The Cobra’s cockpit is good, with stirrups, an LCD display and a comfortable ergonomic saddle. But I have a few comments about the grips and throttle that I think are worth mentioning, especially since Himiway has made a really good attempt at targeting this bike at a more off-road audience.
The synthetic leather handles are not suitable for off-road driving. They’ve become standard in the affordable electric fat bike category, and while they have some aesthetic appeal, they tend to spin on the bar and the faux leather material isn’t grippy. The Cobra would be well suited to a set of locking rubber mountain bike grips, which fortunately are readily available and can be installed in your garage in about ten minutes.
My other criticism of the cockpit is the twist throttle. For street e-bikes these things work well, but for an off-road e-bike it is not the best option. The problem is that the throttle is effectively part of your right hand grip. So if you hit an unexpected bump and your wrist slips, you can give the bike a whole lot of power in a situation you might not want. An off-grip thumb throttle would suit the Cobra better, but again, this is a change you can make relatively easily in your garage.
Now enough of my complaints and let’s move on to one of the motorcycle’s biggest plus points: its handling.
I can’t emphasize enough how much the Cobra exceeded my expectations in terms of handling, especially off-road. Its full-suspension design is shockingly functional and the geometry is stable at high speeds on unpredictable terrain. Although it doesn’t qualify as an E-MTB, the Cobra is definitely inspired by modern E-MTB geometry. The head tube is flat, the seat tube angle is steep and the wheelbase is long. At low speeds this gives the bike a bit of slow steering and a floppy ride that reminds me a lot of my long travel enduro bike, but open it up to two tracks and the bike feels right at home.
Weighing 88 pounds, with a very long wheelbase and a high standover height, the Cobra is a very large bike. Compared to some other electric fat bikes in its class, the Cobra’s wheelbase is a full 4 to 6 inches longer than that Rad Power Bikes RadRover 6 Plus or Aventon Adventure. Its standover height of 32 inches is also several inches higher than both bikes. It’s a large enough e-bike that I would caution smaller or less experienced riders thinking about purchasing one. More than once I found it difficult to keep the bike upright at low speeds and in extremely tight U-turns. But if you’re taller and feel confident handling a bike like this, the Cobra definitely won’t disappoint.
It is a dual-track, fire-road destroyer that had no difficulty flying at high speeds over bumps and over varying terrain. Although the Himiway and other off-road e-bikes are far different from dirt bikes, the Cobra thrives in the same terrain; in sandy wash bottoms, bumpy 4×4 roads and back country fire roads. Honestly, it’s a lot of fun.
Although Himiway has done an impressive job building an off-road, full-suspension electric fat bike, keep in mind that this variant of the Cobra is still technically an affordable model. The suspension on this bike is cheap and still in line with the setups we see on more road-oriented electric fat bikes. The fork is unbranded and the rear shock is from EXA Form, a brand not known for building high-quality suspension systems. I can confirm that they work off-road, but you won’t see the performance (and durability) you’d expect from more expensive suspension systems like those specified on this bike’s more expensive big brother, the Cobra Pro.
