So, the X24 is a bit odd. Thankfully, it’s less odd than the older X26, as this new improved series does a lot to fix the previous generation’s shortcomings. And while it has some very odd design features, It also surprised me by how practical and capable is. So let’s get it unboxed, and dive into what makes the new Engwe X series so unique.
Unboxing
The X24 is a beastly bike at around 100lbs, so you may need an assistant to help lift and handle the bike during assembly. A small box inside the main box contains parts such as pedals, a toolkit of dubious quality, and a single 48V 3A charger. The seat is also boxed separately to prevent damage, and is of pretty nice quality.
Each Engwe Manual seems to get more detailed, and this one does a pretty good job of showing the assembly steps. It even goes into depth on how to adjust the display’s advanced settings.
The bike is protected by a minimal amount of custom-cut foam and cardboard blocks, leading to less waste and a quicker unboxing than usual. They seemed to have served their purpose well, as the only damage to the bike I could find was a small gouge on the kickstand mount, which gets mostly covered by the bolts and washers anyways.
The next step was to remove the dummy axle from the fork to fit the front wheel, making sure to align the brake into the caliper, after which I could flip the bike over to continue work on it.
The handlebars clamp in with 4 bolts, and I take a moment to ensure the controls and bar angle seem right for my height and stance on the bike before tightening it fully.
The rear seat simply slides onto frame, with a single set screw to secure it to the frame. The main seat uses a more standard clamping rail, with a single bolt uses to tighten it after finding the correct angle.
Finally, I spin the metal pedals on each crank arm, and secure the headlight and taillight before I’m ready to ride! Maybe I’m just getting used to unboxing bikes, but this seemed to be the easiest bike setup I’ve done so far.
Features and Initial Impressions
The X24 is a beefy looking bike. Seriously, this thing is an absolute unit. I’ve had multiple comments from random people about how it looks like “serious business”, and it feels as serious as it looks. From the 24 x 4” fat tires, to the oversized dual rear suspension, it has quite a large presence. This coupled with the unique looking frame design, make for a bike that’s sure to turn heads.
It’s not all for looks though, as the bike packs dual 48v batteries for a total of 29.2 amp hours of capacity. With a motor capable of 1200 watts peak power and 31mph top speed, and an advertised range of 54 miles at max speed, or 149 miles in eco mode, the bike can ride both fast and far. Couple that with the 180mm brake rotors and hydraulic calipers, and you have a very fast and capable machine at your control.
Speaking of control, the handlebars are very wide, offering plenty of leverage for whipping around the large fat tires. The included grips are very sleek looking black leather, which I found to be quite comfortable, with a wide flat profile to distribute your weight more evenly. Working our way across the bars, we have the odd left-hand throttle with horn and display controls. Towards the middle of the handlebars, you find the bright color LCD display, with lots of settings to play around with. Finally on the right, we have our Shimano paddle shifter, with each press clicking up or down through the 8-speed gearset.
I’ve heard complaints about the stock derailleur, which is indeed a bit lacking. Engwe is using a 6/7 speed derailleur on an 8 speed freewheel and it struggles to hit all the gears. After tons of fiddling with it, I was able to get it shifting well enough, but this really should have been upgraded to a better system more suitable for this bike.
Likewise, I do wish they would have opted for a better headlight and taillight, as these don’t look as distinctive as something like the M20’s headlights, and while the headlight seems bright enough, the taillight is actually quite dim. I’m not a huge fan of the wimpy sounding horn either; cars won’t hear it, and it’s a lot less friendly sounding than a bell for pedestrians.
Unlike the average looking headlights, frame on this bike is extraordinarily distinctive looking with its triple shock rear swing arm, and the quality of the finish is top notch. The frame is quite a bit more sleek than previous bikes, and almost looks like it’s molded from a single piece. I don’t know if it is, or if they just grind all the welds smooth, but the bike looks basically seamless. I also appreciate the inclusion of some additional accent paint and logos, which helps to make the frame look a bit more lively than the old version. Like a lot of Engwe’s other bikes, the X24 also folds using a locking mechanism and hinge to reveal the secondary battery. You could theoretically fold it up for storage or travel, but due to the size and weight of the bike, I’m not sure how practical that would be.
