Riding The Daymak Beast in Idaho...100 miles later.
Okay, we got our hands on the first Beast and we put it through the wringer. We want to share with you the good, the bad, and the unexpected.
The Good:
- As advertised. Everything we saw on the Kickstarter video is accurate.
- Comfortable. The Beast is very comfortable to ride both on and off road.
- Charging. The charging and duration times on the spec sheet are accurate and the solar panel works perfectly. (Though to be honest, we don't let The Beast sit around much!)
- A blast to ride! Even longtime dirt bike riders had fun riding The Beast. Their only complaint was it needed to be faster. But The Beast is limited to 20mph to adhere to bicycle laws.
The Bad:
- The Beast rides in near silence. Riders must be extra careful around town because people can't hear you coming! It is also takes some adjustment when first riding because there is no noise feedback when accelerating or decelerating.
- Pedaling is not easy. You almost have to do it standing up because the saddle is very wide. The wide saddle definitely increases the rider's comfort level, but forces the rider into a wide stance when attempting to pedal. Out of the dozen or so riders, we could only find one person who could actually pedal it with ease.
- Not a quick adjustment for different body types. The saddle can be adjusted for different body types, but you need a couple of metric wrenches and a few minutes to make it happen. We are looking at using wing nuts or quick release tension bolts to speed this process. More to follow.
The Unexpected:
- The Beast can literally go anywhere. Like all our products, we pushed the Beast as far as we dared just to tell you what it is capable of. We hit potholes without flinching. We added a passenger without issue. We hopped curbs, up and down, with ease.
- The Beast rocked the Motocross track. Disclaimer, The Beast is not really designed for motocross racing, but we just couldn't resist...and it was amazing! At 20mph it wasn't as fast as dirt bikes, but it handled 60 degree hills without a problem. So we ramped it up even further and jumped The Beast! The frame handled the jump well, but we bent the saddle mounting hardware upon landing. Not a huge issue, we bent the hardware back and kept going!
CONCLUSION:
The Beast has far exceeded our expectations. The good and unexpected results really impressed us. Even the bad issues could be good depending on where The Beast is used (e.g. hunting). Presently we can't wait for snow so we can see how it performs. How would you like us to try The Beast next? We are game to give any reasonable requests a try!