The YUME Hawk is a powerful electric scooter, intended for city commuting but capable of going just about anywhere thanks to dual motors and full suspension. It includes a ton of quality accessories at no extra cost, including NFC cards for locking/unlocking and a well-designed smartphone app integration. The impressive power, heavy-duty brakes, and full array of light & horn controls allow for safe commuting, even when riding with traffic on streets with no bike lane infrastructure! It's heavy weight and sub-par folding experience mean it's not the most portable scooter on the block, but on the flip side it's incredibly stable at high speeds and on just about any terrain.
Video Review
General
Frame and Contact Points
Electronics
Bicycle Components
Featured Accessories
Written Review
Hello, and welcome to Electrified Reviews! I've had my hands (and feet) on a YUME Hawk for some time now, and after over 100 miles of riding I'm ready to share my professional opinion in this review. Cards on the table, I personally love this scooter; it's well designed, ludicrously fast, and actually big enough that my 6'3" frame feels comfortable on it. No scooter is perfect - I would love a way to lock the Hawk in the folded position - but I think YUME really did a solid job here, and most of the "downsides" of this scooter really come down to personal preferences and use cases.
Before we dive in to the review proper, lets talk about YUME a bit. They make a wide array of fast and powerful scooters; amazingly, the Hawk is actually one of their smaller models! They sell globally in over 65 countries which I think is pretty impressive. Their warranty is just "okay", covering all components against manufacturer defects for only six months. However, and I've never seen this before, they warranty brake pads & tire tubes against wear and tear for a full 12 months! Since these are high wear components you would at least go through a set of brake pads within a year, so it's cool to be able to get replacements for free. In my experience YUME's customer service is excellent; I had some minor issues with my review unit and was able to talk to the company founder to get answers. Take that with a grain of salt, of course... since I'm a reviewer it's always possible that I'm getting preferential treatment.
Who's it For: City & Moderate Off-Road Adventurers
My first impression of the Hawk was along the lines of Wow, this thing is an off-road tank! And you'd be forgiven for thinking the same. On one of my test rides I had someone ask me "hey man, is that a SWAT scooter?!" However, the Hawk really is optimized for riding on city streets and lighter trails, and after testing it out off-road I definitely agree. The suspension is excellent quality but it just doesn't have the range of travel needed for extreme off-road adventures. Don't get me wrong, it can handle any terrain you throw at it... but ride comfort suffers if you venture too far from the pavement.
The Hawk is also fully loaded with commuting accessories, and I do mean FULLY: Adjustable mirrors, bright lights, brake light activation, turn signals, horn, stem & running board lights, phone holder, kickstand, app integration... it even came with an air pump for inflating the tires and one of the best assembly toolkits I've seen. Side note: You can check out my unboxing and assembly video here. Heck, you even get two chargers in the box (and yes, you can use them both at the same time). Top it all off with a hardshell stem case for carrying a small amount of cargo, and you've got a scooter 100% ready to commute to work or school, run errands, or exploring new urban areas.
Display, App & NFC Integration: Beautifully Done
The display is bright, colorful, with all the important information front-and-center. The on-scooter controls are elegantly simple; power button to turn it on, press M to cycle between three power modes (controlling your top speed), and press D to cycle between single or dual motor drive mode. I didn't even have to look at the manual to figure out how to use it.
After powering on the Hawk you have to unlock it before using it. You can do this by tapping in your unlock code, which is kind of lame and takes awhile. The COOL way to unlock it is using one of two included NFC tags; just stick one on the screen for a couple seconds and it will unlock (and yes, you can lock it the same way). The NFC tags are small and lightweight and perfect for sticking on your keychain. This is a nice security feature, meaning no one can jump on your scooter and ride it away! Sure, they could CARRY it away... but it's heavy enough to discourage that too.
Taking things a step further is YUME's smartphone app. Once downloaded it pairs with the scooter via bluetooth, and can be used for a variety of functions, including unlocking and locking the scooter just like the NFC tags, a nice convenience feature if you forget your keys. You can also change the power level and drive mode settings from the app, use GPS and mapping features, and view the same real-time speed and diagnostic information as on the integrated display. The app is actually a bit better as you get a battery percentage number instead of just a five-bar graphic! You can also use the app to talk to YUME support or shop their other products, just in case one monster scooter isn't enough for you.
Power & Performance: Abundance of ZOOM
The Hawk is impressive on paper: dual 1200-watt motors, a massive 60-volt 22.5 amp-hour battery, and a top speed of 43mph. But paper can be deceiving; I've ridden on other scooters with dual-motor setups, but if the battery and controller aren't up to the task of pushing both of them, performance suffers. Fortunately, that's not the case for the Hawk; it has a 27-amp max current controller, with a sine-wave power curve (which means smooth and balanced acceleration), and the massive battery is more than capable of pushing both motors effectively. In full power mode, acceleration on the Hawk is gut-wrenchingly powerful; hit the throttle from a dead stop and your tires will spin out easily. Acceleration off the line is fast enough to beat gas powered cars easily, and even when traveling at 30mph the mid-range acceleration allows you to reach the 43mph top speed in just a few seconds. When you're riding in this mode the Hawk can handle anything you throw at it, zooming right up steep inclines without breaking a sweat. Keep in mind that using both motors at full power will drain the battery much more quickly; even so, you should be able to get at least 25 miles of range when riding all-out like this. Check out my video review above for my range test!
If you prefer riding at reduced speed and maximizing your range, the best thing to do is switching from dual-motor mode to just a single motor (the rear one). You can still leave it in power mode 3, which will give you a top speed of about 30-32mph, but effectively double your maximum range. You can further limit your top speed to 20mph in power mode 1, riding this way you can get in the neighborhood of 60-80 miles of maximum range. That's probably much more than you would want to ride any scooter in a single day... but it's nice to be able to go multiple days without needing to charge back up.
