If you need a good electric mountain bicycle as a first-time buyer, the Ancheer is an excellent buy. Despite the affordable price, it boasts high-quality components that make it nearly as powerful as pricier models.
The battery sticks out due to its color and positioning (the battery is placed under the saddle bar). It might not be the sleekest design, especially with the wiring out there in the open. Still, you can remove the battery and charge it indoors conveniently, a process that takes between 4 to 6 hours. That battery is rated 36V 8AH and lets you ride for up to 30 miles on a single charge, depending on the temperature, wind speed, and terrain.
Apart from the conspicuous battery, the bicycle looks just like any mountain bike.
The Ancheer bike ships to you disassembled, so get ready to spend about 30 minutes of your life putting together the handlebars, front light, and wheel, pedals, etc. The tools you need come with the bike, but they are not of top quality.
Features of the Ancheer mountain electric bike include a basic control panel where you use buttons to set the pedal assistance level, LED light intensity, and check battery levels. Close to the panel are a switch for the front light and a button for the horn.
If you prefer to let the electric motor do all the pedaling, you can install the twist-grip throttle that comes with the bike. However, note that this is not allowed on the UK or European roads. But you can use it for off-road rides that the bike is designed for. To enable the mode, you have to press the ‘-‘ button on the control panel until all the assist lights go off after fixing the throttle.
The electric motor on the Ancheer bike is rated 250 W, the highest permissible under the current regulations. It is powerful enough to propel you to 15.5 mph, again limited by rules. However, you can easily circumvent this one to go as fast as 20 mph. When you want to come to a stop, the mechanical disc brakes on both wheels kick in and do a decent job.
In terms of performance, you can switch between low, medium, and high pedal assist levels. The highest level takes over most of the effort for negotiating steep hills. On the downside, you do more work pedaling the bike when the battery is empty as you will be responsible for moving the extra 10 kg weight of the battery. The whole bike weighs 23 kg.
At £679.99, the Ancheer electric mountain bike does not make too many compromises to make it hard to use.