33 points.
2nd Place: Aventon Ramblas with 37 points.
1st Place: Velotric Summit 1 with 40 points.
Thanks for joining us on this thrilling eMTB adventure! If you're looking for more, check out our other competition videos on affordable, fat tire, and folding eBikes. Stay tuned for more Ride Reviews, and we'll catch you in the next one!
