Verdict: DUOTTS C29
Our editorial rating is based on product testing.
- big 29" wheels and a frame that works even for taller riders
- great power with a 750 W motor and very solid acceleration
- loud horn and a good front light
- excellent metal pedals with grip
- the control unit is placed in an ugly, large plastic box at the bottom of the frame
- a lot of cabling routed externally
- simple and rather outdated handlebar shifting
DUOTTS C29 is a very interesting, affordable electric bike from China. That’s why we decided to test it for you. What caught our attention most were the big 29″ wheels, the 750 W motor, and the 48 V system, suggesting fairly good performance.
In the review, we’ll look at build quality, handling, and riding modes. We’ll also talk about comfort while riding, the bike’s individual components, and last but not least, we’ll measure the range on a single charge.
Where to buy the DUOTTS C29?
The DUOTTS C29 e-bike is currently available from the online retailer Geekbuying, directly in the Polish warehouse. Shipping is free, and the package will arrive to you in 3 to 10 business days. Be sure to also use the special clearance coupon.
DUOTTS C29
TIPExpress delivery from the Polish warehouse with no customs duty and VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local Polish warehouse. Delivery from Poland usually takes 7–10 days and is handled by a courier. When it’s delivered, you won’t pay any additional fees—no customs duty and no VAT.
TIPExpress delivery from a European warehouse without customs duty and VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local warehouse in Europe. Delivery from EU warehouses usually takes 2–10 days and is handled by courier. When it arrives, you won’t pay any additional fees — no customs duty and no VAT.
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Technical specifications
| Model | DUOTTS C29 |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 184 x 113 x 70 cm |
| Weight | 26 kg |
| Max. load | 150 kg |
| Frame | aluminum alloy |
| Tires | 29 x 2.1" |
| Motor | 750 W |
| Maximum speed | 50 km/h |
| IP rating | IP54 |
| Battery | 48 V 15 Ah |
| Charging | 4–5 hours |
| Max rider weight | 150 kg |
| Range | 50 km in electric mode / 100 km in assisted mode |
| Derailleur | Shimano / 21 speeds in total |
| Brakes | cable disc brakes |
Packaging contents & quality
The DUOTTS C29 electric bike was delivered to us by the courier company DPD in a rather large box measuring 142 x 23 x 77 cm. Its weight was 31.49 kg, and it’s quite a hassle to carry it because there are no grab straps on it.
The box is made of thick cardboard, and although it was slightly damaged in a few places, it’s overall very sturdy. What’s more, the bike is protected inside with plenty of air packaging and soft foam reinforcements. Still, we did find minor damage on the bike—specifically on the seat upholstery. However, this was probably caused during production or packaging rather than during shipping.
Inside the package, besides the bike with the battery, you’ll also find some accessories. Specifically, it includes a small handheld pump, a charger with an adapter, a smartphone holder with power, and a set of tools for assembly and maintenance.
Overall, we rate the packaging quality as average. The bike is indeed protected by the mentioned protective inserts, and individual parts are secured with cable ties, so the bike itself is protected well.
However, the inner accessory box was slightly damaged, so some screws fell out together with the axle of the front wheel. Since the box has openings in two places, these small parts could fall through them.
Assembling the bike
Because the bike isn’t shipped fully assembled in the box, we have to put it together before the first use. Assembly takes a while since we need to install several components. Even just unpacking and removing all the protective and packaging materials took us quite some time.
The entire assembly consists of attaching the handlebars, the front wheel, the front light, the fenders, and the pedals. We started with installing the handlebars. You simply insert them into the prepared stem and tighten the four screws.
We continued by securing the front wheel. There’s a metal rod mounted in the space between the front fork, which we first had to dismount. Then we removed the plastic cover from the wheel and fitted it into its place on the front fork.
Next, you just need to insert the center axle from one side—it's included in the box—and place a nut on its other end. After gently pulling on the nut, we secured the center axle with a quick-release clamp. According to the manual, the washers should also be fitted here, but we couldn’t find them in the package.
Once we had the front wheel in place, we aligned the handlebars so they were perpendicular to the front wheel and secured them using a pair of screws in the upper section. We then continued by installing the pedals, which simply need to be screwed in and tightened with an open-end wrench. Watch the correct thread direction. The pedals are marked with L (left) and R (right).