The bike feels very solidly built and extremely ridged, but had a bit of a rattle from the factory. I added a bit of foam to the front battery, which made the bike almost completely rattle-free and silent over bumps and jumps.
Shocks and Swing Arm
One of the most prominent odd design features is the triple shock swing arm. The rear wheel is suspended by dual shock absorbers, which themselves are mounted on a swing arm sprung by a mid-mounted shock. The dual gas shocks are extremely oversized for a bike like this, being sized more like a moped shock, and are fully adjustable in preload and gas pressure. The mid-frame shock, however, is a cheaper unit, and in testing, I’m not sure it does much at all. I think they designed it like this just to brag about having more shocks than any other bike on the market.
The front fork has reportedly been improved since the last revision, which was often described as too soft. The improved fork now has adjustments for damping strength, and preload, which is extremely helpful in dialing in your preferred ride quality.
In practice, the bike rides very nice over bumpy roads and trails, and can even handle some smaller jumps I found while riding. The large tires and aggressive suspension may make it tempting to take this bad boi down some aggressive downhill trails, but I will tell you right away, do not try that. While it uses large shocks and beefy components, this bike is also an absolute unit at 100lbs and is very likely to break things like the hinge or forks if subjected to lots of abuse. Realistically, it’s designed to provide a comfortable ride for light to medium trail riding. Ride quality is great, whether on-road or on gravel trails and despite the heavy weight, it can be quite nimble around corners, soaking up minor bumps with ease, and even the occasional tiny jumps.
Size and Comfort
Of course, what good is a great suspension if the seat is uncomfortable. Luckily, the primary seat on the X24 is much more standard than something like the M20, which definitely makes for a better fit for taller riders. The extreme range of adjustment means there’s no way you will be too tall for this thing. The stock seat was comfortable enough, though I did opt to swap it out for a slightly more firm saddle out of personal preference.
The seat on the back looks like it might be useful for a passenger, but I found it to just be a strange addition. There’s really no good place to put your feet while riding that feels stable enough to be safe or comfortable… that is unless you want to try pedaling the bike from way back there.
Because of this, I wound up just throwing a cargo bag on the back instead. I opted for this official Engwe bag, but the frame was too fat to wrap the Velcro straps around so I punched some holes in the bottom of the bag, along with some 3D printed clamps to mount directly to the screw holes on the cargo rack. I love the way this turned out, and I think the bike not only looks better with a cargo bag, but it’s so much more practical. I can even fit my full-size laptop into the expanding saddle bags.
The 24” tires on this bike do feel quite large, and I see why they opted for the smaller 24” tires compared to the old X26, as it reduces the standover height by quite a bit. I was happy to see Engwe opted to mount these big tires on spokes instead of mag rims, which should save a bit of weight while also being a bit more durable and comfortable to ride at the expense of being slightly less cool looking. Unfortunately, the smaller tires don’t fix the size issues completely, as the reach is still quite far, so smaller riders may still struggle with the X24 unless you fit an angled bar riser to bring them a bit closer. At 6ft tall, I could probably ride the larger X26 just fine, but the X24 is bit more practical to get on and off.
The tire size is also a bit deceiving, as in reality the outer diameter of a 24” fat tire is similar to that of a standard 26” tire. The bike is similar in dimensions to my 26” beach cruiser, and just for some other comparisons, here’s the X24 next to the Engwe M20, the Engwe C20, and a 700c road bike.
