Apollo Explore 20 vs Mercane Wide Wheel Pro - Which Heavy-Hitter Actually Deserves Your Money?

Fast Answer for Busy Riders ⚡ (TL;DR)

The Apollo Explore 20 edges out as the better all-rounder for most people: it rides softer, shrugs off bad weather, and is far easier to live with day after day, even if its spec sheet doesn't shout quite as loudly. The Mercane Wide Wheel Pro, on the other hand, is the drama queen of the pair - brutally quick off the line, visually outrageous, but less comfortable, more nervous in the wet, and harder to justify as a sensible commuter at its higher price.

Choose the Explore 20 if you want a daily "tool" that still feels fun but prioritises comfort, safety, and low maintenance over sheer brutality. Go for the Wide Wheel Pro if you're performance-obsessed, ride mostly on good tarmac in dry weather, and don't mind sacrificing comfort, grip in the rain, and some practicality for that addictive dual-motor punch.

If you can spare a few more minutes, the details - and the trade-offs - get much more interesting below.

There's a particular corner of the scooter world where "commuter" doesn't mean flimsy rental clone, but also doesn't mean full-blown 40-kg monster with motorcycle tyres. That's exactly where the Apollo Explore 20 and the Mercane Wide Wheel Pro collide: mid-weight, mid-to-upper price, and very high expectations.

I've spent a lot of kilometres on both. The Apollo comes at you with a very polished, "designed in Canada" story: app integration, bright lighting, cushy suspension, and a promise that you can ride it in pretty much any weather and forget about wrenching. The Mercane answers with a very different kind of appeal: Korean industrial design, ultra-wide solid tyres, dual motors and the sort of stance that makes pedestrians stare - sometimes admiringly, sometimes nervously.

One of them is a sensible commuter with a bit of attitude. The other is a muscle scooter pretending to be a commuter. Both are tempting; neither is perfect. Let's dig in and see which compromises you're actually signing up for.

Who Are These For, and Why Compare Them?

On paper, these scooters live in the same rough price and weight neighbourhood: solidly above entry-level toys, but not yet in the "I need full armour and a second mortgage" category. They target riders who want real power, real range, and real build quality - but still intend to fold the thing and get it through a door occasionally.

The Apollo Explore 20 is aimed at the "serious commuter": think daily rides across town, mixed surfaces, unpredictable weather, and a strong preference for not tightening bolts every Sunday. It's tuned for comfort, control, and idiot-proof reliability more than for thrilling numbers.

The Mercane Wide Wheel Pro is for the "enthusiast commuter": someone who absolutely cares about going fast, destroying hills, and looking like they've brought a mini Batmobile to the bike lane. It tries to bridge daily use with weekend fun runs - but it leans hard towards the fun side.

They sit close enough in performance and weight that many riders will cross-shop them. Same ballpark, very different philosophies.

Design & Build Quality

Side by side, these two might as well be from different planets.

The Apollo Explore 20 uses a tubular steel frame wrapped elegantly around the deck, with a pretty polished, almost "consumer electronics" vibe. Cables are routed internally, the stem light is cleanly integrated, and the whole thing looks like a refined transport product rather than a rebranded OEM chassis. The welding and finish feel solid in the hand; nothing screams "cheap". You do notice the bulk though: this is a substantial lump of metal for a single-motor scooter.

The Mercane Wide Wheel Pro goes in the opposite direction: die-cast aluminium slabs, sharp lines, and those famously wide tyres that make it look like it escaped from a concept art sketch. In person, it feels dense, compact and slightly overbuilt - in a good way. The upgraded folding joint on the Pro feels much more confidence-inspiring than the original's wobbly setup, and the integrated stem display, while simple, is functional and bright.

That said, both scooters come with trade-offs. The Apollo's non-folding handlebars make it feel monolithic and stable while riding, but they also mean you end up wrestling with a wide bar when storing or transporting. On the Mercane, the folding bars and rotary stem latch give it a surprisingly small footprint when folded, but the process involves more fiddling, and the scooter's low ground clearance and solid rims don't exactly love hard curb drops or deep potholes.

In the hands, the Apollo feels like a mature, integrated commuter device. The Mercane feels like a purpose-built toy for adults who don't quite trust themselves near motorbikes. Both are "solid" - just aimed at very different definitions of that word.

