Bluvall SU8 ebike: Great Performance & Value
What’s going on everyone? Today we got a bike here courtesy of Bluevall. This is their SU8 ebike. And when they reached out and asked me if I would check out this bike, I went to the website, looked at the specs, saw the price, and I said, “Yes, absolutely. I have got to see this bike.” Cuz the website claims 1,500 peak watts, and that this little guy goes 35 m an hour. And it’s currently on sale right now at $8.99. $899, which seems like an absolute steal. So today I’m going to show you if this thing lives up to its claims. But before I show you the ride footage, let me first give you just 60 seconds of the specs. The SU8 from Bluevall rides on 20×4 in fat tires. It has a double crown front suspension fork. In the rear wheel, you got a 750 W geared hub motor that they say peaks at 1,500 watts. It’s powered by a 52vt 20 amp hour battery pack. There’s a 28 amp controller underneath the seat. It has 180 mm hydraulic disc brakes, a single rear suspension shock, seven mechanical gears, twist throttle, a large headlight, tail light, brake light, and also rear turn signals. It has a cadence sensing pedal assist system and a color display giving you all the ride information you need. The seat height is roughly 32 in and it weighs just 81 lb. The payload capacity is 353 lbs and it’s available in blue, black, or orange. Current sale price is $899. And I’ll list any discount codes in the video description below. Okay, you’ve got the basics, but now does this bike do what they claim it does? Well, let me show you my top speed test. All right, time to check out the top speed. The website says that it’ll do like 35, I believe. Well, let’s see. Slowly building. I mean, it’s still climbing. It’s doing so really slowly. But we’re at 30 on the bike. 27 28 GPS. 29. You’re going to need a lot of running room to hit 35. I’ll tell you that. There’s 33 on the bike. 31 GPS. So, they’re a couple miles an hour off. 32. It’s still climbing. I mean, 33 GPS. I don’t think I’m going to get to 35, but definitely 33. 34. I mean, this close, dude. 35. There it is. Okay. Okay. I just It’s It doesn’t get there real fast. You need a lot of running room, but it does 35. I am shocked. Wow. I Wow. That’s It’s impressive. It’s impressive. It just It seems like the motor never It never stops. It doesn’t have like a You know, usually you’ll feel it just totally cut out at some mile per hour mark. This one didn’t do it. It just kept going and going and we we eventually hit the 35. So, that’s a true claim, I got to say. I weigh 180 lbs. That’s what it’s pulling around. Surprisingly, yes, I got to 35 mph on this bike. The display was reading like 37, 38, but my GPS confirmed I was going 35 mph. I mean, my beard was basically going gray by the time I got there, but it did make it. For me, it was pretty easy to hit 30 on this bike. If I wanted to go much past 30 mph, I needed a lot of running room to do it. But just to give you a better feel for what the power is like, here’s how it does on the acceleration and also the hill climb. All right, we got the drone flying so you can see the side view. We’re going to do a full throttle takeoff. Show you the acceleration. Ready? 3 2 1 go. Not bad. Good pull. I mean, it’s not like throwing you back in the seat or anything like that, but it’s a good strong pull off the line. Do it one more time for you here. 3 2 1 go. Nice. Good acceleration. You’re up to 20 mph, no problem. All right, coming up to the hill climb test. This is where we’re going to get a good sense of the power. This is a 750 watt eBike. Supposed to peak at 1500 watts. I’d say it it feels like that. It’s got a 28 amp controller. 28. And then you got a 52volt battery. It’s going to charge 58. So that math checks out. Should be near 1500 watts. But the 750 watt bikes, if they’re fast, they’ll climb this hill in like 22 seconds. Most of them are like 24 25. some of the slow ones. 26 27. Let’s see where this one ends up. You ready? No pedaling for me. 3 2 1 go. I mean, a decent little pull there off the line. Climbing nice. We’re already showing 13 mph. I mean, I’m not helping it at all. It’s pulling 180 lbs up easily. This is going to be a pretty good time. I think we cut the time right at this path and time. I mean, that felt really good. That felt like it was on the stronger end of things. I’m going to say that was probably 22 or 23 seconds. It definitely feels stronger than your average 750 W bike. I mean, most of them have 22, maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll get a 25 amp controller. So, having a 28, that’s giving you a little bit extra power. It It does feel like really good power. It’s solid power. And the thing is, it’s lightweight, too. That helps not having to move so much weight up the hill. It’s only 80 lb bike. All right, coming back down the hill. See if we can do a nice controlled stop here from about 26. And brakes. Oh, wow. It’s really easy. Really easy to lock up the back tire. These are pretty strong brakes. They’re the DY Island brakes, which I mean, they’re a cheaper brake, but I mean, they always seem to work pretty well. I can’t complain too much. The levers just don’t feel fantastic in your hands. But in terms of braking performance, I’ve never had a problem with them. They bring you right to a stop. You can absolutely skid the tire whenever you feel like it. I