Biktrix Juggernaut review

[PJungnitsch]

Got a Biktrix Juggernaut a few weeks ago, you can read the story of my shopping process here:

http://www.autos.ca/forum/index.php?topic=93210.0

Bear in mind I've commuted with a regular bike in the past, and an electric longboard

is what I use now, but I've never had a fat bike or an eBike before.

Anyhow, I settled on the Biktrix after some research and ordered it, sight unseen from the website. A couple days later I get a call from the owner of the the business, Roshan, who is coming through my city by chance with a load of bikes and he drops it off.

First impression was that it was much nicer than I was expecting, construction and assembly wise:

I guess I had a fear 'crowd funded', and 'Chinese factory' meant 'roughly made and built', but it seems to be built to just as nice a standard as well known brands from a shop (which mostly likely came from a factory in China anyway). So good news I suppose for those others who have crowd funded bikes coming.

 

[PJungnitsch]

Assembly was likewise good, I've glued on the grips, which were loose, and tightened up the battery holder screws once, and that has been it. Have a 100 km on the bike now, and going over it the other day with my wrenches everything was still tight. Shifting, headset etc hasn't needed adjustment yet.

It came with lights and a kickstand, I've added a mirror, and some very light front and rear fenders. With all that the weight is 46.5 lbs without the battery, 53.6 with. It's definately heavy compared to a regular bike if you deadlift it, but feels quite light to handle, probably because the weight is low and centered with the middrive and center battery pack.

 

[PJungnitsch]

The first time I rode it was hilarious, the pedal assist is a crazy feeling, I just laughed out loud. I guess that is normal with ebikes, I don't seem to get tired of the exhilaration of having 'bionic legs'. A big eye opener for others that like me have not tried one before. It has 5 levels of assist, with 0 being pedal only. It seems to pedal freely enough, although you know the fat tires are there compared to a regular bike. Five is quite aggressive, and I will dial it down in tight going, although I am getting better at managing the surge in power. Speaking of power, it seems to have a lot (the 750w Bafang), but speed is limited here to low 30's s in km/hr. Which seems plenty fast on mixed use paths.

It has seven gears on the rear axle, and I use probably 4 to 7 of them normally on the commute. It will shift if you just hit the shifter, but feels rough. Touching one of the brake levers disconnects the motor momentarily and smooths the shifting, so I'm getting in the habit of that. Sort of like clutching.

The 'fat' part is interesting. It seems to handle much like a regular bike, but the tires are visually big and roar, so you get the feeling you are piloting a monster truck at speed. Gravel and loose dirt are hugely better than a regular bike, and it seems to float nicely on grass too. And since so much pedal power is there, suddenly all the grass verges, parks, dirt paths, etc are pretty much as easy as driving on the street.

 

[PJungnitsch]

That being said, it is still a hard tail with a solid front fork, and those big tires do not ride as softly as I imagined. I started out at 20lbs, and have dropped down to 10. It is fine on pavement, and I'm getting in the habit of lifting myself up to handle rough stuff, but I miss the front suspension on my old regular hard tail. Am thinking with some suspension this bike could really take advantage of it's natural capabilities in rough and soft terrain.

So that is in the works for now. Been interested in reading on the thudbusters, etc experiences here on the forum.

 

[PowerMe]

Congratulations on your new eBike!

I laughed during my first eBike ride too -- such exhilaration!

I started with a Suntour NCX SP-12 suspension post, which I absolutely love and switched out to a Thudbuster because I wanted to add a Brooks saddle and Brooks saddles won't fit on the Suntour suspension post. Of the 2, I actually prefer the Suntour NCX post.

 

[J.R.]

That being said, it is still a hard tail with a solid front fork, and those big tires do not ride as softly as I imagined. I started out at 20lbs, and have dropped down to 10. It is fine on pavement, and I'm getting in the habit of lifting myself up to handle rough stuff, but I miss the front suspension on my old regular hard tail. Am thinking with some suspension this bike could really take advantage of it's natural capabilities in rough and soft terrain.

So that is in the works for now. Been interested in reading on the thudbusters, etc experiences here on the forum.

I think a lot of fat-bike riders wind up with sub-10psi. Good review, enjoy!

 

[PJungnitsch]

Interesting. How does the Thudbuster compare vs the Suntour? Have to say for now I have picked up a cheap suspension post from MEC (Can equivalent to REI) and am just waiting for a sleeve adapter to come in, as the seat tube is an odd size.

