An E-Bike for the Whitetail Woods

Joined
Aug 25, 2019
Messages
96
I bought a Super 73 e-bike for deer hunting this year. I use it on a rural property with lots of dirt roads and fairly dry trails. My usual ride has been a Kawasaki Mule ATV, maybe ten or twelve years old and beginning to fail.

I have now put maybe 75 miles of backwoods riding on my Super 73. Some takeaways:

PROS:
  • The big takeaway is that the bike is tons of fun to travel the woods on. It is completely silent, so it feels like flying like a bird through the forest. The trip to the stand becomes a positive part of the hunt, rather than something to endure between here and there.
  • …and you dont get to/near your stand with your ears ringing and smelling like gasoline exhaust. It was raining when I hunted this morning, so I took the Mule, and was reminded just how loud and noisy, and how noxious it smells. Might as well have driven a tractor.
  • I have seen noticibly more deer this year than in prior years. Not sure if it is the bike or not, but it makes me appreciate that if you're hunting stealthy critters, it helps to be stealthy too.
CONS:
  • The Super 73 costs about $3600 new, so, not cheap. A new gas-powered ATV to replace the Mule will be $12 to $15,000. There are a very few electric ATVs out there, but they are quite high too. The Super 73 is probably not the best choice for off road and hunting, but it is 1/2 to 1/4 the cost of a purpose-built off-road e-bike.
  • The Super 73 is an urban street bike, but they sell one model with off-road tires. Though mine has given perfect performance, it is not as ruggedly designed as it may need to be for un-pampered use. Not sure it will give ten years of this kind of use.
  • You’ll never be able to throw a deer in the back of an e-bike and return to the barn. Neither will you be able to wait out a thunderstorm or bounce and grind your way through a mud hole, as you can with an ATV.
  • The bike is fun, yes, but driving requires your full attention. Four wheels will always be more stable than two, so you'll never drink coffee while driving to the stand.
My bottom line is that I cannot wait for either a cheaper, more rugged successors to the Super-73 bike, or for an affordable electric ATV. With the approaching wave of electric autos coming, the cost of that technology should come down. Fewer moving parts to break, almost no noise and exhaust fumes, no fuel to handle/store, and all of the advantages above will make electric a great replacement for gas/diesel powered ATVs. I frankly think we will look back in ten years and wonder why we drove our noisy, complicated, fuel-burning machines for so long.
 

Longleaf

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 6, 2021
Messages
262
Location
North Carolina
Just got one on these for the whitetail woods, 100mm of travel up front and 50mm in the rear. $2500 delivered.

Ride right up on deer, it’s crazy.

 

wesfromky

WKR
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
843
Location
KY
Just got one on these for the whitetail woods, 100mm of travel up front and 50mm in the rear. $2500 delivered.

Ride right up on deer, it’s crazy.

I have an M2S ultra - https://shop.m2sbikes.com/collections/all-terrain-ultra-series/products/all-terrain-ultra-ht Little bit more money, but a ton of power. It is amazing to use in the hilly places that I hunt. And, I plan on getting a trailer for it, which should allow me to haul a deer out without issue. Bike has plenty of power.
 
OP
Archerichards
Joined
Aug 25, 2019
Messages
96
Just observing, Longleaf and WesfromKY, that your selections might be better than mine. My bike is really just a street bike with mud tires.
 

wesfromky

WKR
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
843
Location
KY
I looked around for a while - wasn't ready to pay the premium for the hunting branded EBikes, so was psyched when I found this company.
 

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Joined
May 28, 2022
Messages
77
In my area you can't use the ebikes on the fireroads near public land. Rad power makes good affordable ebikes. When I rode one I thought to myself, this would be awesome for hunting! I rode the rad mini step thru. The newer version is called something else. Retail is $1500 so not bad and it is a solid bike that can handle most roads. Comes with shocks in front and weighs 65 pounds. Its basically an electric dirt bike that goes 20mph.
 
Joined
Jan 21, 2018
Messages
58
Location
Colorado
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