Ride Comfort & Handling

This is where the two diverge so dramatically that your local road surface might decide the winner before you even look at the spec sheet.

The Apollo Explore 20 is unashamedly tuned for comfort. Triple spring suspension - two springs out back, one up front - combined with big, air-filled tubeless tyres means you can attack cobbles, expansion joints and the usual European broken paving without feeling like your legs are being used as test equipment. After several kilometres of battered city sidewalks, my knees were still on speaking terms with me, which is more than I can say about some competitors.

Handling on the Apollo is predictable and friendly. The deck is long and wide enough to change stance, the kickplate gives good leverage, and the tall stem plus fixed bars give a very "planted" front end. Quick swerves are easy, and at cruising speeds the scooter tracks straight without drama. It's the sort of chassis you stop thinking about, which is high praise for a commuter.

The Mercane Wide Wheel Pro is a very different story. On smooth tarmac, the combination of dual spring arms and ultra-wide foam-filled tyres feels almost like hovering: there's a floating, magic-carpet smoothness as long as the surface doesn't get truly nasty. But the moment you hit sharp-edged imperfections, the solid tyres show their teeth. The suspension has limited travel, and the lack of air cushioning means your ankles and knees absorb what the springs can't. Five kilometres of cobbles on the Mercane will have you questioning your life choices where the Apollo just shrugs.

Cornering is also... unique. Those wide, almost flat-profile tyres love going straight. They resist lean, so you end up steering more with the bars than with subtle weight shifts. Once you adapt, it's fine, but tight, low-speed turns need more effort, and quick direction changes feel heavier and less instinctive than on the Apollo's round pneumatic tyres. On good roads at speed, the Mercane feels like it's locked on rails. On tight city slaloms between pedestrians and bollards, the Explore 20 feels like the more natural dancer.

Performance

If you care most about what happens when you yank the throttle, the Mercane makes the louder argument.

The Wide Wheel Pro's dual motors give it an immediate, almost brutal shove. In its sportier mode, acceleration from a standstill is the sort of thing that makes first-time riders yelp and grab the brakes. It pulls willingly well into the higher speed range and barely seems to notice hills that make lesser scooters wheeze. Long, steep climbs are where it feels especially smug compared to single-motor commuters.

The Apollo Explore 20 plays things differently. With a single rear motor fed by a clever controller, it doesn't have that same instant "catapult" feel, but it's far from slow. Off the line it's brisk enough to beat traffic from lights, and it builds speed in a smooth, linear surge rather than a jerk. Ludo mode livens it up further, but it still feels like a controlled performance rather than a wild one. On hills, it's genuinely capable - I've taken it up grades that would murder rental scooters, and while speed drops a little for heavier riders, it never feels like it's about to stall.

Top speed wise, the Mercane has a small edge when unlocked, but in the real world both live in that "fast enough that falling off will really, really hurt" band. The difference you actually feel day-to-day is not so much the final number as the character: the Apollo feels composed and measured, the Mercane feels like it constantly wants to be ridden hard.

Braking tells a similar story of philosophy. The Apollo's dual drum setup combined with strong regenerative braking gives very predictable, low-maintenance stops. There's less initial bite than a good hydraulic disc, but for the speeds it's built for, you get steady, controllable deceleration without constant tuning. The Mercane's dual mechanical discs offer more immediate bite and stronger stopping power on paper, and they do haul the scooter down hard - but they also need a bit more care to keep perfectly dialled in, and in the wet, those slick solid tyres become the limiting factor, not necessarily the calipers.

Battery & Range

Both scooters happily outlast the average urban commute, but they go about it in slightly different ways.

The Apollo Explore 20 carries a mid-sized battery that, in the real world, delivers something like a solid half day of fairly enthusiastic city riding before you need to start thinking about a charger. Riding aggressively in the faster modes with some climbs, I repeatedly managed commutes in the mid-thirties of kilometres with a comforting buffer left. Backing off to more relaxed speeds stretches that without drama. Crucially, the power delivery stays fairly consistent until the latter stages of the pack - you're not crawling home for the last few kilometres.