mean, again, for a bike that costs $8.99, I can’t really complain all that much. It’s got solid power, probably better than most 750 W bikes out there, and certainly the most power I’ve felt out of a bike that costs $8.99. The brakes are also good. They’re not an extremely high-end component, but they did their job just fine, and it’s an easy bike to ride, and there’s plenty of power here to be fun. It is a little bit smaller of a package, smaller of a bike. Here’s some information on sizing. All right, let’s show you the size of this SU8 bike, which is Sport Utility 8. That’s what that stands for. SU8 from Bluevall. It’s a pretty small compact bike, right? The wheelbase is short. It I do feel a little bit large on it cuz I’m 6 feet tall. I weigh 180 lbs. So, it feels like a small bike under under me, but it doesn’t feel uncomfortable. I can get into a pretty comfy ride position. The bars come up nice and tall. Doesn’t make my shoulders hurt at all. The seat you can go forward and back on. It’s long and flat, so it’s easy to slide. You can see from the pedal stroke, it’s not really one I’m going to pedal a whole lot. I haven’t been pedaling, riding it, just riding at throttle only. But it’s pretty comfy ride. The seat is what does it. The seat is so squishy soft. It makes up for the shock. You don’t even really need to change the shock out. If you want a really comfy ride, you can swap that shock. But the seat is super soft. Pretty easy to find a comfortable ride position. It’s really lightweight. That’s one thing I do like about it. It’s only 81 lbs. Like for a fat tire bike with 1500 watts, it goes 35 miles an hour. It only weighs 81 pounds. A lot of bikes in my garage are well over a 100. So refreshing to have something lightweight. But I could see this bike fitting a lot of riders. I’ll put the minimum seat height on the screen for you. No problem for me. I think someone probably 53, 5’4 could probably ride this. Maybe I’ll have my wife try it and see what she looks like on it. But definitely a smaller, easier to handle bike. one that you might not have too much trouble lifting, you know, into a truck or onto a bike rack. Okay. Are you ready? I’m ready. Go for it. Get your feet down. Put your feet on the floor. Okay. Yeah, you can reach. Got a heel on there, but you can reach. Yes, you can ride that. Yeah. So, definitely a bike that could fit a pretty wide variety of riders. Their website says 5’6 to 6’3. I think 5’6 would be about perfect on this thing. 6’3, you’re going to feel huge on this bike. My wife, I mean, she was able to get on the bike, get her feet down at 5’3. She was cheating a little bit with the boots that had the heels on them, but still, she could have rode this bike. And for me, 6 feet tall, I can ride this no problem. I just found myself not really doing a whole lot of pedaling on it. Here’s what pedaling looks like. And just some more about the ride experience. Here’s what pedaling looks like for 6 feet tall, long legs. I got 34 inch inseam. I can pedal it. It is actually not the most uncomfortable bike I’ve ever pedled. The seat is just long and flat, so you can kind of slide back or slide forward. And it’s not too bad to pedal it. I haven’t been pedaling it much at all, but you can if you have to. What do you think of this bright orange? Really stands out. Man, does that pop. The paint job is pretty nice on it. [Music] All right, so let’s give you some more info on the ride experience. Generally a pretty comfortable ride. The bars come up nice and tall. The seats a little bit narrow, but it is super soft, so pretty pleasant place to be. I don’t know how this looks on camera, but in real life, it’s in even in full sun, it is clearly visible. I like the screen a lot. Got all our controls up here for headlight and turn signals. You even got a horn on this one. You got seven speeds, but I’ve been keeping it in seventh gear pretty much the whole time. The gearing is set up for kind of the lower speeds. Let’s uh show you how stable this thing is. So, at 20 something miles an hour, we’ll let go. Got my hear my brake disc rubbing. Come on, quit doing that. But very very stable bike. No problem riding no-handed. It feels really like really nimble. Very again very small and short wheelbase. So very easy to maneuver this bike. This is one of those bikes where pretty much anybody could ride this thing. I would put anyone on this bike. You’re not It’s not going to get away from you. It’s got good power, but it’s not throw you off the back of the bike power. It’s not really going to get away from you. And the speed, it’s got, you know, a lot of speed, but it takes forever to get there. So, I don’t know. It’s It does strike me as a very dangerous bike. I think a kid could ride this bike. Maybe you adjust that speed limit for them a little bit so they don’t go quite as fast. But for pedal assist, you got a cadence sensor. So, it just recognizes when the pedals start turning, then it kicks in. If you’re going from a stop, it takes like 3/4 of a rotation. If you’re already moving 20 mph, it takes a couple more. You might have like two or three rotations before it kicks in. But that’s pretty normal. What else? Um, the throttle is not linked to your pedal assist. I like that. So, anytime you twist this, you get full speed out of it. I’m in pedal assist one and we can twist the throttle and still go, you know, 30 