Aniioki A9 Pro Max review: Basically an electric motorcycle that you can pedal
There are electric bikes, there are electric motorcycles, and then there are machines like the Aniioki A9 Pro Max that plant a flag somewhere in the increasingly large no-man’s-land between the two.
Technically, it has pedals. You can pedal it fairly effectively too, with the actually adjustable seat. You can even pedal it for fun, which is more than I can say for some of the increasingly motorcycle-shaped “e-bikes” I’ve tested lately.
But let’s get something out of the way right at the beginning: this isn’t a street-legal electric bicycle in the US. Not when we’re talking about dual motors producing up to 6,000W of peak power and speeds of around 45 mph.
And you know what? That’s fine. As long as we’re all honest about what this thing is.
A whole lot of bike
The Aniioki A9 Pro Max is absolutely massive, and the spec sheet makes that abundantly clear.
The version I tested uses a pair of 2,500W direct-drive hub motors, one in each wheel, with Aniioki claiming 3,000W peak power from each motor. That gives the bike a combined peak figure of 6,000W and up to 250 Nm of combined torque. It’s hard to overstate how massive that is.
Then there’s the battery. You can choose between a 60V 70Ah pack with 4.2 kWh of capacity or an even larger 60V 80Ah pack packing 4.8 kWh. For comparison, many typical commuter e-bikes have somewhere around 500-700 Wh of battery. The smaller battery here is roughly six to eight times that size. That’s absolutely in the territory of legit light electric motorcycles.
Aniioki claims up to 230+ miles (370 km) of pedal-assist range, though as usual, you should take maximum e-bike range figures as best-case numbers. Using the throttle and enjoying those big motors is going to dramatically reduce that figure. Even so, with more than 4 kWh of battery underneath you, range anxiety isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind.
All that hardware comes with a predictable penalty: weight. The 70Ah model tips the scales at around 188 lb (85 kg), while the 80Ah version approaches 193 lb (87.5 kg). Those aren’t e-bike weights. Those are motorcycle weights. Again, you can see the direction this is going.
But surprisingly, you can actually pedal it
Here’s where the A9 Pro Max gets more interesting to me.
A lot of high-powered e-motos include pedals seemingly as a regulatory fig leaf. They’re technically there, but the geometry is so bad that nobody in their right mind would want to pedal the thing farther than across a parking lot. Even some smaller and presumably Class 2 legal e-bikes that have moto-style frames are nearly unpedalable for actual riding over any reasonable distance.
But the A9 here is actually pedalable thanks to having something that more closely resembles a bicycle seat, plus adjustability that lets riders dial in the correct seat height.
The A9 Pro Max feels more like a strange combination of an oversized fat-tire e-bike and a small electric motorcycle. There’s a Shimano 7-speed drivetrain and a huge 72-tooth chainring, meaning the pedals aren’t entirely ornamental.
I actually enjoyed pedaling it with the pedal assist engaged. You’re obviously not going to mistake a nearly 200-pound machine rolling on enormous 26 x 4.8-inch tires for a lightweight fitness bike, but there’s something fun about contributing some human power while two giant hub motors do most of the heavy lifting.
And when you don’t feel like pedaling, there’s a full-twist throttle waiting for you.
That combination is really the appeal here. You can ride it more like an e-bike when the mood strikes, or twist the throttle and treat it more like a lightweight e-moto.
And again, I don’t want to beat a dead horse here, but remember: the pedals don’t make this an electric bicycle. It’s still an e-moto, but it’s one that you can actually have fun pedaling. You can treat it like a mech suit, where pedaling translates into crazy power, as if you have super-human legs. And with the insanely large 72t chainring, pedaling at higher speeds is actually doable. Though I’ll tell you right now, pedaling at 40 mph (64 km/h) is not exactly a normal or natural feeling.
And it’s worth pointing out that at a starting price of US $2,899 (or more for the larger battery capacities), that’s a fairly reasonable price compared to most e-motos that can be more limiting in how and where you can ride them.
Motorcycle performance deserves motorcycle hardware
Fortunately, Aniioki seems to understand that putting this much power on two wheels requires more serious components than the average bicycle.
The braking setup is particularly wild. There are two massive 300mm brake rotors on the front wheel and another 300mm rotor out back, along with a linked CBS braking system. The front uses custom eight-piston calipers (the pair of quad-piston calipers) while the rear gets a custom six-piston setup.
There’s also an adjustable air-suspension fork with 110mm of travel, rear suspension to smooth out bumps at higher speeds, integrated lighting and turn signals, and a large five-inch display that even incorporates features like Bluetooth audio and a recording camera.
Know where you can ride it
That brings us to the elephant in the room.
In the US, consumer-product rules generally define a low-speed electric bicycle around a motor of less than 750W and a maximum motor-powered speed below 20 mph (32 km/h), while individual states use their own operating laws that typically match the familiar Class 1/2/3 framework. A 6,000W machine capable of around 45 mph (72 km/h) blows straight through normal limits.
So please don’t see pedals and assume this belongs on your local bicycle path.
Where and how you can legally operate something like the A9 Pro Max depends on your local laws and whether it can qualify under another vehicle category. For many owners, the sensible place to enjoy its full performance is going to be private property or other areas where such vehicles are permitted.
That caveat doesn’t make the bike itself bad. It just means buyers need to understand what they’re buying.
And judged on what it actually is rather than what the word “e-bike” on the product page suggests, I had a lot of fun on it.
There are certainly riders who would look at a nearly 200-pound, 45 mph machine and say, “Why not just buy an electric motorcycle?” That’s a perfectly reasonable question.
But I also understand the appeal of this weird middle ground. The A9 Pro Max retains enough bicycle DNA that you can pedal it around and enjoy pedal assist, yet has enough battery and motor underneath you to deliver something much closer to small-motorcycle performance when you twist the throttle.
Imagine going off-road and getting to fly up hills while pedaling hard, but then being able to switch to throttle once your legs get worn out. Sure, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s a cup of tea.
This bike is big. It’s heavy. It’s absurdly powerful by e-bike standards. And it absolutely isn’t the machine I’d recommend for someone looking for a normal street-legal electric bicycle.
But if what you actually want is a big, powerful electric two-wheeler that still lets you turn the pedals when the mood strikes, the Aniioki A9 Pro Max makes a surprisingly compelling argument for this increasingly bizarre category of pedal-equipped e-motos.
