REVIEW – I fell in love with bikes in my late 20’s when I decided to bike 10 miles each way to and from work. I discovered that I loved being outdoors and seeing sunrises and feeling the fresh air. Since those days, I’ve bought and reviewed so many bikes and motorcycles that I’ve lost count, and each one has been fun to explore and discover with. The ANYCOM DB1 Electric Dirt Bike is the first one that truly lets me experience new places and thrills that none of the others have been able to do thus far, and I am now deep in the rabbit hole of searching for new trails to tear up on the weekends. I had to take a break from that though and actually write this review, so here we go!
⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $2,999 (on sale for $1899 at time of review)
Where to buy: ANYCOM
What is it?
The ANYCOM DB1 Electric Dirt Bike is an electric dirt bike with great torque and range. It is primarily designed to tackle off-road trails including steep inclines but can be made street-legal in some areas with the included pedal kit (check your local laws before riding on the street!).
What’s included?
- ANYCOM DB1 Electric Dirt Bike
- User Manual
- AC Charger
- Repair Toolkit
- Chainwheel
- Crankset
- Pedals
- Chain
- Speed sensor
- Bottom Bracket
Tech specs
- Motor: 2000 W peak mid-drive
- Max Torque: 137 Nm
- Battery: 1344 Wh
- Top Speed: 28 Mph
- Range: up to 100 miles
- Max load: 220 lbs
- Charge time: 9 hours
- Display: LCD
- Weather resistance rating: IP66
- Tires: F&Rairtire;60/80-17
- Tire inner tubes: 70/100-17
- Suitable rider height: 155-195CM (5.08-6.40 feet)
Design and features
The ANYCOM DB1 Electric Dirt Bike is built like a dirt bike first rather than an electric bike modified with beefier suspension. It has a strong metal frame with good looking welds, 17-inch knobby tires, a large battery, and a mid-drive motor that utilizes a chain and large sprocket to give tons of torque to the back wheel.
The front LED headlight puts out a decent amount of light in a wide pattern which can be adjusted vertically. If I were riding off-road at night, I’d probably add a bright headlamp as well but for street riding visibility it’s better than average compared to the other bikes I’ve reviewed.
The front suspension offers a generous amount of travel and good damping and rebound. On all but the largest rocks and ruts it absorbed most of the trail vibrations and gave me a nice smooth ride.
The rear suspension is the same story: good travel and damping for a smooth ride. You can see the large chain and rear sprocket as well, which give a whopping 137 Nm of torque (a 450 CC gas dirt bike gets about 55 Nm of torque).
The hydraulic brakes on both wheels are paired with large brake rotors for good stopping power.
There’s even a rear brake light that flashes brighter when the brakes are engaged.
The LCD display is fine, but hard to read if there’s direct bright sunlight. It has a 5-bar battery meter and can display stats like speed and miles travelled. I do wish it displayed a range-remaining estimate or more granular battery levels, but I went into longer rides thinking that I would ride as fast or hard as I wanted for the first 3 bars and reserve two for the return trip at lower speed or downhill (spoiler, I never used more than 2 bars on any ride due to the massive battery capacity).
A key lock prevents the bike from being used, and a water bottle cage sits right below that. I do wish they’d done a small compartment for storing things like tools as my tall bike water bottle doesn’t fit here, but smaller bike water bottles would be good (or even a 12 oz. can of soda, if you enjoy thoroughly shaken soda after a long bumpy ride).
Overall, I am impressed by the build quality, looks, and parts that ANYCOM put on this bike. The wheels and shocks are great for beginner to intermediate riders, the size is fantastic for most riders six feet tall or under (and even though I’m over 6′, I appreciated the shorter frame to give me more control since I’m relatively new to off-road dirt bike trails).
Assembly, Installation, Setup
The ANYCOM DB1 Electric Dirt Bike came in a monster of a box, reinforced inside with a steel frame that kept the bike well protected (a rather large dent in the frame at the bottom middle of the above photo shows that the frame saved the bike from some major blow during shipping). The assembly instructions were clear and took me about an hour solo (though I’d highly recommend getting a friend to help, some steps were difficult by myself).
The first step that is much easier with two people is getting the front wheel slotted into the front fork. The axel has spacers and nuts that like to slide around, so lifting the front of the bike while attempting to slide the disc rotor and axel into the fork was quite difficult by myself.
