Ultra Eagle review

[Bigjerk43]

Well, it's not a lifetime warranty against abuse or "breaking the f**k" out of it...

Let me rephrase .....going to test it to its limits meaning actually use it not just go straight on the street

 

[Deafcat]

Send er!

 

[Bigjerk43]

For the record confirmed frames are hpc scout

 

[TomD]

Conclusion: I really, really like this bike. But I don’t quite love this bike. The only thing keeping me from loving it is the battery/range performance. I am happy with the purchase, my dealings with the company, and feel I received a product that is worth the price tag. The bike is a blast to ride and I’m having a lot of fun with it, I just wish the battery was a little more reliable. But I’ve now ordered a second battery to take along as a backup. I will definitely be a repeat Biktrix customer.

I had the same impression with my Frey CC. Instead of buying a second battery I ponied up for the innotrace controller (offered by Watt Wagons in North America). Now I love my bike, PAS is much smoother, range is much better, and I don't have to carry a second battery.

 

[roshan]

I had the same impression with my Frey CC. Instead of buying a second battery I ponied up for the innotrace controller (offered by Watt Wagons in North America). Now I love my bike, PAS is much smoother, range is much better, and I don't have to carry a second battery.

Who covers warranty if the motor fails? Innotrace or Wattwagons? Bafang won't and Frey won't either.

 

[TomD]

True, you're out of luck if the motor fails. WW does warranty the controller. I would say it's worth the tradeoff given the motor isn't much more than $500 to replace. Perhaps you have a better handle on motor failures but my impression is burnt controllers on the Ultra are more common than motor failures. In any case I would say riding the aftermarket controller is priceless. You can also just buy the motor from WW if you want full warranty. I think it's an extra $500 vs. upgrading the controller only.

 

[JCofMN]

I bought this bike because I wanted the Bafang Ultra motor built into a quality machine with above average components by skilled bike mechanics. I read good things about Biktrix and I liked their large community, good customer testimonials, and return policy and so I gave them a shot.

View attachment 57027

After ~100 miles, here’s what I like and don’t like about the Eagle:

Likes:

• Price: Fair price. For the Bafang Ultra 1000w surrounded by good quality components, 4k is a fair price in my mind. I feel satisfied with what I received vs what I paid.
• Build: The Eagle arrived perfectly tuned. Didn’t need to take it to a LBS to get the mechanicals tuned up, like I did for my last bike from a different company. I clamped the Eagle up onto my repair stand, screwed in the handlebar and the front wheel, and when I spun the wheels, they both spun freely and were perfectly true. No friction and no need to adjust the brake pads. The gears shifted clean and fast.
• Packaging: Excellent. Every inch of paint was covered in foam paper. They took care to stuff all the empty space in the box with cardboard so nothing could shift around during shipping. The box had no damage from shipping when I received it.
• Shipping: They built and shipped my order in 10 days! I had emailed them previously to ask how long and they said it would be 5 weeks. I was pleasantly surprised to receive it in only 10 days. Under promise and over deliver - that's my policy at my company too. And shipping was fast. They shipped it on a Monday and I got it Wednesday.
• Biktrix communication/responsiveness: Superb. I asked a few follow up questions via email after my order and they always responded with a few hours and were very polite and professional. Like any good business, they use CRM software to manage customer inquiries so nothing slips through the cracks.
• Handling: While on my first ride, I actually forgot this bike is a hardtail. With the short travel thudbuster and my big cushioned seat that also has some suspension built in, I barely felt any bumps. Granted, I haven’t done any very rough terrain yet.
• Speed: As advertised, I got 33 mph on flat ground doing full throttle. (Pic says 29 because I got going so fast I wasn’t comfortable driving with one hand to take a pic! So I put my phone away before I hit 33.) PAS 5 on the flat ground stayed in the mid to high 20’s mph.

