Ahooga E-Max Alfine Review: Light Folding E-Bike for Commuters

Folding electric bikes solve two problems that commuters run into every day: the miles between the station and the office, and the shortage of space on a train or bus. Folded up, they can be carried without much fuss and, if need be, taken into the building with you. The electric assistance takes care of the rest, so you arrive on time without arriving out of breath.

The Ahooga E-Max Alfine is built squarely for that job. It is unusually light for the category at a little over 18 kg, and its folded package is small. A long-legged battery and wide tyres also make it suited to longer and bumpier journeys than most folders will happily take on.

The Belgian maker has borrowed its folding mechanism from Brompton, with the rear triangle swinging under the main tube. Where the E-Max Alfine departs from that template is the frame itself: the top tube is supplemented by two parallel down tubes, and the rear wheel tucks into the space between them as the bike folds.

The result is close to a classic diamond frame, and it is noticeably stiffer than the single main tube most folding bikes rely on. That stiffness pays off on the road, where the tendency to shimmy at higher speeds is reduced. The E-Max Alfine consequently rides far more calmly than many folders, which can feel nervous by comparison.

The wide 20-inch Schwalbe gravel tyres help as well. Run at a lower pressure — around two bar — they add a pleasant degree of damping when the surface turns rough.

Assistance comes from a front hub motor, and the layout brings a characteristic quirk: by design it pulls the bike forward, so on a loose surface the front wheel can spin up, not least because relatively little weight sits over it. In practice the gradient has to be fairly steep before that happens, and steep is not where most folding bikes spend their time.

On that sort of climb the motor's 35 N·m of torque also runs into its limits, and the gearing is not laid out for mountains either. For hilly terrain, though, both are perfectly sufficient. The motor pulls the bike along briskly across its five assistance levels, and feels genuinely strong in the upper ones.

There is also a walk-assist function, which the manufacturer does not advertise anywhere. It is activated by pressing down again on the display once you are already at assistance level zero, at which point the front wheel drives itself. That is a welcome discovery if you have to dismount and push up a steep section.

The removable battery is integrated into the main tube and holds 248 Wh, good for up to 50 km in ideal conditions. An optional range extender, which mounts on the main tube much like a water bottle, lifts total capacity to 428 Wh and so very nearly doubles the range. For anyone using the bike at both ends of a longer commute, that is the option worth budgeting for.

Folded, the E-Max Alfine measures 72 x 69 x 37 cm, which is comparatively compact. That matters most on local transport, where trains can be crowded and a smaller package is the difference between being welcome and being in the way.

Less convenient is that a luggage rack is available only as a chargeable accessory rather than as standard equipment.

At a little over 18 kg the hub-geared version is a very light 20-inch bike, and if you regularly have to carry your folder up steps or onto a train, that is where the Ahooga earns its keep. Anyone wanting to save a further kilogram can look instead at the derailleur-equipped E-Derailleur variant, which is also the cheaper of the two.

Buyers who want something individual can also specify the bike themselves: at extra cost there is a choice of twenty colours each for the main frame and the rear triangle, in gloss or matte, and for a further charge a personal slogan can be painted onto the top tube.

In the UK the E-Max Alfine is listed through a British retailer, sold on a pre-order basis with roughly two to three weeks from order to delivery. The UK specification matches the bike described here: a 250 W, 36 V front motor with a maximum of 35 N·m across five assistance levels, the 248 Wh battery expandable to 428 Wh, Shimano hydraulic disc brakes, integrated front and rear lighting, a maximum assisted speed of 25 km/h and a maximum payload of 120 kg for rider and bike together.

The Ahooga E-Max Alfine is close to an ideal folding e-bike for commuters. At a little over 18 kg the hub-geared version is a very light 20-inch machine, so anyone who has to pick their folder up repeatedly is well served here.

Comfort holds up away from the city too, thanks to those wide tyres. The gearing does not stretch to serious mountains, but across hilly terrain the five assistance levels keep the pace up, and the removable 248 Wh battery covers up to 50 km between charges.