A dream come true or an empty tech demo? – ADO Air A20S bike test
I was waiting for this bike the most this year, a little late, but it has arrived!
Check out my video test too!
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Introductory
I'm not saying this to brag, but I don't think anyone in this country has tried more ADO bikes than I have. Or very few. Their first product was specifically my first electric bike, the Z20C. Then the A20, A20F, D300C and now the Air came in a nice row.
From my first test, I felt that this manufacturer was meant to do more than follow the others. They offered a very good hardware package at a very good price, they quickly caught up with the competition that started earlier, and then with the D300C, barely two years after the company was founded, they left most Chinese manufacturers in the dark.
About their new bike called ADO A20 Air approx. the information started leaking half a year ago. I heard incredible things. There will be no derailleur and chain, but there will be a carbon ribbed belt. There won't be a battery built into the frame, but it will still have a hidden battery, it will have a torque sensor, and I could go on.
On the one hand, with these news, I believed the piss, on the other hand, I wondered what if they really do it? Seeing the development of ADO, they have plenty of things in their deck, since they are galloping past the market at such a pace, which can make them suitable for really just a few years after entering the market, the big, well-known, high-quality (but unfortunately expensive) following manufacturers.
This article will show you what the rumors turned out to be and what kind of bike the ADO A20 Air turned out to be!
Packaging, assembly, accessories
At that time, the old A20 also came in a surprisingly small box, the Air, if possible even smaller. It is not dangerous at all, but we will return to this question later, because it is important.
The bike comes essentially assembled, the wheels are in place, the steering horn is screwed onto the end of the handlebar, you only need to screw the handlebar itself into place. For this, we get a piece of Allen screw. It's an interesting solution anyway, and you have to pay attention to it during installation, I didn't pay attention, but luckily I noticed the error in time.
If the steering rod is not in place, the front wheel will slide out of the frame together with the lower part of the rod. I don't see any basket bearing balls or bearing nests, there are only 1-1 bushings at the top and bottom. At least I didn't notice anything else. So the point is that when you screw up the upper handlebar, you should tighten this allen properly, because this and the conical washer below it keep the front wheel in place. If you have tightened this, you can fasten the whole thing with the two side hexagons.
No matter how strange the solution is, it still works, it's stable, but very!
So, once you've taken it out of the box, all you have to do is screw on the handlebars and pedals, of course, remove the crash protection, and fit the seat post and saddle in place. I will write about this later!
There aren't too many accessories, a charger, a description, some metal pieces called tools and a crappy pump, which you put away only to throw away years later. In addition to these, there is also a front and a rear plastic fender and a phone holder, which does not have a USB connector. There is, however, a USB on the other side of the steering wheel at the bottom of the instrument panel. No other.
The lights are installed, there is a front and rear light. The rear is a real curiosity (for several reasons), I still don't understand why the price of a 250+ forint bike from Chinese manufacturers only fits a red prism, when a battery or rechargeable lamp costs pennies. Well, ADO didn't make that mistake, it gave a light (although it might have been better if it didn't).
Paper form
This will be an exceptionally interesting chapter, since the ADO A20 Air is not just a bicycle, but THE BIKE PAIR, in the ADO range. With this bike, the manufacturer showed what it can do at the beginning of 2023. They put all the good things on earth into it, things that we don't even find in the index of other machines!
Let's start with what makes Air Air! Because it's light as air! Well, not so much, the manufacturer says that it weighs only 16 kilos, which is the same as the weight of a smaller scooter. ADO did a lot of magic to raise the weight reduction to such an artistic level, from the drive elements to the battery, everything has changed compared to its predecessors.
The electrical system of the Air is 36 volts, the motor can deliver 250 watts of power, the battery capacity is 9,6 Ah. The maximum speed with assistance is 25 km per hour, the maximum torque is 37 Nm. The manufacturer says that the bike is enough to climb a maximum 20-degree incline, and that we will be able to travel a maximum of 100 kilometers on a single charge. This last data is quite amusing at first, since the battery is quite small.
If it's a battery. As I wrote above, the battery of the ADO Air is hidden, but not in the frame, but in the seat tube. In other words, the seat tube itself is the cover of the battery. This is not a solution from the devil, we can also find it with other premium manufacturers. The disadvantage is that they cannot cram too many cells into the tube.