View attachment 57030
View attachment 57031
View attachment 57032

Dislikes:

• Range/battery:
  • Battery not preforming like I had hoped. But maybe I was naive in my expectations. I only got 25.9 miles on my first ride before battery died, doing PAS 4-5 on level ground on the C&O Towpath. Total elevation gain on my whole ride according to Strava was only 47 feet. I did do four 10-second bursts on the throttle to test top speed, but otherwise stayed in PAS 4-5 the whole ride. Granted, I am a heavier rider at 209, but I had hoped to get at least 32 miles out of a charge.
  • Another weird thing about the battery is, during my ride, I turned around and started back to my car when the battery hit 65%, thinking I would be conservative and leave myself enough battery to make it back. But the last 65% burned down faster than the first 35%. I ended up having to pedal it back with no power to my truck the last 1000 yards – not fun on a 62 lbs. bike. I would also see the battery percentage go down inconsistently. It would drop 5% in 60 seconds or stay on a fixed percentage for 3 minutes at a time. And if I turned the display off and on again, the battery would read a different percentage when I turned it back on. I.e., I’d turn the display off while the percentage read “54%.” Then when I turned it back on, it read “58%”.
  • And finally, the O/I (on/off) switch on the battery does not work. If the battery is inserted into the cradle, the bike has power - regardless of whether the power switch is on or off.
  • Since I need more range than 25 miles, I emailed Biktrix to ask if they would still sell me a discounted second battery that they offered during the order process. They said yes – I’m very grateful for that. So I’m now going to install a rear rack and carry the spare battery on there.
• Minor gripes:
  • The Tri-force allen wrench they provide did not have a wrench that fit the allen screws on the stem. Even the smallest wrench did not fit. Not a big deal at all. What bike owner doesn’t have a set of allen wrenches lying around?View attachment 57035
  • 
    
  • There was no screw included to mount the headlamp. No biggie. I rummaged around my workbench until I found a nut and bolt that fit it.
  • 
    
  • View attachment 57040
  • 
    
  • The placard is glued on and slides around rather easily. It’s only a matter of time before it pops off. Maybe it got hot in shipping and the glue melted and lost some integrity, who knows. I like it and don’t want to lose it so I might just remove it and store it

Conclusion: I really, really like this bike. But I don’t quite love this bike. The only thing keeping me from loving it is the battery/range performance. I am happy with the purchase, my dealings with the company, and feel I received a product that is worth the price tag. The bike is a blast to ride and I’m having a lot of fun with it, I just wish the battery was a little more reliable. But I’ve now ordered a second battery to take along as a backup. I will definitely be a repeat Biktrix customer.

Here is another Ultra Eagle Review

Bike review for Juggernaut Ultra Eagle bought as a Clearance/Demo model from the Biktrix website October 2021. At the time I already had three other relatively recent ebikes, but an Ultra Eagle at this sales price was too hard to resist. So now my current fleet (in order of acquisition) is:

Frey CC:
Full suspension, 2.4 x 27.5 Schwalbe super moto g tires, 48 v Bafang Ultra, 10 sp Shimano Deore, Magura mt5 203 mm rotors. Total cost including shipping from China, $3200
Priority Current:
No suspension. 650 b 1.85 x 27.5 WTB horizon tires, 48 v Wuxi/ Truckrun, Enviolo 380 Gates belt, Tektro 2p 180 mm rotors. Total cost including shipping from PA, $2699
DIY CYC Motor/ KHS 4 season 500 fat bike:
No suspension, 4 x 26 Chaoyangs, 48v CYC gen 2 kit, 7 sp Shimano Acera, Shimano 2p 160 rotors. Total parts cost not including the donor bike, about $1650.
Biktrix Juggernaut Ultra Eagle:
Front suspension (same fork as my Frey) hardtail, 2.8 x 27.5 Maxxis minion DH f and r’s, 52 v Bafang Ultra, 12 sp SRAM gx eagle, Tektro 4p 180 mm rotors. Total cost shipped from Saskatoon to Minneapolis $2699.