Attaching the handlebars is just like most other bikes…
But the included screws easily stripped while torquing them down. I was able to get them torqued to the recommended specifications, but I’ll have to be very careful with that bolt if I ever need to adjust or change the handlebars in the future.
The battery ships disconnected for safety, and you need to remove the battery cage, pull the whole battery out (it’s heavy, be careful!), and then attach cables and slide it back in. The battery is pretty well protected where it is, but I do wish it was easier to access and slide out so you could charge it indoors or just remove it to reduce bike weight while transporting it.
Speaking of charging, the included charger has a cable just not long enough to reach the charging port without dangling the charging brick off the ground. I don’t love having chargers dangling like this, wish they’d gone with a cable just 6 inches longer. Charging takes around 9 hours from empty. I also added a healthy amount of flat-repair goo inside each tire, so I’d have less chance of thorns popping them in the desert rides I planned on doing.
I installed the foot pegs since I plan on using this bike for its primary purpose: off road riding. I do like that they include pedals and cadence sensors so that you could set up the bike as a legitimate e-bike (at least in some areas – check your local laws).
Performance
I tested the ANYCOM DB1 Electric Dirt Bike on a variety of trails, as well as around town. On asphalt, it accelerates pretty quickly to 15 mph, then continues a bit more leisurely to a maximum speed of about 32 mph for this ~220 lb rider. The chain and sprocket setup is definitely selected for more torque than high speed. It also makes a fair amount of noise while riding, especially compared to a typical e-bike (but is far less than a noisy gas dirtbike).
The real fun for me began when I took the bike up a fire road trail in a canyon near me, and onto some slick rock trails which you can watch below:
Both of these longer test rides involved miles of hill climbing and all sorts of terrain including dirt, gravel, mud, sand, and slick rock. In particular, I tried a hill climb in rocky/sandy terrain that none of my previous bikes or even motorcycles could tackle due to tricky terrain and steep slopes. There was one short point that I found a spot that they ANYCOM DB1 couldn’t climb on motor power alone, but it was a slope that was steeper than I’d like to even walk up. A couple of helpful pushes by my leg got it past that point and I continued right up the hill.
When I was coming back down, I took a wrong turn and ended up descending a hill so steep that I thought I almost certainly end up with broken bones at the bottom. However, I trusted in the big brake rotors and squeezed and held on for dear life, and the DB1 maintained remarkable control all the way down. Cruising through desert washes on the way back to the car, I did wish that it could go about 10 mph faster in some spots, the rolling bumps in the trail were fun to glide over and I’ll bet I could get air with more practice (and less regard for my safety).
Both rides were about 10-15 miles, and only the second one with intense hill climbs and high-speed sand trails took the battery down 2 notches out of 5. A lot of bike companies give their range estimates by plopping an 80 pound person on a completely flat track with no wind and drive at low speeds until the battery is dead, but it seems like ANYCOM actually gives a reasonable range estimate! I never had the time to try it, but riding in the lowest setting (which caps speed around 15 mph and reduces the acceleration) you could probably get close to their 100 mile estimate if there’s not too many hills.
Final thoughts
I absolutely loved my time with the ANYCOM DB1 Electric Dirt Bike. I experienced trails I’d already ridden before in a completely new way (faster), and was able to try out new trails my other bikes would immediately fail at (like the steep slickrock). The fact that I can lift this onto a bike carrier and drive it to trails on my car opens up new possibilities as well – where other dirt bikes would require a trailer or ramp/pickup truck solution. The only gripe I could think of for my personal use would be the slight inconvenience of removing the battery protector in order to pull it out (either for charging, or for getting a second battery for all-day adventures). But that said, I was tired after only using 2/5 battery bars so I probably wouldn’t need that second battery option any time soon.
What I like about the ANYCOM DB1 Electric Dirt Bike
- LOTS of torque and hill climb ability
- LOTS of range, even with the throttle maxed out or intense hill climbs
- Great suspension with plenty of smooth travel
- Light weight makes it nimble on tougher trails
What needs to be improved?
- Easier battery access for transport/storage/charging would be nice
- Feels a little small for taller riders (6’+), though that gives you more control so could be better for beginners
- Lower top speed than some other electric dirt bikes on the market
- Easier to read display for bright sunlight would be nice
Price: $2,999 (on sale for $1899 at time of review)
Where to buy: ANYCOM
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by ANYCOM. ANYCOM did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
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