Where can I ride Rungu? Beyond the boundaries of a two-wheel e-bike

Beyond the boundaries of two-wheel ebikes

Rungu rides beyond the boundaries of two-wheel e-bikes off-road and through terrain that’s unfriendly to a single front wheel.  See our blog post about avoiding two-wheel fat-tire e-bikes for perspective.  The same trails that you can ride with an ATV, Jeep, or “side-by-side” make for great Rungu rides in contrast to two-wheel e-bikes.  Because Rungu has a narrow footprint, even hiking trails that allow bicycles are also accessible with Rungu.

Avoid bike trails and single-track with Rungu.  Bike trails often have restrictions on e-bike usage, so be aware of the e-bike rules. Single track trails usually have banks on either side of the grooved center that make a “V” or “U” cross-section. While these grooves help bicyclists keep to the center of the track, Rungu’s two-front wheels will tend to wander off the trail, making riding single-track very challenging.

If you avoid single-track with Rungu, you still have plenty of terrain to cover.  According to statistics released in 2012, you can estimate there are approximately 25,000 miles of single-track trails in the US, with more than 10,000 concentrated in California and Colorado.  Alternatively, there are almost 1.4M miles of unpaved roads in the US and tens of thousands more specialized 4×4 and OHV trails that will welcome you and your Rungu MDV — and scare off most e-bike riders.

Rocks, sand, mud and snow that are common on unpaved roads, and specialized OHV trails are obstacles to two-wheel e-bikes. Two-wheel e-bikes don’t have the power to “throttle out” in the same way a dirt-bike rider can make his or her way over loose ground. Even riding a two-wheel e-bike downhill on loose ground can lead to a cascade of problems that Rungu overcomes with ease.

But where is Rungu legal to ride?

Rungu MDV series is designed and meant to be operated beyond the boundaries of a two-wheel e-bike, but Rungu can ride within those boundaries, too.  The MDV series can operate at or below Class 2 standards by limiting the power level output appropriately — see our FAQs on this subject.  At Class 2 standards, MDV series models can operate where Class 2 bikes are allowed, which now extends to BLM lands. 

Rungu is welcome in many off-road/4×4 trail systems.  The OHV trail systems on BLM lands, the Hatfield McCoy trail system in West Virginia, Utah OHV systems and California State Park OHV areas are all examples. Regarding other OHV systems near you, it never hurts to ask authorities if you have a doubt.  And if you don’t want to, contact us at info@riderungu.com and we’ll make the inquiry for you.

Where can I find off-roading trails?

Here is a list of resources that we’ve found useful:

The BLM map search site – US government search page for finding topo maps and access guides within BLM lands.

Trails Off-road – A freemium site with access to GPX files for your cellphone or GPS device.

Dirtopia – A Wiki-site with links to google maps and abbreviated descriptions of off-road trails.

AllTrails – a subscription site with well-organized user reviews of OHV trails and access to custom maps