Note all these bikes are torque sensor mid drives, with only the Priority Current lacking a throttle.

The buying experience: After discovering the bike on their website under their “Deals” tab I emailed sales support with a few questions specifically about the bike’s size and fit as I have a rather short 28-29 inch inseam and possible add on charges for shipping to the US and sales taxes. As luck would have it the available demo was the smallest of the three frame sizes they offered in their limited run of 50 or so of these bikes and the price quoted included shipping with no sales tax for shipment/sales to Minnesota. After placing the order online the bike arrived 9 or 10 days later via FedEx well packed with all the accessories including an assembly tool kit I assume are included with a brand new bike order. As usual, the front wheel was removed as well the handlebars to fit the bike in a more compact box.

Aside from being a bit dusty probably from sitting around in a warehouse for a while the bike seemed as new with about 35 miles shown on the display odometer if such gages may be believed. So far I’ve put about 125 miles on her and verified smooth shifting through all 12 gears and good stopping power with the 4p tektro brakes with no untoward squealing or shuddering noise. The chain does sit mighty close to the tire in the highest 50 tooth granny gear, but there is a good 10 mm clearance (that said, I wouldn't try to install any fatter tire). I paid particularly close attention to this after reading the travails others were having with similar Ultra powered bikes with frame interference and chainline induced cog skipping on brand new bikes priced about twice as much as this model over on the EBR Wattwagons forum. As a demo bike it came equipped with a rear Mudhugger fender and a sprung wide beach cruiser type comfort saddle. Disappointingly there was no “x of 50” badge on the frame, I suppose because this was reserved as a display/demo bike. As shown in the pix below, I kept the Mudhugger and added a front as well, but replaced the seat with a suspension posted leather saddle. I also added a rear rack, changed the bars to a slightly swept back loop bar with ergo grips, and added a mirror, bell, and an auxiliary light to the bar loop. Later I may add Tannus armor.

Riding Feel/Experience: For the most manual/acoustic bike-like riding experience where everything is instinctively controlled through your feet on the pedals, grip on the bars and body english as you shift your weight over the seat, the DIY KHS kit bike and the Priority Current rank first because they based on actual bicycles ( the Priority Current looks to be derived from their acoustic Turi model). With the Frey and Biktrix, you have to be a bit more intentional, maybe because they’re a bit heavier so some rider-to-bike weight ratio threshold is exceeded. Of course all 4 bikes have unique ride personalities, largely based on their tires and frame geometries. Both the Frey and Priority came set-up as city/commuter vehicles while the Biktrix and DIY Fat bikes are more single track trail/adverse terrain oriented.

Interestingly both the Biktrix and Frey can be highly customized, so I could have ordered the Ultra Eagle with Schwalbe Super moto G tires and Magura brakes like the Frey, and vice versa, I could have ordered the GX (using R & M marketing terminology) version of the Frey CC with Maxxis tires and a different higher ratio groupset. So I think of my Frey as my GT bike, and the Biktrix as my ultra powered GX bike.

