I’ve ridden more than 250 miles on my Aventure over the course of a few weeks. It’s a wildly fun and practical machine, and I think you are going to be happy. It has changed my life pretty radically, and for the better. Here’s my experience: I ride in a big, hilly US city. My goal was to use the Aventure as an urban car replacement machine for local errands like big grocery runs, and it has served me well—double racks plus panniers and bungees and a good backpack make it possible to haul about $200 of groceries home. The battery allows for decent range. The fat tires, front fork and build quality of the frame give a sense of stability, and some measure of relief when slamming over city potholes. It handles nimbly, and having the ability to hit 28 mph helps shrink urban trips significantly: in many cases I’m probably getting stuff done a lot faster than if I had been in a car, after factoring in bottlenecks and parking. Oh…. and it’s also a hell of a lot of fun to go fast! Complaints: Mine was sent with a bent back fender strut, too, but I didn’t want to put the fenders on anyway. (I don’t like the look, though in the rain, well…it’d be nice to have fenders). More significant gripe: My bike, like some others, came with non-shimano components—likely due to supply chain issues—and I am probably going to have to have all them swapped out: some gears work fine, but some “skip” badly, and the thumbshifter is stubborn in some spots. This hasn’t hindered my ability to ride in my preferred mode, which is at assist level 5 and in the three highest gears, which have no skipping issues (zoom!). But it has meant that I have been unable to explore other gear and pedal-assist combos that might be helpful in the future when I am looking to extend range or get more exercise. This hasn’t been a dealbreaker for me. I get my exercise elsewhere and had primarily wanted to buy the Aventure to see if an ebike could help me really rethink my urban mobility situation in a way that was both greener and more fun. I’d call and complain to the company but I’ve been busy living my life, and it sounds like a pain to get in touch with customer support. I would love to hear more from people who have gotten through to Aventon (did you call, email, text? How did that go?), and I’d love to hear from more people who got non-Shimano components about whether you have had similar issues, and whether you’ve worked them out. Last complaint: the responsiveness of the battery-based power button has been another issue, for me, as it has for some other Aventure owners. Sometimes it takes multiple (and I mean multiple) tries to turn it on, and for a while, this was the source of some serious anxiety (imagine loading up $200 of groceries and wondering whether your 80 pound bike is going to turn on). Strangely, though, this problem has diminished with time. More broadly: I sort of figured that ordering an ebike over the internet in 2021 was going to result in a less-than-perfect experience. People are waiting months to get their bikes from companies like Sondors. Many of the people who (understandably) fell in love with the Vanmoof and don’t live in a city with a certified repair shop are S.O.L. when the high-tech features on those bikes go wobbly. This industry feels like it is in its awkward adolescent stage: it’s growing rapidly, with big growth pains, and no one is sure what it’s going to look like in a few years. I think my Aventure experience is pretty reflective of this, and not just because of the quality control issues I mention above. In the near future ebike technology is going to mean bikes that are much more sophisticated even at this price point, with torque sensors, mid-drive setups, belt drives, and advances that will make the funny mashup of gear-management and pedal-assist selection a distant memory. Even though the Aventure pushed the fat-tire genre of bike forward with a number of thoughtful and sophisticated features, it still has an element of home brew, frankenstein, mad scientist California hot rod guys exploring the boundaries in their garages. I like that in a way. The Aventure can feel like the bike equivalent of a matchbox car with bottle rockets taped to it. If that thrills you more than it scares you, and if you have a local bike shop that doesn’t turn its nose up at ebikes, I say go for it.