John Timmer
The topic of this assessment, SWFT’s new Apex mountain bike, pulls collectively threads from two bikes we have checked out beforehand. A type of threads got here courtesy of SWFT, which launched itself to the world with the Volt, an train in making an attempt to get e-bike costs all the way down to the purpose the place they weren’t competing with an honest used automotive. Whereas the Volt wasn’t a terrific bike, it was completely useful and provided an honest journey at a sub-$1,000 value. Now, SWFT is making an attempt to work that very same magic with a mountain bike.
The second thread got here courtesy of the Specialized e-mountain bike we checked out earlier this 12 months. In that assessment, I recommended that should you needed to drop lower than three or 4 thousand {dollars} on even a non-electrified mountain bike, you’ll sacrifice high quality and options.
The Apex raises the stakes of that sacrifice by conserving twin suspensions, throwing in an electrical help, and focusing on the worth under $2,200. The sacrifices concerned are fairly noticeable and are made worse by a few questionable design selections. Whereas the bike could be enjoyable to level at a path, it does not work particularly properly as a mountain bike, although loads of its points can be simple to appropriate if SWFT determined to come back out with a 2.0 model.
Factors of distinction
To essentially perceive the types of sacrifices that wanted to be made so as to convey this bike in at $2,200, we will simply begin on the entrance wheel and work our means again. Most present bikes use what’s referred to as a through-axle, which screws straight into the fork. So long as the hub of the wheel is not broken, this ensures that it’ll rotate evenly and the disk connected to the wheel will line up exactly in the midst of the brakes. Whereas street bikes sometimes have a deal with on one finish of the axle to screw it in, mountain bikes skip the deal with as a result of it is simply one thing else that may snag on the terrain (it is screwed in with an Allen wrench as an alternative).
The Apex has a skewer right here, which is used to clamp the axle in place. The skewer is not as exact, so it is potential to lock it in a means that leaves the wheel barely out of alignment. And it additionally requires a deal with, which might doubtlessly get caught on stuff like foliage.
On the Apex, the fork it clamps into does have shocks. However most entrance shocks now include a lever that allows you to swap the firmness of the journey. On regular terrain, firming issues up helps be sure that much less of the power that you just put into pedaling will get stolen by the shocks; you possibly can then simply flip the lever to loosen issues up when the terrain will get rugged. The entrance shocks on the Apex lack this method, so what you begin the journey with is what you’ve got received for its entirety.