# ‘20 Bulls E-Stream EVO AM 3 (Brose S-mag, 27.5+ tires, FOX float susp.)



## DrJekyllMrHyde (Jun 23, 2020)

Initial impressions have been great after first dozen rides on my new 2020 Bulls E-Stream EVO AM 3 full suspension e-mountain bike with the Brose S-MAG motor. I sprained a knee (not while riding) after the second ride and up to that point it had been a love affair; since then it's been a different type of love that only the powerful assistance of an eMTB can provide. I simply wouldn't be getting in the same knee rehab without this eMTB, so to say I'm pleased is an understatement. The trails in my area of Colorado are CHUNKY, with large sandstone rock face climbs/descents, littered with boulders, sand beds, and clay soil that gets nasty when wet. I needed everything plus size tires and a nice full suspension can provide for my varying terrain without paying the steep price of dragging it uphill, enter my desire for an eMTB. I came off a 140mm full suspension 29er that was great downhill but was not fun up technical climbs, and I never found a tire set-up that tolerated the sand beds (simply not enough float). I'm a bigger rider @ 6'3" and 205lbs, so I knew I was going to need an XL frame when I went searching for an eMTB. Initially I had it stuck in my head that I would need to stick with a 29er at least in the front, so I was looking at the Norco Sight VLT 29er (C2) and the Intense Tazer Expert which is a 29front-27.5rear set-up. Both of those bikes are assisted by the Shimano Steps E8000 motor which I tested on other bikes and thought they were nice but lacking any wow factor. In the meantime I was able to rent a Turbo Levo and found that I was pleasantly surprised with the 27.5" wheels and was completely sold on the awesomeness of the Brose motor. Turbo Levos were very difficult to attain at the time and then I knew I would want to upgrade the suspension components a bit. Overall the Turbo Levo was going to cost me a 2-month wait and pretty price tag by the time I did normal upgrades plus the suspension. So I go searching of other make and model eMTBs with the Brose motor available in the USA, seemly just one. The Bulls E-Stream EVO AM series. The AM 3 had the Brose S-Mag motor, a very generous 750 watt hour battery, Fox Float Suspension front/rear, big Magura brakes, and PLUS size (2.8x27.5) tires! All for $5800 delivered to my local Bulls Dealer (there were 2 nearby in South Denver). Wow! Had to take a chance and so glad I did. I watched and read some reviews on the bike before taking delivery and it seemed I had one complaint to conquer from the reviewers, the cockpit. It had some people feeling they were riding "over the bike" instead of "in the bike" during downhill sections; easy enough. Upgraded to wider 800mm fat 35 carbon bars with a 35mm rise while chopping 25mm off the stem length (it was 60mm). Problem fixed! This thing feels so stable when airborne, and the tire/suspension set-up just eats up the terrain when you pick a bad line. If you get a chance to throw your leg over one, prepare to be surprised.

Here's the quick rundown of this make and model from my original bike review:
Bulls is a German bike company that has entered the US bike in the last half decade with an office and warehouse in Southern California. They have a range of EMTBs with Shimano, Bosch, and Brose motors. This EVO AM series came equipped with the Brose S-Mag (Sport Motor with Magnesium casing), a highly rated class 1 motor providing up to 90NM of torque; in the U.S. you can also find this motor equipped on the very popular Specialized Turbo Levo.The Brose S-mag motor and value compared to the Specialized Turbo Levo is what drew the to this bike. I am impressed with the value and performance of the components. The Fox Suspension combined with the plus size 2.8 tires makes for a very confidence inspiring, forgiving, and comfortable ride. Brose motor is remarkably quiet, surprisingly powerful, and very natural in the way it provides assistance through the pedals; by far the most impressive performance I've ridden (and I've ridden the Shimano E8000 and the newest Yamaha PX-2). The Blocks 14D display/controller is mounted near the left grip, is very readable in bright light and provides total mileage, trip mileage, and remaining miles of battery for the assistance level currently selected. It has levels 1-3 that are pedal cadence (rpm) based giving you the full assistance of that level if you're within that wide cadence range. Level 4 is their Flex Mode, it is both cadence and torque based in delivering assistance; which it needs to keep from applying too much power before you want it. Level 4 provides up to 90NM of torque and it's impressive. Also it has a walk assistance mode that is very helpful should you fail to make a climb. The massive 750 amp hour battery has barely flinched on my normal park rides, it eliminates all battery range fears. Feel free to ask questions in the comments.