I've also ordered a front suspension fork from China off Alibaba. The steering stem is straight and the hub is a 135mm QR, which is unfortunate as the only brand name suspension fork so far for fatbikes is the Rockshox Bluto, which only comes in taper stem and made for a 150mm through hub.

 

[PowerMe]

How does the Thudbuster compare vs the Suntour?

They're fairly comparable, though the Suntour is less expensive. I can't really give a like-for-like review because I'm in the process of breaking in a leather Brooks saddle, which is mounted on the Thudbuster, and yeah, it's a hard saddle. There's a Selle Freeway Gel saddle on my Suntour post... very different.

 

[George S.]

Thanks a lot for the review!

I'm glad this is working out and that you feel comfortable with the build. Roshan is a very knowledgable person and this bike was offered in a Kickstarter that went very smoothly. Apparently the delivery is close to what they said and personal delivery sure beats the big brown truck.

The original price on KS was great for a mid-drive fat bike. It would be interesting to compare your bike to the RadRover. The RR was cheaper, but it uses a rear hub motor. Both of the builders seem to know what they are doing.

Roshan had another bike in the works, a really low priced fat bike, but nothing ever came of it. They have the high powered bike, as well. I understand the RR people have another project, as well. Maybe @pxpaulx will know something.

I'm a little discouraged by your comments on needing a front suspension. I guess I thought the tires would take care of the ruts. I got a Brooks saddle and I don't feel the bumps so much, sitting back on it like they say, but I do feel the stuff coming through the standard steel fork to my arms. With the Brooks I would not buy a seatpost, and I almost never feel the need to sit up over the seat. There are a lot of adjustments to make the darned thing work right. I had to raise my handlebars to really get seated on it properly.

I have a Prodeco X3 with a suspension fork. It helps, but it just isn't 'fast' enough for washboarding. Slowing down is what works.

A lot of us want to know how these Chinese bikes, especially from the crowdfunders, are going to work out. The RR, the Sondo, and the Wave should be showing up next month. I think Court owns a Sondo fat bike. Not sure why Roshan never did another CF, but maybe they want to do that high powered bike.

 

[PJungnitsch]

Roshan has been very good to deal with, on top of his emails, one reason I went with him. It's maybe not as quite easy as going down to a bike shop but on the other hand if stuff needs to get replaced or upgraded the standard parts used in these crowdfunder bikes means they are easy to source.

The RadRover looks good, probably similar to the Biktrix model with the hub drive. The suspension fork on it is probably the same 'fork of many names' as I'm getting. Hopefully it is delivered today and I get it installed on the weekend. Will report.

What seems to be a similar hub drive bike to the Rad Rover/hub drive Biktrix is sold here: http://www.voltbike.ca/voltbike-yukon-500w.html.

Anyway, very happy with my electric+fat combination so far.

 

[pxpaulx]

That being said, it is still a hard tail with a solid front fork, and those big tires do not ride as softly as I imagined. I started out at 20lbs, and have dropped down to 10. It is fine on pavement, and I'm getting in the habit of lifting myself up to handle rough stuff, but I miss the front suspension on my old regular hard tail. Am thinking with some suspension this bike could really take advantage of it's natural capabilities in rough and soft terrain.

So that is in the works for now. Been interested in reading on the thudbusters, etc experiences here on the forum.

I have the Suntour post Powerme is talking about, but haven't had a chance to ride it yet on my current non-electric fat bike!

I'm pretty sure the Radrover I'm getting in a week or two has the no-name front suspension fork you mentioned in the auto forum - I'd say wait until I get that, I'll be sure to discuss how both work (individually and together).

Also, if you're at 20psi you're not doing it right! I started out at about 15, now I run 10-12 in the rear and about 6-7 in front, makes a huge difference (and I am NOT a small guy!).

Anyway, glad you're enjoying the juggernaut, I thought they hit it out of the park with that bike - I might have gotten in on the kickstarter if I had known I was going to buy a pre-built fat bike earlier this year - I had intended to build my own but decided it was too much effort (well that, and the radrover pretty much cost the same as a build would have...only it came with the bike!).

 

[pxpaulx]

Roshan had another bike in the works, a really low priced fat bike, but nothing ever came of it. They have the high powered bike, as well. I understand the RR people have another project, as well. Maybe @pxpaulx will know something.

