What makes the Mule the best electric hunting bike on the market?
I had the pleasure of trying out this beast of a bike earlier this year and boy was it fun!
The Mule comes in 750 watt and 1000 watt motor options and that motor is the Bafang Ultra mid drive. Bafang’s Ultra is the G510 and their best motor to date. The regular Bafang mid drive found on most electric hunting bikes is already an awesome motor with built in speed sensor and cadence sensors. But the Ultra in additional has a torque sensor.
Why is the torque sensor important?
Well, the motor understands how much power to produce based on the amount of pressure you apply to the pedals. So instead of getting a pre-determined setting of power, the Ultra mid drive is smart and gives you what you need in that moment.
Let’s say you’re navigating over uneven terrain and you don’t want to go all in at top speed. The Ultra motor senses you take the pressure off the pedals and reduces power to match you, so not only is it smarter, it’s safer!
If the Ultra mid drive motor is so amazing, why aren’t all the big brands using it?
The Ultra is the most expensive motor and since the regular Bafang mid drive is an excellent motor there’s no rush to switch to the Ultra. The Mule is one of the first electric hunting bikes to be built around this motor and 2 years from now it will be the norm. Perhaps when the Ultra costs less to put on the bike.
The motor is not the only area that the Mule shines. It comes with 3 battery size options. 14.5Ah, 17.4Ah and 20.5Ah. When other brands come with a standard 11.6Ah or 14.5Ah, the Mule’s smallest battery is 14.5Ah.
Why is the battery size important?
The battery is what determines range. the larger the battery, the further on a single charge you can go.
The Mule using it’s smallest 14.5Ah battery can get around 35 miles since it’s built with Samsung cells and combined with the Ultra mid drive motor is efficient in how it uses the battery power. 35 miles on a single charge is almost double the range of other brands like Quietkat and Rambo Bikes.
Another plus for the Mule is how it arrives. When you purchase the Mule it comes with heavy duty rear rack, front and back fenders and front light. Other big brand names sell all those components separately so you get a lot of bike for the price.
The Mule with the 1000 watt Ultra mid drive retails for $4,398 and when you compare that to Quietkat 1000 watt models for the same price or the Rambo Bikes 1000 watt model which costs more. Neither of those models have the Ultra motor, don’t come close to that range and sell the components as extras. So that’s why i say, it’s a lot of bike for the price!
What is Walk Assist mode?
Another special feature of the Mule is the little known “walk assist” function. Why is that relevant?
Imagine you come to a spot that you don’t feel confident cycling over, maybe it’s too steep, perhaps it’s just too unstable but you don’t want to push the bike along with the gear your pulling in the trailer. You can turn on the walk assist mode and the motor will run at 2 and 1/2 mph so you can walk with the bike but the bike does the heavy lifting, how cool is that?!
Can the Mule climb steep hills?
Yes it can, but why? because the mid drive motor is the hill climbing motor.
Rear hub motors are great for flat to small hills because the work with brute force by turning the rear wheel and pushing you forward.
The mid drive engages directly with the gears that turn the drivechain so the torque is what moves the bike.
There is a quote that sums up the difference quite nicely (for the life of me I don’t know who coined it first so I’m not looking for credit on this one). “Power is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how far you take the wall with you!” You get the picture.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for an electric hunting bike and don’t want to be concerned if it will have enough power or if you will need to upgrade in 2 yrs, then get the best first time round. I’ve tried a bunch of electric hunting bikes and so far the Mule is head and shoulders above the pack.