Some things I didn't mention in the video are in screenshots of the specs below.

Here are the initial changes made to the bike:

Converted to Tubeless (drops approx. 1.5 to 2.0 lbs of weight).

RaceFace Next R Carbon 35 fat bars. 800mm width, 35mm Rise. (OEM: Bulls Aluminum 31.6, 760mm width, maybe 10mm of rise)

RaceFace Aeffect 40mm Stem (OEM: MonkeyLink 60mm powered stem).

RaceFace Aeffect Emtb crank arms, 165mm (OEM: Miranda Delta emtb specific cranks, 165mm). These were replaced due to a slightly bent crank arm (that I believe happened during shipping).

Ergon E-Mountain Core Prime Saddle, Men's, Medium/Large. (OEM: Bulls brand saddle).

OneUp Components Composite Flat pedals (OEM: Bulls brand "Huffy" pedals).

Canondale Aluminum Bottle Cage (OEM: MonkeyLink magnetic bottle attachment, same mounting system as Fidlock USA Brand).


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## Jack7782 (Jan 1, 2009)

Nice bike indeed, especially since you did upgrades to fit your exact needs. How much does it weigh before and after modifications? For you and your local terrain, what % charge is left in your battery after your (typical) ride? 

Also, please describe how easy or hard it is to remove the battery.


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## DrJekyllMrHyde (Jun 23, 2020)

Jack7782 said:


> Nice bike indeed, especially since you did upgrades to fit your exact needs. How much does it weigh before and after modifications? For you and your local terrain, what % charge is left in your battery after your (typical) ride?
> 
> Also, please describe how easy or hard it is to remove the battery.


It doesn't have a percentage battery indicator, just 4 bars inside a battery icon. My typical ride right now is about 12-14 miles and I am probably using much more assistance than I usually would as I rehab my knee; so I'll find myself in Level 3 assistance in half of the big climbs I'm doing and Level 2 for flatter trails. I only once have dropped it down to 3 bars on a 15 mile ride. So I'm very confident I could do about 55 miles on it as I ride it today and that mileage will go up as my knee gets back to normal.

As for removing and reinstalling the battery, it's very easy if you're doing it correctly. Here is a video link:





I used a digital handheld bag scale and between measurements it averaged around 53.8lbs with my OneUp composite pedals installed. Not sure on the before weight, because I had many of those components swapped before I took delivery from the dealer.

Just got back from a ride this morning. All smiles man!


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## MikeTowpathTraveler (Aug 12, 2015)

Keep an eye on your head tube's head set bearings, in particular, the lower bearing. Over on another ebike forum, a new Bulls owner snapped a photo of the rust coming from that bearing, due to the dumb idea by Bulls of routing their ebike drive cables through the head tube instead of following everyone else and routing them into the downtube. Water is allowed to get in there and do what water does when it puddles on top of bearing races!

And that wire run configuration is not isolated just to your bike and that other Bull's owner's bike...... it seems this is standard practice by Bulls on all of their frames.

Might be worth a look to peak into the head tube and see if Bulls did any attempt of keeping that lower bearing free of puddling water. Other then that, they make a top tier Ebike, that's for sure. On my Haibike, I too have the OneUp composite pedals as well as an Ergon ST Core Prime saddle and love 'em both.


