Aventon Level or....

l3n

l3n

New Member
Hey All!
I am considering my first eBike purchase. I want a Class 3 with a throttle and removable battery to use primarily for relatively flat city commuting in Philadelphia. I expect to rely heavy on the throttle during the hot and humid summer months so that I don't arrive at work in a puddle of sweat. My budget is $2000 or less, though I could probably stretch to $2500. I am 6'3" and 230 pounds. I am also concerned about maintenance. I don't have many eBike shops in the area (though I expect that will change in the next 2-3 years). I am leaning away from direct order brands because I am worried about getting repairs and replacement parts. At my size, I would also like to be able to get an advance test ride. I have test ridden several ebikes already just to help my undersdtanding of what I like. I also want to feel confident that I can get a replacement battery 5 years from now without having to spend a fortune, scrounge on eBay or hack something together.

I think that I have almost settled on Aventon Level, which seems to offer the best combination of price/quality/features I am looking for, pending a test ride. My runner-ups are commuter offerings from Gazelle, Junto, Radpower, and Magnum. Should I be favoring one of those other brands for any reason? Is there another brand/model I should consider?

Thanks all!
 
STOP !! STOP !! You have to check out Ride One Up (R1U). I pulled the trigger yesterday on their 700. Betcha I spent 2 weeks researching and watching You Tube videos before I made the decision. About 40 hours of research. I have to say it was a most daunting task - to finally make a decision. Check this link. https://thejournier.com/2020/05/26/aventon-level-versus-ride1up-700-series/ . I try to keep out of the philosophy "I just bought this thing - now it's the best and everyone should follow my decision." A lot of people do that. And here I am - giving advice and don't even have an eBike! One of the You Tube videos was R1U's Owner/President being interviewed - about 30 minutes. I liked his (Kevin) life outlook, the reason he is in the business and what he is trying o accomplish. This forum has been my main source of info during the process. My eRide experience has been a year riding a Nanrobot eScooter. It had 2 hubs @1000W each and could reach 40mph with 30 minutes of ride time. $1500. This eBike is gonna be a comedown😢.
I have an opinion about the eBike industry: Pedigo was at the forefront of this eBike craze. And priced their bikes as someone with no competition. The industry is settling down to finally getting a product that has some semblence of cost to manufacture vs resale price. Continuing with my opinion🤬: Today $1500 online will buy you a very fine product. vs. $2500 at a storefront. Anything above that is ego money. Shim. Acera works. $130 for a drivetrain. Do you need Shim. XTR? $1035. Some guys do!
Looks like you are in the same time in the process that I was in - until yesterday. Good luck in your hunt
 
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Check out this thread: https://electricbikereview.com/foru...for-the-rear-wheel-of-my-aventon-level.35690/
Two posters there with loose spokes. Also aventon known problems thread, several posters with key stuck in battery lock in off position. Neither problem will seriously injure you. Neither problem is fun to correct yourself.
Rad has 17 known problems of loose spokes on the brand thread, and more showed up in introductions from new members. Magnum doesn't. Gazelle has only 1 problem on whole known problems thread.
 
l3n said:
I think that I have almost settled on Aventon Level, which seems to offer the best combination of price/quality/features I am looking for, pending a test ride. My runner-ups are commuter offerings from Gazelle, Junto, Radpower, and Magnum. Should I be favoring one of those other brands for any reason?
Click to expand...
In my opinion, Gazelle leads all of these in terms of quality and performance. They have been building standard bicycles for over a century and ebikes for a long time as well, and all of their bikes are incredibly well built, and generally supported very well by their dealers.

Not that the other bikes here are bad, but if you get on a Rad Power bike and a Gazelle back to back it's just no comparison.

With that said, I really loved the Aventon Level when I reviewed it earlier this year. It's a great quality Ebike, and if you have an Aventon dealer near you that would be my recommend. If you haven't seen that review you can check it out here.
 
troehrkasse said:
In my opinion, Gazelle leads all of these in terms of quality and performance. They have been building standard bicycles for over a century and ebikes for a long time as well, and all of their bikes are incredibly well built, and generally supported very well by their dealers.

Not that the other bikes here are bad, but if you get on a Rad Power bike and a Gazelle back to back it's just no comparison.

With that said, I really loved the Aventon Level when I reviewed it earlier this year. It's a great quality Ebike, and if you have an Aventon dealer near you that would be my recommend. If you haven't seen that review you can check it out here.
Click to expand...
The poster's budget is $2000
 
Try Ariel Rider X-Class if you like this style of e-bike.
Motor is very powerful as they have metal gears on it which can delivery very high torque.
Has hydraulic brakes, advanced display, dual suspension and only $1499.
 
A lot of people seem to like the Level. Nice bike. One good thing is it comes in different sizes so fit for tall rider like you might be good. Suggest you test ride it and the Aventon 500. Some people do not like a few things about the Level: Riding in PAS level 1, bike seems to go a little fast for some, hard to get it to go slower, speed/levels are not programmable; throttle does not work from dead stop 0 assist; But bike shop, bike set up and warranty support is an advantage.
 
I was in the exact same position between the two. I walked into a bike store here last week and they had just gotten the Aventon in and it was available, so I didn't have to wait for the R1U and I bought it.

I'm sure you can't go wrong with either, but I've put 100 mi on the Aventon in 5 days and it is SO much fun! Well made, fast as heck, and I've gotten 3 compliments already as I was parking it. I'm glad I've been able to get the extra biking days in now too without having to wait...I'd say whichever you can get first, get it!
 
My first bike was the Aventon Pace 500. I don't know if the controller is different from the Level but one of the things that really annoyed me was that you had to have at least one crank revolution to engage the throttle. It made going up inclines very, very clumsy. And to be perfectly transparent, I really dislike cadence sensor based PAS but if you have a throttle that functions from a standstill, you can at least have an easier time launching a heavy bike.
 
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