EBike for hunting......any recommendations on make (Rambo, QuietKat, etc) and/or model.

BigFootWa

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 13, 2020
Messages
174
Location
Washington
With e-bikes there are a few things to consider:
1. Battery will last on average 2-3 years and it will take between $300-600 to replace it
2. you need some space to pedal before going uphill, so it's not going to work in the brush
3. depending on the load, I would say the battery drains faster if you pull a trailer so the advertised range will be less than 1/2
I'd rather use a normal bike with wider tires than an electric bike.
Costco has from time to time the Northrock XC00 (I think that's the model), a fat tire bike around $400+ tax. I would buy one of those and install a nice rack on it instead of any other bike.
 

mapticon

FNG
Joined
Oct 21, 2020
Messages
37
I'd also look at the Sur Ron X. Kind of a mountain bike / dirt bike hybrid, and all electric.
 

hunt1up

WKR
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
1,610
Location
Central Illinois
Pretty much every mainstream e-bike made for hunting and non hunting are just contract manufactured machines made in China with pretty much all the same components. I even went on Alibaba for the hell of it and got info and pricing on bikes. If you start comparing prices of all the hunting branded bikes and the non-hunting ones, you'll see that some brands have some serious markup slapped on the price. My first e-bike was a used Quietkat Ranger. I recently sold it and bought a Mountains2Sea 750. Same quality as the Quietkat, same motor, same/similar Shimano drivetrain, and much cheaper.

Unless you're going to step up to the premium bike brands using motors such as Bosch, you're going to get essentially the same bike from all the other companies.

Here's the bike I bought a few months ago, the All-terrain HT: https://shop.m2sbikes.com/collections/all-terrain-electric-bike-series

I called M2S when I bought it. I spoke with a very helpful guy there. They're in North Carolina I believe and stock parts for their bikes there. Their bikes are also imported but pretty much all bikes are. But they seem to have a responsive company. The bike shipped to my house in 2 days and I had it together in 10 minutes.
 

z987k

WKR
Joined
Sep 9, 2020
Messages
1,424
Location
AK
We can't use those in non-motorized areas here.
I can't see the purpose. If you can use them, an ATV is way better, or a dirt bike.
 

tdhanses

WKR
Joined
Sep 26, 2018
Messages
5,721
Interested to hear if you've done this yet @tdhanses
I've been doing a bunch of research and considering buying a Roscoe to convert as well. Looking at the 7 though, since I might like the 29" tires better? From my reading, 2.6-3.0 width seems the sweetspot for early season mountain traveling? I've looked at other models too, but thinking there might be good value in the Trek.

Primary use will be to quietly get back and up from trailhead using dirtbike legal single tracks/atv trails for summer high country scouting (with lower wildlife impact than noisy dirt bikers out joyriding). Sort of a dirtbike alternative. Secondary use of trailering out quarters.
Lots of steep elevation change where I'd want to be using it - thinking a 1000W Bafang motor on a quality trail mtb might be the ticket for efficient travel.
I haven’t yet, not in a rush.
 

Fdh

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 13, 2019
Messages
128
I have a quietkat ranger. Was not able to use a great deal but it will be a lot of fun. Main issue I have with it is weight, they are heavy. Lifting in and out of the pickup is a chore. I wound up getting a 500 rack for the rear. The rack is working out well.
 

Coastie6

FNG
Joined
Feb 2, 2022
Messages
27
Have a RAD Mini. The folding feature makes it a bit more convenient to haul, but all e-bikes are heavy compared to their peddle only kin. Great for campgrounds, fire roads and light trail riding. Haven't used it for hunting but would likely work for 80% of the areas I whitetail hunt. Like most all e-bike companies, RAD has these manufactured for them in China.
 

go4thegusto

WKR
Classified Approved
Joined
May 16, 2012
Messages
3,029
Location
Fargo ND
Volcon is the holy grail here for hunters. Not a bike. I wonder if seat spacers the kids model would work for a smaller adult?
 

Coastie6

FNG
Joined
Feb 2, 2022
Messages
27
Volcon is the holy grail here for hunters. Not a bike. I wonder if seat spacers the kids model would work for a smaller adult?
Those are very interesting. Pretty proud of them though at over $8K with a few accessories. Certainly look more Offroad capable than most e-bikes. I'm wondering if they'd be considered more of a motorized vehicle than an e-bike. I think in some cases the peddles and peddle assist of some e-bikes vs straight throttle only allow them to be used in places "motorized vehicles" can't be. Of course, every state and municipality has it's own interpretation so best to know what's acceptable in your local.
 
Joined
Oct 24, 2015
Messages
1,544
Location
W. Wa
e52bd328b6dcf46cacac1c4e566b16d7.jpg

0b8e72ad700e030565b2bb30a1e34155.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This road has been opened recently hasn’t it? At least I feel like I went up there and drove up not long ago but maybe it’s a different road(but the same/similar view!)
 