Anyway, ADO didn't skimp on the battery, at least on the quality, because they built the pack from 21700 Samsung cells. That's pretty convincing, in terms of quality!
The drive of the bike is very surprising, because, as you could have known in advance, the drive is not driven by a chain, but by a ribbed belt. This means that the thing is essentially maintenance-free, it barely makes any noise, and there is also no shifter on the rear wheel. One less problem, smart people can't get into why the shifter is Shimano Tourney, because there is no shifter.
Another VERY important thing about the drive is that the Air no longer has a pedal sensor, but a torque sensor, like all the expensive bikes. I will write about the difference between the two solutions in the experience section.
The next important moment is the brake. Although we are not talking about a high-performance bike, ADO decided that, being premium, it could not get smooth mechanical discs, so it got one oiler in the front and one in the rear. I don't need to talk much about the advantages of the hydraulic brake, the main thing is that the engagement point can be perceived much better, the braking force can be dosed more precisely, and it is harder to fall on your face with it.
There is still an interesting thing about the core drive, or rather the chassis, namely that the front fork of the Air is telescopic. This is only interesting because there is no trace of the telescope in the promo pictures, or even in the store's older product photos, we see a fixed fork everywhere. I have a clue why things changed, but I will write about it in the next chapter.
In the meantime, it turned out that there is a newer version of the ADO Air A20, the A20S, this one is telescopic.
The ADO Air was the manufacturer's first bike to receive the new electric system. It consists of a new central unit, which is said to have a viewing angle of 180 degrees, so you can see almost everything from the side. This unit comes with a Bluetooth adapter and an application for our phone. It is also important that there is also a USB connector at the bottom of the instrument, namely a Type-C connector, which can charge our phone with 1 ampere.
Overall, it can be said that the ADO A20 Air has become one of the best bikes of today, at least based on the specification. The belt drive, the gearbox-less solution, the hydraulic brakes, the battery hidden in the seat tube, the 16-kilogram weight, and the torque sensor are all high-end solutions, so packing them into one bike is considered a jackpot.
Let's see the reality now!
Experiences
I will start with the bad things, because unfortunately there are some!
It was an unpleasant experience during assembly that the "spanner" provided for the bike was not suitable for its task. It should be used for two things, one is to install the pedal (good for this), the other is to install the mudguards (not suitable for this). So, prepare a size 8 spanner for assembly if you want to screw up the fender.
The second is the rear light. It already fell apart during transport, and you can't even put it back together, it keeps falling apart. In the first place, I don't understand why they couldn't find a solution to connect the light with a connector once the battery is in the seat tube. But that's all, why couldn't they put up some cheap battery-powered lamp that we can then charge from the battery?
No, instead they put up the most clumsy battery light I've ever seen. I don't understand why this was necessary. Then it would have been better to have a red cat's eye, and then we will replace it with the kind of lamp we want. But this, in principle, to put this crap on a top bike...
Next comes one of the biggest throws that make Air Air, i.e. its mass. Advertising says 16 kilos everywhere. Then the specification already says that it weighs 16-18 kilos with battery (and in the case of the A20S the net weight is just 18 kilos). And when I put it on the scale, it turns out to be 20 kilos.
Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, in fact, but it's still 25 percent more than what the advertisement says. By the way, I attribute the deviation from the specification to the front telescope, where the 2 kilos slide in a lot due to the replacement of the rigid fork.
The electrical system, i.e. the on-board computer, and the accompanying application are good. But it's almost perfect. It's a little thing that the QR code in the description of the bike, which in principle leads to the download link, does not exist on the manufacturer's website. I'm a good kid, I'll look for it in the app store, problem solved.
It is interesting, however, that after downloading version 123, it tells me to update to version 124, but after a lot of sandwatching, nothing happens, version 123 remains. there are no errors in this anyway, but when you click on the big GO button in the middle of the main screen, the app says that the function will only arrive later. This now, approx. half a year after the introduction, it's a little awkward.
This function can be route tracking and pre-announced navigation. There aren't any. Another interesting thing is that there are still such small errors that there is a large zero at the maximum speed in the aggregated data. Who knows why
And finally, the tires and shock absorption. The bike has thin tires, I think they might be pieces with low rolling resistance. Their sidewalls are quite stiff, which is otherwise not a big problem as long as you don't stray onto a lower quality road, because if you do, it will shake everything (it would shake if there were no shock absorbers).