There's plenty of scooters that can exceed 40mph, but not many that you'd WANT to exceed 40mph on. Going that fast on a scooter usually feels terrifying due to some combination of tiny wheels, poor construction, and speed wobble. Now, YUME couldn't do much about the wheel size - this is a scooter, after all - but these 10x3.15 wheels are just big enough to feel stable. What helps more is the construction of the Hawk; It's incredibly sturdy. It weighs 82 pounds, remember? A lot of that weight is in the thick frame, which is manufactured with a one-piece molding process with no welds.
YUME also included a steering damper, and while it looks a little odd with it's asymmetrical mounting, I LOVE having it because it makes steering feel controlled and stable even at high speeds. If you haven't tried to ride a scooter this fast before, here's a quick physics lesson: The tiny wheel diameter (compared to bikes) means a high attack angle when hitting bumps or obstacles, which means you feel the road surface much more strongly (again compared to bikes). When you factor in the stem and handlebar for steering control, you get a platform that magnifies bumps and wobbles at high speed. The best way to combat this is with a steering damper, an accessory that adds resistance to the steering column to prevent wobbles. (This is something most motorcycles are equipped with by default). While you can add a steering damper as an aftermarket accessory to most scooters, they rarely come included, so kudos to YUME for including one!
Safety: Top Tier
I can confidently say that the Hawk is the safest electric scooter I have personally ridden. I covered some of this in the previous section; The large (for a scooter) wheels, rugged frame, and steering damper provide stability and allow for safe riding up to the maximum speed of 43mph. The raw power of the Hawk actually also contributes to safety; When riding with other vehicles, sometimes the only way to escape a collision is to accelerate forward out of the way. The acceleration on the Hawk is peppy enough to do this, even when riding at 35mph you still have enough power on tap to quickly accelerate out of danger. Matching this power is the Hawk's stopping ability, these brakes are simply fantastic! ZOOM Hydraulic disc brakes with 140mm rotors provide impressive stopping power on their own, but they aren't the only brakes; there are also electronic brakes in each motor that provide additional stopping power, as well as regenerating some of your battery charge. The brake levers have motor inhibitors, which means they instantly cut power to the motor even if you're accidentally still holding down the throttle.
Another safety factor is visibility: what can you see, and can people see you? The Hawk passes with flying colors on both counts. Seeing the road ahead is easy thanks to the high deck, I was able to easily see over the tops of cars in any direction. The headlight is incredibly bright as well; the only improvement I would make here is to mount it up on the handlebars, rather than down on the bottom of the frame which limits visibility and reach of the light itself. Fortunately, the Hawk is incredibly visible to other people from any angle! In addition to the bright headlight and brake light, it has bright LED lighting integrated in the stem and running board. This lighting system is actually programmable to any color you want, using the included light remote control.
To top everything off the Hawk is equipped with full signal controls, using a standard motorcycle-esque layout on the left grip. The turn signals are obnoxiously bright, the horn (more of a buzzer, really) is obnoxiously loud, and the taillight has an extra-bright brake activation to let people know when you're slowing down.
Utility: Heavy & Awkward
I mentioned above that no scooter is perfect, and this is the category where the Hawk loses most of its points. This really is a matter of personal use case: If you're looking for a lightweight, portable scooter that you can take on the subway or carry upstairs to your third floor apartment, the Hawk is probably not the scooter for you. It's quite hefty at 82 pounds, and while the stem does fold, there's no latch mechanism to secure it in the folded position, meaning it can freely swing around... not ideal for carrying it around, and annoying if you're trying to store the scooter while folded, as gravity will swing the handlebars to the side when leaning over on the kickstand. Ideally, you have someplace indoors (a garage would be perfect) where you can store the Hawk unfolded.
Another point against the Hawk is that the battery is not removable. Okay, technically you CAN remove it, but this is a lengthy operation requiring tools and partial disassembly of the deck. What I mean is that you can't quickly remove the battery for charging off the scooter; you need to bring the whole scooter inside to charge it. You also will want to avoid leaving the scooter outside unless absolutely necessary; in addition to the risk of theft, extreme temperatures are very hard on lithium-ion batteries.
The two factors above unfortunately limit some of the commuting utility of the Hawk. If you want to ride it to work or school, you'll need an indoor storage space big enough to accommodate it; otherwise, you will need to lock it up outside. This exposes the battery to heat or cold which will damage its capacity over time, and it also adds risk of theft. The frame of the Hawk may be amazingly sturdy but it just doesn't have any good loops or shapes for securing locks. I've U-Locked mine through the fork, but someone with tools and a few minutes could easily remove the wheel and slide the lock off. The scooter can't be ridden without unlocking the display, and weighing 82 pounds would make it quite difficult to carry away... so I may be worrying more than I should. I'm just saying that personally, I wouldn't ever leave the Hawk locked up outside, unless it's for a short time (such as when running errands).
Closing Thoughts: Fully Loaded Fun
If you are looking for a go-anywhere, do-anything scooter, I think the Hawk is an excellent choice that provides amazing value at a low price point. It's durable, incredibly safe, and includes an almost absurd number of high-quality accessories at no extra cost. Provided that you have room to store it (and the strength to lift it), it's definitely worth checking out!
If you have any questions about the Hawk, ask away in the comment section! I've spent a lot of time with my review unit and will still have it on hand for awhile. If you own a Hawk or another scooter from YUME, please comment as well, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the company's products. Thanks for reading this review, and ride safe out there!
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