I pulled up to the traffic light and cast a sideways glance at the guy on the somewhat bigger bike. I could see the smirk beneath his helmet as he looked down at our little Tromox and imagined his thought process. ‘Check this little thing! I’m going to smoke it.”
The lights changed, he dumped the clutch, I opened wide and quietly opened the gap. His grin changed to a look of utter dismay in my rear view mirror…
Meet the Tromox Ukko-S. A nippy, surprisingly fast little runabout. Charge her up, press the button, hop on and take off to where you need to go.
That simple.
“But!” we hear you say. “Whats the range like.”
Well – the boffins tell us that the average South African commutes roughly 30 kilometres to work – and 30 kilometres home again. So – we decided to put that theory to the test. We engaged full power (there are 3 rider modes), selected a large rider and pointed the bike in the direction of the traffic for – you guessed it – a round trip of what we thought would be thirty kilometres.
The only real rule was that we had to do the prescribed speed limit.
Our route took us along quiet country roads, along a bustling back road and into some nasty peak hour traffic. We stopped in at the Co-op to load up a bag of chicken food and then circulated back to base – a total round trip of forty kilometers. In full power with a heavy rider in the saddle – and we have to say that the little Ukko performed faultlessly throughout – without the power dropping off for the duration.
Acceleration in Sports mode is brisk. More than brisk – that’s the beauty of electric – direct power transfer and no lag. She heads up to close to the 100KPH mark very quickly and that’s what you need on any small commuter -the ability to accelerate away from the pesky traffic.
Peak power output sits at 10.7 horsepower, less powerful than most established 125cc bikes, but the lightweight design and small size means that it out-accelerates any 125 Four- stroke and you get to a top speed of close to 100kph very quickly in fast mode.
In slow (Eco) mode the bike is limited to 30KPH and they claim a range of 160 KM’s. The middle (Drive) setting is limited to 60KPH.
But who actually has time to do 30 or 60 all day long?
The Ukko is actually surprisingly comfortable with an overall quality feel – even for a bigger rider.
The digital display is seriously modern and up to date and the bikes styling drew more than a curious glance or two.
We appreciate the fact that this bike comes with motorcycle components rather than parts that are adapted from the bicycle trade, the brakes and suspension feel good on the road.
We handed her to our lady rider Rene’ who came back grinning.
The Tromox is definitely a fun little bike to zoom around town with.
It’s very light and nimble. The fact that it is an electric bike took me a while to get used to. No gears, no clutch, but once you get the hang of it it’s so much fun!
When you’re on the Tromox, you catch yourself fooling around and doing things like sneaking up on pedestrians because they can’t hear you coming.
I loved it! Lots of fun.
This is the perfect bike for running around in town. It’s a perfect fit for school kids or riding around the university campus or housing estate without getting people upset about your loud motorcycle…
Charge it in the kitchen… seriously, the boss won’t mind!
There you go. Electric bikes are a thing. You only need to have a look in places like Europe and Aus to see how popular these bikes are.
This one charges from a three point plug, so – unplug, ride into the office. Plug it in in the kitchen – nobody will know.
At “Tjaile” time, unplug, push the button and ride home! You’ll never need to worry about fuel again.
It’s a lot of fun!
Just remember to hit the remote button before you try and move it, because if you don’t, the bike screams at you, lights flash and the thing goes haywire chasing off any potential crook.
And then it takes a while to pull itself towards itself so that you can actually ride again.
That’s a pretty cool feature!
