Earlier this month San Diego-based Juiced Bikes wowed the e-bike industry with the unveiling of one of its highest power and longest range electric bikes yet, the HyperScrambler 2.
Now with the Juiced HyperScrambler 2 opening for orders today, we caught up with Juiced Bikes’ founder Tora Harris to get a behind-the-scenes look at the HyperScrambler 2’s journey from paper to awesome reality.
Tora spoke to us by phone from the Juiced Bikes factory in Shanghai. In the past, he would visit the factory frequently to maintain oversight on production quality. But this time he’s actually been staying there for the last six months to avoid being unable to re-enter China due to current COVID19-related border closures. He slipped in days before the border closed in March and has been there ever since.
That’s upped Juiced’s already-high level of production quality oversight to new levels. As Tora explained the importance of his regular visits to their Shanghai factory:
“For us it is absolutely critical. One thing is getting the product produced with the quality we need, and the other thing is development of new products. We are very focused on trying to develop a number of new products that push the boundaries on what can be done. It’s very, very hard to do that remotely when everything is manufactured here. We have our own factory now with our own R&D so we can do all of the R&D right there on the spot and prepare for production. Being here is absolutely critical for that. You really just have to be here.”
For the unaware, Tora gave a bit of a hint there about what Juiced Bikes is known for, which is essentially pushing the envelope with high power electric bicycles. All of their bikes operate at Class 3 levels (28 mph or 45 km/h top speed) or higher.
In the case of the company’s Hyper range of e-bikes, the operative word there is “higher.” The nearly 2,000 W peak and 30+ mph (48+ km/h) HyperScrambler 2 certainly pushes the envelope.
Tora explained that Juiced has been working on the HyperScrambler 2 since pretty much right when their current Scrambler line of e-bikes launched in the summer of 2018.
But development really accelerated in conjunction with the HyperScorpion last year, a bike that shares with the HyperScorpion 2 the new RetroBlade motor developed as a partnership between Juiced and Bafang.
When pushed to the limit, that motor can output nearly 2,000 W of power. That’s how much power the HyperScrambler 2 offers in its highest performance mode. But the Juiced team also discovered that running such a powerful motor does no favor to your range on a charge. Even with Juiced’s industry-leading 1,000 Wh battery packs, that motor always wants more energy when operated in its highest power mode.
As Tora elaborated:
“This thing really gobbles up a lot of energy from the battery pack. Of course you can ride it in a way to get a lot of range, but if you really want to get after it, it’s going to eat into your range. And our battery packs are already one of the biggest battery packs you can get, right at 1 kWh.”
Since Juiced has made a point of standardizing around a single battery format, the team decided to offer the HyperScrambler 2 with an option for two of the gigantic battery packs. That results in around 2 kWh of capacity on the HyperScrambler 2, or enough for around 100 miles (160 km) of range under ideal conditions.
And that fits perfectly with Juiced’s ethos, as Tora explained:
“Juiced has always been about having the biggest battery pack that we can squeeze on the bike, giving you more performance.”
Another critical aspect of the HyperScrambler 2 was the inclusion of full suspension.
On Juiced’s past Scrambler e-bikes, rear suspension was noticeably absent. At lower speeds that isn’t much of an issue, especially when you’re running big tires like those on the Scrambler e-bikes.
But at higher speeds, every bump is magnified, making full suspension a necessity.
“The suspension system in the Scorpion was very important. One of the big complaints when bikes get faster and heavier is the bumps, and so we knew we needed to bring in suspension and so the Scorpion helped us develop that moped-style suspension that we could then further incorporate into the HyperScrambler 2.”
That suspension helps make the HyperScrambler safer and more comfortable to ride by improving its handling and ride quality.
While the HyperScrambler 2 definitely pushes the boundaries for what is possible with an electric bike, Tora is adamant about the important safety considerations that go along with such high power e-bikes, which in the case of the HyperScrambler 2, include features such as motorcycle-level lighting, turn signals, and mirrors.
When discussing the safety and utility of Class 3 level e-bikes, Tora explained how higher speeds can actually make the bikes safer for commuters:
“In my opinion it’s actually a bit safer when you can keep up with the traffic versus riding at a slower speed. Imagine if you were walking on the side of the road, how dangerous that is, versus even just riding a bike. And now if you have an e-bike in traffic, especially in a city, it’s a perfect match.”
Today marks the first day of sales of the new HyperScrambler 2 e-bikes. The single and dual battery models carry MSRPs of US$2,999 and US$3,499, respectively. But they are now on sale during the pre-order period for US$2,499 and US$2,999.
The first 200 e-bikes will be delivered to pre-order holders in November, with additional deliveries following afterward.
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