Puckipuppy Doberman eBike Review
The Puckipuppy Doberman eBike is a lightweight, no-throttle, skinny-tire bike from the company that names all of its bike models after dog breeds.
The Doberman is a departure from Puckipuppy’s current lineup in that it’s the company’s first bike without fat tires.
One of the first things you’ll notice about the Doberman is how light it is. Weighing in at 42 pounds, the Doberman weighs half of most of Puckipuppy’s other models. The weight savings comes in part thanks to the smaller wheels. Instead of four-inch fatbike wheels, the Doberman rolls on 28” wheels with 1.75” tires.
At first glance, it’s actually difficult to tell that the Doberman is an eBike. The only indication is that the downtube is a bit thicker than most analog bikes.
One important thing to note about the Puckipuppy Doberman eBike is that it doesn’t come with a throttle. But in my testing, I didn’t miss it at all and in fact, that was one of the things I like most about this bike.
Without the throttle, the Doberman offers pedal assist up to around 20 mph. This is important as many governments are cracking down on faster eBikes with regulations and outright bans. The Doberman will be exempt from those.
The other advantage, in my mind, about the absence of a throttle is that riding the Doberman brings back the true cycling feeling that is lost on faster bikes.
Puckipuppy Shipping/Assembly
Shipping from Puckipuppy’s California warehouse across the country to the Tampa Bay area took less than a week via Fedex. As with all of the other bikes I’ve received from Puckipuppy the bike arrived in perfect condition. It took about an hour to unpack and assemble the Doberman.
The bike is 90% assembled. You just need to attach the handlebars, front fender, front wheel, pedals, display and front light. The manual has clear steps and if you don’t read it, you might install the headlight upside down, like I did the first time.
An accessories box is also included and comes with the charger, a pump, two crescent wrenches, a set of hex wrenches and loads of spare bits and pieces, like water bottle bosses and brake pads.
Charging the Puckipuppy Doberman eBike
The bike arrived mostly charged, but I did top it off. According to Puckipuppy a full charge should take about 5 hours.
The charging port location and charging plug are vastly different than my other Puckipuppy bikes. Instead of plugging directly into the battery through the frame, the charging port is located on the bottom of the top tube. The charging plug is more like an electrical plug in that it has to be inserted a certain way to fit. The battery can be easily removed from the bike and charged by itself as well. Like most chargers, an LED glows red while charging and turns green when fully charged.
Riding the Doberman eBike
If you’ve ridden many eBikes, you know that while they may have pedals, the riding experience of some of them is not like riding a bicycle at all. You feel separated from the act of pedaling. This is going to sound silly, but the experience of riding the Doberman is like riding a bicycle. It’s easy to forget that you’re on an eBike, especially in the fourth pedal assist mode which caps at around 17 mph. The Doberman maintains everything I like about cycling, but adds in the wonders of pedal assist.
With a normal light pedaling action, Pedal Assist mode 1 tops out at about 8 miles per hour, 2 can get you to around 10, 3 about 13, 4 can get about 15 and 5 can get up a little over 20. While really cranking on the pedals, I was able to get to 24.7 in level 5
The torque sensor measures how hard you’re pedaling, as opposed to a cadence sensor that measures how fast the pedals rotate. The torque sensor provides a more natural, responsive feel that matches your riding intensity. This means that you can cruise at a comfortable pace in level 5 and not reach max speed until you really pedal hard.
Because the bike is so much lighter than some other eBikes I’ve ridden, it’s easy to get started from a standstill, and even pedal without pedal assist.
Puckipuppy Doberman eBike Features
The Doberman has a 36volt 10ah battery which Puckipuppy says will get about 40-75 miles per charge. The 250-watt rear hub motor can move the bike up to 20 mph in pedal assist mode.
I’ve reviewed other bikes that came with mechanical disc brakes, when they really needed hydraulic disc brakes. The Doberman could probably get away with mechanical disc brakes, but Puckipuppy didn’t skimp and included Logan hydraulic brakes that work great. Out of the box, there was no brake squeal or pulsing.
The Shimano Tourney rear derailleur is a tried and true design on many eBikes. It’s solid and works. On a throttle-equipped eBike, I rarely find myself shifting, but the Doberman, with it’s natural pedaling is a different story.
The button cluster is the same as other Puckipuppy models that I’ve reviewed and has a power button, a button for the headlight, and pedal assist up and down buttons. There’s also a button for a horn, which the Doberman doesn’t have. That’s a little annoying, but doesn’t affect the bike’s functionality at all. There is a mechanical bell on the right side of the handlebar.
To turn the bike on, hold down the power button. The display starts up with a friendly “Hello” message.
The display is bright and easy to read even in sunshine and with polarized sunglasses on. It shows the current speed, the PAS mode, battery power level, trip distance and trip time. Icons for the light and the Standard Ride mode also appear on the display. An alternate Interface displays average and maximum speed, trip distance and total distance. To see that, press and hold the headlight and down PAS buttons at the same time.
Because it doesn’t have a throttle, the Doberman doesn’t have cruise control, although it does have Standard Ride mode.
For the Standard Ride, aka Walking Mode feature. you have to be at a standstill and then hold the down PAS button to maintain a steady walking pace. The manual isn’t clear on what use Standard Ride has, but I realized it’s to help push the bike when you’re not riding it. When the down PAS button is released, the bike will stop.
I was pleased to see that the Doberman has two mounting options for water bottle cages. One is in the traditional location on the seat tube and the other is underneath the top tube. The top tube location would be handy for mounting a frame bag.
I really like the design of the Puckipuppy Doberman eBike’s frame. The front fork is rigid, but looks modern as does the narrowing of the frame where top tube meets the seat tube. The paint is well done and the decals are subtle but still noticeable. I especially like the Doberman decal on the rear chainstay.
The seat height is adjustable with a quick release skewer which is a nice touch if you have multiple people of different heights riding the bike. The adjustable stem allows you to lower or raise the handlebars to find your ideal riding position as well.
My only real complaint about the Puckipuppy Doberman eBike is that the rear light isn’t integrated with the rest of the bike. There’s no brake light function and you’ll need to use a USB cord to charge the light. But, the light does offer multiple flash modes which is something I’ve wanted to see on more eBikes as it really helps increase visibility from behind.
Also, I couldn’t get the front headlight to mount next to the stem, because the rubber gasket was too thick. It doesn’t affect the performance, but is more of an aesthetic issue.
Without a rear rack, or options to mount a front rack, the amount of cargo it can carry are limited, but this bike isn’t built for that. The Doberman is definitely more suited for urban riding, commuting and riding for fitness and fun.
Thanks to its light weight and simplicity, the Doberman has become my go-to bike when I want to go for a quick spin around the neighborhood or ride downtown for a bite to eat.
The Puckipuppy Doberman eBike can carry up to 350 pounds and is suited for riders up to 6’ 6”. It has a standover height of almost 31”. I’m 5’9 with a 32-inch inseam and the Doberman fit me perfectly. Without a step-thru frame, our 5’6” tester said the bike was a bit too big for her.
It’s available in black, green yellow and blue and retails for less than $1,000 at puckipuppy.com. Use code FBDM50 to save $50 on the Doberman.
See more Puckipuppy Electric Bikes here.
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