July update: the Burn-E is longest range electric scooter in the World, according to our tests.
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We have never seen a scooter cause more excitement or more disappointment than the NAMI BURN-E (Viper). But after the hype is over, and after we sorted out some shipping damage and a little initial setup, it’s hands down, the best scooter that we’ve ever ridden.
The Burn-E’s Eco-Friendly Box Is Not Shipping-Friendly
Buyers were horrified to see their NAMI Burn-E (Viper) scooters arriving in the United States late, in annihilated boxes, and often inoperable. Here’s what ours looked like.
Originally named the Viper, this brand new design has been long anticipated, as it’s a mostly custom-built, beastly 3000 watt dual motor scooter designed by former Kaabo designer, Michael Sha.
Arriving in mangled, “eco-friendly” corrugated cardboard, the Burn-E was intentionally shipped without styrofoam — and took tons of damage.
Fluid Freeride owner, Julian Fernau, quickly responded to the shipping issue, promising replacement scooters to buyers that received damaged units, and improved packaging for the next round of Nami Burn-E scooters.
Our model was mostly in good shape, but we could not get the stem to engage because a supporting rod inside was badly bent.
After some tweaks and tuning, we got it out on the road. And didn’t want to stop riding.
Spoiler Alert: Based on initial testing, the Burn-E ranks among ESG’s fastest electric scooters, because it’s not only ridiculously awesome to ride, but ridiculously fast, too.
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The Burn-E’s Suspension is Next Level
The most amazing thing about the Burn-E is its hydraulic suspension.
We’ve never tested an electric scooter with adjustable hydraulic damping before, and it’s almost everything we had hoped for.
Out of the box, it was tuned pretty well, but if you let off the throttle at very high speed, it gets a little wobbly.
After adding two turns to the front spring, taking one turn out of the back spring, and setting damping at 15.5 out of 16 clicks, the ride is amazingly good, and the off-throttle wobble is essentially gone.
Let’s talk more about that throttle.
Even With its Quirks, We Love the Burn-E’s Throttle
We know we’re going to get some heat because we’ve seen this throttle on other scooters and heard other riders’ feedback, but we love the throttle on the Burn-E… striking it a specific way.
Yes, it has kind of a ridiculous amount of dead space when first hitting the throttle, but what makes it stellar is that it’s very easy to modulate speed.
It’s one of few scooters in the world that you can ride comfortably at 4 mph in maximum performance mode, and then instantly rocket forward by mashing that throttle.
Expert Tip: Anchoring your thumb on the arm of the throttle (rather than striking the pad), and modulating the throttle from the joint gives you excellent control. It also prevents accidental throttling over bumps. Using this technique, it’s our second favorite throttle ever, next to the thumb throttle on the Apollo Phantom Ludicrous.
Save Presets as Profiles With the Burn-E’s Smart Dashboard
With the Burn-E’s display, which is around the same size as a credit card, you can save rider profiles as modes using p-settings.
Not only can you save presets for different riding styles, you can also create modes for different riders. Considering the rather long list of settings you can adjust, being able to save presets is an awesome convenience and upgrade from electric scooters that reset every time you power on/off.
Not only can you save multiple profiles as modes, you can also adjust the maximum power delivered to each wheel, and how abruptly the power comes on for each wheel when you hit the throttle.
We’d use one preset for everyday riding, another for drag racing, and another programmed for letting friends try the Burn-E.
When we got this scooter out of the box, we realized just how big the Burn-E really is.
With a Build Like This, the Burn-E Stands Out
Just take a look at the deck, which is much larger than we expected.
It’s even wider than the expansive deck on the Kaabo Wolf King, which is a 9.0 in wide by 20.3 in long platform.
The added standing room really comes in handy for keeping your balance during hard acceleration and braking.
Here’s a side-by-side of the decks on the high performance Wolf King and entry-level Xiaomi Mi M365 Pro, with the Burn-E centerstage.
There’s really a lot to love about the new, custom design of the Burn-E, but like most others, there’s room for improvement.
A unique convenience is the dual charging ports, which are much easier to reach than on most beast scooters.
They’re perfectly placed and have the standard rubber covers, but we’d seal off the opposite side of the ports for better protection (since the underside is exposed to kicked-up debris and fluids). A little black silicone would do it.
With some tweaking and tuning (mostly due to damage during shipping but also to improve ride quality), the Burn-E reveals its really, really well built.
And it’s even more fun to ride.
Why Riding the Burn-E Is So Good
The Burn-E’s ride quality feels vehicle grade, exceptionally smooth and super solid.
The sine-drive motor controllers are whisper quiet, and so far, our Burn-E has made no annoying squeaks or mysterious rattles. And we’ve been riding it a lot.
Our team and PEV enthusiasts alike recognize that the Burn-E’s got something most electric scooters don’t: the best ride quality ever.
No other scooter that we’ve tested has had adjustable hydraulic suspension on the front and rear, making the ride feel more customizable than other scooters at the turn of a knob.
The Burn-E is silent and offers no stem wobble, excellent brake feel, and excellent throttle response (with the right application). It also has that huge deck, giving you more control over weight distribution when acceleration and braking.
We’ll reveal how well the Burn-E performs in our full written and video reviews.
Our content is independent, but buying through our links may earn us a commission.