Well, that's why I'm not surprised about that first shock absorber, so I can understand a little why the rigid fork was replaced. I would like to note that the shock absorption is good, despite the fact that it cannot be adjusted, it can be switched, it does its job properly, so the stiffness of the rubber is not a problem either.
Well, so far the bad stuff. unfortunately, there are one or two problems, these should not be ignored, even if the ADO A20 Air turned out to be a very good bike!
Air is a real work of art, and that's no exaggeration. An extremely fine structure, let's say an instrument. It glides silently, it's easy to drive, it's also comfortable, so everything is there to make the one-time buyer very satisfied (if you've replaced the rear light).
The torque sensor is a great thing. As soon as you move the pedal, the pedal sensor turns on the motor and pushes forward with maximum force. The torque sensor always brings only as much energy to the drive as you need.
It's a very interesting experience when you start turning the pedal and, compared to a pedal sensor, you feel like, damn, it's hard to turn this even now that I'm rolling so slowly, what if I want to go faster?
Do you know what will happen? Nothing! Because as you put more and more power into turning, the engine puts more and more power into the work, and the end result is that, with a very small exaggeration, it will be just as difficult to drive at 5 kilometers per hour as it is at 20 kilometers per hour. Of course, with the difference that if you go fast, the battery will drain faster.
I also really liked the belt drive, although you hardly notice anything during use. Well, the good thing about it is that you don't notice anything about it. It doesn't rattle like a chain, you don't shift gears, it works silently or just rustles.
Unfortunately, there was less time to test this bike now, so I only had one morning to take the recordings, photos and test it in different conditions. This meant a total of 10 kilometers, or 9,9 kilometers according to the bike, which is not much. However, it is enough to see how much energy has been consumed from the battery. Well, hold on, just 11 percent.
This means that in the mixed mode (urban duster/country bike team) you can get up to 10 kilometers from the small, under 90 Ah battery. Okay, not a hundred, I would have been surprised, but 90 is also a really nice performance. Of course, if you have to go up a mountain, if you continuously go 20-25, then this distance can easily be cut in half, so count on that!
Summary
The ADO A20 Air is not something spectacular on the outside, in order to start admiring it, we have to lean closer to it. This is how you will notice the excellent brakes, the thick seat tube, which indicates that a Samsung cell battery pack is hidden inside, and last but not least, this is also how you will notice that it has a toothed belt drive, which is not an ordinary sight on a bicycle, to put it mildly.
The ADO Air turned out to be an insanely good bike, which is why little things like the rear light or the currently incomplete software hurt, because they make the taste of the buyer's mouth a little bitter. If it weren't for these, ADO Air would be a 100 out of 100 point product.
Just looking at the bike, the operation, the range, the equipment and the finesse and comfort of use, I give it 95 points out of 100 without hesitation, and those 5 points are only for the 16 vs. I am deducting it due to a weight of 20 kilos.
What should be the conclusion?
To answer the question at the beginning of this article, ADO A20 is a tech demo, but also a dream come true. It's a really great machine, which I specifically recommend for city traffic (or a high-quality bike path). It is perfect for them, even more perfect than perfect.
The ADO A20 Air is a fine instrument that is a pleasure to drive!
The price remains at the end. No one should be surprised why he is so tall, I think the article made it clear. This bike is pretty much the pinnacle of urban 20-inch bikes available this year. Fortunately, ADO has paid attention to the fact that in their case the manufacturer's name itself has no bearing on pricing. So there is no DG inscription here, which in itself means a double multiplier.
ADO has stayed with its bikes at realistic prices, which is why it's worth dealing with them. From this point of view, the price of HUF 541 is completely correct. Of course, this can be made even more correct, I also said that we should do something about this, because I wanted a better price for this article than the 467 currently available with the public coupon.
I got it, so the BGHULY206 with a coupon code, we can reduce the price to HUF 445, and this is a rare beauty, as it means a discount of almost HUF 000. I guess the store doesn't have much margin, which is why this discount is only for 100 pieces.
So the point is this:
If you want a high-end bike at an affordable price, if you mainly ride in the city and on high-quality roads, if it is important that this bike fits easily in the trunk of a car, if it is important that it only weighs 20 kilos, then this will be your bike and you will love it!
You can order it from the Czech warehouse at the link below, and don't forget to use the ~100 HUF BGHULY206 add a coupon code!
