Miles more fun. El Camino is the electric version of our award-winning Camino gravel bike.
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Sonder El Camino
“We wanted to make an electric gravel bike that doesn’t have the accompanying drag you find in a lot of electric bikes. This next gen electric motor with the latest hall sensor technology solves that, so that your ride feels natural the whole way through. You can ride faster, go further, and still get that pure, connected feeling of pedalling your own bike.” - Neil Sutton, Bike Designer
Progressive geometry
Retaining the progressive geometry and adventure-ready ethos of the award-winning Camino, the El Camino gives you the confidence to go further, explore longer routes, and enjoy gravel rides without compromise to agility, speed or comfort - all with a little more wind in your sails. It's confidence-inspiring over the rough stuff and handles well whether loaded or unloaded.
Born for Britain's B-roads and bridleways, it's ideal for the mixed terrain of multi-day adventures - think the 350km long King Alfred or 230km West Kernow Way.
More miles, more climbs, more fun.
El Camino is to explore more. More miles, more climbs, more fun.
The stand-out feature is its smooth whole-bike riding experience thanks to the latest Kynamic eVO250 system. El Camino has a torque sensor in the bottom bracket gauging pedal power and flowing in assistance to match your efforts for a natural ride feel.
Lightweight
Weighing just 3kg more than the non-electric Camino, it's an electric bike that is lightweight enough to lift over a locked gate or onto a train, load on a roof rack, or carry to your hotel room at your chosen overnight stop.
Powerful driving force
El Camino is powerful. Its integrated control panel comes with 3 power settings. Choose your heart rate as you ride: low power for all-day continual assistance, middle power for a sweat-free ride to work, or max power for a 20-mile blast around a local loop.
We balance weight, ride feel and performance with a 250Wh battery housed in the downtube and a 250W rear hub motor to give 38Nm of driving force and a real-life range of up to 70km of assisted riding. Enough for long day rides without significant weight penalty.
The battery complies with all US and EU regulations and does not contain minerals from conflict zones.
A range of over 120km is realistic with the 175Wh range extender that fits to a standard bottle cage mount - available now
Smooth ride feel
El Camino is easy to ride unpowered. The lightweight hub drive motor uses Hall sensor technology which eliminates drag and lets the motor spin freely above the assistance limit, giving the feel of a normal gravel bike when riding unassisted at faster speeds. No need to hover at the assistance threshold for the whole ride, saving battery and making for a smoother, more natural ride feel.
An electric bike designed to invoke a joy-filled ride with power on and off, unlike other e-bikes. UK and EU law states that electric power can only assist up to 15.5mph, so we've obsessed over the details to create a bike that doesn't hold you back on speed.
Destined for adventure
El Camino has ample tyre clearance of up to 50mm and comes with Alpha i25 wheelsets. We build the wheels ourselves to our exacting standards, with strong Sapim e-bike rated spokes - 28 front and rear on eyeleted rims.
With a bolt-thru axle and UDH dropout, the frame is future-proofed for the latest SRAM full-mount drivetrains and a wide choice of spare hangers. The hub’s compatibility with Shimano HG-L, Micro Spline, and SRAM XDR freehubs opens up a broad range of groupset options.
El Camino boasts multiple bottle cage and rack mounts for unlimited bikepacking configurations, and internal cable routing completes the signature aesthetic of our Camino family.
Features (Gen 2)
Award winning Camino progressive geometry
El Camino shares the same progressive geometry as our award-winning Camino. Long and low; it is agile, quick and comfortable and made with 6061 heat treated aluminium. El Camino is adventure ready with 50mm tyre clearance and internal cable routing, plus multiple bottle cage and rack mounts for unlimited bikepacking options.
Hub drive: made for road and gravel
Kynamic TA250S hub drive technology is designed for gravel and road. Reliable and serviceable, it pushes you along without the wear to the chain, derailleurs or cassettes that can be a feature of some mid-drive systems. Hall sensor technology lets the motor spin freely above the assistance limit, giving the feel of a normal gravel bike when riding unassisted at faster speeds. No need to hover at the assistance threshold for the whole ride, saving battery and making for a smoother, more natural ride feel.
