So let's get this out up front. As an e-bike, this thing is AWESOME. It rides great. The motor is very springy and accelerates or climbs like a dream. It easily does 30mph on flat ground and can get to 35mph before you get to the point where the motor is going full blast to barely increase the speed, which is fine -- it's geared for quick acceleration and for use as a bicycle. If I wanted to go faster than 35mph, I would have bought a Sur Ron or something like that at a pretty similar price point. All and all, if you are looking for an electric bicycle that sits in the grey area between a bike and motorcycle, but is closer to the bicycle side of the spectrum, this is it. The suspension is smooth -- at least on pavement. The 27.5x3 Kendra tires I got are solid and a good compromise between super fat tires and "bike" tires. The metal fenders are built like tanks. While it would have been nice if it already supported it, the add on mount for a second battery is already there for when they get that working, which is nice. Basically no complaints on the actual ride.
So why not 5 stars? Because the overall package is a bit chintzy on quality of life features, and this is a premium price point. You could seriously start looking at electric motorcycles at this general price point, so that is the sort of thing this is competing against. The most glaring omission is that the bike ships with a rear reflector as opposed to a tail light that powers off the bike battery. Yes, this is officially an off road bike that is technically not street legal in most localities. Yes, the premium is mostly for the dual drive motor. But on the other hand, it was sold with a "commuter package", so "wink wink", we both know what is up, and for $5600 it ought to have a working tail light like most much cheaper e-bikes do. Yes, I can get a rechargeable battery powered tail light. But now I have to remember to take it off to charge it, remember to put it back on, and remember to turn it on separate from the headlight, and for the price of this bike I shouldn't have to do that.
Second, the included DS104 display that comes on it is a little underwhelming at this price point. It's mostly functional -- other than the fact that the software doesn't compensate for draw current when displaying battery remaining, causing the meter to swing wildly, and show much lower remaining batterly when the motor is running than what is true, it does the job (not sure if the battery gauge issue is Biktrix programming or the default display firmware). It's just that the plain black on white LCD feels very basic on what is a very premium bike. I'd probably forgive the look if the battery gauge properly corrected for draw current and didn't spazz out, but -- it kind of feels like they had trouble getting any display working with this motor, and managed to get this specific one barely functioning and just went with it, which is fine on a prototype. Less so on a sold premium product such as this.
To be fair, the included Armageddon headlight is definitely premium and not "chintzy", and I have no real complaints at all about it. A minor quibble that they had to hard wire splice it to the battery cable, apparently because they don't have it with a compatible slip plug, but then again, you won't be looking to replace this. The commuter package included rear rack is adequate -- I have no complaints about it other than the lack of places to bolt something onto it, but that complaint applies to literally *every* third rack on the market, so can't fault Biktrix for that.
Anyway, I do really love the bike part of the bike. The thing is a beast. It's incredibly fun to ride. It is quite amusing to beat cars off the line at traffic lights. (grins). It's just that for the price point, the overall package matters, and there are some quality of life misses here.
