Varla Pegasus Electric Scooter Dual Motor Electric Scooter – Test and Review

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Updated August 24th, 2024

Dual motors with 1920 watts of peak output, 25 miles range, and enough suspension for a sporty smooth ride.

Manufacturer and Model: Varla Pegasus
List Price: $999

Summary

The Varla Pegasus electric scooter is a dual motor scooter with a lot of power and range. It is right at the sweet spot of being portable, while still giving you up to 1920 watts of power and over 25 miles in real world range. It’s not so big and heavy that you can’t pick it up or put it in the back of an SUV to take somewhere.

The Pegasus makes an excellent commuter scooter for riding on roads. It is an excellent hill climber for areas that aren’t flat. If you want a fast powerful scooter but don’t want to spend over $1000 or don’t want a scooter you can’t easily pick up, then the Varla Pegasus is an excellent choice.

Varla Pegasus Review and Test

Single motor electric scooters are fun. They are easy to carry around. They are limited to about 20mph speed and they don’t have the smoothest ride. When you want to go faster and longer distances, it’s time to step up to a higher performance level. The Varla Pegasus is a great first dual motor electric scooter. It brings a big step up in performance and ride while still being portable. The Pegasus has dual 500 watt motors that are capable of 1920 watts peak power which makes it great for climbing hills and going fast even with heavier riders.

We got a chance to try out the Pegasus. It packs in a lot of performance for the price. Let’s get into the details.

1 – Features

Dual 500 watt motors

The Pegasus has dual 500 watt hub motors for power. These motors are capable of dishing out up to 960 peak watts each giving the scooter 1920 watts of peak power. This gives it enough power for a 28mph top speed and the ability to climb up to 25 degree slopes.

48 Volt 15.6 ah battery

This scooter uses a 48 volt 15.6 ah battery that is mounted in the deck. It is not removable or swappable. It gives it a range up to 28 miles.

Dual front and rear disc brakes

Front and rear disc brakes are used for stopping. The brakes use cable actuation and give you plenty of stopping power.

Front and rear suspension

The Pegasus has front and rear coil spring suspension combined with 9 inch pneumatic tires. It gives it a much smoother ride than scooters without suspension or solid tires.

1 – Power (10/10)

The Pegasus has gobs of power. If you are new to riding a dual motor scooter, I recommend starting out in the lowest power setting and spending some time getting used to it. The Pegasus takes off very fast when you hit the throttle. It will be going 15mph with just a little nudge of the throttle in a few seconds. It takes a little time to get used to how quick this scooter takes off when it starts.

Top Speed

The Pegasus has a published top speed of 28mph. We used a GPS to measure the top speed. We measured 27.7 mph on a long smooth flat straight section of road. This is only slightly below the published 28mph number.

Hill Climbing

We took the Pegasus out to our standard hill climbing test hill. It is a 0.5 mile climb with a few sections of 10% grade. It has some rough pavement and curves as well. We take every scooter and e-bike we review out to this hill. We use a 250 lb rider for the test climb. We set the scooter to PAS Level 3.

The Pegasus took 1 minute and 50 seconds to complete the climb. This makes it the fastest climbing scooter we have tested. It was only 2 seconds slower than the fastest e-bike we have tested on this climb. With more time riding the Pegasus, we could probably shave a few more seconds off the time by going faster through the curves and slowing down less for the really rough pavement sections.

With the rest of the scooters we have tested on this climb, we are full throttle from start to finish. They just don’t go fast enough on the climb to need to worry about slowing down for things. The Pegasus is fast enough that we have to.

2 – Range (10/10)

We took the Pegasus out with a full battery and rode it until the battery was completely drained. We ride at approximately 15mph on a flat bike path using a 250 lb rider. For this test, we set the Pegasus on level 2 which has a max speed of 18mph, and used partial throttle to keep it going about 15mph.

The Pegasus went 25.0 miles. The LCD display still showed 1 bar of battery left. The scooter got down to the point where it would only go walking speed. Once it gets to that point we stop the test even though the scooter is technically still moving under its own power.

The published range for this scooter is up to 28 miles. 25 miles is 90% of the published range. We normally get 40-50% of the published range during our range test at most. It’s nice to see a scooter with a more realistic published range that most riders would be able to get.

3 – Ride Quality (9.5/10)

The front and rear suspension combined with 9 inch air tires gives the Pegasus a very smooth ride. It absorbs cracks and potholes much better than a single motor scooter with less suspension. This is a big powerful scooter and it doesn’t ride the same as a smaller single motor scooter. If this is your first time on a dual motor scooter, there is some learning curve to riding it.

The front wheel has a lot of mass to turn with the suspension linkage and motor. The handlebar is much stiffer to turn than a smaller scooter. It makes the scooter much less nimble at low speeds compared to a single motor scooter. It takes a few miles of riding to get used to it. You will need to stop and walk the scooter around some tight corners that you could ride around with a smaller scooter. This scooter really likes to ride at higher speeds above 10mph.

The ride gets very smooth the faster you go. The steering feels nice and balanced and easy to control once you get it moving.