Joined
Mar 8, 2014
Messages
809
This road has been opened recently hasn’t it? At least I feel like I went up there and drove up not long ago but maybe it’s a different road(but the same/similar view!)

At the time of the photo is was closed, was nice being the only person up there. The road has been opened since, however with all of the rain we had a few months ago it will be interesting to see how it held up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Joined
Oct 24, 2015
Messages
1,544
Location
W. Wa
At the time of the photo is was closed, was nice being the only person up there. The road has been opened since, however with all of the rain we had a few months ago it will be interesting to see how it held up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah it wasn’t in good shape at all. Beautiful country up there - I need to get back out there one of these days!
 

Trapperkid

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 22, 2021
Messages
299
I’ll be converting my Trek Roscoe 6 at some point, it blows my mind what they charge for these junk frames and components on these ebikes, for $3k you are buying a $300 bike with $1300 in electronics.

Buy a good quality bike for your base, then add the motor and battery all of which are the same on all these ebikes and available on amazon, ebay or many online vendors.

Which motor is it and how much are they Ik currently kicking around the idea of converting my mountain bike. That thing taught me just how out of shape I got after quitting construction.
 
Joined
Jan 31, 2020
Messages
15
I just recently bought an aventon aventure and it works great for my needs here in Alabama. And it was under $2,000.
 

tdhanses

WKR
Joined
Sep 26, 2018
Messages
5,721
Which motor is it and how much are they Ik currently kicking around the idea of converting my mountain bike. That thing taught me just how out of shape I got after quitting construction.
I used a Bafang 750watt motor, bbs02 is the model. I went with a 52v system 17.5ah battery and a color display that has 9 levels of pedal assist plus a walk assist even, it’s the 500c display. Think i spent around $1200 for everything.

I used some Rokbros bike storage for wire management to protect connections and keep it looking clean. I think it came out pretty decent looking. It works great, I put a 36tooth drive sprocket on, due to the fact the motor kicks the drive sprocket out further from the bike i can’t use all the gears but it is fast and still has plenty of power for hill climbing.

My guess is total weigh is in the mid to high 40lb range, it’s much lighter then my buddies Backou and Rambo bikes.

I also increased tire size from 2.8 to 3.0 which is the max size my bike can fit.

I’m planning to add a burly coho xc single track trailer to the setup.

Watch some JohnnyNerdOut videos on YouTube, i also bought my stuff from his web store.

I’d make sure you buy stuff from a company that sells good quality products, think most of the ebike fires are from people cheaping out and getting low quality batteries.

D1ADA31E-E100-4E39-9859-4CB38EC90758.jpeg
FD9A6C14-FD49-4D6E-B1AF-0B7DBD5C2C24.jpeg
8FAB00DB-826F-44C8-B2CE-05552CAE0A8A.jpeg
BDC33EE3-690A-44A9-908C-D6CC941480D2.jpeg
 
Last edited:

Trapperkid

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 22, 2021
Messages
299
I used a Bafang 750watt motor, bbs02 is the model. I went with a 52v system 17.5ah battery and a color display that has 9 levels of pedal assist plus a walk assist even, it’s the 500c display. Think i spent around $1200 for everything.

I used some Rokbros bike storage for wire management to protect connections and keep it looking clean. I think it came out pretty decent looking. It works great, I put a 36tooth drive sprocket on, due to the fact the motor kicks the drive sprocket out further from the bike i can’t use all the gears but it is fast and still has plenty of power for hill climbing.

My guess is total weigh is in the mid to high 40lb range, it’s much lighter then my buddies Backou and Rambo bikes.

I also increased tire size from 2.8 to 3.0 which is the max size my bike can fit.

I’m planning to add a burly coho xc single track trailer to the setup.

Watch some JohnnyNerdOut videos on YouTube, i also bought my stuff from his web store.

I’d make sure you buy stuff from a company that sells good quality products, think most of the ebike fires are from people cheaping out and getting low quality batteries.

View attachment 461362
View attachment 461364
View attachment 461365
View attachment 461366
I’m afraid the motor may not fit my bike has a pretty small gap and that looks like a pretty big motorB5A0980E-A880-4F26-AC9B-3DE94E294DAB.jpeg
 

tdhanses

WKR
Joined
Sep 26, 2018
Messages
5,721
I’m afraid the motor may not fit my bike has a pretty small gap and that looks like a pretty big motorView attachment 461493
Hard to say, there are good video’s for measuring the bottom metals, think the inside diameter has to be 33mm. The motor would sit infront of the down tube.

Battery placement would be your bigger issue, probably have to get a back rack and mount it there.

In looking at your bottom bracket, it looks like it would be fine to me. Watch some install videos and you’ll get a better understanding of how it mounts.
 
Top