HeyBike Ranger 3.0 Pro e-bike review - A VERY comfortable e-bike that will fit in your trunk!

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REVIEW – E-bikes have really come a long way, and seen prices come way down. More e-bikes are sold today than electric cars! The HeyBike Ranger 3.0 Pro is a flagship folding e-bike that seems to be able to fill several niches at once! With a few small quirks.

⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $1499.00
Where to buy: HeyBike

What is it?

The HeyBike Ranger 3.0 Pro is a folding e-bike with full suspension, fat tires, and some neat technology.

What’s included?

The bike (in pieces)
Assembly tools
2 NFC cards which act as keys
2 keys for battery removal
Charger
Manual card (actual manual is online)

Tech Specs

Frame: hydroformed aluminum
Suspension: Rear adjustable air shock, Front hydraulic suspension fork
Wheels and Tires: 4 inch x 20 inch Kenda fat knobby tires
Motor: 750W hub-drive, 1200W max, with torque sensor
Battery: 720 Watt-hour
Charger: 2A, 54.6V output, 100V-220V AC input, 6-8 hours to full charge
Display: TFT Display with optional NFC Unlock
Rear Deraulier: Shimano Altus 8 speed
Lights: Front light with Horn, Taillight with Brake & Turn Signals
Weight: 75 lb
Maximum Load: 440 lb
Folded Dimensions: 41.7×20.5×32.7 inch
Unfolded Dimensions: 69.7×25.6×52.0 inch
Rider Size: 4’11” to 6’2”
Top Speed: 28 mph
Brakes: hydraulic disk, 180mm rotors

Design and features

This is a pretty full-featured e-bike. It folds! There is a large hinge on the huge hydroformed main tube, right in front of the bottom bracket (where the pedals are). The clamp on this hinge is very secure and easy to use. The other aspects that allow the bike to fold are the pedals that fold up, and the handle bar that folds down. HeyBike advertises that all this can be done in 10 seconds. I was never that fast, but it’s easily under 30- seconds.

The HeyBike Ranger 3.0 Pro has a lot of features that create a very comfortable ride. First, the tires are 4 inches wide, and can be run at very low pressure. Low pressure increases comfort, but will decrease top speed, range, and can make steering feel sluggish. But the big tires definitely help to absorb a lot of bumps. What the tires don’t soak up, the suspension will. Most folding bikes now will have front suspension, but not many have rear. It does make a difference.

The HeyBike Ranger 3.0 Pro features a torque sensor to engage the pedal assist. Most e-bikes have a cadence sensor, which detects when the wheel is turning. Cadence sensors usually have a bit of lag between when you start pedaling, and when the assistance kicks in. Torque sensors detect the pressure you apply to the cranks, and supposedly have a more natural response, matching your input. And the assistance is almost instantaneous.

The Ranger 3.0 Pro has a claimed top speed of 28 mph, and that is very real. There are five pedal assist (PAS) settings, and they mostly just adjust the top speed. At the highest setting, the bike will cruise at 28 mph easily. There is also a throttle, which can act independently of the PAS setting, or be limited by it, depending on how you set that in the app.

Yes, it has an app! The app can be used to turn on and unlock the bike, it can adjust settings, and also help you navigate! You can also use the included NFC cards to unlock the bike, or a pass code that you enter right on the TFT display.

The display is great, by the way, easily readable in direct sunlight. It’s also waterproof, with all components of the bike having IPX5 rating, and the motor and drive components having IP65 (both mean you should have no problem with even the heaviest of rain – I tested this! Read on…).

As a cycling enthusiast, I was particularly pleased to see high quality name-brand parts on the bike. That’s not the case with many e-bikes in this price range. The addition of nice Shimano components, Kenda tires, and quality suspension mean the bike will last longer and be more serviceable.

The HeyBike Ranger 3.0 Pro has a VERY beefy rack with an overall payload of 440 pounds. That combination creates a lot of utility. A front rack is available as well.

