The Burly Super73 S2 SE Ebike is Lots of “E”, Less “Bike”

You’d be forgiven for glancing over one of these and mistaking it for a vintage motorcycle. That’s the point, really. Super73 carved out its omnipresence in the burgeoning ebike market by imitating the 1970s scrambler motorcycles made famous by the white knights of motorcycling, such as Steve McQueen.

Function following form, Super73’s lineup of scrambler-inspired ebikes behave like bikes that, as youngsters, wanted to be motorcycles when they grew up.They’re sturdy machines, equipped to carry up to 325 pounds of cargo or even two passengers, with massive structural reinforcements, thick frame welds, and powerful motors that propel them to speeds in the 30 MPH range (more on that later).The S2 SE isn’t a light bike.



At 71 pounds, I let tumble more than a few curses as I carried it up the stairs and through a swinging door. And with just a single mechanical speed, I spent most of my time on the Super73 with my feet free-spinning on the pedals, as if they were sort of a vestigial appendage.But when I was blowing past traffic on the streets of New York, I didn’t care.

I wasn’t out for a leisurely cruise. It wanted bugs-in-my-teeth speed while looking damn good, and I got it.(opens in a new window)Super73S2 SE(opens in a new window)Available at Super73Buy Now(opens in a new window)first impressionsUnboxing the Super73 was the easiest of any ebike I’ve tested yet.

The box it came in was large enough to house a small family, as long as they didn’t have a dog, and the bike was mostly assembled.All direct-to-consumer (DTC) bikes require some assembly. There are those that have pushed my patience by demanding several hours of work, resembling the “uh oh” box of orphaned LEGOs lost from their kits.

And then on the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s the Super73.I had to install the front wheel and pedals with the included open-ended wrench. Easy.

And then I had to install the handlebars with the included Allen wrench. Easier. Anybody could put this bike together.

honest packaging. how refreshing – credit: matt jancersuper fast. or at least, it used to beThe Super73 app is clean and easy to navigate.

It’s not required for riding the S2 SE—I gave the bike a good initial test before setting up the app to verify that—but it unlocks a few extra options and settings that aren’t shown through the handlebar-mounted control panel.One of those available settings in the app was an ability to unlock “off-road mode” that let the bike reach speeds past 28 MPH. It was acknowledged with a wink and a nod that the user was only to unlock that mode when not on public roads, but there’s no way to verify it.

Plenty of people, I’m sure, were enabling off-road mode and then speeding off down the road. No surprise, then, that the unlockable speed has been removed.“In light of newly implemented regulations, customers who download and pair the Super73 app after January 1, 2025 will not have the ability to access modes other than the Class 2 mode in which the product is sold,” wrote Super73.

that color is called panthro blue – Credit: matt jancerIt’s a drag, because who doesn’t love speed besides politicians and lawyers? The S2 SE is now limited to 20 miles per hour as a class 2 ebike. There’s a hand throttle, usable for brief periods when you don’t feel like pedaling to engage the electric motor, but pedaling the single-speed bike is so easy that it felt unnecessary to me.There are, broadly, two types of electric motors on ebikes.

There are mid-drive motors, which mount in an assembly down between the pedals. As their prices come down slowly, they’re becoming more in vogue among connoisseur cyclists on mid-priced ebikes. They tend to have a more natural feel, where you certainly can tell you’re pedaling the bike, with the electric motor more seamlessly providing a bit of a boostHub motors are the other type, and they’re mounted almost always (but like the VanMoof S5 shows, not always) mounted in the center of the rear wheel.

You can feel the electric motor’s assistance in hub motors as being more jarring. The power comes on and off more suddenly. As mid-drive motors get cheaper, hub motors are being pushed down the lower-priced end of the market.

it’s a big hub motor, and powerful at 750W – credit: matt jancerIt’s a bit surprising that at $2,995, the S2 SE sticks with its (admittedly powerful) 750W hub motor when so many other ebikes in this price range have moved to mid-drive motors. But it makes sense. With the single mechanical speed, motorcycle ergonomics, and scale-unfriendly weight, the Super73 isn’t trying to pass itself off simply as a more powerful, electrically boosted regular bike.

It’s a wholly different riding experience.You have to pedal it to get the electric motor to kick in (unless you’re on that hand throttle), but that’s just a formality. I felt very little resistance through the pedals while pumping my legs.

It was like one of those bicycle games they used to have in arcades.Those pedals? They’re just there to satisfy the legal requirement that this is a bicycle. The upside of that is that there were always gobs of power available to me on the steepest hills, and I never broke a sweat.

batteries and rangeSo many ebikes in the past few post-Covid outbreak years have worked hard at hiding their batteries inside their frames. The old look of exposed batteries bolted onto downtubes, a la the Propella 7S, is out.Hiding the S2 SE’s battery, though, isn’t in the cards.

For one, where would Super 73 put it in that exposed frame? Two, the need to hide it for aesthetic reasons just isn’t there. The battery’s purposeful resemblance to a motorcycle’s gas tank makes hiding it a non-issue.Compared to many of those ebikes’ with batteries hidden in the frames, accessing and removing the S2 SE’s battery is as easy as it could be.

It’s a big, ol’ 720 Wh unit, too, so having it on top of the frame makes picking it up easier than bending down to yank it off a downtube.the branding is found all over the bike – credit: matt jancerYou’ll be yanking that battery off plenty to recharge it. All that energy flowing to the 750W motor sucks up the juice quickly.

You can get 35 to 45 miles out of a full charge if you ride it economically. It’s on the low end of acceptable for an ebike in 2025, certainly not unheard of.But also, you don’t want to run out of power on the Super73.

