Aventon Current ADV Electric Mountain Bike review: Looks just like the real thing

While Aventon is known primarily as an e-bike brand, the company began making overhauls in 2013. This gives it some goodwill when it comes to fun rides for experienced cyclists. (In addition to the Current ADV, there’s also a higher-end model, the Current EXP, with a more expensive carbon frame and better components.) Since its first venture into e-MTBs with Ramblas in 2024, the company has continued to develop electric mountain bikes with very good specs for the price.

The designers behind the latest iterations have done a masterful job. The current ADV looks 100 percent the part of a contemporary mountain bike. With its 6061 aluminum frame, SRAM Eagle groupset, tube-ready Maxxis Minion tires that wrap a pair of 29-inch double-wall wheels, 170mm

Photography: Michael Venotolo-Mantovani

It is worth noting that although the engine is proprietary to Aventon, the components are not. It may be difficult to get your local bike shop to check the battery and motor, but assuming they’re good, it shouldn’t be difficult to swap out everything else if you need to fix it.

Despite its design and ride feel, all of which can easily make you forget you’re riding electric, the Current ADV is a Class 1 e-MTB (which can be switched to a Class 3 via the brand’s app), which delivers hours upon hours of riding on a single charge.

The 800Wh battery is neatly housed in the bike’s relatively small downtube, offering a range of up to 105 miles. Of course, I couldn’t quite get there, as I was constantly switching between any of the current ADV’s five power modes (Auto, Eco, Trail, Turbo, and a new 30-second Boost mode for extra torque on big hills). However, the longest day I spent on the ultra-comfortable Selle Royal SRX bike saddle was around three hours. At that time, the battery was only down 20 percent.

Eyes up

The biggest flaw I found with Current is that it is small and seemingly minor, but nonetheless has had a huge impact on my travels. This is the fact that when you click on the power settings, the bike beeps, and all of those beeps make the same sound.

When I ride a mountain bike (and probably when you ride a mountain bike too), the last thing I want to do is take my eyes off the road. Having these sounds in the same tone meant that I kept instinctively looking at the top-mounted screen to see what mode I was in.