I'm a little discouraged by your comments on needing a front suspension. I guess I thought the tires would take care of the ruts. I got a Brooks saddle and I don't feel the bumps so much, sitting back on it like they say, but I do feel the stuff coming through the standard steel fork to my arms. With the Brooks I would not buy a seatpost, and I almost never feel the need to sit up over the seat. There are a lot of adjustments to make the darned thing work right. I had to raise my handlebars to really get seated on it properly.

I did ask Ty about the rad power bike that is a current project. I don't think it will be fat though, and all I got as far as details were that it would be a utilitarian bike.

On the suspension comment, based on my current non-electric fat experience I would say you don't need it! However, the ride at 20mph+ may be different, I'll know in a week or two (cross my fingers!). The Radrover has one, but I might want to take it off to save some steering weight, I've read the no-name fat fork that is out there is close to 7lbs, while an average aluminum fat fork is just 2lbs, a pretty big difference.

 

[George S.]

@PJungnitsch

If I were an ebike retailer, the Voltbike plain vanilla step-through for $900 would give me nightmares. I know those parts pretty well, and it's not a fantasy bike.

 

[pxpaulx]

The RadRover looks good, probably similar to the Biktrix model with the hub drive. The suspension fork on it is probably the same 'fork of many names' as I'm getting. Hopefully it is delivered today and I get it installed on the weekend. Will report.

What seems to be a similar hub drive bike to the Rad Rover/hub drive Biktrix is sold here: http://www.voltbike.ca/voltbike-yukon-500w.html.

Anyway, very happy with my electric+fat combination so far.

I missed this part, didn't realize you'd already ordered that fork! I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on it.

The Radrover was definitely a better overvall value than that voltbike (though it is pretty reasonably priced for a retail bike) - radrover has the fork (maybe junk but probably still better than a standard aluminum fork if it is what you want), and the motor is 750w as well as being geared for high torque - that is the thing about hub motors, they may not be as versatile as a mid-drive overall, but they can be purpose built for speed or torque by using different gearing ratios - you can't have the best of both worlds, but it will do one or the other quite well.

There is some more discussion including detailed specs on the radrover in the following endless sphere discussion thread, as well as some user test reviews (including a 12 or so minute test ride video) if you curious to compare!:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=68212

This was the test review comment that got me most excited:

Mike let me ride one of his RadRovers and it was Awesome!

The way the motor is wound and geared it feels more torquey than the 1000w bike I used to have. I am very impressed on how quiet the bike was. The batteries mounted in the triangle make for a well balanced bike.

Overall this is an awesome bike, I highly doubt that any other company could beat this price and make a high of quality bike like the RadRover.

 

[Islander]

Thank you PJumgnitsch for the review my Juggernaut is being shipped next week.

 

[PJungnitsch]

Welcome! Pretty sure you're going to love it.

Myself I got the suspension fork in this weekend, and installed. Drove it to work today, and it feels very good.

Will give a more detailed review tonight.

 

[pxpaulx]

Welcome! Pretty sure you're going to love it.

Myself I got the suspension fork in this weekend, and installed. Drove it to work today, and it feels very good.

Will give a more detailed review tonight.

Does the fork with many names have lock-out and is it a straight steerer mount? Want to compare to see if it is the same one on the radrover (I'm guessing the answer is yes). Did you by any chance weigh it before you mounted the fork? I'm curious how much it adds over the stock fork that was on the bike?

 

[PJungnitsch]

Yep, lock out on one leg, preload on the other. 1 1/8 straight steerer, quick release 135mm hub. Just over 6 lbs, compared to around 2 for the rigid fork or 4 for a Rockshox Bluto. Steel lower legs and tubes, alloy crown.

vs:

Rode it about 20km yesterday to work and back. Smooths out the ride some, soakings up big hits like curbs nicely, and gives a nice 'buffer' for extra control in rough stuff. Way easier on the arms now.

It's definitely not the same quality as the used Marzocchi I put on the my mountain bike, I think this one is just springs and grease inside, and it does add some flex to the front end, but so far like it a lot. Hopefully it lasts.

 

[vincent713]

PJ - nice review on the Juggernaut! Question on the suspension fork, aren't all suspension forks have spring inside? I assume the fork on my bike has a spring and notice it makes hissing sound when I go over bumps.

 

[Kaldeem]

Some suspension forks use air, I'm not keen on all the details of how they work though.