Kynamic eVO250 system
Kynamic is a billion-dollar bike business with warehousing in Europe that can provide spares and replacement parts across Europe within 48 hours should it be necessary. The system is serviceable by Sonder and most, if not all, local bike shops. The 250Wh battery housed in the downtube and a 250W rear hub motor give 38Nm of driving force and a real-life range of up to 70km of assisted riding. Enough for long day rides while still being light enough to lift over a gate or into your van. The battery complies with all US and EU regulations and does not contain minerals from conflict zones. A range of over 120km is realistic with the 175Wh range extender which mounts in place of your down tube bottle cage.
Bar mounted control panel
The bar mounted control panel has a 2.0" OLED display with separately mounted control buttons. This shows your current speed, average speed, max speed, ride time, ride distance, odometer. A simple menu lets you toggle display options, change units between mph/kmph, and shows battery level while on the move. Large 'blip' controls are easy to use with cold hands or gloves and can be positioned where you want them on the bars; letting you navigate the menus safely as you ride.
Please note: Flat bar builds use a 1.3" all-in-one console with integrated controls allowing one-handed use.
Alpha i25 rear hub drive wheel system
El Camino comes with Alpha i25 wheelsets as standard. We build the wheels ourselves in the UK to our exacting standards; with Sapim strong e-bike rated spokes - 28 front and rear on eyeleted rims. Compatible with Shimano HG L, Microspline and SRAM XDR freehubs - and now with a UDH mount - means you can choose from a wider range of groupsets, including SRAM's latest range of full-mount drivetrains. For those running a regular drivetrain, UDH hangers are widely available so you can get rolling again sooner after any mid-ride mishaps!
All your El Camino questions answered:
El Camino follows our standard sizing from extra-small to extra-large. We recommend sizing as follows:
XS: Riders between 4ft 10in and 5ft 3in (147-160cm)
Small: Riders between 5ft 2in and 5ft 7in (157-170cm)
Medium: Riders between 5ft 6in and 5ft 10in (167-177cm)
Large: Riders between 5ft 9in and 6ft 2in (175-187cm)
X-Large: Riders 6ft 2in and over (187cm)
The system comprises battery, motor and integrated control panel.
There is a torque sensor in the bottom bracket that gauges pedal power and flows power assistance through an isis crank interface to the motor in the rear hub.
The 250W motor is a pedal-assist system providing up to 45Nm of driving force. As a comparison, power drills provide approx 15 Nm of torque so the El Camino rear hub drive is 3 times as powerful as this.
The integrated control panel has an OLED display and controls to show current speed, average speed, max speed, ride time, ride distance, odometer. Also has simple menu to change unit between mph/km and show battery level.
We recommend hub drive for road and gravel bikes and mid-drive for mountain bike. Hub drives are much easier to ride unpowered as there’s no motor drag and they’re lighter in weight. Whereas the sheer driving force of a mid-drive system makes them ideal for mountain bikes to power up very steep highly technical terrain.
El Camino is designed for the mixed terrain of UKs B-roads and bridleways. Think of a multi day adventure like the 350km King Alfred Way which include stretches of tarmac, well compacted chalk down bridleways with steep technical stretches of rock and roots.
Unlike some electric bikes, El Camino is easy to ride unpowered. It pedals freely and is a similar weight to road bikes meaning it is designed to be ridden unpowered when necessary at normal riding speeds.
Gravel bikes need the technical agility and pace to go from a 4mph steep technical climb to a 35mph+ flowing descent.
A 40 tooth chainring coupled with a 9-42 cassette to provide approx 1:1 and a 500% ratio.An electric gravel bike needs the same gear ratio and the rider benefits from power assistance at all speeds up to 15mph meaning you can explore more, go further and go faster than with an unpowered bike.
Yes, El Camino is a pedal-assisted electric bike. It has a torque sensor in the bottom bracket that gauges pedal power and smoothly flows powered assistance to meet the riding conditions.
El Camino is designed with long distance multi day adventures in mind. To ride all day after day and stopping overnight at a chosen rest place to recharge yourself and your bike.