Finally, we also mounted the fenders using the included screws with nuts, and installed the front light as well as the smartphone holder. Since the holder also works as a phone charger, we connected the corresponding cable.
Build quality, design, and bike size
The electric bike DUOTTS C29 looks very attractive at first glance. This is not a small bike for short Chinese riders. On the contrary, its frame is suitable for a height of 170 – 200 cm. It's made of aluminum and, in reality, the workmanship looks surprisingly good. The frame is solid and has no visible imperfections.
As for the overall build quality, it's very good. The only downside in our case was the slightly damaged saddle mentioned above, which was probably damaged during manufacturing or packaging. However, the seller promptly sent us a new saddle.
As we mentioned, the frame is fairly large. You can check its exact dimensions in the picture below. The great news is that while many Chinese electric bikes only have 26″ wheels, the DUOTTS C29 comes with big wheels—up to 29″. This makes it easier to ride at higher speeds and to handle rough terrain.
Our editor, who tested this bike, is 185 cm tall, and the bike fit him perfectly in terms of size.
Components and control elements
The electric bike has a pretty decent setup, but the components used are mostly cheaper models. Let’s start with the handlebars. They have a generous 72 cm width and come with a simple display with three control buttons, metal brake levers, shifting, ergonomic grips, a basic throttle controller, and buttons for controlling the lights and the horn.
The shifter also includes a display showing the selected gear. It's a simple shifting system using levers and a button, Shimano TX50. The crankset has three sprockets, while the rear cassette is 8-speed. The rear derailleur is a Shimano Tourney TZ from the Tourney TZ series. Overall, you get up to 21 speeds.
The saddle is fairly large and unusually comfortable for a mountain bike. The only concern we have is its slight backward tilt. But you can adjust the tilt.
The brakes aren’t brand-name, but they are disc mechanical brakes with a cable and a 160 mm rotor. As for braking performance, it’s not the best. When braking hard, we had to squeeze the brake levers quite firmly, but on the other hand, after a few kilometers the brakes were still bedding in.
We like the quality of the pedals—they’re metal with enough surface area and a good grip, so they don’t slip at all. Last but not least, there’s a front suspension fork, which is only spring-based in this price range.
It includes a lock for locking it in place and a rotating dial to change the stiffness. Overall, the suspension is rather stiff, and when going over bumps you can feel quite strong jolts in your hands. Of course, this is a fairly cheap suspension fork, so you shouldn’t expect too much from it. It’s better than nothing, but after switching to an air suspension fork, we’d definitely expect a noticeable improvement in ride comfort.
Motor and battery
The DUOTTS electric bike comes with a 750W motor mounted in the rear wheel hub. The controller that powers this motor is placed quite unusually—on the underside of the frame, in a large plastic cover just in front of the chainrings. This part probably ruins the overall bike design the most. The controller could have been hidden in a different location.
The battery is fairly large, solid, and at first glance it looks high-quality thanks to its build. It’s a 48V / 15 Ah battery, which is a very good sign. Last time we tested an electric mountain bike, the Eleglide M1 Plus, which had a 36V system with a 12.5 Ah battery and a motor with a maximum output of 500 W. DUOTTS offers much more appealing specs for a similar price.
Charging with the included charger takes about 6.5 hours.
Riding modes, real output, and ride comfort
Let’s get to the most interesting part now, which is the ride itself and the bike’s real-world performance. As we mentioned in the introduction, the bike has a simple handlebar display with three buttons. Specifically, there’s a button to turn the power on/off or change the mode, and a pair of buttons “+” and “-” to adjust the power.
We have 3 ways to use the bike. The first option is classic riding on the bike without an electric drive. The second option is pedaling, during which the electric motor activates and gets us up to the desired speed. And thirdly, we can also control the motor using a lever on the handlebars.
In the modes powered by the electric motor, you can choose from five power levels that differ in maximum speed. With our weight of 80 kg, we achieved maximum speeds of 18 / 26 / 34 / 40 / 45 km/h in those five modes.
However, it’s worth noting that the DUOTTS C29, like other Chinese e-bikes, will always accelerate up to the maximum speed of the selected mode whenever you pedal. So if we choose the first mode and start pedaling, the electric motor will accelerate up to 18 km/h, which it will then maintain regardless of how fast you pedal. You can simply pedal more or less “in idle,” with no real effort.