whatever miles an hour. I like that setup a lot better cuz that really decreases the amount that you’ve got to hit the pedal assist buttons. See, I’m still in pedal assist one. We’re going 30. full access to the throttle at all times. The cadence sensor on the pedal assist did lag a little bit, but for a bike that I wasn’t really pedaling a whole lot, it wasn’t a big deal. I mean, it was pretty easy to handle this bike. A pretty comfortable ride. It does have dual suspension. Here’s some clips of that. Give you a shot of the forks here. Not bad. I don’t mind the forks at all. Here’s a look at the rear suspension. I mean, the seat is super soft. That makes up for the rear shock. And honestly, it felt pretty good. The rear shock, though, is nonadjustable. This is a fake air chamber right here. There’s no adjustment to that spring at all. And it it could be a better shock, but I mean, we got to remember here, we’re looking at a very budget friendly ebike. And side note, the rear shock is actually kind of disassembled when you take it out of the box. You’re going to have to put this bottom pin in. They take that out so the bike kind of squishes down. They can fit it in a smaller box. So, you’ll have to install that pin in the shock, which it’s not hard. It’s not a big deal at all. It’s very easy to do. And it also shows you just how simple it is to change that shock. You just pull those two pins and you can put whatever shock you want in there. But honestly, I’m not sure you’d even want to waste the time or money changing the shock. It’s kind of fun just to ride this bike and enjoy it for what it is. Now, I mentioned I wasn’t pedaling this bike a whole lot. So, how did that factor into range? Well, you remember you got a 52volt 20 amp hour battery pack and for me riding this bike throttle only basically not a whole lot of pedaling using a lot of speed and power. I got about 28 mi out of a single charge before this thing was pretty much depleted. So, everybody’s range is going to be different. That’s just one real life data point for you to consider. So, there’s a lot of things this bike has going for it and there’s also a couple things that you really need to consider. So, let’s start with the positives. First thing I’ll say is that it’s got great value for the money, right? I think it’s worth $899 all day long. Next is the forks are pretty decent. It’s got good speed and power. The seats nice and soft. You got a good lighting package on the bike. Headlight, tail light, brake light, and it’s got rear turn signals. And it’s also pretty small and lightweight. I mean, these bikes are getting really heavy. So, this one at 80 lb is pretty maneuverable, pretty lightweight to handle. Now, for some things to know, I don’t think it’s really a bike set up for pedaling, right? Right? If you if you’re looking to buy an ebike cuz you want to get a pedaling workout, maybe this isn’t the bike for that. And the second thing to know is it’s a budget bike. So, it’s got some budget parts on it. You’ve got these cheap, you know, rubber grips. You got a plastic chain ring guard, a Tory derailure, budget brakes on it, budget shock. But honestly, I’ve seen these same components on bikes that cost twice as much. So, my overall feeling on this one is that it’s worth its price tag every day of the week. I mean, there’s probably close to $900 worth of just wholesale components here. So, how they’re able to sell it at that price and still make money, I have no idea. Now, when I think about who this bike might be meant for, I mean, really anyone, cuz it’s really easy to handle. It’s got enough power to be fun. If somebody wanted to try ebiking without spending a fortune, I think this would be a great option. Or if somebody like to mod their bikes, this might be a great option. It’s a simple design, right? Just got a simple steel frame. No beauty covers or nothing on it. Everything’s exposed. All the wiring. You just got a battery mounted to the frame, controller under the seat, motor in the wheel. Very easy to get to everything. You could really mod this bike out if you wanted. And that was my experience with the SU8 from Blue. What did I miss? If you still have questions, put them in the comments section below. If you want to check this out further, I’ll put a link to it in the video description below along with any discount codes that they provide. And as always, I hope you found this video helpful, informative, maybe entertaining. Consider hitting subscribe and I’ll see you in the next
https://www.bluvall.com/products/bluvall-su8-ebike-full-suspension/?ref=citizen (affiliate link)
17% Off Using Discount Code: CitizenCycle
The Bluvall SU8 is a 20in fat tire ebike with features including: 52v 20ah Battery Pack, Rear Hub Motor with 1500w Peak output, Double Crown Front Suspension Fork, Single Rear Suspension Shock, 180mm Hydraulic Disc Brakes, Headlight, Tail Light, Brake Light, & Rear Turn Signals, Low Seat Height of 32inches, and light weight frame at just 81lbs with battery installed.
Thank you to Bluvall for providing the SU8 for testing and review. I hope you found this video helpful & informative. Ride Safe!
~Citizen
Timecodes:
00:00 Intro & Specs
1:30 Top Speed Test
3:40 Acceleration, Hill Climb, Brakes
6:50 Sizing Info & Short Rider
9:09 Pedaling & Ride Experience
12:12 Suspension
13:18 Range
13:40 Positives & Negatives
14:54 Who’s it for
