Some electric scooters are suitable for commuting, some others are preferred by those in search of some adventure, and some – like the Dualtron Thunder by Minimotors USA – are suitable for both! With its speed, mileage, and security, this electric scooter can replace your traditional means of transport providing you with all the advantages of traveling on an electric scooter: sustainability, money-saving, portability, compactness.
The Dualtron Thunder is quite expensive but you won’t find an electric scooter better than this for a cheaper price. With a price of over $3500, we can honestly say that it’s totally worth it! Without further delay, let’s find out anything you need to know about the Dualtron Thunder Electric Scooter in this review.
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Table of Contents
Quality and Design of Dualtron Thunder Electric Scooter :
Many powerful electric scooters lack a stylish design. They’re often bulky and have a spartan look. The Dualtron Thunder is different from those slim and compact city electric scooters, but it’s still nice and harmonious. The main difference from those cheaper electric scooters is the large deck. Since the powerful battery is located there, and since it provides stability for the Dualtron Thunder’s impressive speed, it wouldn’t have been any different.
When we speak about design, we also speak about portability. Portability isn’t this electric scooter’s main forte. It is actually not what this electric scooter is main at. What does it mean? Think at the use you’re going to make of your electric scooter. If you need to lift it often, maybe because you use it to commute to the bus stop or train station, or maybe because you need to climb some stairs along your path, then this electric scooter is not suitable for you simply because it is too heavy (95 pounds).
While it features a foldable design, it is also aimed at storage purposes. The extra weight, however, provides enhanced stability and grip on the different types of roads and terrains that you’re going to ride on. The extra weight is also due to the powerful battery (batteries are always responsible for a big part of the electric scooter’s weight) and a strong frame. That said, the extra weight isn’t exactly a drawback in this case.
Handlebars
The Dualtron Thunder electric scooter features a straight handlebar with foldable handgrips. Since the electric scooter isn’t exactly compact, having the possibility of folding the handgrips will make you save some space when you need to store your electric scooter, for example, in your car trunk, or somewhere in your garage during the winter.
Other than the brake levers, the handlebar also allows you to control any aspect of your Dualtron Thunder: speed and speed modes, battery, motors, lights, and more.
The main controls are similar to some other high-end electric scooters by Minimotors and other brands: yellow and red buttons on the left side to choose whether or not to engage the second motor or to activate the ECO mode; LCD display with its buttons and throttle on the right side.
The right side is somehow more interesting than the left. The LCD display is highly visible, even under direct sunlight. It provides information about the riding and allows you to select the speed mode. The Dualtron Thunder has several speed modes available, among which the most interesting (and useful) are the starting mode and cruise mode. The starting mode helps you, especially if you’re a beginner in the field of powerful electric scooter, give a gentle start to your electric scooter without being pushed away from it. The cruise mode is helpful when you need to ride for long distances and you don’t mind riding a bit slower; by limiting the speed it optimizes the battery lifespan to lengthen the mileage.
When compared to other electric scooters’ handlebar, this one has some additional features that are extremely interesting: a fingerprint sensor and a wireless phone charger.
Brakes
When you ride an electric scooter as powerful as the Dualtron Thunder you want a braking system as efficient as the one mounted on the Dualtron Thunder. The e-scooter features hydraulic disc front and rear brakes with wide 160mm discs.
These brakes are extremely powerful and provide enhanced security not just because they’re able to completely stop your electric scooter in a few feet even when you’re riding at top speed, but also because they allow for precise control over your electric scooter. The 160mm discs – operated from the left and right brake levers on the handlebar – are highly responsive. A gentle pull is enough to slightly slow down your device, while a strong pull will stop it quickly and safely.
The brakes are also provided with an ABS system that prevents the wheels lock up during braking. In particular, this can happen during emergency stops when you suddenly and abruptly pull the brake levers: by modulating the brake pressure the ABS system won’t let the wheel lock up and will provide the safest stop.
Tires
The Dualtron Thunder features 11’’ tires that are 4’’ wide. The first thing you can notice is that they’re quite smooth and therefore more suitable for on-roads trips. Don’t think of this as a drawback though: someone may think that having off-roads tires would be better since they could be used even on the road. This isn’t true: off-road tires aren’t suitable for flat terrains because they are noisy and because they slip easily compromising performance and safety. So, the Thunder’s smooth tires provide comfort, balance, and safety on the road, they can also bring on other types of terrains such as grass or dirty lanes, but if you want to have excellent performance off-roads you may want to replace them with off-road tires.
These tires are also air-filled and tubeless. Tubeless tires are easier to replace while pneumatic ones provide enhanced comfort, stability, and performance.
Lights
Just to give you an idea of how complex and diverse the Dualtron Thunder’s light system is, we can mention that it comes with a remote with tons of buttons to control the electric scooter’s lights. These lights make the electric scooter pretty and stylish but they are also very important for safety reasons: they improve your visibility whenever you’re riding with poor light conditions, and they signal your presence on the road. Electric scooters are new on the roads and they are most likely the smallest vehicles around: drivers and other road users may have difficulties spotting you on the road so it’s extremely important that you use the light system of your electric scooter to make sure they can see you from any direction they came.
For both style and safety purposes, both the stem and deck of your Dualtron Thunder can be enlightened. Also, the deck has lights both on the front and rear. If you enjoy (or need to) riding at night, though, you may want to mount an additional powerful headlight on your electric scooter that illuminates a portion of the road ahead.
