Took Delivery of Aventon Level Today

Tom@WashDC

Tom@WashDC

Well-Known Member
Region
USA
City
Loudoun County, VA.
After researching electric bikes and enjoying a rental bike on my vacation to Monterey CA in July, I decided to invest in two Aventon Levels, one each for me and my wife. Took about 45 minutes to complete the assembly of each. No issues to note on assembly. Took the bikes out for our first test drive around our house (6 miles). We are fortunate to live in an area with an endless supply of paved bike/walking trails that will take us 30 miles all the way to Washington D.C. The Level looks beautiful, and appears to be very well made. Seems to be very sturdy and powerful. We rented 350 Watt bikes in Monterey and they were sufficiently powered. The Level is has much more power than I think we really need. The Assist levels 1-5 will get you up to 31 mph. Assist level 1 seems to be all the power that we will need for general cruising. A bit disappointed that there are no cage bosses for a water bottle, but I knew that ahead of time. That would be my only complaint. So far so good! A very nice bike. I'll return periodically to update my review. ~Tom
 
rudderpedals said:
After almost 10 days how have the bikes been working out for you?
Click to expand...

After 10 days, I can tell you that I love the Aventon Level. I am riding an average of 10 miles per day. No problems at all with any systems, the bike has plenty of power. At 10 miles per day, under differing conditions (throttle use, using PAS level 1-5, going 30 mph) the battery meter has not dropped even 1 bar during each outing. There ten bars on the battery meter.
Fenders are strong, do not rattle, braking is excellent, I did receive one error message when I stressed the motor going up a 40 degree small grassy hill. The error message went away in 5 seconds and everything worked fine. Mind you I had been running flat out at 30-31 mph for 7 minutes before asking it to climb the grassy hill from a dead stop.

The fact that the throttle is designed to engage only after you begin pedaling is not a problem. It engages pretty quickly after a quarter turn of the pedals. When you turn the bike on, the default mode is PAS 1. You need to get used to this feature. As you begin to pedal, the bike will take off rather quickly which can take you by surprise if you are not ready. I usually start off at 0, to prevent a quick start.

My guess is that under standard conditions I would engage the electric power about 5% of the time while riding.

So far a well made bike, more than enough power/torque than an average biker would need. I'm going to see how much range I can get out of the battery under real world usage. I will report back on that at a later date.
 
Tom@WashDC said:
After 10 days, I can tell you that I love the Aventon Level. I am riding an average of 10 miles per day. No problems at all with any systems, the bike has plenty of power. At 10 miles per day, under differing conditions (throttle use, using PAS level 1-5, going 30 mph) the battery meter has not dropped even 1 bar during each outing. There ten bars on the battery meter.
Fenders are strong, do not rattle, braking is excellent, I did receive one error message when I stressed the motor going up a 40 degree small grassy hill. The error message went away in 5 seconds and everything worked fine. Mind you I had been running flat out at 30-31 mph for 7 minutes before asking it to climb the grassy hill from a dead stop.

The fact that the throttle is designed to engage only after you begin pedaling is not a problem. It engages pretty quickly after a quarter turn of the pedals. When you turn the bike on, the default mode is PAS 1. You need to get used to this feature. As you begin to pedal, the bike will take off rather quickly which can take you by surprise if you are not ready. I usually start off at 0, to prevent a quick start.

My guess is that under standard conditions I would engage the electric power about 5% of the time while riding.

So far a well made bike, more than enough power/torque than an average biker would need. I'm going to see how much range I can get out of the battery under real world usage. I will report back on that at a later date.
Click to expand...


Thanks for this review.....waiting on delivery of mine now.
 
Sounds great. I've got about 700 miles on my Level. Sturdy, consistent. Makes the hills un-intimidating and my leisure time more relaxed. I'm learning how to better manage the battery to get more distance, as I'm in a hilly area.

Of course, if the smoke would clear here in Eugene I'd have a few more miles on it....
 
200 miles, zero problems. the only upgrade I have made to date is I purchased an adjustable handlebar stem. I like my handlebars a bit higher.
 