The electric motor has very solid power, and the bike’s acceleration is surprisingly good. It also handles steeper hills without needing a run-up, so with a DUOTTS bike you can go into hilly terrain without worries.
As for ride comfort, thanks to the large wheels the ride is fairly comfortable. Bigger bumps are still noticeable, especially because of the lower-quality suspension fork. Overall, though, we’re satisfied with the ride comfort.
Range on a single charge and display data
With its 15 Ah battery, the DUOTTS C29 should last about 50 km of riding in pure electric mode. However, the manufacturer doesn’t state in which mode they measured such a range. We assume it was measured in one of the weaker modes with a lower maximum speed.
We used the bike to the fullest, so we measured the range in electric mode at the highest power level, where we reached a top speed of around 45 km/h. We rode in and around Košice, mostly on bike paths, always at the highest possible speed the current conditions allowed us to maintain.
We measured the range not only on the bike’s display, but also using the Runkeeper app on our smartphone. On a single charge, we covered exactly 30.61 km according to the Runkeeper app, and almost the same on the bike’s display (31 km). The distance is therefore quite accurate, but the speed compared to GPS on the smartphone is slightly higher on the bike’s display. On average, about 3–4 km/h at higher speeds.
So, given the maximum speed and motor power, the range is quite decent. Just a reminder: we were riding all the time in the highest mode and using only electricity, so 30 km is the lower bound of the range.
If we used a weaker mode or occasionally used the pedals as well, it would definitely be more. But let’s not forget that on a bike like this it’s harder to pedal without assistance than on a regular bike, because we have to overcome the motor resistance, and on top of that, the bike itself is fairly heavy.
As for the LCD display, let’s go through the individual details it shows. The dominant element is the current speed, although it’s displayed sometimes with a slight delay. Next, you’ll find a graphical battery capacity indicator, as well as the current performance mode.
Stand, lights, and smartphone holder
In conclusion, we’d also like to cover a few components that deserve a couple of words. The first one is the bicycle stand. It’s exceptionally sturdy and solid, and the bike rests on it very securely.
The smartphone holder is also interesting—it even allows charging your phone while riding. We didn’t find a USB cable in the box, which is a shame, because a very short cable would be enough here. The smartphone isn’t charged particularly fast, but for some emergency top-up, it will do the job.
Thirdly, let’s talk about the lighting. Here you only get a front white light that shines quite strongly and is clearly visible even from a distance. It’s turned on with a button next to the left handlebar, where—by the way—you’ll also find a loud horn. The rear red light is missing, and there aren’t any orange reflectors on the wheel rims. You’ll only find them on the pedals.
Because there’s no rear red reflector and no orange reflectors on the wheels, this e-bike doesn’t have the mandatory equipment required by law in Slovakia. However, according to the law, reflectors can be replaced with reflective elements on your clothing.
DUOTTS C29: Final assessment
The DUOTTS C29 electric bike pleasantly surprised us. Since it’s one of the most affordable mountain e-bikes, we didn’t have overly high expectations. But the overall build quality is very good—the bike has 29″ wheels and a frame suitable even for taller riders.
You’ll love the great motor performance up to 750 W and a 48V 15Ah battery. Thanks to this combination, the bike has good acceleration and a top speed of almost 45 km/h with our 80 kg weight. During our testing, we managed 30 km on a single charge in the highest mode, when we rode using only electric power.
As it’s a fairly inexpensive bike compared to others, you should expect certain trade-offs. We don’t like the placement of the electronics in a plastic box at the bottom of the frame, and also some of the components. This includes, for example, the basic Shimano shifting model, which is rather outdated by today’s standards, as well as the simple spring front fork, which is quite stiff. Riding off-road at higher speeds therefore isn’t very comfortable.
DUOTTS C29
TIPExpress delivery from the Polish warehouse with no customs duty and VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local Polish warehouse. Delivery from Poland usually takes 7–10 days and is handled by a courier. When it’s delivered, you won’t pay any additional fees—no customs duty and no VAT.
TIPExpress delivery from a European warehouse without customs duty and VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local warehouse in Europe. Delivery from EU warehouses usually takes 2–10 days and is handled by courier. When it arrives, you won’t pay any additional fees — no customs duty and no VAT.
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