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## DrJekyllMrHyde (Jun 23, 2020)

MikeTowpathTraveler said:


> Keep an eye on your head tube's head set bearings, in particular, the lower bearing. Over on another ebike forum, a new Bulls owner snapped a photo of the rust coming from that bearing, due to the dumb idea by Bulls of routing their ebike drive cables through the head tube instead of following everyone else and routing them into the downtube. Water is allowed to get in there and do what water does when it puddles on top of bearing races!
> 
> And that wire run configuration is not isolated just to your bike and that other Bull's owner's bike...... it seems this is standard practice by Bulls on all of their frames.
> 
> Might be worth a look to peak into the head tube and see if Bulls did any attempt of keeping that lower bearing free of puddling water. Other then that, they make a top tier Ebike, that's for sure. On my Haibike, I too have the OneUp composite pedals as well as an Ergon ST Core Prime saddle and love 'em both.


Thanks for the heads up. I've had zero issues with that so far, but knowing it could be an issue means I can easily address it. Simply holding the rear brake, and balancing it on the rear wheel to raise the front end up for 10 seconds after a wash should allow any potential water that has collected to drain away from the head tube. Easy peesy.


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## NuMexJoe (Jan 12, 2004)

My interest was piqued until I saw the geo chart that states it has a 67.5* head angle. Like you, I'm looking for a Brose-S equipped USA-available bike, but I'd need to confirm I could install a Works Components -2* angleset before I placed my order. That said, thanks for the post and the info!


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## DrJekyllMrHyde (Jun 23, 2020)

NuMexJoe said:


> My interest was piqued until I saw the geo chart that states it has a 67.5* head angle. Like you, I'm looking for a Brose-S equipped USA-available bike, but I'd need to confirm I could install a Works Components -2* angleset before I placed my order. That said, thanks for the post and the info!


67.5 degrees may sound steep if you're comparing it to a non-plus-sized tire bike. This thing already plows, I don't think you'd like a slacker head tube angle (HTA) on this bike, it would make it less nimble around the trails.

For example on a true fat tire bike, 68-70 degrees is considered a very slack HTA, whereas a 72 degree HTA is desirable for tight single track.

I will not be messing with geometry on the bike, the cockpit adjustments I have made are plenty satisfying. If you look around you can find some people that went up to a plus size tire on their bikes and found the steering much slower and for others they liked the added stability. Point being, I would ride this bike with the tire size and HTA it was designed with.

In my opinion, the plus sized tires teamed up with a great suspension and motor are what make this bike special. I'm really loving it on the terrain we have here in Colorado Springs, from loose sand, sand stone, hard clay, wet clay, and all the roots and chunky boulders in between; this thing eats it up. I only find myself in the trees when I underestimate how much power and momentum I'm carrying uphill with the assistance of the Brose motor.


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## rod9301 (Oct 30, 2004)

I call bullshit on the head angle.
I have 64.5 and there's no way the bike turns sluggishly.

You say that it steers slower, but when do you steer on a bike, except on really slow switchbacks?

I don't steer,i just lean my bike and it turns instantly.

Sent from my Redmi Note 8 Pro using Tapatalk


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## DrJekyllMrHyde (Jun 23, 2020)

rod9301 said:


> I call bullshit on the head angle.
> I have 64.5 and there's no way the bike turns sluggishly.
> 
> You say that it steers slower, but when do you steer on a bike, except on really slow switchbacks?
> ...


Sorry you don't know this, but this is common knowledge. Yes, when you are slower and the frame of the bike is vertical you steer the bars in the direction you are turning. And when you are making leaning turns, you are putting more weight on the side of the handlebar in the direction you're leaning, this is called counter-steering. So in a leaning left turn you are placing more weight on the left bar end and this steers the wheel to the right and makes the bike lean left. It is more pronounced how much counter steering force you need on heavier bikes, bigger tires, etc. It is very apparent on a heavy motorcycle. Good luck "instantly" turning as you lean without counter steering. And Head Tube angle absolutely effects your ability to counter steer in a leaning turn.


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