The Ancheer AN-EB001 is mountain-style Class 2 budget electric bike with serviceable all-around performance. While it couldn't quite match the more expensive competition, its middle-of-the-road performance left little to be desired. It has a 250W rear hub motor that easily scoots this bike along with average acceleration, a top throttle speed of 17 mph, and three levels of pedal assistance. The 288Wh battery capacity also gave it a decent distance range. This bike handles well and feels a bit like a traditional mountain bike, plus it comes with a suspension fork and slightly knobby tires that work well for light-duty off-road use. It has functional and straightforward controls, plus it comes with a headlight for convenience and safety. This bike also has a reasonable price tag, and we feel it represents a pretty good value in the world of eloctronically powered bikes.
REASONS TO BUY
"Mountain bike" style
Affordable
Headlight
21-speed drivetrain
REASONS TO AVOID
Limited distance range
Limited seat height adjustment
Mediocre user-interface
Safety Recall
The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission recently informed consumers of a recall for the Ancheer AN-EB001 electric bike due to fire, explosion, and burn hazards. You can read the recall notice here, and more information can be found on the Ancheer website.
Editor's Note: The Ancheer AN-EB001 review was updated on October 17, 2022, with an important safety notice.
Our Analysis and Test Results
When you search for the best budget electric bikes, Ancheer is one of the most common brands that pop up. They make a variety of models, and the AN-EB001 Class 2 "electric mountain bike" is by far one of the most popular and highly-rated models in this price range. Naturally, we felt compelled to test and compare this mountain-style bike to the competition. With features like a suspension fork and slightly knobby tires, this bike is suitable for smooth dirt roads and paths. While its performance was quite average, we still feel this reasonably priced model is a great value.
Performance Comparison
For the price, we think the AN-EB001 is a decent e-bike and a good value.
Credit: Laura Casner
Ride
The Ancheer AN-EB001 has nice middle-of-the-road ride quality and overall performance. It handles predictably and is relatively comfortable, and we feel it is best suited for cruising roads and bike paths with some light-duty dirt road or smooth dirt path riding mixed in. It earned a 7 out of 10, an average score for the group.
The Ancheer generally handles quite well. It rolls on 26-inch wheels, and the steering felt steady and calm. It performed well in our handling test while taking sharp and gradual turns at both high and low speeds. We found its stability to be quite good, and it felt composed while riding 20 mph down our steeper speed test hill. It comes with a suspension fork that appears to get approximately an inch and a half of travel. While it provides a more forgiving ride over rough terrain, the fork's performance is generally quite poor. That said, it's better than nothing when you slam into a pothole that you might not have seen. It also comes with relatively wide tires with a bit of tread on them. These girthier tires help to dampen the ride a bit with their increased air volume, and they provide a little extra traction should you try and ride this bike off the pavement. Make no mistake, this is not a high-performance mountain bike, and we would not recommend anyone try to tackle any serious trails on it.
The Ancheer has handling reminiscent of a traditional hardtail mountain bike.
Credit: Laura Casner
We found the overall comfort of the Ancheer to be agreeable. The seat was comfortable enough during our long test rides, and it has a decent range of seat height adjustability. However, like most of the bikes we tested, our six-foot-tall tester with long legs found the seat post to be too short to get proper leg extension while pedaling. Taller riders or those with long legs may need to purchase a longer seat post to fit correctly. Ancheer doesn't specify a height range for this bike, although they mention a seat height adjustment range of 30.4-39 inches. The stem is also adjustable and can be raised or lowered to achieve your desired handlebar position.
The components worked well for us during testing. The mechanical disc brakes work well enough, albeit with a bit of a pulse-y, inconsistent feel, and we were able to go from full speed to a complete stop in 20 feet. The 21-speed drivetrain gave us no issues, and there is plenty of gear range for any terrain or in the off chance your battery dies while out on a ride. This bike also comes with an LED headlight that runs off the bike's battery, as well as a horn, to alert people you're coming.
With a 288Wh battery, the AN-EB001 has a slightly below-average distance range.
Credit: Laura Casner
Range
The Ancheer AN-EB001 has a respectable distance range that we found to be consistent with their claims, and it earned an 8 out of 10 in this metric. It was far from the best we tested, but we feel it performed well enough considering this bike's battery capacity.
Ancheer claims a 15-30 mile distance range for the AN-EB001, similar to its sister product, the Ancheer Folding. We assume the low end of that range, 15 miles, is when using full electric, or throttle only, and on perfectly flat terrain. When we performed our throttle-only range test, we traveled 14.84 miles with 860 vertical feet of elevation gain/loss in an hour and 3 minutes. We did not do this test on perfectly flat terrain, so we were somewhat impressed with this performance. While it couldn't quite match the range of some of the bikes with larger batteries, we feel this performance was admirable, given the 288Wh battery capacity. The Ancheer held a 14.1 mph average speed with a 20.8 mph top speed that we hit while riding down a hill during our range test.
Its no speed demon, but the 250W motor has average acceleration and a top throttle speed of 17 mph as well as three pedal assist modes.
Credit: Laura Casner
Power
The Ancheer AN-EB001 scored right about average in its power output with a 7 out of 10. You can use it in either full electric/throttle mode or any of the three pedal assist modes. Using the throttle, we found decent acceleration and a respectable top speed, and the three pedal assist settings provide a good range of support to enhance your efforts.