Over on the forums, much has been written about the tuning of the Bafang Ultra motor. In particular many say Biktrix has tuned their Ultra models ``better” than the rest and if you really want to have the premium European experience you have to shell out another thousand bucks to WattWagons for the Innotrace Germain designed aftermarket controller. I cannot say anything about about Archon/Innotrace since I don’t have one, but the main difference I notice between my Frey (which I assume is the stock Bafang factory tuning) is that in PAS 1 the Biktrix seems to deliver a 20-25% wider power band than the Frey which requires you to bump the PAS to 2 or so for equivalent power. It’s a noticeable , but to me not a terribly important difference since so far my legs seem to adapt quite quickly to whichever bike I’m riding since I usually supply 60 to maybe 75 % of the propulsion energy via the pedals. And although I don’t use the thumb throttle on either bike that much, it could be that the Biktrix is turned a little smoother. So although I have the usb interface dongle I haven’t messed with any of the widely publicized tunings (i,e,. The “smooth tune by Mike at Frey” or the looney Luna settings) since I find the performance ride quality characteristics just fine with both ultra powered bikes just as they come. What’s important to me is low speed power control for tight spot maneuverability on crowded bike paths with unpredictable kids and dogs milling about. In this regard I rate the Biktrix very good. One thing that surprised about the Biktrix is the performance of the Maxxis Minion tires. They’re not nearly as loud as I expected from the noise of my 4 inch tire fat bike, and judging by the speed achieved rolling down my standard test hill, their rolling resistance is not too far behind my Frey’s Schwalbe street tires. As to the rest of the components on my ultra powered bikes, I like the Magura brakes and the SRAM transmission the best. I notice though that Rambo has a new ultra powered fat tire hunting bike with the Enviolo hub which could reduce brush/weeds from getting tangled up in the drive train, although durability could be an issue with this set up.

All in all I think I was lucky to be at the right place and the right time to bag a deal on one of Biktrix’s most excellent models. It's too bad these non-integrated battery designs seem to be going the way of the Dodo which might be the main reason I snagged such a bargain.

 

[roshan]

Here is another Ultra Eagle Review

Bike review for Juggernaut Ultra Eagle bought as a Clearance/Demo model from the Biktrix website October 2021. At the time I already had three other relatively recent ebikes, but an Ultra Eagle at this sales price was too hard to resist. So now my current fleet (in order of acquisition) is:

Frey CC:
Full suspension, 2.4 x 27.5 Schwalbe super moto g tires, 48 v Bafang Ultra, 10 sp Shimano Deore, Magura mt5 203 mm rotors. Total cost including shipping from China, $3200
Priority Current:
No suspension. 650 b 1.85 x 27.5 WTB horizon tires, 48 v Wuxi/ Truckrun, Enviolo 380 Gates belt, Tektro 2p 180 mm rotors. Total cost including shipping from PA, $2699
DIY CYC Motor/ KHS 4 season 500 fat bike:
No suspension, 4 x 26 Chaoyangs, 48v CYC gen 2 kit, 7 sp Shimano Acera, Shimano 2p 160 rotors. Total parts cost not including the donor bike, about $1650.
Biktrix Juggernaut Ultra Eagle:
Front suspension (same fork as my Frey) hardtail, 2.8 x 27.5 Maxxis minion DH f and r’s, 52 v Bafang Ultra, 12 sp SRAM gx eagle, Tektro 4p 180 mm rotors. Total cost shipped from Saskatoon to Minneapolis $2699.

Note all these bikes are torque sensor mid drives, with only the Priority Current lacking a throttle.

The buying experience: After discovering the bike on their website under their “Deals” tab I emailed sales support with a few questions specifically about the bike’s size and fit as I have a rather short 28-29 inch inseam and possible add on charges for shipping to the US and sales taxes. As luck would have it the available demo was the smallest of the three frame sizes they offered in their limited run of 50 or so of these bikes and the price quoted included shipping with no sales tax for shipment/sales to Minnesota. After placing the order online the bike arrived 9 or 10 days later via FedEx well packed with all the accessories including an assembly tool kit I assume are included with a brand new bike order. As usual, the front wheel was removed as well the handlebars to fit the bike in a more compact box.

