Tenways AGO-T is a well-equipped, but heavy e-bike

There is a problem with most ee bikes, which is that you will never find one that does all the jobs right. A no-nonsense city cruiser will leave you in awe when you hit the curb while a cargo bike can pull gears, but it’s too big to move around. Tenways’ AGO-T has attempted to square many of these circles by packing nearly as much power into a Dutch-style step-thru frame.

It’s marketed as a commuter bike, but in cities where you’re not limited to flat, well-paved roads. It has a beefy engine and battery, giving it enough power to tackle a hill climb with ease, and a pannier rack that’s decent for cargo capacity. But all that extra power comes with weight, so while it’s meant to be nimble, it’s also bulky.

The e-bike market is homogeneous enough that I won’t look at a unit unless it has some eye-catching features. The AGO-T’s spec list sold me on the test ride given the sheer volume of stuff strapped to its frame: Bafang M420 mid-drive motor with 80 Nm max torque (although you’ll get less of that per day with – everyday use); Gates carbon belt; and an Enviolo stepless shifting hub. You also get hydraulic disc brakes, Selle Royal seat, integrated headlight and integrated rear light built into the pannier rack.

There’s usually something a little therapeutic about most bikes with a pass-through frame. But the combination of its multi-way camouflage panel and the classy “Jungle Green” paint job sets the AGO-T apart. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s a stylish way to get around town, even if it’s built for more power than maneuverability.

You can expect to pay a pretty penny for those kinds of specs, and the AGO-T is priced at £2,699 (around $3,500). That’s a lot of money for a bike, but it’s not unreasonable considering the gear on show, and the fact that it’s neatly packaged. You can find a cheaper alternative like Gazelle’s Paris C7+ for a lower price, but you’ll notice compromises, like a weaker engine.

The AGO-T has a range of 100km (62 miles) and its top speed is limited, by law, to 15 kilometers per hour. That being said, rarely if ever did I feel like I was going too slow on this thing, and often I had to slow it down.

The last few bikes I tested had basic digital displays that gave little more than your speed and how much assistance the bike was giving you. In comparison, the AGO-T’s full-color LCD display comes in pretty close, especially considering its larger size. There’s a lot of bad space in the UI, too, and it looks like a cluster of instruments on a car. Sometimes less is more. And, yes, TFT LCD is not good if you are outside in really strong sun.

Top Top shows time and battery level, while the middle shows speed in miles or kilometers per hour. The third one below shows the level of assistance (from 0-5) and then there are two boxes, which rotate the number of data points: Average speed, maximum speed, travel time, range, the amount of CO2 you did not burn and the trees you saved equally. I’m not sure I’ll ever need those last two data points available to me all the time, and I’m not sure what the basis for that claim is. Especially if those types of metrics are better suited to the application than the primary display.

As for the app, it is like all other e-bike apps in that you will never look at it without satisfying your curiosity. There’s a built-in GPS that you can use by mounting your phone on the handlebars or, even better, with directions pushed onto the bike’s display. Unfortunately, the quality of the GPS offered is far below that of Google or Apple Maps, with many local landmarks not included. Similarly, the turn-by-turn directions to the bike screen only include the turn signal and distance, which is far beyond what a good GPS should provide. This would be a world-class feature and suffer enough, if at all.

The AGO-T weighs 31kg (68 pounds) and you’ll feel every gram of that weight when you hold it. I don’t recommend carrying up and down the stairs unless you are built like the worst person you see at the gym. If you live in a poorly serviced apartment I don’t think this is the bike for you, but if you can safely keep this on the ground, get it. It’s like having an SUV that’s great when you’re tooling around town, and terrible when you can’t fit into a small space in a parking lot.

Its heaviness means it’s a little bumpy when you’re on the road, especially at low speeds where you’ll have to work hard to maintain balance. There is an accessibility argument that is often made about bicycles that they help empower people who may not be as physically strong. A bike like this may fall into this barrier if it is considered its height. But when it’s moving, the AGO-T is tuned to be quiet, melting into the streets rather than backing down. This mobility makes sense, because you are looking for this to get you from A to B, and to drag some bags or a child with you.

Tenways markets the AGO-T on the premise that it can take anything the city can throw at it. I had no doubt, given the power of that Bafang mid-drive engine, that it would be able to tackle the steep hills in my hometown of Norwich. When I’m testing e-bikes or scooters, I try to zip up a hill with an incline of 22.4 degrees, which usually beats smaller bikes. But with the AGO-T, I actually had to change gears down because it felt so light and weightless with the help that reached the top. Even after adjusting, I think it’s the first time I’ve climbed that hill and not even broken a sweat.

This, however, comes at the cost of range, and the ratings began to drop quickly once I started tackling the hills. That said, you can easily get 30 miles out of this on a charge, which is more than enough for most days, right?

Tenways also claims that the AGO-T can handle rough terrain on this bike, so I took it out on a few dirt tracks. The adjustable front forks and seatpost meant the bike balanced good bumpy terrain. Obviously, I wouldn’t want to take this off-road but I was surprised how well it handled dirt tracks and dirt paths littered with tree branches.

As a city bike that can eat up hills like cotton candy, Tenways’ AGO-T is a dream mini bike. I could easily see myself using this as my main bike, especially given the dynamic environment of my hometown. Whether you should buy one becomes less a question of its qualities that you need at a given time. Do you need a bike that can handle all kinds of terrain on any gradient that will also give you cargo space? Are you strong enough to fight its huge weight? And, of course, do you have enough money in the bank to buy it and make sure there are safe places to park it? If the answer to all of that is yes, then this is a slam dunk.