While using the throttle only, we did numerous speed tests on a perfectly flat stretch of road. Despite a claimed top speed of 15 mph, we were able to consistently get the Ancheer up to 17 mph and hold it there. Its acceleration felt reasonable but not especially fast, similar to the other models with 250W rear hub motors that we tested. During our range test, we noted how well it was able to hold speed while cresting a small hill in the course, and it performed relatively well and was able to stay above 10 mph.
The AN-EB001 has three pedal assist levels, low, medium, and high, and can also be ridden with pedal assist turned off. We couldn't find information on the amount of support provided by the different levels, but they offered a nice range between the settings. The low level felt pretty light; we'd guess approximately 30%, while the high setting felt quite strong, around 90% support. Pedal assistance kicks in with about a full rotation of the pedals, and it provides the same amount of output regardless of how hard you pedal. We noticed that in the high setting, the power comes on gradually and ramps up to max output as opposed to coming on strong all at once. This graduation helped keep this bike from feeling as jumpy as some of the others we tested. The power delivery felt smooth and consistent, and shifts between modes were no problem. When you stop pedaling, the power extends for another second or so. We found that the 20 mph mark was about as fast as we could get this bike to go while pedaling hard and using the high output setting.
The controls on the AN-EB001 have poor ergonomics, but they work well enough.
Credit: Laura Casner
User Interface
The AN-EB001 has a very basic but completely functional user interface. It can't compete with the highest-rated models in this metric, but the controls and display serve their purpose and get the job done.
The AN-EB001 has a simple handlebar-mounted unit that is home to both the control buttons and the LED lights that show your pedal-assist mode and remaining battery life. There are three buttons, power, up, and down, situated across the bottom of the unit. The power button is in the center. The "up" button is on the right side, and it scrolls up through the bike's three pedal assist modes. The "down" button is on the left side of the unit, and it is used to shift down through the pedal assist modes. The ergonomics of the controls are relatively weak, as their location across the bottom of the unit makes them a little harder to reach with your thumb while riding.
Battery life is displayed with a row of five red LED lights just above the control buttons. All five lights illuminate when the battery is fully charged, and they turn off sequentially as it is depleted. The pedal assist mode indicator lights are across the top of the unit, and a bright red light illuminates above the mode you are currently using. To use the full electric/throttle mode, you need to press the down button until all pedal-assist mode lights are turned off. The throttle control is integrated into the right grip and is actuated by twisting the throttle back towards you.
The large silver battery pack sits in a cradle on the down tube of the bike frame. The battery has an on/off switch that must be flipped to the on position before pressing the power button on the handlebar controls. The battery has a standard charging port and comes with a charging cord. It can be charged on the bike or easily removed for charging anywhere you like. Ancheer claims a battery charge time of 4-6 hours, and they recommend against leaving it charging for more than 10 hours.
The AN-EB001 had an average amount of assembly required and arrived well packaged and protected from shipping damage.
Credit: Jeremy Benson
Assembly
The AN-EB001 scored about average for its ease of assembly, and it scored a 7 out of 10. The process included many standard procedures with just a couple of extra simple steps to complete. The bike arrived in a regular-sized bike box 80% assembled, and the entire process from unboxing to ride ready took about 45 minutes.
Our test bike arrived in good condition. It was well packaged and protected from shipping damage. After pulling it from the box and removing all protective packing materials, the remaining assembly was relatively straightforward and about the same as most of the other bikes we tested. The Ancheer came with all of the tools needed to complete the process and printed instructions detailing all of the necessary steps. The instructions are simple, but they are clear and concise, with written descriptions and photos for each step in the process. Like most bikes, you will need to install the front wheel, handlebar, and seat post. This bike also has the additional simple steps of installing the stem, kickstand, headlight, and seat to the top of the seat post. The battery also needs to be placed in its cradle on the frame's downtube.
Should You Buy the Ancheer AN-EB001?
We feel the Ancheer AN-EB001 is a pretty good value. It is one of the least expensive models we tested, and while its performance was generally middle of the road, we think it's pretty good considering the asking price. We feel you'd be hard-pressed to find a better bike for the money. If you're on a tight budget, we think this is a solid entry-level option to consider.
What Other Budget Electric Bikes Should You Consider?
If you're willing and able to spend a bit more, you get yourself a considerably higher quality and higher performance bike. The Ride1Up Turris XR, for example, is a top-rated model and a true standout in the "budget" category. This Class 3 model has a powerful 750W motor that is capable of pedal-assisted speeds up to 28 mph, along with a 614 Wh battery that provides class-leading range. Don't want to spend that much? The Miclon LNE 26 is an affordable bike with retro-inspired good looks, a comfortable, smooth ride, and an impressive range. It's comparable to the Ancheer in the power department but performs better elsewhere.
This is a versatile electric bike with a consistently middle of the road performance offered at a reasonable price.
GearLab is founded on the principle of honest, objective, reviews. Our experts test thousands of products each year using thoughtful test plans that bring out key performance differences between competing products. And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. No cherry-picked units sent by manufacturers. No sponsored content. No ads. Just real, honest, side-by-side testing and comparison.