The Mercane Wide Wheel Pro packs a bit more capacity, but also has two hungrier motors to feed. Ride it like it begs to be ridden - full power mode, frequent hard accelerations, stomping up hills - and your practical range ends up in a very similar ballpark to the Apollo's hard-riding numbers, maybe with a small edge if you're disciplined. Baby it in Eco mode and it will go further, but if you're buying a dual-motor, foam-tyred animal to trundle along at polite speeds, we need to have a different conversation.

Charging times are long-ish overnight affairs for both with standard chargers. The Apollo's support for faster charging (with an optional brick) is a nice touch for high-mileage riders, while the Mercane keeps things more conventional. In either case, you're planning around plugging in at the end of the day, not "splash and dash" lunchtime charging.

Range anxiety? With either scooter, if your regular return trip is under roughly twenty kilometres and you have access to a wall socket at home, you'll be fine. Push beyond that daily, and the Apollo's slightly better efficiency and clearer battery read-out make it feel less stressful to manage.

Portability & Practicality

Let's be clear: neither of these is a featherweight. If you're expecting "toss it over your shoulder and sprint up three flights of stairs", you're shopping in the wrong category.

The Apollo Explore 20 is the heavier of the two, and you feel it the moment you try to dead-lift it into a car boot. The upside is that the weight is well distributed, the integrated frame loop gives you a sensible grab point, and the fold is simple and confidence-inspiring. The downside: the handlebars don't fold, which makes the whole package much wider when stored or carried. Navigating narrow hallways or stuffing it between luggage on a train becomes... creative.

The Mercane Wide Wheel Pro, though a bit lighter on paper, feels denser. The deck is shorter, the frame compact, and with the bars folded it becomes a surprisingly tidy bundle. Tucking it in a small car boot or under a desk is easier than the Apollo, provided you're not doing it every 10 minutes. Carrying it for longer distances or up multiple floors, however, still isn't fun - the weight and awkward balance remind you this is very much a ground-floor or lift-building scooter.

In daily use, the Apollo wins on "park it and forget it" practicality: better water sealing, tubeless self-healing tyres, and a low-maintenance brake setup make it a more forgiving everyday tool. The Mercane counters with flat-proof tyres and a compact folded profile, but the harsher ride, lower ground clearance, and wet-weather drawbacks mean you have to think a bit more about when and where you ride it.

Safety

Safety isn't only about brakes and helmets; it's about how relaxed and in-control the scooter lets you feel when things get messy.

The Apollo Explore 20 takes visibility seriously. The high-mounted stem light puts a proper beam at driver eye-level, the deck and rear lights make you visible from the sides, and integrated turn signals actually help in busy traffic. Combined with that strong water resistance rating, it's a scooter you can legitimately take into grim winter commutes without feeling like you're tempting fate. The grippy, tubeless pneumatic tyres do a decent job on wet tarmac, and the composed chassis makes emergency manoeuvres feel predictable rather than terrifying.

The Mercane Wide Wheel Pro does give you a bright headlight and a functional rear light, and braking performance from the twin discs is strong. Straight-line stability at speed is also excellent; those fat tyres really don't like being knocked off course by ruts or tram tracks. But there are caveats. The solid, slickish tyres can be treacherous on wet paint or cobbles, and there's no getting around that. It's fine in dry conditions, but once the forecast shows rain, the Apollo is the scooter you'll feel happier stepping on.

Both scooters are fast enough to hurt you badly if you behave like an idiot, but the Apollo gently nudges you towards safer habits with progressive power and friendly handling. The Mercane constantly encourages you to abuse the throttle, and then reminds you, on a damp manhole cover, that physics still applies.

Community Feedback

Price & Value

Neither scooter is cheap, and both sit in that awkward space where you start asking, "Could I just get a small motorbike instead?" So the question is: who gives you more actual scooter for the money?

The Apollo Explore 20 comes in noticeably cheaper. For that, you get a single motor, mid-sized battery, outstanding comfort, full-weather capability, and strong attention to user experience. If we judge purely on thrill-per-euro, it doesn't blow your socks off. But if we judge on "years of daily use without drama", it starts to look much more sensible. The sticking point is that it's heavy for its configuration; some riders will look at the scale and expect dual motors at that weight and price, and they won't be wrong to wonder.

