Hurley Mini Swell 700 mile update

I own two of these bikes, they are now 3 years old and here is how it’s holding up so far. This is not another bullsh!t sponsored ebike video from some clown testing free bikes in a warehouse parking lot in California.

[@MrBeanyboy88]

This is how reviews should be. Honest reviews and not letting a sponsorship alter the review.

[@thatalaskaguy]

@@MrBeanyboy88 Thank you! From what I’ve seen, the vast majority of ebike reviews are all sponsored crap or made by BS influencers who only want free bikes to sell when they are done. I noticed the other day the wire to my headlight broke off right at the connector due to flexing from suspension movement. The bike now has a bit over 900 miles on it.

[@CNclov2005]

Good take on the bike! I’ll be giving my little brother this bike once I get my WIRED freedom soon which will be a big upgrade over the mini swell! The biggest issue for me with this would absolutely be the battery life you stated! Under my usage which is mainly PAS 2 mostly peddling I can just barely reach over 15 miles and that includes the last stretch of 6 miles where you lose half the power which means you’re going way slower and getting up even slight inclines is a big struggle but yeah good value especially since I got lucky from a cousin that originally had this bike I only had to pay $750 for it.

[@thatalaskaguy]

The tiny battery is my biggest issue with the bike for sure. I did a 12-14 mile ride when it was new using only throttle and it was barely moving that last mile home. I like the looks of the bike and it works great on my 3.5-4 mile long one way commute to work but I charge it there and at home to keep full power in the battery. Otherwise it’ll lose speed if I try doing a round trip without charging.

[@CNclov2005]

@@thatalaskaguy yea a charger is a must with this bike. When I first got it I really wasn’t intending to go far at all I really just wanted to go to school, work and ride around a few neighborhoods in my area with it but once I started taking this thing for longer trips like going into another suburb town then I realized this thing doesn’t have enough range to really travel freely without having to carrying the charger along with and Saturday really explained why I really need an ebike that can go at least 25+ miles on one charge because I did a long day trip of grad party hopping which my total mileage that day came out to about 26 miles and with the stock battery full to dead no charger I was only able to get just barely over 15 miles of range. When I went to my first stop which was 7 miles the battery display was only showing 3 bars instead of 4.

[@thatalaskaguy]

@@CNclov2005 ​​⁠if shipping on batteries wasn’t so restrictive to Alaska I’d have ordered a larger amp hour version for more range. If you’ve got time and can charge in different locations on your ride it’ll greatly help to extend the range on the stock battery but that’s not always possible. I bought a second charger just to keep at work so I don’t have to haul my charger back and forth every day. It was only $20 so that was reasonable. But yeah, my Dad has a larger framed regular ebike that is actually comfortable to pedal, plus can run off the throttle. It was way, way more range than the mini-swell and is way faster too.

[@CNclov2005]

@@thatalaskaguy That’s really interesting! How far did that one go and what brand was the bike from?

[@thatalaskaguy]

@@CNclov2005 I looked and it doesn’t have any brand name on the bike. It’s like a generic version of a Rad Rover, it looks somewhat similar. I’m not sure where the owners manual went for the bike.

[@worlducation6928]

Hey buddy! can you attach the link to the fenders?

[@thatalaskaguy]

@@worlducation6928 unfortunately I don’t recall the vendor I ordered these from off AliExpress around 3 years ago. I remember just searching the site for 20” fat tire bike fenders and then ordered the ones that had free shipping. It took around a month for them to arrive as I recall.