Since its unveiling late last year, the Juiced Scorpion has been a hotly anticipated e-bike. Despite an initial delay in deliveries due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Juiced Scorpions have been arriving at doors across the US, including Electrek’s.
The Juiced Scorpion may be an electric bicycle by definition, but its retro-inspired design harkens back to the classic mopeds of decades past. To me, it definitely feels more like an electric moped than a traditional e-bike.
No matter what you call it, there’s no denying that the Juiced Scorpion wows with its design.
But is it worth the $1,899 price tag?
That’s exactly what we set out to determine.
Juiced Scorpion video review
You know you want to see the Juiced Scorpion in action, right?! Check it out below in our video review, then continue reading for our full detailed review.
Juiced Scorpion e-bike tech specs
- Motor: 750W Bafang rear hub motor
- Top speed: Claimed 28 mph (45 km/h) though I reached about 90% of that
- Range: Up to 45 miles (72 km) on pedal-assist or closer to half that on throttle
- Battery: 52V 13Ah 676Wh (removable and lockable)
- Weight: 100 lb (45 kg)
- Max load: 275 lb (125 kg)
- Wheels: 20 inches with 4-inch fat tires, mag-style cast wheels
- Brakes: Tektro hydraulic disc brakes (180 mm rotors)
- Front suspension: Hydraulic fork with adjustable pre-load, compression, and lockout
- Rear suspension: Swingarm with dual adjustable spring coilover shocks
- Extras: Moped seat, included rear rack, included fenders, large LED headlight and tail/brake light, advanced matrix LCD battery meter, kickstand, USB charging, Shimano 7-speed drivetrain
Juiced Scorpion: It’s all in the design
There aren’t many e-bikes out there quite like the Juiced Scorpion.
When it comes to electric mopeds, we’ve seen crowdfunding campaigns for other attempts at competitors but no deliveries yet. We’ve seen $4,000 electric mopeds from a few companies. But Juiced is the only one so far with anything quite like the Scorpion at this price point.
Between the dual crown suspension fork, bench seat, giant halo moped headlight, sturdy low-step frame, bench seat, and large functional rear rack, the Juiced Scorpion has attitude for days.
The wide street tires and suspension combine to make carving deep into turns an absolute dream.
I love cutting into corners harder than I think I should and feeling the Gs as I pull hard on those big tires.
I love how extra the bike is, with that big ol’ headlight giving it a retro face and the bench seat letting me scooch up or sit back as I see fit.
And I can even pedal the bike, though it’s not a fun bike to pedal without any battery power, that’s for sure. You can do it, but I wouldn’t want to run out of charge 10 miles from home.
For normal pedal assist, the bike works surprisingly well, even if it doesn’t look like a bike that would be fun to pedal. You’ll have to try one to see what I mean, but I didn’t feel odd at all pedaling it.
Fortunately, the 676Wh battery is fairly large, and Juiced even offers a larger 1kWh battery if you should want to upgrade. Despite the cadence-based pedal-assist working just fine, I’m guilty of using throttle most of the time simply because I feel like I’m on a motorbike when I ride the Scorpion. With throttle-only riding, the 45-mile range drops down closer to 20-25 miles, depending on how I ride.
When I do choose to pedal, I can unlock a higher top speed than the 20 mph throttle limit. However, I’ve never been able to reach the claimed 28 mph top speed. I can hit 25 mph, but that’s about where I top out. And it doesn’t seem to matter if I’m pedaling hard or just giving the pedals a slight push – as long as that pedal-assist sensor detects that my pedals are spinning, it will let me bypass the 20 mph throttle limit.
One add-on I highly recommend for the Scorpion is a set of mirrors, or at least a left-side mirror. With a bike like this, I find myself riding in the road much more than the bike lane. It feels like I’m on a motorbike and so I ride it like a motorbike. But with a top speed of 20-25 mph, I definitely find cars creeping up on me and sometimes surprising me, and so a set of mirrors is highly recommended to make sure you know where the cars are around you when you take the road.
I also got the alarm/horn with mine and I can highly recommend that accessory as well. The horn isn’t quite loud enough to warn cars when you’re going full speed, but it’s plenty loud for lower speeds and as a pedestrian alerting device. It also excels as an alarm, where its sensitive trigger and loud beeping at a standstill mean no thief will ever make a quiet getaway with your ride. The remote is even pretty nice looking – not cheap like most other e-bike alarms.
Close, but not perfect
The Juiced Scorpion is a ton of fun, but it’s not perfect. My one complaint of substance is that I wish I could squeeze more power out of it.
At 750W, the motor gives acceptable performance though it is certainly not the sportiest ride I’ve ever had. I’m definitely not doing burnouts at this level, and the acceleration is fine but not thrilling.
Part of this might be psychological; the Juiced Scorpion has such a sporty presence that I expect it to launch as aggressively as it looks. Part of it might also be the weight. This 750W motor on a 50 lb e-bike would certainly accelerate quicker, but it takes longer to get up to speed on this 100 lb tank.
And maybe they just wanted to save something for the HyperScorpion, which can hit 30+ mph speeds and seems like it accelerates even harder, at least from the preview videos we’ve seen of it in action.
Final result: a great compromise
Ultimately, I think Juiced Bikes had to compromise on the entry-level Scorpion to keep the price reasonable at $1,899, and they succeeded there.
The bike performs well, even if it isn’t the sportiest, hardest accelerating e-bike I’ve tried. And in addition to the performance, you get a ton of features that you won’t find elsewhere.
Everything from the motorbike lighting, the hydraulic disc brakes, the mag wheels, the custom moped frame, the full suspension, the large rack that could easily support a passenger or delivery trunk/box, etc. These all add to the production cost, and $1,899 is more than reasonable for a 25 mph e-bike with a totally-customized in-house design and plenty of high-performance parts.
The Juiced Scorpion can scratch that itch for an electric moped without breaking the bank. And if you want to really tear up the road, you can go nuts with the HyperScorpion.
What do you think of the Juiced Scorpion electric moped? Let us know in the comment section below!
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