2023 EUNORAU FAT-AWD Review

The FAT-AWD is a versatile and powerful fat tire electric bike, with dual hub motors and a well-designed motor control system that allows switching which motors are active on the fly. The low price point is impressive considering the quality included accessories and the upgraded Altus drivetrain, not to mention it being backed by EUNORAU's industry-leading warranty and large dealer network! While it's not the most comfortable ride on the block due to the lack of suspension, it is incredibly sturdy and has a high payload capacity for larger riders and cargo.

Video Review

Written Review

Greetings, friends! Today's Ebike of Interest is the FAT-AWD from EUNORAU, a dual-motor fat tire e-bike with some unique design features that help it stand out from the crowd. I'm particularly impressed by the low price point of $1,559; it's very difficult to find a dual motor e-bike with this kind of power and range, and not to mention included accessories, for under $2k! Of course, some concessions had to be made to keep the price that low, but the FAT-AWD still packs a lot of oomf-per-dollar and could be cheaply customized for a wide range of use cases. Plus, you get EUNORAU's warranty, one of the best in the industry that covers the frame for five years, battery for two, and most other components for one.

Buying Options: Dealers and Online

EUNORAU has put a lot of effort into expanding their dealer network, and with over 400 dealers worldwide you should be able to find one near you so that you can try before you buy! This really is the best way to do it; In addition to test riding, you can get fitted by a professional, and get any accessories you need professionally installed. Many dealers will add on or swap out accessories at a reduced cost, so be sure to ask!

If you live off the beaten path have no fear, you can order a FAT-AWD online and get it shipped for free, be sure to use our link above to save yourself another 5%! Online ordering is a great option to have but it does come with some caveats: most importantly, you'll have to unpack and assemble the FAT-AWD after it arrives. This can be done solo (as I did) but it's much easier with a helping hand! You'll have to mount the front wheel and connect the front hub motor, mount the handlebars, install the front fender, and may or may not need to tune the brakes and derailleur before it's ready to ride.

If you're not confident in your ability to get it set up, check with your local e-bike shops! Most shops will finish assembling one for a low price (mine charges $80), and some will even let you ship it straight to them so you don't have to deal with the unpacking either.

Ride Feel & Comfort: On the Stiff Side

There had to be tradeoffs to achieve the impressively low price of the FAT-AWD, and most of those tradeoffs are in the comfort category. For some people this won't matter; I ride a road bike with no suspension and tiny tires, so the FAT-AWD feels almost cloud-like by comparison! With that said, it's still a fairly rough ride, mostly due to the lack of suspension. Okay, there IS a suspension seatpost, but it's a very basic one with 20-25mm of travel, and when you factor in the surprisingly aggressive racing-style saddle, you don't get a lot of comfort there. The forks are solid steel which does have natural vibration damping qualities, and what you lose in suspension you make up for in strength. The FAT-AWD feels amazingly sturdy and stable, even coasting downhill at speeds of 35mph. The weight limit is also quite high at 375 pounds, meaning you could load this e-bike down with cargo in the front and rear and it would perform wonderfully.

You also get effective air suspension from the big ol' 26x4 Kenda Juggernaut fat tires. If you have them inflated to the max pressure of 30psi you don't get much comfort (but you do get maximum efficiency for best speed and range). Drop that pressure down to 15-20psi for a nice comfy ride; drop it down to 5psi for riding on sand, snow, and other terrain that would be impossible for most e-bikes. Just remember that those lower pressures will seriously eat into your maximum range!

The FAT-AWD is also just not very adjustable out of the box. The seatpost is quite short with only 120mm of length before you hit the warning lines, and the straight stem does not adjust either. The riding stance is forward - which I prefer! - but if you want a more upright riding position you'll have to do some modifications. Fortunately, these would be both cheap and easy to make: slap on a comfy saddle, an adjustable stem, maybe a more heavy-duty suspension seatpost, and you'd have a downright comfy ride on your hands. You'd still end up paying less than comparably-specced dual-motor fat-tire e-bikes (DMFTEB? Is that a thing?).

Utility & Use Cases: Do Just About Anything

To me, the FAT-AWD is an excellent hybrid workhorse e-bike that blurs the lines between city commuting and adventuring in the great outdoors. With awesome full-coverage fenders, lights, and the beefy rear rack, you can ride in any weather and haul cargo easily. There are full size bosses for adding a front rack to maximize your cargo capacity, and with the camouflage paint job it's practically begging to be outfitted as a hunting e-bike. The tires are hybrid as well, knobby enough to get good traction on any surface but still reasonably efficient on city streets, at least compared to the monster studded fat tires which maximize off-road effectiveness. I do want to call out that these tires don't have any puncture protection, so be sure to add some if you're planning on off-road riding!

