New member here from Vermont, hi everyone.
I went almost a year doing research and agonizing over what to buy. I ended up getting an M2S Allterrain Ultramax fatbike about 2 weeks ago. I set it up with aftermarket rack and fenders for $50 and ordered a $200 set of 27.5" wheels with 2.35" tires, 10 spd cassette, and through axles for summer road use. All that put me just under $3000, which is a lot but considering it has the 1000-1500 watt Bafang Ultramax mid drive, torque sensor, air suspension fork, 10 speed Deore drivetrain and hydraulic disc brakes, 48 volt 19.2 Ah battery and cheapo light set, I think it was good deal.
After a little more than 125 miles on snow trails I am thrilled with it. If I were to buy again, I would probably forego the the air suspension for winter riding but maybe it will be more appreciated with my summer wheelset.
The 'beast from the east' has proved to be a lot more powerful than I personally need and it is run at PAS 1 or 2 all of the time. The range would be 50+ miles with temps in the teens, I usually ride for 2 hours or more and draw the battery down to 40%. The throttle is more of a trigger than throttle, I don't use it at all and will be removing it shortly. It does get the machine up to 30 mph with no pedalling on flat pavement if that matters... I wouldn't even consider an ebike for trails that didn't have a good torque sensor, I tried 3 different cadence only bikes and they felt much less like bikes than those with torque sensors, but would be fine on bike paths. Same goes for hub drives.
My best advice for a buyer would be to really try to evaluate what you want the bike for if you can only have one. A fatbike is amazing on packed snow or sand with 4 psi in the tires but not needed for pavement or hard pack. You do give up a bit of range with fat tires and they seem more fragile than 'normal' MTB tires. Thing is you can have both with a fatbike and set of 27.5" wheels, which is perfect for me. If I was more of a city and bike path rider, I would get an ebike more tailored to that purpose.
I looked at the m2s and their specs are very nice. I loved the "idea" of it. Ultimately i bought the way i did based on the following:
1. Mostly commuting 4 miles each way or riding to the beach and parking, 4 miles each way, riding around town and maybe on a hardpack path.
2. I live at the beach. No mud or snow and i wont be on "trails" as in trails like i used to dirtbike when we would ride the same hole 500 times JUST to wallow it out
![Beaming face with smiling eyes :grin: 😁](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f601.png)
. The cruiser low rider style blends in here with other casual riders also.
3. I have had some nasty crashes and have spent a lifetime "working " on stuff....cars, trucks, atvs, lawnmowers, tractors, you get the point. We grew up in the garage with dad working on stuff and frankly, im sick of working on crap. I want a dealer for 2-3 grand who i can take it to. I want a usable warranty thus the lbs. Which limited some choices in class3s but ijust know me and if theres a problem to be had, i will have it. Single parent and commuting i just cant afford any delays, failures, learning development periods etc lol. I can be doing that with some hand holding the first yr this way.
4. The tires are oversize balloon/city so they are stable for holes and some sandy spots and etc but no resistance.
5. Im not tall so i know tires are headed 27.5 and once i get more stable maybe but for rn oversized 26 is perfect and when passed down thats a consideration also, stability.
6. The middrive via online is still too confusing for me....luna cycle, build my own, the ultra, nylon vs new gears, it seemed the tech on those bafangs is going fast so i wasnt secure making a decision on those plus, m2s has a lot of upgrades so my bike would have been like 6000k lol.
But keep us posted bc i do like their bikes and am interested in how that ultra works out over time and how the service is with m2s!!!