Although electric bicycles are fun and practical, they are not cheap. Adding accessories such as fat tires or full suspension will only make the price higher. Therefore, I want to see how good the cheapest full suspension fat tire electric bicycle on the market is. For this, I turned to Aostirmotor S18 electric bicycle.
They say seeing is believing, right? If you want to take a closer look at the bike in motion and test my Aostirmotor S18, please watch the video review below.
Aostirmotor sells for $1,599 on the company’s website (sometimes on Amazon, but now it seems to be out of stock), which makes it one of the lowest cost full suspension fat tire electric bikes I have ever seen.
As you might imagine, this also means that the bicycle is not equipped with the most exquisite parts, but I found that even if they are used to a little bit, the chassis parts can still make riding fun.
When the bicycle is in full suspension, neither the front suspension nor the rear suspension is of high quality. The Zoom fork is not the cheapest out there, but from any imagination, it is not part of the luxury. The rear suspension is basically just a spring. This means that big bumps will not send the saddle into your small intestine, but will not provide real shock absorption like the high-priced electric mountain bikes you would expect.
The brakes are very basic, and the rear wheel calipers will not bite the disc as hard as the front wheels. For mechanical disc brakes, this may be common because the rear cable is longer and has greater extension, but the rear braking performance of the Aostirmotor S18 is weaker than what I used before. The brakes still make me stand still. It is true. About 75% of the braking power on the bike comes from the front brakes, but the soft rear brakes are still a bit annoying.
The final major sacrifice is the ultra-cheap fender. They move around, especially in the back, and usually only make a noise. They also do their best, but they are not high-quality wheel fenders either. Cheap plastics may prevent water and mud from spraying, but they do not inspire confidence.
By the way, this bicycle is heavy. Weighing about 80 pounds (36 kg), it is fun to load it on the back of the truck. If you live near your favorite cycling location, then this may not be important to you. But for those who often transport electric bicycles, please note that this is definitely not a lightweight electric bicycle.
But now that we have those cheap parts, and there are no shortcomings, we can focus on the excellent performance of the bicycle. And it certainly has a lot to offer.
The long-distance tire electric bike has a powerful 750W rear hub motor, which can increase my speed to 28 mph (45 km/h) per hour through throttle operation only or pedal assistance. If you want to use only the pedal assist function, you can of course ignore the accelerator.
The giant tire is a brand I have never used before (Chaoyang), but it works well for me. The high air volume complements the mediocre suspension, making the ride pretty good-definitely better than a hardtail mountain bike. Or at least more comfortable, because “better” is a bit burdensome. Obviously, you will not ride as agile as a mountain bike, because the heavy tires are not responsive, but due to the shorter frame, the bike still maintains its sportiness. I have reviewed the large fat tires and full suspension electric bicycles. This kind of bicycle looks more like a land yacht. Compared with that, the Aostirmotor S18 definitely feels more agile.
The bicycle is also equipped with a very novel shape battery in its novel shape frame. Two locks (an electric/mechanical lock and a purely mechanical lock) fix the battery box in the center of the bicycle. After unlocking, a small handle will be lifted at the top to pull out the battery, making the process easier.
The situation is a bit strange, but I will provide the company with style points for using the new battery shape instead of reusing one of the six common designs we see on every budget electric bike.
The 557 Wh battery can provide a sufficient driving distance of about 15-20 miles (25-32 kilometers) when only using the throttle. If you are more reasonable about the throttle, and if you add some old-fashioned pedals, you can expand it to be larger Driving distance. But this is not a large-capacity battery, it is enough.
Another note about the special-shaped frame wrapped around the battery is that they use it to integrate the rear lights directly into the frame. I am actually a fan of this method because it has fewer disadvantages. Since it will be extinguished from the main battery of the electric bicycle, it can ensure that the lights also work properly. Having to replace the AAA battery in the bicycle light or charge it via USB is a big annoyance for me.
Like you do on most basic electric bicycles, there is a typical LED headlight on the front. Nothing fancy, but it can get the job done. The fact that there are no built-in lights at all is that adding commute functionality to a dual-use bicycle may be a good addition to many people. Although Aostirmotor S18 is definitely suitable for off-road riding, many cyclists still like fat tire electric bicycles and full-suspension off-road riding models. The same features make them ideal for off-roading (suspension and fat tires) and also make them ideal for urban obstacles such as potholes and curbs.
In view of the fact that Aostirmotor S18 is not a highly tuned off-road machine, this dual purpose seems very suitable.
If I just want to ride all day, I would choose a higher-quality dedicated electric mountain bike.
However, if I want to use an interesting full-suspension fat tire electric bicycle into various electric bicycle riding at a price much lower than the price required by these bicycles, then Aostirmotor S18 will be a good choice.
For those who don’t want to spend thousands of dollars in one go, this is a great first tire all-tire electric bike.
Micah Toll is a personal electric car enthusiast, battery nerd, and the author of Amazon’s top best-selling book DIY Lithium Battery, DIY Solar and Ultimate DIY Electric Bike Guide.
Post time: May-19-2021