My Eunorau Fat-HS
I bought the bike used, which is always at least somewhat of a gamble. It came with a few OK upgrades, like the replacement headset (Cane Creek), and the Cloud 9 seat. It also turned out to have a 42T Lekkie-clone chainring on it and possibly a swapped out 11-46T cassette..
but it also had a few problems...
The PO (prior owner) had mentioned breaking the derailleur hangar and had a friend CNC-machine a replacement for him. This was good news, as it later became apparent Eunorau support was extremely frustrating - they would eventually reply, but a half dozen exchanges later, gave no actual way to either find or even purchase a replacement derailleur hanger. (I later resolved on my own).
The hanger and derailleur line was bent inwards quite a bit, and as a result, shifting had some issues. Initially I did some by hand improvement to the hanger angle and spent a fair amount of time trying to adjust the Sunrace 9 speed derailleur, which then still had some issues in smoothly reaching all gears. Some of the FAT-HS are supposed to come with Shimano but mine clearly did not.
I wound up replacing the rear derailleur and front shifter with a Microshift clutched rear derailleur and 9 speed shifter, and found the original derailleur cable pretty frayed so replaced that as well with a Jagwire replacement.
Since replacing, and also buying and using a hanger alignment tool the bike shifts reasonably well now across all gears.
For anyone needing replacement hangers, I found replacements for a ‘Himalo 27.5 MTB’ on AliExpress for $15-$20 for a set of 2 after many frustrating and unfruitful exchanges with Eunorau ‘support.’ I’m still on the original hanger but now have 2 in reserve for replacements.
Initial thoughts
This bike is… heavy. Now, to be fair, it’s not noticeable when riding for the most part, as long as you’re not doing some sharp-turned technical off-road riding or getting airborne on it. It’s generally fine for riding around the street and general double-track or flat trails. It is, however, noticeably heavier than my wife’s Gazelle when putting the bikes on the hitch-mount bike carrier.
The fat tires aren’t bad IMO, and when removing them, was actually surprised how light the wheel felt, although I haven’t weighed them compared to my other wheelsets. They hum a fair amount riding on the road and people walking will be able to hear you coming. How much that matters, or not, is up to you. As is the case with wider wheels, they’re not as ‘crisp’ riding when compared to, for example, 2-2.4” wide street or even trail tires, but in my opinion, they’re not bad for casual riding once you get them to the right pressure for your weight, etc.
The forks - where to start? They’re utter and true garbage. Undoubtedly there is in deed a spring inside them, but no adjustability, no air chamber, just garbage in general. Note I’m used to off-road and dual-sport motorcycles, and if using solely for road and very light trail they’re probably OK, but I’d never choose these forks intentionally for anything. Some of the Biktrix and other ‘branded’ bikes also have ‘non-labeled’ forks on them; considering the weight of e-bikes in general, I’d personally prefer something with a known brand on it.
Further thoughts
I’ve put a few hundred miles on the bike at this point, riding trails and road.
The rear shock was originally some DNM or no-name coil shock, and the PO replaced with a DNM AOY-36-RC, which is a fairly simple (minimal adjustments) but ok-for-cheap rear shock. Considering the front fork on the bike, it’s not like this is a ‘real’ mountain bike, but it’s ok for trail use and I’d be OK taking smaller jumps on it (if not for the forks which make me a bit nervous).
The brakes are 180mm disc front - I need to check the rear if they’re 180mm or 160mm, with Tektro (China brand) brakes which Eunorau claims are ‘theirs.’ China companies are difficult to untangle, as many of them have numerous names, but the frame itself seems to come from BTN, while yeah - the brakes are Tektro.
The bike overall is - OK. It has a BBHSD/M615 motor which is a 1kW nominal motor (some brands reduce the current so they are 750W nominal), and the motor itself is pretty powerful, capable, and generally reliable. It can suck the battery down, especially at higher power levels. There is a dual battery option to mount a second battery to the bike, and for anyone considering using as a ‘throttle-driven’ bike, I’d probably recommend that (or making your own), as I can use up a 14.5aH battery in under 20 miles using pedal assisted high power.
In practice, I set the bike to 9 power levels via the display, and generally ride in level 2 of 9, bumping up to 3 for some longer inclines, and only occasionally mess around with the throttle or higher power levels at all. The throttle is useful in the event you’ve got yourself ’stuck’ a bit by e.g. stopping on a long hill, or for a quick burst of power to get rolling.
