Video Review
General
Frame and Contact Points
Electronics
Bicycle Components
Featured Accessories
Written Review
What is going on, awesome peeps and welcome back to another episode of Electrified Reviews! Today we’re reviewing the Heybike Mars. This is a folding fat tire electric bike with front suspension, an integrated headlight and horn, telescoping handlebars, a handful of extremely functional accessories and very attractive starting price of $1,099 USD, which honestly is pretty good.
Aside from the affordable price, one of my favorite things about the Mars is that is comes with a 30 day money back guarantee and a 2 year warranty, more than twice the average e-bike warranty. Heybike really swung for the fences here, and clearly they want to make sure you’re feeling good about picking one of these up. Nice.
So let’s dive into the specs here. The Mars has a 500 nominal watt hub motor in the rear wheel that can bring this folder up to a top speed of around 22 mph, or at least that’s how fast I was able to go during testing.
Now, you can reach that top speed by using the cadence sensing pedal assist, or with the throttle, which is only active in the max pedal assist level, which is level 3. So here’s the deal, there is some latency with motor activation and deactivation with the Mars, like there is with virtually all cadence sensors, but if I’m being honest, it feels somehow snappier than most cadence sensors. And I don’t really know why, but that’s a good thing.
The Mars has a 48 volt silverfish style battery located behind the seat post with 12.5 amp hour of juice for a max estimated range of around 35 miles. Just like with a car, mileage estimates really depend quite a bit on the riding factors, like how much throttle I’m using vs. how much I’m pedaling, am I hitting tons of steep hills, the road condition, wind, how much I weigh, all that good stuff. So, realistically, I would expect about half that range in real world scenarios, because there’s just no way I’m not going to be using that throttle to fly around town at max speed.
Heybike did us a solid by having a saddle that folds down. This makes taking the battery out quite a bit easier, and since you can plug a phone charger and other accessories into the battery, there’s a very real chance you might want to take it out and carry it with you when you come to a stop.
The Mars is a surprisingly hefty with a curb weight around 66 pounds. And the battery itself weighs close to 10 pounds, just in case you’re wondering. Now, even though the Mars is on the heavier side, there’s a frame gusset on top of the main tube which serves as an excellent handle for picking the bike up. That gusset adds a bit of extra structural integrity to the frame, and that’s one of the reasons the Mars is able to tote around a whopping 330 pounds. But no more than that, at least according to Heybike.
If you need extra storage capacity, the Mars can be equipped with saddle bags or a rear basket, and also a front basket, or if you prefer, you could get a front rack. So, ya, load it up and take it on an adventure. The Mars is ready to roll.
The Mars also has front suspension forks and a seat post suspension. Combined with the massive air volume from the 20 inch by 4 inch fat tires, it’s a fairly smooth ride, especially on paved roads. You’re probably asking yourself, “what about off-road?” And ya, the Mars can definitely cruise through some hard-pack trails and you can even get a little wild with it if you want to. Just remember, the latching mechanisms on the folding handlebars and the frame aren’t really designed for a ton of hard hits and wear and tear from mountain bike trails. In other words, go for it, but proceed at your own risk.
Speaking of the latching mechanisms, folding the Mars is as easy as solving the climate crisis. No I’m just kidding. It’s really easy. Folding it I mean.
Once the telescoping handlebars are folded down, the frame folds in half and the Mars turns into quite a compact package that will fit in the trunk of most full-size cars. Heybike even included a little metal stand at the bottom of the frame, and this is a great way to not only balance the bike when it’s folded, but also to prevent damage to the 7-speed Shimano derailleur.
To bring the Mars to a stop we’ve got mechanical disc brakes in the front and rear wheels. Mechanical disc brakes are great because they’re pretty much maintenance free. You may have to spend a few seconds tightening a cable a few years down the road, but you won’t have to worry about bleeding the brake lines and flushing the brake fluid like you do with hydraulic disc brakes. On the other hands, you just don’t get nearly as much stopping power with mechanical disc brakes, and that’s something you can feel on the Mars. It’s a little underwhelming.
On the electrical side of things, the Mars has an integrated headlight, which isn’t super bright, and an integrated electric horn, which is pretty much perfect. Not so loud that you’ll scare the living daylights out of people, and no so quiet that you won’t be hard. Goldilocks zone, baby.
The display and button pad are on the left side of the handlebars which keeps the cockpit looking clean and organized. The display has a 5-bar battery indicator, but I’d prefer a percentage indicator so I can have a more precise idea on just how much juice I’ve got left. To make up for that though, the display has a wattmeter, so at least I know exactly how much power I’m getting from the motor at any given time. Pretty cool.
Before we move on to that sweet, sweet ride portion, there’s a few other things that Heybike is doing that you might be interested in. First is financing. Heybike has a few different payment plans that allow you to buy now and pay later. Groovy.
Heybike also offers free shipping in the U.S. Very boss.
And lastly, they’ve got a anniversary sale kicking off on May 5 which means anybody who picks up a Mars, or I guess any e-bike from Heybike, gets a Heybike Anniversary Box that includes a Heybike t-shirt, hat, keychain and stickers. You can also get an extra $50 off when buying 2 or more e-bikes. So ya, extra goodies!
See more of the Heybike Mars:
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