The 250kwh battery in the downtube delivered up to 70km of 100% assisted riding in testing.
There are three power settings. Use level 1 for 100% assisted riding for all day riding. Use level 2 for a sweat-free ride to work. Max power level 3 is for a 20 mile blast around a local loop,
The actual range depends on a number of factors including power setting, loaded weight of the rider and bike, wheel tyre pressures and outside tempetature.
A bottle cage sized range extender is available from June 2024 to active 120km a day assisted riding.
Press and hold the on-off button from 3 seconds. This turns the e-bike on and the top tube control pannel illuminates.
Use the up and down button and to go up and down power assist levels. The level selected is shown at the top of the display panel.
Press and hold the down button when stationary to access walk-assist mode.
Short press the on-off button to work through the display modes (trip, average speed, max speed, distance). Clear trip info by long pressing the on-off button.
The battery charge level is displayed at the bottom of the control panel.
If display panel displays error codes. Refer to the Kynamic manual included with the bike for fault finding.
El Camino can be ridden as any other bike. Pedal-assisted electric bikes do not require a drivers licence, tax or specific insurance to ride.
UK and EU law requires power assistance to cut out above 15mph and only re-engage when speed drops below 15mph.
El Camino is designed to ride on roads and bridleways at your normal riding speed. It is easy to ride unpowered and pedals freely as the motor has zero drag and the bike is light enough to ride as a regular road bike.
A charging port to charge the internal battery is located at the bottom of the down tube. Simply plug the bike into a household socket via the charging port using the supplied charger and cable.
The charing unit shows a red light when charging and a green light when the battery is fully charged.
No, the internal battery is mounted within the downtube and is not easily accessible.
The battery is replaceable however we recommend it done by a qualified mechanic as you may invalidates the warranty if you do it yourself.
A range extender is available from June 2024 and can charged away from the bike if there's no socket close by.
The system uses a 36V/250Wh Li-Ion battery which is housed within the downtube of the frame.
The battery takes about 3 hours to reach full capacity from fully flat. Do not charge when wet.To get the best performance from your battery it is best to run down to about 10% and then charge up to about 80% and if you plan to store your bike for long periods it’s best to store at about 30% full charge. Charge and store your bike in near room temperatures (above freezing and below 50 Celsius) and in dry environments.
Yes, the battery is removable through the bottom bracket and the hub drive motor is also easy to replace though May invalidate your warranty if you choose to do it yourself. Kinamic is a billion dollar business with warehousing in Europe to provide spares within 48 hours of ordering.
The integrated control panel on the top tube shows the battery life at a glance. A companion app is also available to download which displays such details on any smartphone.
The battery has a life expectancy of around 500 charge cycles. One charge cycle is equal to charging the battery from 0 to 100% once, 80-100% 5 times or 25 to 100% 3 times.
Yes, the bike and rear hub drive system components are IP54 rated so are protected against rain and splashing. Do not fully immerse the battery or rear hub drive in water and do not use a high pressure washer to wash your ebike.
El Camino is built using the Kynamic BC250 system.
Yes, you can cycle through 3 different power modes via the integrated control panel on the top tube.Choose low power for all day continual assistance, middle power for a sweat free ride to work, or max power for a 20 mile blast round a local loopThe pedal assistance of each power mode can be configured using the app. It is based on a percentage of the 250W max output.
An ebike needs regular maintenance just as any regular bike.
An M-check before each ride is recommended and a service every year or 6000 miles whichever is sooner.
A wash and clean down followed by fresh lubrication helps preserve component life. Dry down contact points carefully to minimise risk of water ingress.
Do not use a high pressure washer to clean El Camino as extreme high pressure water my ingress the bike and affect the control panel, battery or hub motor.
See our article on 8 essential trailside and maintenance skills.
El Camino frame and components are covered by our 3 year Alpine Bond.
Unfortunately, we are unable to ship e-bikes to the US.
The range extender fits in a bottle cage on the seat tube of the bike. A cable then attaches the extender to the charging port on the bike which is located just above the bottom bracket.
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