I have found the seat particularly... er... numbing, and have replaced it with the ISM Pro 3.0 (taking the pressure off my "mid-center"). Much improved, especially after a 25-mile outing. I like the idea of an adjustable handlebar stem mentioned above. These are not slights on the Level so much as finding components to meet specific individual fit and comfort.
 
rudderpedals said:
Where did you purchase the stem from? I also like a higher handlebar.
Click to expand...

AMAZON - FOMTOR Adjustable Stem 0~90 - $24.00

Amazon.com : FOMTOR Adjustable Stem 0~90 Degree 110mm MTB Adjustable Bike Stem for 31.8mm(1.25") Handlebar, Suitable for Most of Mountain Bike, Road Bike, BMX : Sports & Outdoors

Amazon.com : FOMTOR Adjustable Stem 0~90 Degree 110mm MTB Adjustable Bike Stem for 31.8mm(1.25") Handlebar, Suitable for Most of Mountain Bike, Road Bike, BMX : Sports & Outdoors
www.amazon.com
 
Tom@WashDC said:
After researching electric bikes and enjoying a rental bike on my vacation to Monterey CA in July, I decided to invest in two Aventon Levels, one each for me and my wife. Took about 45 minutes to complete the assembly of each. No issues to note on assembly. Took the bikes out for our first test drive around our house (6 miles). We are fortunate to live in an area with an endless supply of paved bike/walking trails that will take us 30 miles all the way to Washington D.C. The Level looks beautiful, and appears to be very well made. Seems to be very sturdy and powerful. We rented 350 Watt bikes in Monterey and they were sufficiently powered. The Level is has much more power than I think we really need. The Assist levels 1-5 will get you up to 31 mph. Assist level 1 seems to be all the power that we will need for general cruising. A bit disappointed that there are no cage bosses for a water bottle, but I knew that ahead of time. That would be my only complaint. So far so good! A very nice bike. I'll return periodically to update my review. ~Tom
Click to expand...

350 miles on the Level now. No problems at all. I did receive a momentary loss of Pedal Assist while climbing a 45 degree grassy bank. This has happened twice, but the power came back after 2-3 seconds. Learning that I really enjoy the aggressive capabilities of PAS level 3-4 on the local Paved trails. Also the tires can be inflated from 50-80 psi. I started at 70 for the first few weeks. Hard ride. Now riding at 50 psi. More enjoyable ride.
 
Tom@WashDC said:
350 miles on the Level now. No problems at all. I did receive a momentary loss of Pedal Assist while climbing a 45 degree grassy bank. This has happened twice, but the power came back after 2-3 seconds. Learning that I really enjoy the aggressive capabilities of PAS level 3-4 on the local Paved trails. Also the tires can be inflated from 50-80 psi. I started at 70 for the first few weeks. Hard ride. Now riding at 50 psi. More enjoyable ride.
Click to expand...

I actually ordered a level because of your initial post so thank you! Should be to my location on Friday and will leave a review as well after I get comfortable on the bike. I'll probably pick up another more refined machine as well for torque sensing via pedal but the level had me intrigued from the beginning of my search so we'll see how it goes.
 
Gee_Whiz said:
I actually ordered a level because of your initial post so thank you! Should be to my location on Friday and will leave a review as well after I get comfortable on the bike. I'll probably pick up another more refined machine as well for torque sensing via pedal but the level had me intrigued from the beginning of my search so we'll see how it goes.
Click to expand...

Congrats on your order. You will like it a lot. My next foray into this hobby is that I am going to do a DIY Mountain Bike from a motor kit.
 
Tom@WashDC said:
Congrats on your order. You will like it a lot. My next foray into this hobby is that I am going to do a DIY Mountain Bike from a motor kit.
Click to expand...

Thank you! Quick question-- when you had the temporary loss of pedal assist while climbing, was it enough to force you off of the bike uphill and thus.. walked the bike up? or was it a seamless transiton to pedal only with no asisst, albeit tougher due to the bike weight?
 
Gee_Whiz said:
Thank you! Quick question-- when you had the temporary loss of pedal assist while climbing, was it enough to force you off of the bike uphill and thus.. walked the bike up? or was it a seamless transiton to pedal only with no asisst, albeit tougher due to the bike weight?
Click to expand...

Seamless transition, just loss of assist, error code then reset. Did not force me off the bike. Going to head out today and try to duplicate the event
 
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