The foldable Heybike Horizon is incredibly comfy, but not reliable enough for commuting

Heybike make affordable, reliable electric bikes, and we're especially fond of their foldable models. The company makes some of the best folding electric bikes, so it was with great excitement that I gave the Heybike Horizon a spin.

Heybike’s Horizon aims to become yet another comfortable workhorse commuter. And with front and rear suspension on top of fat tires, the Horizon delivers comfort in heaps.

It’s fun to ride, easy to fold and unfold, and feels generally solidly built. But the Horizon runs into some reliability issues in its electronics that keep it from earning top marks. Here's what I found after riding the Heybike Horizon.

Heybike Horizon review: price and availability

The Heybike Horizon costs $1,999 and is available for purchase now on Heybike’s website. It comes with a two-year warranty, and a 30-day free trial.

Heybike offers financing through Klarna at checkout if you’d like to break up your purchase into payments. And the company also covers optional accident protection for an additional charge, ranging from $90 to $189.

Heybike Horizon review: design

Heybike’s Horizon is a full-suspension folding bike, which is a bit of a unicorn in the folding bike space. That means there’s shocks in both the front and the rear of the bike to give you as plush a ride as possible.

Complementing the plushness from the suspension are 24 x 4 inch tires. When run at a lower pressure, these tires should add even more compliance to the bike for added comfort on rough roads. They also add lots of traction for loose terrain.

The frame features a low step-through design to make it easy to mount and dismount. Both the seat and the handlebars adjust up and down to accommodate riders of various sizes, too.

Heybike says the Horizon is intended for users between 5'5" and 6'3". Heybike includes fenders front and rear, as well as lights front and rear. The Horizon also comes stock with a rear rack.

The rear hub-based motor will get you rolling up to 28 miles per hour with assist. It’s paired with a removable 692 watt-hour lithium-ion battery. And there’s a throttle that kicks the assist in, even if you’re not pedaling.

Heybike includes a 7-speed Shimano drivetrain to make it easy to get started from a stop, or to really put the power down, even with the assist turned off. Given its maximum top speed, Heybike wisely includes hydraulic disc brakes for consistent and strong stopping power.

There is an app that works with the Horizon as well. Here you’ll find easy ways to adjust the assist level speed, among other options to tailor your ride. Finally, Heybike offers the Horizon in four different colors.

Heybike Horizon review: performance

I rode the Horizon for ten miles on my first ride. The terrain here on the front range of Colorado is rolling, with a few nice leg-buster climbs thrown in if you want them. I even got it dirty on some gravel paths locally.

It was exceptionally comfortable and smooths out just about any bumps you can throw at it. Of course, with front and rear suspension, that should come as no surprise.

But it’s important to note that a lot of that compliance actually comes from the wide tires, which can run a lower tire pressure and eliminate a lot of smaller bumps.

So while the suspension works well and contributes to the super smooth ride, I’m not sure it’s entirely necessary. It adds complexity and weight, and very likely some cost.

Sure, eliminating the front and rear suspension would rob you of some compliance, but having ridden bikes with tires this wide before, the ride would still be plenty smooth for most riders.

That said, I really did enjoy the ride quality as built, and the overall build quality of the Horizon seems very stout. It’s easy to fold and unfold, too. Just flip a few levers, collapse the seat post and the handlebars, and flip up the pedals.

This bike is a bit too burly to really get super compact, though, so if you’re thinking of stowing this in an apartment closet, it might not be ideal. It would be more appropriate to stow the folded Horizon in the corner of a garage.

I ran into some issues with the motor assist on the Horizon. It took between two and eight full pedal strokes for the assist to engage. That’s a lot of pedal strokes, and it makes it difficult to get the bike going in certain situations.

I also usually rely on the throttle to get going in a hurry. The Horizon has a throttle, but I also ran into reliability issues here.

The throttle seemed to want to engage when I depressed it about halfway down, but it would cut out if I pushed it down all the way. Then, other times, it would engage perfectly when I depressed it all the way. My guess is there’s some sort of loose wiring or a connection problem here.

When the assist does finally engage, it’s powerful. You can get going up to 28mph in a hurry, with both the throttle and the pedal assist. Starting on steep hills from a dead stop would be no problem at all, assuming the throttle worked properly.

And while the bike feels solidly made, I did notice some creaking in the junction where the bike folds at the bottom bracket area. That indicates some movement in the joint. It did not affect the ride at all, but the creak did get annoying.

Heybike Horizon review: battery life

I similarly ran into issues with the battery reading on the head’s up display. On my first ride, I purposely rode heavily on the throttle, and pedaling at the highest assist setting, to see how much battery I could drain.

After 10 miles, I have no idea how much battery I used. At some points the battery display showed that I had drained almost two thirds of the battery’s power in ten miles.

But then the battery level indicator would shoot back up to a full-charge status. I'd say that it’s clear, indicated by all the bugginess I experienced, that there are some electrical issues at play with my edition of the Horizon.

Should you buy the Heybike Horizon?

The Horizon is one of the most comfortable fat tire folding bikes I’ve tested. With both front and rear suspension, on top of wide tires, you’re unlikely to find any road conditions the Horizon can’t handle.

It’s no mountain bike, so you won’t want to get on trails that are too gnarly, but the Horizon can handle just about any commuting conditions. The Horizon falters in its electronics. Eight pedal strokes before the assist kicks in is simply too much of a delay.

And the throttle and battery life indicator were both buggy and unreliable. This bike needs some refining, but if all the electronic issues are taken care of, the Heybike Horizon would rise to the top of the heap of fat tire folding bikes.

But other bikes that offer many of the same features as the Horizon, minus the rear suspension, include the Lectric XP 3.0, Aventon Sinch.2 and RadPower RadExpand 5. The Horizon sets itself apart with the rear suspension, of course.

And it’s that rear suspension that really makes the Horizon stand out for its exceptional comfort. If you’re after the smoothest ride possible, the Horizon beats them all.