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Velotric Nomad 1
The Nomad 1 is a competitively priced fat tire e-bike.
It stands out with its rugged design and knobbly 4 tires which make it feel very capable off-road.
The company is led by Adam Zhang, one of the co-founders of Lime scooters.
The Nomad 1 is quick and fun to ride, both on and off-road.
Models and Build Quality
The Nomad 1 is available in Step-Thru and High Step options.
Mango is the only color available on both frame styles.
It would have been nice if all of their colors were available for both
frames.
Cheaper bikes tend to suffer with their finish, especially with their welded pieces.
The craftsmanship looks like it’s very good.
When fully assembled, the bike overall feels very well put together.
The battery is top-loaded and sits flush with the frame.
Similar to other ebikes, the battery is removable using its key.
Motor
The Velotric Nomad 1 is powered by a 750W rear hub motor with 1,200W peak performance.
Its pedal assist is quick to engage and the bike’s throttle has a powerful torque.
The power reminds me of a 50cc scooter.
When set to level 5, it’s almost effortless to pedal on most roads.
The throttle response does take a bit of getting used to.
In my experience, I found it to have a small lag.
Despite having a few tears and bruises to its box, my Nomad 1 arrived in perfect condition.
Installation is fairly straightforward, and if you have experience assembling bikes, this should be pretty easy.
Velotric does provide a very goodinstallation videowhich I highly recommend following along with as opposed to the written instructions.
As we were following along with the written instructions, our total setup time took about 45 minutes.
Both lights only have a single brightness level and can only be set to on.
With its power, I can see myself easily hauling small bags on my trips.
Hopefully, that’s something we can see in the future.
On the left is a thumb throttle.
Holding either the up or down button for a few seconds will turn the front light on or off.
The screen is monochrome with black text on a white LED background.
It’s plenty bright and easy to see even in direct sunlight.
It lacks smart features like Bluetooth or smartphone connectivity, however, it gets the essentials done right.
Performance and Ride Quality
The Nomad 1 is fun and capable.
I had a huge smile on my first during my first ride.
Once you accept that the throttle has a bit of delay, the bike is a blast to ride.
It can easily throw you back as you quickly accelerate to 20mph.
I had confidence merging onto smaller back roads with cars as well as crossing streets.
The bike has a rather upright seating position and its handlebars are easy to grab and hold onto.
The seat is especially comfortable at 220mm wide and has two springs underneath.
For more casual riding, I prefer to keep my seat a little lower.
Combined with its step-thru frame, I had no problems hopping on and off.
This handles steep inclines without issue.
At 72lbs (32.6kg), this is a rather heavy ebike.
It won’t be as nimble or easy to turn as its road-bike counterpart, the Discover 1.
However, it’s still best suited for more casual off-roading rather than hardcore trail riding.
Frequent and more intense hits, like traveling over larger rocks and branches can still be very noticeable.