4 – Braking (9/10)

This scooter uses dual disc brakes with independent brake levers. It does not have any kind of electronic braking or regenerative brakes. The disc brakes feel like just about the right amount of stopping power. You can stop very quick giving the levers a good squeeze. From higher speeds you need to use a balanced front and rear brake for effective stopping.

5 – Controls (9/10)

There is a 3 button controller on the left handlebar and a black and white LCD on top of the steering tube. The 3 buttons are easy to control and use while riding. It’s easy to adjust the speed level without stopping.

LCD Display

The LCD display shows your battery left, speed, and PAS level. It looks like a display adopted from an ebike which is why it uses the PAS naming. The display is clear and easy to read in any light condition. The backlight can be adjusted in the menu settings.

3 Pedal Assist Lever or gears or speed modes

The Pegasus has 3 gears for riding and walking. PAS or Pedal Assist level is the top speed setting for the scooter. Electric scooters don’t have pedals so naming doesn’t really make sense.

• Level 1 – Top speed of 10mph
• Level 2 – Top speed of 18mph
• Level 3 – Top speed of 28mph.

Throttle lever

The throttle is controlled with a lever on the right handlebar. It’s easy to reach from the grip. It works. It doesn’t have the smoothest feel when rotating. It feels slightly sticky. We have ridden other scooters with a much smoother feeling throttle lever.

Thick grips

The grips have a leather wrapping on them. They have enough support to be comfortable for long rides. You can rotate them to find the most comfortable position for resting your palms while riding.

Headlight and Taillight

The Pegasus has a built in head lamp and tail light. The head lamp is located at the base of the steering tube. It works but it’s harder to illuminate the ground farther in front of the scooter. It also doesn’t rotate with the handlebars so it won’t light the area you are turning into while doing sharp turns. For riding at night at higher speeds I recommend getting a helmet light to use.

Menu

You can access a settings menu by holding the up and down buttons for 2 seconds. Consult the manual for what settings you can change. The manual has a note to “do not adjust” for the majority of settings. The 2 things most people might change are the start mode and activating cruise control.

Cruise Control

Cruise control is not active on the scooter as delivered. There is a cruise control setting to turn on in the menu. After enabling it, it activates after holding the throttle for several seconds. It doesn’t make any beep or other indication that cruise control is active. The only way to know is to take your finger off the throttle and the scooter doesn’t slow down. Cruise turns off by hitting the throttle again or hitting the brakes.

Start mode

The Pegasus is by default a zero to start scooter. The throttle is always active when the scooter is standing still. If you prefer a kick to start where the scooter has to be moving a little for the throttle to be active, you can change it in the menu.

6 – Construction (8.5/10)

The Pegasus has heavy duty looking construction. My friend came over and took and look at it and his word to descibe it waws “Stout”. There isn’t much plastic anywhere. The frame and suspension links are all metal with beefy looking joints. All the machining and welding looks clean and finished. The only thing I’m not crazy about with this scooter with the construction is the color scheme. It’s kind of bright and colorful. I’m more of a dark grey or black electric scooter person.

Large deck

The Pegasus has a really large deck. It easily fits 2 adult feet. It has a diamond grid rubber grip surface that is comfortable and gives good foot traction on the deck. It curves up at the rear if you like to ride with your rear foot up on the fender.

Folding Mechanism

The folding mechanism is one area of this scooter where they could have done better. It uses a latch with a secondary release slider on the latch lever. The secondary slider takes some effort to slide in. It’s very easy to think you have the folding mechanism locked in place when you don’t. I started riding it once with it not quite locked in and it folded on me as soon as I started trying to ride it.

Make sure you look down at the folding latch and make sure that the secondary slider is locked in before riding.

At the rear of the scooter, there is a metal ring. This ring can be flipped up onto a hook near the handlebar. It is simple and it works. It takes a little fumbling to get it hooked up. Once it is hooked it stays while you carry the scooter around by the steering tube.

7 – Assembly

There is very little assembly required. All you have to do is loosen 2 bolts at the top of the steering tube, set the handlebar in place, then tighten the 2 bolts back down. It takes about 5 minutes. Varla includes a nice multitool that has a variety of tools on it. You only need one Allen wrench to do the assembly sequence. It’s nice they gave you a bit more for tools.

8 – Lock

The Pegasus comes with a chain lock and key you can use for locking the scooter. The chain has a nylon fabric covering to keep it from scratching the scooter. It’s more difficult to cut than a simple cable lock. It’s a nice little bonus extra.

8 – Portability

The Pegasus is right on the edge of being a scooter that is easy to throw into the back of an SUV or truck to take somewhere. I need to fold the 2nd row seats down in my Explorer to fit it. Most 350-500 watt single motor scooters will fit with seats up. The Pegasus also weighs 66 lbs. It’s not a light easy to carry around scooter. I wouldn’t want to carry it up or down a set of stairs without help.

8 – Charging

A standard plug in charger is included. It takes 6 to 7 hours to recharge from a completely dead battery. It has the normal red light while charging and green light when finished indicator.

Recommendation – Buy or No Buy?

We recommend the Varla Pegasus for anyone who wants something faster and more powerful than a single motor scooter but doesn’t want the size, weight, and expense of the bigger dual motor scooters. The Pegasus packs a lot of performance while still being a reasonable size and weight. It’s just a lot of fun to ride fast after you get used to it.

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