Sonder El Camino Apex 1 review: a pure electric gravel bike at a great price

The El Camino is the assisted version of the highly regarded Camino gravel bike, with geometry inspired by mountain bikes and components built for off-roading

It sports a super-wide flared bar, short stem, sturdy wheels and well-treaded tyres for all conditions.

As a result, the El Camino feels sluggish on the road, but this pales in comparison to its compelling ability on challenging gravel terrain.

That off-road capability, allied to an alluring price of only £2,999, makes it a strong choice for those seeking a gravel bike with electric assistance.

Sonder El Camino frame and geometry

The El Camino frame is made from butted 6061-T6 aluminium and has a distinctive sloping top tube that’s reminiscent of modern hardtail mountain bikes.

The frame is well appointed with mudguard eyelets, mounting for a rear rack and triple bosses on the fork legs. There are two bottle cages.

The ebike system is integrated neatly into the frame, with the oversized down tube housing the internal battery and the bottom bracket accommodating a charge port.

The top tube incorporates a 1.3-inch OLED control screen. Cable routing is kept simple, with the brake and gear cables routed internally at the down tube.

Tyre clearance is a generous 50mm.

The mountain bike genealogy is obvious in the bike's geometry.

My large test bike has a long reach of 420mm, but that’s offset by the short 80mm stem. The stack height of 601mm is low enough to be considered on the sporty side of gravel geometry.

The seat angle is steep, at 74 degrees, pitching you further over the cranks than a slacker angle would, to help with efficient power transfer.

The head tube angle, of 69 degrees, is designed to offer off-road stability when things get rough and technical.

The 50.8mm fork offset, combined with the large tyres, creates a long 83.8mm trail, further steadying the handling.

Sonder El Camino build

The drivetrain specced is SRAM’s mechanical Apex 1, paired with an ebike-specific FSA crankset with a 40-tooth chainring.

At the rear, the long-cage derailleur shifts across a wide-ranging 11-42 tooth, 11-speed cassette. It’s a solid entry-level gravel groupset, although it's showing its age compared to the latest-generation groupsets.

I would have liked to have seen the latest SRAM Apex Eagle mechanical groupset, with its even wider cassette range and 12 speeds.

Sonder’s Alpha EX wheels have a shallow alloy rim with a 21mm internal width that shapes the 45mm Goodyear Connector tyres well.

The welded rims are pre-taped for tubeless compatibility, although they're set up here with standard butyl inner tubes.

The finishing kit is all Sonder’s own – a simple alloy seatpost is topped by the brand’s Abode saddle, which has more than a passing resemblance to the very well-regarded Fabric Scoop.

The short (80mm) stem holds in place a massively wide bar. The Sonder Bomber measures 56cm across at the drops, thanks to its 45-degree flare.

The drop is both short and shallow, at 70mm and 120mm respectively, making it easy to move to and from the drops, and the bar is nicely shaped with oversized and ovalised tops.

It’s wrapped in thick and comfortable polyurethane bar tape.

The pedal-assist system comes from Kynamic – an electric bike motor brand from bicycle chain specialists, KMC.

This system uses a rear-hub motor rated to 250W, delivering a claimed 45Nm of torque. The hub fixes to the frame via 15mm bolts, much like Mahle’s original X35+ motor.

Inside the down tube is a 250Wh battery, and it's all controlled by a combination of the top-tube mounted OLED screen and wired remote controls that are attached a couple of inches apart on each side of the stem.

Compared to rival alloy electric gravel bikes such as Cairn’s Fazua-based E-Adventure (£2,899), Giant’s Revolt-E (£4,999), GT’s Grade AMP (£2,900) and the Kinesis Range (£3,550), the Sonder has a comparable specification and is more keenly priced.

This size-large El Camino weighs in at 13.75kg.

Sonder El Camino ride impressions and range

The El Camino’s ride is fun and forgiving in the rough, while the motor system impresses too.

The long front-centre of the bike, along with the relaxed head angle, makes for a bike that can handle the ‘worst’ terrain. The bumpier, rockier, rootier and more technical it gets, the more at home the El Camino feels.

The geometry and ride position make the bike feel somewhat sedate when riding on tarmac, but I found myself hunting out tight, twisting singletrack and lots of technical woodland trails.

The El Camino has a flow to it that’s akin to a good hardtail – inspiring confidence and, bottom line, putting a smile on my face.

The Kynamic motor has three modes – simply numbered 1 to 3. The lowest setting gives subtle assistance that’s useful for maintaining a good pace on steady off-road inclines.

Mode 2 provides plenty of punch for steeper climbs and in the most powerful mode 3, steep, loose-surface climbs can be scrambled up seated, making bike hiking (largely) a thing of the past.

The smooth, comfortable ride and excellent tyres mean you can ride the El Camino at a good pace even with the motor off. There’s very little drag from the motor itself and the wide-range Apex groupset makes it easy to find just the right gear.

The large 45mm-wide tyres are a good choice for a bike such as this, enabling me to run lower pressures to take the sting out of rough surfaces.

The wide bar, great tape and excellent saddle all did a great job of keeping comfort levels high, although saddles are very subjective.

SRAM’s Apex 1 groupset shifts well and very consistently. The broad 11-42 range is overkill when the motor is assisting, until you get to the very steepest ascents.

Until then, I found myself rarely needing anything lower than the 17-tooth for a 40/17 combination.

The brakes are impressive and full of feel, although I found that after a long, technical descent they became screechy, only returning to their normal quiet running when allowed to cool.

The remote controls for the motor are a great addition, meaning you can keep your hands on the bar when switching between modes.

I’d have mounted them closer to the hoods because that would enable me to switch modes when in the heat of the roughest, most technical terrain, but it’s a minor niggle.

The Kynamic system impresses – it’s a good match for Mahle’s X35, as found on bikes such as GT’s Grade AMP, and not far off the premium lightweight X20 – used on the Ribble AllRoad SL R e – in terms of polished performance.

The range is ample – I achieved 54km / 33.56 miles, with 467m / 1,532.2ft of ascending, on a pure off-road excursion, taking in mainly singletrack and bridleways.

On a smoother route that was predominantly a mix of towpaths, unmetalled roads and a little tarmac, this rose to 95.73km / 59.5 miles, with 878m / 2,880ft of elevation.

If you’d like to have more range, Kynamic will offer a bottle-cage fitting range extender, which Sonder tells us will be available soon (price TBC).

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Sonder El Camino bottom line

The Sonder El Camino is a pure gravel bike, and it’s designed to take on the toughest technical off-road routes.

It’s a great companion for pushing the boundaries of gravel riding and it comes at a modest price.

Ideally, I’d have liked to see the remote controls mounted closer to the hoods and the wheels come set up tubeless to allow more tyre-pressure adjustability.

However, at £2,549, the El Camino is a great bike at a great price that's brimming with the all-important off-road fun factor.