It also is purely cadence-sensing, so the feeling of ‘ghost-pedaling’ is certainly possible, meaning you can feel low or no resistance as you pedal, but the bike is still giving assistance. This can be countered, to a point, by gearing higher (smaller sprocket, higher gear # if your shifter displays gear #s) to find a balance where your pedal input is contributing and being felt by your feet/legs but the motor is also contributing. Cadence-sending bikes in general are nowhere near as responsive as a good torque-sensing bike/motor, so there is an element of needing to move the pedal a bit before assistance kicks in.
The positives
Well, it’s a pricepoint bike, sitting more or less a bit lower in price versus some brands selling the same exact (or nearly so) bike.
It does have downtube bosses for a second battery mount or for mounting a standard water bottle, which is a positive.
It has mounts for optional racks and fenders - easy enough to add your own fenders, but not as much on the rack, so it’s nice to have a factroy option on a full-suspension bike.
Some of the upgrades aren’t terribly priced, such as the set of of 27.5”x3” wheels. I do wish they’d sell just the racks separately but they’re not priced too terribly, and it’s nice the option exists.
The BBHSD is a well-known motor, is powerful, and generally reliable with replacement motors and parts available, at least at time of this writing in 2022.
As long as it’s a UART based motor/controller, it’s settings can be configured by the user with a Bafang programming cable; something for the most part not possible to do with the newer Ultra and M600 CANBUS motors.
The negatives
Some of these are implied as it’s a price-point bike - the forks are not something to take jumps on.
The bike is heavy at > 80# with a single battery installed.
The BBHSD is cadence-sensing only, which for some is non-ideal, primarily those riding more technical offroad or wanting more of a workout or more ’natural’ bike riding feeling.
The biggest negative, acknowledging it’s a mid-price-point bike - is Eunorau themselves
Of course, there’s no guarantee that some other ‘random online company’ will provide any better support, and they do usually eventually respond to emails (they stopped responding to mine when I called them on - how do I BUY a replacement part/derailleur hanger, YMMV), but take a look at their facebook group or EBR forum and you’ll understand. They seem to have only minimal knowledge of the bikes they sell, have no interest in helping if it’s not directing to a specific part they actually sell, and if you ddin’t buy the bike directly from them, they’ll tell you to go to the place you purchased from - even when you are only looking for some basic information.
In short, perhaps a typical Chinese company, in comparison to my stellar experience with DT Swiss - I was converting a DT350 hub from SRAM XD to Shimano HG, or wanting to, but had some confusion as to which parts I needed, and in particular, if I needed new endcaps. Not only did I get my answers, they sent me a used endcap free of charge as it was impossible for me to locate at the time. Cost them the price of postage but also their support time, but pretty much solidified me building wheels with DT Swiss hubs going forward. Eunorau’s equivalent response... I don’t even want to think about - ‘so sorry, go ask someone else’ is what I’d expect.
Of course, if going into it knowing this and mechanically handy, or if you’re buying direct from someone else and know they’ll support it, this can help to mitigate the risk and annoyance that can resu if needed, while other users may be able to help for parts and things Eunorau has no inclination to help on - like derailleur hangers, or second battery brackets or cables without buying a battery, for example.
Overall Summary
Overall, I don’t regret buying the bike, but part of that was letting my wife and I get out and ride, which we’ve been doing.
When I’d first picked up the bike, I initially thought it had the Ultra (torque-sensing) motor on it, which Eunorau’s site used to be very unclear on, but I’d decided to go ahead with it and at least use it as a learning experience as to what I did and did NOT like, and buying used - at least I won’t lose much $ on it, so it sort of served it’s purpose.
If you can pick up a used one, or one without issues, and know it’s limitations - or if they even are limitations, for your specific use, it’s an overall OK and pretty solid bike, that can be a decent amount of fun with realistic expectations.
I did pick up the second set of wheels for the bike, and had started down the path of considering upgrading the fork and other parts, moving to an Eggrider display, etc. but decided that it wasn’t the long-term bike for me personally.
For me, it just became unreasonable to start doing more upgrades as I fundamentally wanted a torque-sensing motor and the ability to do more off-road.
For a throttle-driven beach or all around cruiser, it’s not a bad bike at all, and it may be a great fit for someone else, limitations and all. They also offer the ’Specter’ which is more or less the same bike but with a (marginally) better fork and the torque-sensing Ultra- still heavy as heck, but better - for another $1K or so over the FAT-HS. However, at that price point there may also be other options.