Assembly, Installation, Setup

The first thing I realized when I started to build the HeyBike Ranger 3 Pro was that there was no manual. Instead, there was a “manual card” which told you that the manual was online. This was OK, but not what I was used to. I suppose that saves money on printing, and also ensures an up-to-date manual. Online or not, it was fine. The manual was easy to read with a lot of full-color photos, which made assembly quite easy. All tools needed for assembly are included as well. All told, it took me about 30 minutes to build the bike, but I have a lot of experience building bikes. You can always take it to your local bike shop if you’re not comfortable with the build. You definitely don’t want to get it wrong.

One tip, that is not mentioned in the manual anywhere – there is an on-off switch on the battery. The bike arrives with this switch in the off position. If you don’t know about this switch, you’ll have a hard time getting the bike to work (ask me how I know…).

Performance

I actually really like this bike. I’ve ridden it for about a month now, and the plusses definitely outweigh the minor issues. I’ll start off with what I like. It folds! It is quite compact when it folds. It probably won’t fit in the trunk of a tiny hatchback, but it will likely fit in most cars. That said, it’s still almost 80 pounds, so just because it folds up doesn’t necessarily mean you can lift it in and out of your car. That’s definitely something to think about. And it is too heavy for standard bike racks. If you want to use a rack with this or most e-bikes, look into a beefy e-bike specific rack.

But once you get it out of your car and unfolded, it rides great. It is very smooth, powerful, and VERY comfortable – probably the most comfortable e-bike I’ve ridden. I can’t say I can tell a major difference between the torque sensor and the cadence sensor found in most e-bikes, but power delivery was immediate and strong (a little too strong for my wife, actually). The display was easy to use and worked great in full sun.

The best test for the bike was at a weekend music festival in a medium city that my wife and I attended. We would take this and one other folding e-bike to a parking area a few miles from the festival, unfold them, and ride them downtown to avoid traffic and parking. It was great – the Ranger 3.0 Pro smoothed rough roads, gave us the speed to keep up with traffic, the lights (and turn signals!) gave us visibility, and on the day it rained HEAVILY all day, the bike performed flawlessly, backing up those waterproof ratings, and the fenders kept me dry.

While there’s a lot to love about the Ranger 3.0 Pro, there are a few oddities. The battery indicator would fluctuate wildly, depending on the load on the battery. It would start at, say 76%, and then go to 0% while you were moving, then come back up when you stopped. This, unfortunately, gave me little confidence in the battery indicator. That said, in the month that I’ve ridden the bike, I’ve had to charge it twice. I can’t verify the claimed 90 mile range, but unless you are routinely making very long trips unable to charge, you should not have much range anxiety. But if you do run out of juice, you don’t want to have to power the near 80-pound beast without any assistance. I tried, just for fun, and it wasn’t fun.

There are a few aspects with the fit that are a consequence of the folding nature of the bike. I’m just a hair over 6’1”, and the seat could not get high enough for me. Given that this is an e-bike and an efficient pedal stroke is not critical, it was OK. But if you are very tall and plan to ride long distances, the cramped seat height could lead to some knee pain. Another fit aspect were the narrow handle bars, which gave a “twitchy” feel to the steering. I definitely didn’t want to take my hands off the bar to signal a turn, so I was happy for the built-in turn signals.

Finally, it is just a very heavy bike. It’s portable in the sense that it folds, but if you can’t lift it into your car, the folding doesn’t matter.

Final thoughts

The HeyBike Ranger 3 Pro is a full-featured e-bike that has a lot going for it. Very powerful, great display, fast, and exceptionally comfortable. Nothing is perfect, but the quirks here are easy to overlook.

What I like about the HeyBike Ranger 3.0 Pro

Very comfortable, smooth ride
Folds up for easy transport
Quality components

What needs to be improved?

Figure out the battery charge indicator
Perhaps a longer seat tube for taller riders
Make it a bit lighter?

Price: $1499.00
Where to buy: HeyBike
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Heybike. Heybike did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.