Deck and Kickstand
As we’ve mentioned, the Dualtron Thunder features an extra-large deck. Some may not like the look of it, but once they’ll jump on it they’ll certainly appreciate it. The large surface provides extra comfort and stability. The anti-slip pads are very efficient even when the deck or your shouts are wet and they feel extremely durable. The kickstand looks thin but it’s actually extremely sturdy: it can hold the entire weight of the electric scooter so that you can leave it standing in full security.
Assembling
The Dualtron Thunder comes in a big and heavy box that also contains the remote for the lights, standard charger, user manual, and multi-tool. The electric scooter is basically already assembled, there is very little that you need to do before going for your first ride.
The handlebar is already mounted. Handgrips will be folded: you need to simply unfold them and secure them in their position. Tires are already in their place too. You want to check their pressure (a low pressure affects speed and battery lifespan while a high pressure makes the tires more subject to puncture) and that’s all. There are actually some plastic caps that need to be put in place to cover some screws and other joints and this is a quick and easy process. Charge your Dualtron Thunder and you’re ready to go!
Performance for Dualtron Thunder:
The Dualtron Thunder is capable of great performance: not just speed but also power, control, and safety. But let’s go in order.
The Dualtron Thunder is powered by two 2700-watt hub motors. When combined they can provide a total of 5400-watt power and a speed of 50 miles per hour. This electric scooter is so powerful that protective gear such as helmet, gloves, and at least clothes with long sleeves are highly recommended. The acceleration feels smooth and powerful, the electric scooter gains speed with ease even when riding on rough terrains.
Speaking of rough terrains, this electric scooter can bring you anywhere. We were discussing tires above, but it’s the electric scooter’s power that makes the difference off-roads and the Dualtron Thunder can be ridden with any type of terrains (off-roads ones included). A powerful electric scooter has also the advantage of being able to climb hills (which is an area where less powerful and cheaper devices struggle a lot). Slopes of 25 degrees are easy to climb with the Dualtron Thunder and this is all due to the amazing and powerful motor system.
This is a fast electric scooter but it doesn’t mean that you need to ride at top speed all the time. On the contrary, in most countries, there is a speed limit for electric scooters on the city roads (of 15 or 20 mph in most cases) and that’s why you may want to limit your device’s speed through the speed modes available. You can easily switch between them through the LCD buttons.
Battery life and charging time
Performance and mileage are both impressive features in this electric scooter: you can ride it for 75 miles on a single charge. This is due to a powerful 60-volt 35Ah battery composed of LG 3500 cells. If you utilize the standard charger (the one that comes included in the box) it takes 20 hours to completely charge the electric scooter (from empty to 100%).
This is quite a lot. However, there are ways for shortening this time but they both require you to spend some additional ones: the first thing you can do is purchasing another standard charger. The Dualtron Thunder has two charging ports: when you utilize both of them you can halve the charging time. Also, you can purchase a quick charger; in this case, it will take only 3.5 hours to fully charge the Dualtron Thunder.
Why we like about Dualtron Thunder Electric Scooter:
- Speed and control
The Dualtron Thunder can reach an impressive speed. The acceleration is also smooth and powerful, allowing for great control of the device.
- Brakes
The brakes are efficient and responsive. The ABS system provides extra-security during emergency stops while the brake levers are very responsive even to a gentle touch.
- Security
There are a lot of features that are specifically designed for proving extra security: the impressive light system, the possibility of limiting the speed, the extra weight of the device, and the extra-large deck. This isn’t only a fast and powerful electric scooter, it is also a safe one.
- Already assembled
The Duathlon Thunder is almost ready to go as soon as you pull it out of its box. There is very little that you need to do.
- Tubeless tires
Tubeless tires are easy to mount and dismount. Since this electric scooter features pneumatic tires, sooner or later you’ll need to replace one or both of them. That day you’ll be happy to have tubeless tires on your Dualtron Thunder.
- Suitable for any type of terrain
Flat terrains or hills, asphalt, grass, or dirty lanes, the Dualtron Thunder can bring you wherever you want.
What we didn't like about Dualtron Thunder Electric Scooter:
- Additional Headlight need for night riding
For an electric scooter that costs almost $4000 and that comes with a remote to control its light system, we’d expect to have a headlight powerful enough to allow the rider to ride at night.
- Additional charger needed
The Dualtron Thunder takes 20 hours to be fully charged with its standard charger. It takes 10 with two standard chargers and 3.5 with a quick charger, but in both cases, you need to purchase another charger separately (and spend additional money) if you don’t want to wait for an entire day to have your device ready to go.
You can also read about two more Dualtron electric scooters on our blog: Dualtron Egle Pro & Dualtron Compact.
Conclusion
We can’t deny that the Dualtron Thunder is an expensive electric scooter. Beginners, people at their first electric scooter’s purchase, short-distance commuters may exclude it from their options straight away. But if it fits your budget and you want an electric scooter that can 100% replace your traditional means of transport then you’ll find out that the Dualtron Thunder Electric Scooter is totally worth its price.
Speaking about its impressive performance is reductive: this is also a safe and durable electric scooter. Safe and suitable for both city traffic and off-road trips, the Dualtron Thunder might be expensive but it’s one of the best around.
Not waterproof so it can’t 100% replace your mode of transport