Urban Drivestyle UNI Moke Classic Review

To run the forums, host the website, and travel, I charge a universal service fee for my reviews. This in-depth review was sponsored by Urban Drivestyle USA. My goal is to be transparent and unbiased with you, this video and writeup are not meant to be an endorsement of UNI MOKE. I welcome your corrections, additions, and feedback in the comments below and the Urban Drivestyle electric bike forums.

Pros:

• A fun and peppy yet unusual motorcycle-esqe fat-tire bike (sometimes called a mini-bike or retro-bike) made for adventure with a capable and speedy system, front suspension, knobby tires, and unique frame for cargo or passengers
• Although it is somewhat a bicycle it is set apart from it is conventional brethren, thanks to features like being seat post free, having an open frame, extra long banana seat, and large headlight that resembles a dirt bike
• The tires are 20” tall by 4” wide with off-road tread, so this qualifies as a fat tire bike, it has a good feel and mechanical advantage given the smaller wheel size and has a low center of gravity, I love the thicker 12 gage spokes in the rear that add to stability and sturdiness too
• Mechanically, it has a 7 speed Shimano Tourney system with a 14-28 tooth cassette in the rear and a 52 tooth chain ring up front, not the largest range available for climbing, but the electrical system and throttle do a great job compensating for that
• The bike is comes in at about 80lbs and that weight includes the battery, motor, and everything on the bike ready to ride, overall, it is 68” from end to end, I would say this looks bigger and more intimidating that it actually is, when you sit on the bike, it feels more nimble that it seems
• Stopping the bike is a set of Tektro hydraulic disc brakes in the front and rear, the front has a large 180mm disc brake rotor, while the rear gets a 160mm disc brake rotor, this setup is great, having the larger brake rotor in the front is ideal since the front wheel handles the brunt force of your stopping momentum
• In addition to getting a stop-on-a-dime hydraulic disc brake setup, the brakes also feature motor inhibitors, motor inhibitors refers to a cut-off signal built into the brake lever that shuts off power to the electric motor during braking, this allows the rider to brake hard and fast without working about the motor still being powered which would increase braking resistance and drag
• The bike also includes a kickstand in the rear, it is nice to have it back there since having it near the crank arm can produce ‘pedal lock’; an annoying occurrence that locks the pedals when you reverse a bike with the kickstand down, luckily, this bike eliminates that by having it positioned further back
• The long style banana seat is great and comfortable, it is a gel covered vinyl, while it may be static and does not move, you do get some geometry adjustability in a sense because you can slide your body back and forth along the pad to change your pedaling or arm distance and reach, it is nice and wide at 5.75” and 31” long
• Adjustability can also be made for the rider or even a passenger given the extra three point mountable foot pegs, one mounting spot is in the front, while the other two are in the rear, one down below at about the center of the wheel, and the other up higher than that which works great if you have a little passenger in the rear
• The Unimoke uses an independent handlebar system, where they are not bound together so you can adjust one closer to you than another if you had a medical consideration or other reason to need adjustment on one versus the other
• Features a front suspension, this works very well for what you might need whether on the road, a pot-hole, or gravel and grass, but I wouldn’t use it for serious off-roading, however it it is quite adequate despite it’s limited travel
• Other than the display on the cockpit, you have a flick bell, locking flat grips (although I hesitate to call them flat, because they actually do have a slight ergonomic bulge to it), and trigger shifts with gear indicator windows on the right handlebar
• I love the battery integrated lights here, they have them both in the front and the rear, I gotta call out his ultra-large headlight, this thing is super cool and has 4 bright LEDs inside, safety has always been a priority for myself and other cyclists, so it’s nice to see that more and more companies are including these on ebikes, and the aesthetics are cool too
• Powered by a Bafang fat-tire specific hub-drive motor, this is rated for 500 watts nominal power and 750 watts peak power, pretty strong for this size of vehicle, can be electrically operated either with the thumb throttle on the left side, or through your pedaling via the torque based pedal assist sensing system
• It is a lot of fund to ride, and I feel most people will use the throttle here, which is probably why the mechanical drivetrain has smaller gearing, I think this is meant to be used like a dirt-bike or scooter, and it really shines and seems happiest doing so, although, the torque based pedal assist is not bad either
• The display is mounted center between the handlebars and keeps it somewhat protected, it has all the basic statistics, like battery infographic, speedometer, is backlight, can activate the lights, and has a deep settings menu that is accessible by holding the + and – button down for a few seconds at the same time
• Operates with varying levels of throttle and pedal assist, 0-9, the different levels will limit the electrical motor output for both your pedaling and even the throttle, if you want full throttle power and top speed, put it in level 9 and watch the bike get up to about 26mph top speed, this things is in speed pedelec territory and it feels zippy with that smaller wheel diameter giving it a mechanical advantage
• Makes use of a power high capacity battery system, this is rated at 48v 14ah, so it has the power and distance most people might want, it is mid mounted for weight distribution, and is removed by lifting up the seat, make sure to check out the video for removal instructions as they can take a bit to get used to
• One of the hidden surprises of the bike was the utility of other passengers, I have a 3 year old daughter that quickly became obsessed with this little machine and I have to tell you, we had a blast with the UNI Moke, she loved to sit in the front with the foot pegs up there and she would grab the handlebars as if she was controlling the bike, meanwhile, as a father, I felt she was protected as she was able to sit closely in front of me with my arms around to keep her safe, of course, you can fit other passengers in the rear too, this could be a fun option for you if you are considering the bike

Cons:

• I am happy to report the battery is removable and can be done by most people without a many problems, however, I do have to say, it is a multistep process, make sure to watch the battery removal section of the video review to see what I am talking about, I do wish it was a little more simple, but then again, I am probably just used to all the other bikes we review and this could be considered a minor gripe
• In addition to the battery taking some time to remove, another gripe about it would be that the keys have to stay in while you operate the bike, this can leave them to make noise and bang around, or even potentially scratch the frame or other parts of the bike depending on the key-chain you might use, the bike came with 3 keys, so it is safe to say, many people will leave them on the ring and let them fly around, so do be aware of that when you get this bike
• In my testing, I was able to take it on some grass, dirt, hills, and gravel, I felt the suspension and tires did fantastically, however, sometimes fat-tire bikes give off the impression of being able to take it on hard-core trails or doing some technical downhill terrain, I would not advise this, the suspension especially seems shy on bigger bumps, so I would keep the adventure light-weight
• As I mentioned, the long seat offers some adjustment in the sense that you can slide back and forth along it to adjust pedaling or reaching geometry, however, the almost 6” wide seat will probably have you not pedaling much, to be fair, I think it does better than I possibly imagined, but I would not take this on a long tour of pedal only power, it just doesn’t seem made for that kind of riding
• I don’t know if this is so much a compliant as it is a question mark, but I noticed the bike came with folding pedals, sure, you can fold them in and save maybe an inch or two off the overall width, but I don’t really see the utility here since the bike is still somewhat large and heavy, sometimes when I see details like this, I wonder if there was actual reasoning behind it, or they glossed over the feature and just put whatever they could on, not the end of the world, but definetly curious to me
• At 80lbs, the bike is heavy and may not be the best if you are looking for something to load on a bike rack (I doubt it would even work on any), it could be cumbersome to maneuver around a garage too, I didn’t have any immediate problems with it, but do be aware of the weight and size of it to make sure it fits your lifestyle properly

Useful Resources:

• Official US Website
• Official FAQ Page