Speed, Power, and Handling
Taking the X24 out to the road, this bike is FAST! IT’S A RIOT AT 32MPH. While the M20 kept up in 25mph zone, this bike can straight up break the law, at least in Sport mode. Normal top speed is around 27-28mph, but engaging sport mode gives you a 3 minute burst of speed to help keep up on a busy street. I know there are bikes out there that can demolish this thing’s top speed, but it just feels plenty fast, at least for my needs. I was excited to see the huge chainring paired with this bike, meaning that I didn’t have to worry about ghost pedaling, and I feel like I can actually contribute a good amount of my own power even at high speeds. This means first gear is a bit tall for my liking, but the motor helps make up for it with its impressive 70 newton meters of torque to effortlessly pull me up steep hills and start from a standstill. I find the acceleration to be a good balance between feeling smooth while still feeling powerful enough to have some authority.
Batteries and Electronics
One of the most important fixes from vs the older X26 is the battery management. The front battery used to require removal to charge, but now has a much more sensible plug in the side of the frame to allow in-bike charging. While the bike still has this goofy looking tether cable for the seatpost battery, no longer to you have to manually swap it between batteries to use them, as there is now an internal battery combiner to automatically balance and run the packs in parallel. Not only is this more convenient, but running the packs in parallel provides a boost in usable current for the upgraded motor.
The dual batteries in this bike allow for incredible range. The primary battery is 19.2 amp hours, and the secondary is 10 amp hours for a total of a bit over 1400watt hours. At max speed in normal mode, it will go around 28mph while drawing roughly 700w, which would get you around 56 miles range at full throttle. I’ve only charged this bike twice since I got it, and have gone just under 200 miles on it at an average speed of 16mph, so lower assist levels can easily get around 100 miles of range per charge.
Of course, I had to tear into the electronics to see what’s going on with the new model, and it appears to use the same battery combiner and controller as the M20. This means that it also suffers from the same half second or so of throttle lag, which is annoying, but at least the X24 comes with a much better display. I was excited to see the inclusion of many custom settings, including the ability to set your own pedal assist levels! Thank goodness, as this is my biggest problem with so many E-Bikes, and after I dialed the settings to my liking, it felts so smooth to ride. The tuning of this controller is fantastic, and the acceleration curve was just powerful enough to feel like it has some authority while also feeling natural and controllable. This was especially good news, as it meant I didn’t have to use the odd left-hand throttle as much. Due to the thumb shifter placement, the throttle has also been moved to the left side of the bars. This is another one of the oddities on this bike, and while I thought I would hate it, it didn’t bother me in practice as I rarely use the throttle anyways, as the custom pedal assist levels work well enough that I don’t need the throttle 90% of the time.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this bike feels like a big step up both from the more budget-oriented models, and the previous generation X26. From the quality of the frame and welds, to the improved stock components, it just feels very premium. I always wanted an X26 but could never justify it due to the weird battery quirks, so I’m glad they finally fixed the previous generation’s design flaws, turning it from a somewhat annoying to use bike into something much more practical. The styling is like nothing else on the market, and I love the attention it gets on the trail. I do wish this bike had the option of higher rise bars or included alternative stem angles, or possibly BMX bars and headlights like the M20. I also think that including a cargo bag instead of seat by default would be a better stock option as well. I did wind up adding my usual accessories, such as a bar end mirror, but the rest of the bike really did feel pretty adequate in stock form. As is, this is a reasonable mountain bike for commuting or light trail use. While it does have very large shocks, I would not recommend to take this on a downhill trail or off any serious jumps due to its heavy weight and hinged frame. That said, it’s an extremely practical bike, being able to fold up for storage or transport, while also being relatively capable on-road or off-road. If you’re interested in purchasing an X24, X26, or any of Engwe’s other models, be sure to check out the links in the description. The X24 is already a great value at $1899, but you can currently get the bike for $100 off throughout the early bird special. Even if you’re not sure about buying the bike, you can enter your email to win various prizes, ranging from bike accessories to even winning one of the new X-Series bikes!
As usual, I will probably include a followup video with any other additional findings after extended riding, or additional modifications I decide to do to the bike so be sure to hit the subscribe button. As always, thanks for watching, and I hope you enjoyed my take on the Engwe X24.
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X20 at $1,599.99 (original price: $1,699.99)
X24 at $1,799.99 (original price: $1,899.99)
X26 at $1,899.99 (original price: $1,999.99)
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