We’ve already established that it’s a bear at 71 pounds, and with its single speed drivetrain pedaling it without any electrical assistance feels like a punishment for shoplifting. When I got down to the lower end of the remaining range, I did have a bit of range anxiety? Would I make it to the charger in time? God, I hoped so.living with it as an everyday bikeDespite Super73 basing itself in sunny Southern California, the S2 SE handled the wet here in New York as well as I’d expect any ebike to.

Not all of them do. Sometimes water can work its way into the electronic controllers that interface with the ebike’s motor.On any other day other than test day, I’d avoid puddles and curb lagoons like any other half-sane person.

But because my duty is to test for everything, not to be comfortable, I aimed at every puddle I could find.The fenders that come installed on the S2 looked short when I unboxed it in my living room. Once I was zipping through fire hydrant rivers running across the road, though, the wide fenders did a perfect job of keeping me dry.

No wet line down my back or road spray in my face.not exactly off-road treads, but they work well as a jack of all trades tire – credit: matt jancerAs a cruiser to blast around town, it’s a lot of fun. The wide tires (4.

5′′ on the front, 5′′ on the rear) had tons of traction over cobblestones, loose gravel on pavement, and even some busted safety glass rubble in an intersection that evidently had been left on the road after an accident.It’s no mountain bike, but it handled some light off-roading just fine. Out in Queens, I found a dirt path bike trail one gloomy day to see if its motorcycle looks were all bark, no bite.

No, I didn’t jump it, mostly because I couldn’t find anything to jump it off, but the tires had plenty of traction to handle light dirt and gravel.The front fork’s suspension soaked up bumps enough that even potholes weren’t too rough on my wrists. There’s no rear suspension on this hardtail, but the seat is so cushy that it did an admirable job at keeping my backside comfortable enough on New York City’s Mad Maxian roads.

impact guards on the front forks – credit: matt jancerGiven the bike’s porky weight, I was skeptical it’d be able to stop itself well. A few practice panic stops bestowed upon me a full confidence in the Super73’s hydraulic disc brakes, front and rear. Brake feel through the levers was quite good, and I was impressed with how it could stop on a dime when needed.

I had to be careful not to do it when anybody, car or bike, was behind me since they’d probably be driving over my head by the time they realized I’d grabbed the brakes.Could the S2 SE be a commuter bike? Sure. There’s no reason it couldn’t serve that role.

It’s got a hell of a bright headlight, a built-in taillight, and an upright seating position that was easy on my back. You can’t attach a pannier bag because its motorcycle-style seat takes up the space of a cargo rack, but you can add racks and baskets galore. No bike company does customizability better than Super73.

hop on up – credit: matt jancerthe verdictIf you’re after an electric bike that behaves and feels, first and foremost, as a bicycle with just a bit of extra boost, you’re better off looking at lighter ebikes with mid-drive motors, multiple mechanical speeds, and thinner tires. Those will ride more like the analog, non-electric bicycles you’re used to.But if you want something different entirely, a city bike or suburban cruiser that can legally (in some jurisdictions) use bike paths and also keep up with city traffic, the S2 SE is hard to beat.

It combines motorcycle-cool with plenty of power. It doesn’t feel exactly like riding a bicycle, not the kind you grew up riding.Oh, and if you just hate public attention, you may want to give the Super73 a second thought.

I got so many thumbs-ups and head-snapping double takes while out riding that I’d need to factor in a few minutes of cushion time during my errands to account for the inevitable questions from its admirers.(opens in a new window)Super73S2 SE(opens in a new window)Available at Super73Buy Now(opens in a new window)alternativesRide1Up REVV 1: Ever since the demise of Juiced Bikes (RIP; they were great), the Ride1Up has stepped into the role of Super73’s primary competition. I’ve yet to test one of these babies (it’s on my short list for next reviews), but it strikes at the same moto-inspired scrambler look as the S2 SE.

At $1,895 for a comparable hardtail model, it comes in a lot cheaper than the S2 SE’s $2,995, but offers a more powerful 1000W hub motor and similar 30-60-mile range. At 83 pounds, though, you’ll feel the difference.Ride1Up Prodigy V2: Similar mission, very different style.

At $2,245, the Prodigy V2 is a commuter bike in the same price range as the Super73 S2 SE. If you choose the CVT belt-driven version over the classic chain, the price rises to $2,695. But it comes equipped with front and rear lights, fenders, and a cargo rack with a mid-drive motor that’ll carry you to 28 MPH.

I’ve got one here for testing, and I want to test it further, but early impressions are good. The tires are much closer to those of normal commuter bikes than the Super73’s balloon tires, yet they offer plenty of grip for sketchy city streets. It’ll net 30 to 50 miles of riding, and it weighs about 60 pounds.

Gazelle Medeo T10: Never heard of it? This Dutch company has been doing solid business since 1892, although we’ve never seen many of them here in the US. Gazelle still makes its bikes in its own factory in The Netherlands, ebikes included, and the Medeo T10 bowled me over with the fineness of its quality. Welds were super clean, fit and finish exquisite.

I put the Medeo T10 at the top of my list as far as quality for ebikes I’ve reviewed and ridden. Like the Ride1Up Prodigy V2, I have it here but am not yet finished with my testing. At $3,000, the Medeo T10 is pricey, but it weighs less than the others at 49 pounds.

Ridden economically, you can get a very solid 80 miles of range out of this Dutch beauty.The post The Burly Super73 S2 SE Ebike is Lots of “E”, Less “Bike” appeared first on VICE..