The Mercane Wide Wheel Pro costs a fair chunk more, and you can see where the money went: dual motors, larger battery, die-cast frame, distinctive styling. In raw performance-per-euro, it's actually quite competitive with bigger names; you're getting serious torque for the price. The problem is that some of that budget is spent on quirks: solid tyres that punish bad roads, weak wet grip, and a ride that can feel very compromised outside its ideal conditions. Value is great if you ride it like it wants to be ridden, in the environment it expects. Otherwise, it's harder to justify.

If you're looking at ownership over several years, factoring in comfort, risk of rainy days, and how often you'll curse the thing, the Apollo quietly makes a stronger value case for the average commuter, while the Mercane delivers better "wow" per euro but asks for more sacrifices in return.

Service & Parts Availability

Apollo has invested heavily in after-sales infrastructure and parts distribution, particularly in North America and increasingly in Europe. That means spares for things like controllers, displays, and even cosmetic parts are relatively accessible, and there's an active official and unofficial community ready to help. The Explore 20 is also built from a lot of standardised, known-quantity components, making it less of a nightmare for generic repair shops.

Mercane is a smaller, more niche player. The Wide Wheel Pro has been around long enough to build a solid fan base, and parts are available through specialist retailers and online stores, but depending on where you live in Europe, you may have to wait longer or dig deeper for specific components, especially rims and proprietary suspension bits. The more unusual construction also means not every local repair guy will be thrilled to work on it.

In terms of ease of self-maintenance, the Apollo's drum brakes, tubeless tyres and IP rating make it more forgiving to own. The Mercane's solid tyres do remove puncture stress entirely, but if you damage a rim or need deeper work on the swing arms, it's a less straightforward affair.

Pros & Cons Summary

Parameters Comparison

Final Verdict - Which Should You Choose?

Both of these scooters occupy that tempting "more serious than a toy, less insane than a hyper-scooter" niche - but they solve it very differently. After living with both, the Apollo Explore 20 comes out as the better actual transport tool for most riders: it's kinder to your body, behaves predictably in mixed weather, asks for very little maintenance, and costs less up front. It's not the most exciting thing I've ever ridden, but it is the one I'd be happier depending on every day, especially if my commute includes rain, bad tarmac, or traffic that requires lots of low-speed manoeuvring.

The Mercane Wide Wheel Pro is the emotional choice. If your roads are smooth, your climate is mostly dry, and you live for that fierce dual-motor shove, it delivers grins that the Apollo simply can't match. But you have to accept the compromises: a harsher ride, nervous wet-weather grip, less forgiving handling, and a steeper price. Think of it as the muscle car parked next to the Apollo's practical, well-sorted hatchback.

If you're a commuter first and a hooligan second, the Explore 20 is the smarter pick. If you're a hooligan first and you occasionally commute, the Wide Wheel Pro will make more emotional sense - just don't pretend you chose it for practicality.

Numbers Freaks Corner

These metrics strip the scooters down to efficiency and "bang for the gram/euro". Price per Wh and per km show how much you pay for stored energy and practical range, while weight-based metrics show how much mass you're hauling around for that performance. Wh per km exposes how thirsty each scooter is in hard use. Power-to-speed and weight-to-power ratios highlight how aggressively each machine converts watts into real-world pace. Finally, average charging speed simply reflects how quickly you can refill the tank overnight.

Author's Category Battle

Overall Winner Declaration

In the Numbers Freaks Corner, the APOLLO Explore 20 scores 5 points against the MERCANE Wide Wheel Pro's 5. In the Author's Category Battle, the APOLLO Explore 20 gets 28 ✅ versus 16 ✅ for MERCANE Wide Wheel Pro (with a few ties sprinkled in).

Totals: APOLLO Explore 20 scores 33, MERCANE Wide Wheel Pro scores 21.

Based on the scoring, the APOLLO Explore 20 is our overall winner. In the end, the Apollo Explore 20 feels like the scooter that might not dazzle you on day one, but quietly wins your trust after a month of grim commutes and sketchy weather. The Mercane Wide Wheel Pro, by contrast, seduces you instantly with its punch and presence, then periodically reminds you that romance can be a bit uncomfortable and expensive. For me, the Apollo is the one I'd actually keep by the door: it sacrifices some drama, but rewards you with a calmer, safer, more rounded experience that fits real life better than the Mercane's glorious but narrower party trick.

That's our verdict when we try to stay objective – but hey, riding is mostly about emotions anyway, so pick the one that will make you look forward to your commute every single day.