QuietKat Warrior 1000

Review Date: March 2020

My land is long from north to south, which makes it great for hunting during the prevailing west wind, but access can be an issue. After working up a sweat hiking into my treestands several times I figured that there had to be a better way. I’m a road and mountain bike enthusiast, so I was well aware of the emerging electric bike trend. QuietKat was the first company I noticed advertising in the hunting magazines and TV shows that I paid attention to, and they eventually got my order.

For the first few years hunting my land I would drive my Polaris Ranger EV to get back to the stands that were too far to easily walk to, parking the side-by-side ATV and walking the last few hundred yards. My Ranger is battery powered, so it is relatively quiet, but in 2018 I realized that I was driving-by and parking near several buck bedding areas - no matter how quiet I was, I needed to change my approach to these stands.

There is a power line off to the west of my land, and a logging trail off to the east side, and both run north and south. I could use those trails to hike back to the remote stands in the middle of my property, but it would be a long hike. Being a mountain biker, I thought that one of the new all-terrain fat-tire e-bikes could take the work out of hunting my remote stands - getting to and from might actually become a pleasure.

I looked online at the advertising and reviews for several electric mountain bikes and kept coming back to QuietKat. (to visit their website, click here https://quietkat.com) For many years I had noticed QuietKat advertising an all-terrain tricycle on several of the hunting shows I watch, so I was familiar with the brand. Their trike had never seemed to make sense for me - the small wheels would not do well on my rough ground - but when they shifted their focus to electric fat-tire mountain bikes I took notice. Their experience in, and support of, the hunting world gave them a huge amount of credibility. In mid-season 2018 I called them up and ordered what they had in-stock, a Warrior 1000, along with a light, rack, and fenders, and the cost delivered to me was $3,700.

The QuietKat customer service was great - they were friendly and shipped the bike right away. When it arrived in a box via FedEx, the directions and assembly were easy. The derailleur must have taken a hit during shipping and was bent in toward the tire, so I called the company and they sent a replacement - in the meantime I bent the derailleur back out by hand and it worked just fine. I was concerned that I would need a bike shop to put the bike together and tune it, but that wasn’t necessary, and after two seasons of use it is still running fine.

I wear a daypack when hunting, and need my hands free to control the bike, so I’ve been experimenting with ways to carry my bow. I tried strapping it to the pack, but that put it up at head level where it could catch on low branches. I had a set of Kolpin Rhino Grips to hold my bow on the Ranger, so I removed them and mounted them on the rack of the QuietKat. They held the bow well, but the rack is aluminum and I was compressing some of the tubing, so I mounted the grips on a piece of hardwood flooring and zip-tied the whole thing to the rack - that is working well.

You can find the specs of the Warrior online, along with plenty of videos showing this specific e-bike, as well as other e-mountain bikes, so I won’t bother delving into the features common to this class of e-bikes - however, I will give you my impressions of the Warrior after two seasons. This is a powerful bike! It’s more of an electric motorcycle than a mountain bike. I have dumped it twice making tricky little moves in odd places, so I now always err on the side of caution, keeping my feet out to the side whenever there’s any question of maintaining my balance. The fat tires provide exceptional grip and good stability. There are the typical gears of a bike, as well as five power settings, so you have a lot of options as to speed and torque - the top speed is plenty fast, around 20 MPH. When I hunt the west side of my land I need to ride down a paved road for a short stretch, and the bike’s speed keeps this to a minimum.

When you pedal the bike the power automatically kicks-in, but there is also a thumb accelerator that will run the power with no pedaling - I didn’t realize the accelerator was there until I saw the QuietKat on TV and noticed that Gregg Ritz drove away without pedaling. Most of the time I run the bike with only the thumb accelerator, my feet just resting on the pedals - I keep the seat lower than usual so I can get on and off the bike easily with bulky clothing, so pedaling is not the priority. Once again, being extra careful is the key to not getting hurt. It’s not hard to imagine accidentally hitting the accelerator and shooting off the trail into a tree.

What are the negatives I’ve experienced with my QuietKat Warrior? Not many. I purchased fenders for the bike when I ordered it, but found that they just got in the way and weren’t necessary. The rack is well designed and fits well, and very necessary for my uses, but as I mentioned the tubing is aluminum and probably not heavy duty. The bike is heavy, over 70 lbs., making it too awkward to easily lift in and out of the truck - I need to look for a bike rack that will work with such a heavy bike. The ride isn’t smooth, but maybe that’s the deal with a fat-tire bike where only the front has shocks - I’m used to my lightweight full-suspension mountain bike. Sometimes in very cold weather, when the battery isn’t fully charged, the power seems to come and go, but that is easily fixed by plugging in the charger and topping the battery off. I do wonder about the battery sitting around all winter long - the manufacturer recommends draining it to 20% before storing it but, as I mentioned, when the charge is low the bike isn’t running well, so I don’t want to run it down at the end of the season while I’m still hunting.

Overall, the QuietKat Warrior 1000 has been a great purchase for me, doing everything I expected. The quality of the bike is excellent. If anything, the power is almost too much. I can now get back into my most remote stands without breaking a sweat - I love it!