Aside from being a bit dusty probably from sitting around in a warehouse for a while the bike seemed as new with about 35 miles shown on the display odometer if such gages may be believed. So far I’ve put about 125 miles on her and verified smooth shifting through all 12 gears and good stopping power with the 4p tektro brakes with no untoward squealing or shuddering noise. The chain does sit mighty close to the tire in the highest 50 tooth granny gear, but there is a good 10 mm clearance (that said, I wouldn't try to install any fatter tire). I paid particularly close attention to this after reading the travails others were having with similar Ultra powered bikes with frame interference and chainline induced cog skipping on brand new bikes priced about twice as much as this model over on the EBR Wattwagons forum. As a demo bike it came equipped with a rear Mudhugger fender and a sprung wide beach cruiser type comfort saddle. Disappointingly there was no “x of 50” badge on the frame, I suppose because this was reserved as a display/demo bike. As shown in the pix below, I kept the Mudhugger and added a front as well, but replaced the seat with a suspension posted leather saddle. I also added a rear rack, changed the bars to a slightly swept back loop bar with ergo grips, and added a mirror, bell, and an auxiliary light to the bar loop. Later I may add Tannus armor.

Riding Feel/Experience: For the most manual/acoustic bike-like riding experience where everything is instinctively controlled through your feet on the pedals, grip on the bars and body english as you shift your weight over the seat, the DIY KHS kit bike and the Priority Current rank first because they based on actual bicycles ( the Priority Current looks to be derived from their acoustic Turi model). With the Frey and Biktrix, you have to be a bit more intentional, maybe because they’re a bit heavier so some rider-to-bike weight ratio threshold is exceeded. Of course all 4 bikes have unique ride personalities, largely based on their tires and frame geometries. Both the Frey and Priority came set-up as city/commuter vehicles while the Biktrix and DIY Fat bikes are more single track trail/adverse terrain oriented.

Interestingly both the Biktrix and Frey can be highly customized, so I could have ordered the Ultra Eagle with Schwalbe Super moto G tires and Magura brakes like the Frey, and vice versa, I could have ordered the GX (using R & M marketing terminology) version of the Frey CC with Maxxis tires and a different higher ratio groupset. So I think of my Frey as my GT bike, and the Biktrix as my ultra powered GX bike.

Over on the forums, much has been written about the tuning of the Bafang Ultra motor. In particular many say Biktrix has tuned their Ultra models ``better” than the rest and if you really want to have the premium European experience you have to shell out another thousand bucks to WattWagons for the Innotrace Germain designed aftermarket controller. I cannot say anything about about Archon/Innotrace since I don’t have one, but the main difference I notice between my Frey (which I assume is the stock Bafang factory tuning) is that in PAS 1 the Biktrix seems to deliver a 20-25% wider power band than the Frey which requires you to bump the PAS to 2 or so for equivalent power. It’s a noticeable , but to me not a terribly important difference since so far my legs seem to adapt quite quickly to whichever bike I’m riding since I usually supply 60 to maybe 75 % of the propulsion energy via the pedals. And although I don’t use the thumb throttle on either bike that much, it could be that the Biktrix is turned a little smoother. So although I have the usb interface dongle I haven’t messed with any of the widely publicized tunings (i,e,. The “smooth tune by Mike at Frey” or the looney Luna settings) since I find the performance ride quality characteristics just fine with both ultra powered bikes just as they come. What’s important to me is low speed power control for tight spot maneuverability on crowded bike paths with unpredictable kids and dogs milling about. In this regard I rate the Biktrix very good. One thing that surprised about the Biktrix is the performance of the Maxxis Minion tires. They’re not nearly as loud as I expected from the noise of my 4 inch tire fat bike, and judging by the speed achieved rolling down my standard test hill, their rolling resistance is not too far behind my Frey’s Schwalbe street tires. As to the rest of the components on my ultra powered bikes, I like the Magura brakes and the SRAM transmission the best. I notice though that Rambo has a new ultra powered fat tire hunting bike with the Enviolo hub which could reduce brush/weeds from getting tangled up in the drive train, although durability could be an issue with this set up.

All in all I think I was lucky to be at the right place and the right time to bag a deal on one of Biktrix’s most excellent models. It's too bad these non-integrated battery designs seem to be going the way of the Dodo which might be the main reason I snagged such a bargain.

Great review, thank you.