eBike John's Link
I wanted to shared a brand new product making waves, I've just partnered with Rungu so I can offer to the hunting community a nice alternative to the classic fat tire ebike. Rungu are based out of southern California and design, build and ship everything themselves from California so they can keep stock levels available and can guarantee quality construction. It has a patented double wheeled, fat tire suspension upfront so no matter that terrain, sand, snow or mud it never washes out so it can be used all year round. Take a look if your interested and if you have any questions just reach out, I'm here to answer any questions.
First question I saw some people asking is in regards to the weight. I was riding the MDVHC model which weighs about 100lbs. Yes that thing is heavy and to answer WV Mountaineers question, I shut of the assist on the bike and pedaled up about a 20% grade for about a quarter mile. It was difficult but with the extra tire on the front of the bike for stability, I was able to shift to a low gear and ascend the hill without having to leave my seat. Relative to a standard bike I would honestly say when you factor in the core strength required to ascend a hill it was about equal in regard to physical exertion. The only time I really felt the weight was when I was breaking while going down a steep grade. Just like when you are pulling a trailer with a vehicle, you need to allow a bit more time to stop.
eddie c “how fast you have to pedal for the assist.” I’m not sure if it’s standard on all models but the one I rode actually had an on-demand throttle. If the setting of the assist which ranges from 0 to 5 was set to 2 or higher, I could hit the throttle and the bike would start going from a dead stop with no pedaling. If you wanted to run the battery down you could just run the thing using all throttle as long as you weren’t going up a grade that was too steep.
Bighorn I didn’t get a chance to run it through mud but I did go over some rough terrain as well as some really soft sand and the bike pulled through with very little effort. I have to imagine that a reasonable amount of mud would do the same thing. One thing that could get you in regards to mud is if you submerge the bike. It was expressed to me that the motor is water resistant but, if its submerged it will kill it.
Overall, I was blown away by the performance of the bike. I tried to run it through the most functional tests I could. Steep grades were specifically what I was really hesitant about. The weight of the bike and the small electric motor was something I couldn’t wrap my head around but after completing some long climbs as well as a couple that had spots between 30 and 40 percent grades I was a believer. I also ran it down some standard mountain bike trails and it had no issues as the stability allowed me to easily stay on the trail. I feel that cow paths and even well used elk trails wouldn’t be an issue at all.
If you are in the market for a bike I definitely would look into the Rungu line.
I hope this answers some questions and if you have any more don’t hesitate.
Good Luck to All!!!
Cool idea...maybe someday I will check one out.
I'm a guy that sees a performance drop between a std tire and those big balloon tires like on a Farley....but I'm a pretty big guy. I have a couple questions for Travis or whomever has ridden one of these electric bikes on a single track or fire road that has some elevation changes.
Do you feel the weight of the bike in its responsiveness?
Is it that much of an advantage for someone accustomed to riding in the backcountry? Referring to the added weight vs the short range benefit....20 miles on a bike really isn't all that much.
As far as the added advantage to a weathered rider I'm not sure. Like I said I am pretty green when it comes to mountain bikes. I will say I don't think there is any way that with weight on your back you can match the Rungu for stability.
PECO, I took the bike on some pretty nasty rocky terrain. It has a skid plate under the motor that I tested several times. It seemed to fare great. As far as the mud goes, hopefully the owner will give me another opportunity to help him with some R&D but I really do not see mud being an issue. It's been heavily tested in snow, sand, gravel and rock and it seems to do well. But time will ultimately tell.
I hope this helps. I picked the owners brain quite a bit during our couple hour ride together and he really is an engineer as he has tinkered with this thing non stop to work the bugs out. I'm sure that there are some other scenarios that it needs to be run through but so far it is impressive.
