Engwe Engine Pro 750W review
Engwe’s Engine Pro electric bike certainly looks very different from your average folding electric bike.
It’s quite frankly gigantic, with the 20in wheels wrapped in 4in-wide studded off-road tyres that look as if they belong on a motorbike. The Engwe has a certain ‘monster truck’ appeal to it.
It’s one seriously heavy bike too. At 34kg with all the accessories in place, the idea of this being a portable folding bike is somewhat fanciful.
However, I appreciate being able to reduce the bike’s footprint from its 114cm wheelbase (174cm end to end) to half that for storage.
It is however priced at an average cost for a folding electric bike with an RR of £1333.00
Engwe Engine Pro 750W motor and battery
The Engwe’s engine has impressive figures; the rear-hub motor is rated to 750w and the frame houses a 48v 16ah/768Wh battery. Engwe claims this makes the bike good for 120km / 74miles, which is somewhat generous.
If you used the bike in ECO mode and never above level one, maybe you’d hit that range. However, you wouldn’t be having much fun doing it.
The Engwe’s engine does impress, as does the way it’s controlled. The full-colour HD screen is bright and easy to read, and the five-button bar-mounted remote gives easy access to the system’s functions.
With three power modes – ECO, Normal and Sport – and five levels in each of those, the bike has plenty of options for power assistance.
In ECO, the bike is a sedate ride, the steering is quick and the upright riding position makes it a comfortable place to be. Push up through the modes into Sport and the higher levels, and the 750w motor really shows its true metal.
The Engwe has ridiculous amounts of pure grunt, to the point where the pedal assistance can hardly keep pace with the motor input. Occasionally, it can feel as if the bike is running away from you. A dab of the brakes disengages the motor, but it’s a bike you need to get accustomed to.
It also has a throttle assist trigger, which comes in handy when pulling away from the lights or helping you get up an incline on what is one seriously weighty machine.
If you hold the throttle in the open position, the bike has a built-in cruise control that maintains the power irrespective of pedal input (though still requiring it). It’s not quite a full-on throttle operation, but it’s something of a grey area.
Perhaps the motor system’s neatest trick is you can drop it down to level 0 in ECO mode and use your pedal power to top up the battery. It’s not the easiest bike to pedal under your own steam however, and the mass and those chunky tyres don’t exactly scream efficiency.
I tended to only use this feature when riding downhill. You shouldn’t expect to fully recharge the reserves, but on longer descents I did manage to eke out between 5 and 9 per cent battery according to the display.
The bike is somewhat over-built. The massive balloon tyres are all the suspension you could ever need, so the 61mm-travel suspension fork feels like overkill.
For the most part, I’ve left the fork lockout closed. At the rear, a four-bar linkage back end with a non-adjustable rear shock is superfluous to the bike’s needs.
Removing the hefty fork, and simplifying and lightening the rear end, would make sure the bike makes more of its powerful motor and battery package.
The brakes, with their 180mm rotors, stop the bike quickly and safely, and the Shimano gears are efficient but not exactly slick. There’s a bit of chain chatter at each end of the gear range, but they’ve kept working well come rain or shine and on all surfaces.
The oversized rear rack is more of a platform to strap things to, because the large-diameter tubing isn’t compatible with any pannier bags I’ve tried. On Engwe’s cheaper EP-2 Pro, you get a standard-gauge rack that is.
While out of the box the bike is EU-compliant and speed limited to EU regulations, you can easily change this in the settings.
With a few buttons presses, the speed limit can be raised to more than double what’s legally allowed on UK roads.
That’s fine if you want to ride the bike on private land, but not on public roads.
Engwe Engine Pro 750W ride impressions
Concerns aside, I’ve enjoyed the Engwe. Its big tyres and big power make for a fun ride around town and beyond. It’s got enough range, and I’ve managed between 35 miles / 56.5km and 50 miles / 80.5km in between charges (depending on the terrain and topography).
It’s fun to ride off-road because those huge tyres can handle anything you throw at them and deliver grip for days. You can lean over into corners with the shoulders’ studded tread biting into dirt well.
The steering can be jolted, however, because that massive front tyre can compress and bounce left or right off ridges, rocks and ruts. You need your wits about you if you venture off-road, as I did quite a lot.
It does have some niggles, though. The seatpost saddle rail clamp vibrates loose frequently and the rear guard does the same.
The charger is also slow, taking the best part of seven hours to recharge from empty, and its in-built fan is noisy too.
Engwe Engine Pro 750W bottom line
Overall, I think the Engwe has a heap of potential. The motor, battery and control system are all impressive – especially at this price.
If Engwe stripped the Engine Pro of its rear suspension and superfluous suspension fork, it’d shave a whole heap of weight and make the bike far more user-friendly. It would be easier to maintain, and it wouldn’t lose an ounce of the fun it delivers.