One thing that makes the FAT-AWD feel incredibly versatile is the simple motor control switch on the right handlebar. With a simple flick of this switch you can go between both motors, just the rear motor, or just the front motor... which is actually rare on dual-motor setups, most only allow you to choose between both or only the rear motor. (Most also require you to stop and change the power in the settings menu instead of just casually flipping on the fly like you can with the FAT-AWD).

Now you might ask, "Tyson, why would I want to use only the front motor? Everyone knows you get worst performance than using the rear motor!" Well, I'll tell you: Because you get more power efficiency, which translates to more range! The FAT-AWD has a 250-watt motor up front, or as I like to call it, "the power sipper". You still get enough torque to make riding easy, but you could get in the neighborhood of 80 miles of pedaling range, and that's just using the standard battery. Need to climb a steep hill on your way home? No problem, just flip that switch and use both motors until things level out and you drop it back down to one.

This ability to quickly switch motors makes it so easy to instantly dial in the power for any use case. Use just the front motor to maximize range and get a bit more exercise. Switch to just the rear motor for a bit more power when you're carrying cargo and running errands. Use both for maximum fun and hill climbing traction when adventuring in the great outdoors!

Safety: Some Room for Improvement

If you're riding in the city a big component of safety is visibility, and I'm just not talking about what you can see. Vehicle drivers need to be able to see you to avoid you! Unfortunately, the FAT-AWD doesn't do great here. Some of that is the camouflage paint job of my test model, city riders could opt for the blue color which is much more visible. The tires lack reflective striping and there are no side reflectors on the spokes or anywhere else. The rear light is also independent, which means it is operated by a physical switch on the light, and not controlled from the display like the headlight is. This means remembering to turn it on (and off). The taillight is nice and bright, though, as is the headlight, providing plenty of illumination for night rides.

Stopping power is another safety factor that is equally important in cities or out in the wild, and here the FAT-AWD is "good enough". The mechanical disc brakes provide enough oomf to reliably stop this beefy e-bike when riding within the 20mph top speed of the motor. If you ride past that (I got up to 35mph on my ride test) they'll still do the job, but you're going to have to squeeze the levers pretty hard and I would worry about overheating issues on extended downhill rides due to the smaller 160mm rotors. On the positive side these brakes are equipped with motor inhibitors, which means they instantly cut power to the motor so that you're not having to fight it if you are accidentally still holding down the throttle!

The final safety aspect we'll discuss here is stability, and here the FAT-AWD passes with flying colors. This frame feels incredibly stable (thanks in part to the solid steel forks), and still surprisingly nimble on trails. When coasting downhill at 35mph I felt perfectly safe!

Power and Performance: Variable Oomf!

I've already said a lot about how much I love the motor control switch, it is a great design that makes the FAT-AWD feel good in many riding scenarios. Another great design choice is the access to full-throttle override at any assist level, meaning that if you're riding in assist level 1 but suddenly need to accelerate, you can just hit the throttle without having to fiddle with assist settings. This is good both in safety situations (avoiding a collision) and in trail riding; Sometimes level 5 pedal assist is too much power, but you have occasional hills that need a little extra oomf.

This throttle-on-demand design also compensates for the basic cadence sensor for pedal assist. Cadence sensors are bottom-of-the barrel in terms of performance; They're not very responsive, requiring you to pedal for a second or two before kicking in. Once they kick in the power level is not variable, except by changing the assist level on the display (it doesn't respond to how hard you pedal or to the terrain). However, with the FAT-AWD you can put it in a low setting (1-3) and then use the throttle to get a little extra juice when needed, which felt pretty nice when riding trails.

When it comes to raw power the FAT-AWD has plenty to go around. With both motors engaged you get 600 watts of total power draw, which might not sound like a lot... after all, other fat tire e-bikes have a single rear motor with more power at 750 watts, right? In reality, the FAT-AWD feels (and is) more powerful because the combined torque from both motors (105 newton-meters) is higher and you get much more satisfying acceleration than you would from a single 750-watt motor (typically 70-90 newton-meters). Remember, wattage measures how much power the motor draws from the battery; torque describes the effective power output (more or less). I was zooming up steep inclines using just the throttle and still able to hit top speed fairly quickly. This is why it's important to not be put off by the seemingly lower 600-watt figure; In practice you get great performance, and much more range than more power hungry e-bikes.

Closing Thoughts

Overall I'm pretty impressed with the FAT-AWD. It provides great value for money and while there is room for improvement with regard to comfort and safety, these are improvements you could add yourself very cheaply and still end up paying much less than you would for competing dual-motor setups. I really love a lot of the design choices on the FAT-AWD that make it versatile and provide a great balance between power and efficiency.

If you have questions or comments on this review, please chime in with a comment below and I'll reply as soon as I can! If you own a FAT-AWD or another e-bike from EUNORAU we'd love to hear from you, please share your experience with the brand for other prospective buyers. Thanks for reading this review, catch you on the next one!