I recently got my second Bulls bike and wanted to give you my comparison between the RS 3 and the evo45.
Both came with bottom line Nobby nics and both bikes the tires failed in first 50 miles. Tried to go tubliss right away on 45 and the tires will not seal well and rear had to put the tube back in only to have side wall fail on first test run.
The pike fork on 45 is a much nicer more stable feel in stock form over the Yari on the RS 3. The brakes on the 45 are much larger and are solid on any decent, the brake levers on 45 are monsters and belong on a motorcycle.
As far as form and feel the bikes are quite similar, exept the RS3 climbs better even with 100 less watts power and has better battery life.
On the flats the 28mph assist is quite fun.
I suffered from stability and fork dive horribly on both bikes and ended up converting both to 160mm travel up front and added a token on both.
The rear shock on the 3 is slightly stiffer valved and has better rebound valving and i find myself running it primarily with rebound adjust closed to 3 Click from closed.
On the 45 the rear shock is absolutely pathetic, you have to run it in peddle mode all the time to get any real dampening force at all. If you try to sprint out of the saddle the bike wallows like a true DH bike without a pedal mode in suspension.
The 45 on a flat ground ride running between level 2-3 the battery went 33 miles and had one bar left.
On RS 3 on same ride it had 3+Or over 50% bars on battery left but also averaged slower speed
45 i averaged 24.8mph, RS3 average 17.9mph.
Both mine loose assist 2mph bellow the advertised max speed ratings.
RS3 shits down 18mph
45 at 26mph.
Rider review vs magazine reviews.
Every test i have read has rated these bikes fairly poorly in a few catagorys.
Climb and DH.
After hundreds of miles testing on single track, chunky, hiro dirt, loose, leaf covered, fast, pro level Gnarly, cruiser pace to 28 STRAVA DH KOM’s I have come to this conclusion.
The RS3 27.5+is hands down best bang for the buck. Few key misses on factory setup lead to failed reviews.
Grid or good snake skin tires, 160mm front, 1 add token, bigger brakes,dropper seat, 35mm stem and it’s a true enduro bike that can run with top of the line enduro bikes and feel as comfy as your couch in hands of a novice rider.
Evo45, add the additional cost of the bike and the bang for the buck deminishes. The inability to climb better with 100 additional watts, shorter battery life, 27.5 tires and the lower bottom bracket leads to increased pedal strikes, the light valving in rear shock and steep head jangle make for nervous bike that really isn’t enduro capable and this bike belongs on fire roads and entry level to novice level riding.
If the 45 was 1,000 less the RS3 27.5+ i wouldn’t feel it was an equal bang for the buck.
Maybe they build a 29er out of it and address its major short sides and it will improve its bang for buck.
Stay tuned i have a 29er front end I’m gonna put on in next few weeks see how that affects the review.
Both came with bottom line Nobby nics and both bikes the tires failed in first 50 miles. Tried to go tubliss right away on 45 and the tires will not seal well and rear had to put the tube back in only to have side wall fail on first test run.
The pike fork on 45 is a much nicer more stable feel in stock form over the Yari on the RS 3. The brakes on the 45 are much larger and are solid on any decent, the brake levers on 45 are monsters and belong on a motorcycle.
As far as form and feel the bikes are quite similar, exept the RS3 climbs better even with 100 less watts power and has better battery life.
On the flats the 28mph assist is quite fun.
I suffered from stability and fork dive horribly on both bikes and ended up converting both to 160mm travel up front and added a token on both.
The rear shock on the 3 is slightly stiffer valved and has better rebound valving and i find myself running it primarily with rebound adjust closed to 3 Click from closed.
On the 45 the rear shock is absolutely pathetic, you have to run it in peddle mode all the time to get any real dampening force at all. If you try to sprint out of the saddle the bike wallows like a true DH bike without a pedal mode in suspension.
The 45 on a flat ground ride running between level 2-3 the battery went 33 miles and had one bar left.
On RS 3 on same ride it had 3+Or over 50% bars on battery left but also averaged slower speed
45 i averaged 24.8mph, RS3 average 17.9mph.
Both mine loose assist 2mph bellow the advertised max speed ratings.
RS3 shits down 18mph
45 at 26mph.
Rider review vs magazine reviews.
Every test i have read has rated these bikes fairly poorly in a few catagorys.
Climb and DH.
After hundreds of miles testing on single track, chunky, hiro dirt, loose, leaf covered, fast, pro level Gnarly, cruiser pace to 28 STRAVA DH KOM’s I have come to this conclusion.
The RS3 27.5+is hands down best bang for the buck. Few key misses on factory setup lead to failed reviews.
Grid or good snake skin tires, 160mm front, 1 add token, bigger brakes,dropper seat, 35mm stem and it’s a true enduro bike that can run with top of the line enduro bikes and feel as comfy as your couch in hands of a novice rider.
Evo45, add the additional cost of the bike and the bang for the buck deminishes. The inability to climb better with 100 additional watts, shorter battery life, 27.5 tires and the lower bottom bracket leads to increased pedal strikes, the light valving in rear shock and steep head jangle make for nervous bike that really isn’t enduro capable and this bike belongs on fire roads and entry level to novice level riding.
If the 45 was 1,000 less the RS3 27.5+ i wouldn’t feel it was an equal bang for the buck.
Maybe they build a 29er out of it and address its major short sides and it will improve its bang for buck.
Stay tuned i have a 29er front end I’m gonna put on in next few weeks see how that affects the review.
