KingSong KS-S22 Eagle – King of suspension wheels?

“This is the long awaited Kingsong KS-S22 Eagle new 20″ suspension wheel with substantial upgrades to Kingsong famous KS-S18”.

This is what we wrote at the end of July. And now the new wheel has been released. So let’s see what is that we have been promised by Kingsong. 

Before going into details, let’s address the most urgent question – what will it cost. The price has been set at 3299USD by Kingsong. In Europe, Voltride.com price will be 2999 Eur, including VAT. For preorders, the deposit is 1500Eur with shipping to start on Nov 30 from China.

Those who place orders need to have a lot of something very special – patience. Forbearance will do as well. Why? Because this is a new product, only to be put in production over the next few months to come. Remember, we have seen only renders from Kingsong, not a real thing. Things may go wrong; suppliers may be slow, etc. Not talking about shortage of battery cells and electronics. 

Kingsong is planning to deliver units to all dealers little by little. The ones that make bigger order, will get a little bit bigger “little delivery” at the beginning. The ones that make small orders, will only get tiny little shipment at first. My guess is that the orders that we place now will be delivered to Europe from December 2021 to April-May 2022. So patience is needed. Plus a working other EUC for many more months to keep you going before your Eagle will finally land at your door.

The video and specs of Kingsong KS-S22 Eagle leaked one day ahead of the official launch. Majority of specifications S22 are outside of the world Kingsong used to live in.  This is not putting out a challenge to Gotway or Veteran family; this is throwing down the gauntlet. 

Kingsong shared a few thoughts about their year-long journey to S22: “Utilizing the experience of the S18 combined with the understanding of the demand of the current market we started work on the S22 Eagle. To reach new heights, / we started prototyping and designing a new wheel that will tackle the most extreme.  In comparison [with the S18], the S22 is 23% larger, with doubled battery capacity, upgraded professional suspension with 30% longer suspension travel. Through countless designs, the study of the human body on an EUC we became the first company to integrate built in ‘power-pads’ all in the pursuit of the best experience possible.”

So lets check through the Kingsong KS-S22 specifications. This is really something we have seen never before, at least from Kingsong:

  • 20″ wheel, tire 3″. No information about the rim.
  • Speed up to 70km/h (free spin 105km/h)
  • Range up to 200km (11.1Wh/km). Measured with 60kg load at 20km/h.
  • Motor peak 7500W (rated 3300W, 160Nm.
  • Motor type: hollow bore, 60mm, custom bearings seal
  • Climbing angle: 84% (40°)
  • Battery 2220Wh @126V (rated 111V), in 2 packs, 30S4P.
  • Battery cell LG50LT 21700
  • Fast charging up to 10A (1.25kW), 6A charger included
  • Charging time 4h
  • Smart BMS for monitoring battery cells via app

Most of these numbers take Kingsong to a new territory. However, there is one more number – the weight. According to KS official documents, the wheel is 28kg. This is simply incredible. If Kingsong really delivers a fully set up wheel at that weight, no further questions, they will really make a King of the wheels. In this world however, I’d expect the weight to be 35-37kg.

So why it gets me so excited? After all we have seen specifications like this, or close to this before..

The excitement comes from the fact that Kingsong has never made anything like that before. And that is combined with the trust, belief and hope, that Kingsong is capable of putting the quality stamp on this product..  Big powerful wheel, that works like a Swiss watch (or almost), and weighs next to nothing.

Let’s move on to other features, convenience ones, if you like:

  • Suspension – DNM Burner RCP-2S 240mm, with non-linear force distribution.  Travel 130mm.  The stock spring is replaced with a GR-27RC 750lb. Kingsong claims this is ideal for any type of terrain as you can tune compression and damping as well pre-compress the spring.
  • Spiked honeycomb-like pedals, size 277x130mm, height not given, but adjustable. 
  • Customizable power-pads that they mentioned in their comments to launch. When looking at the wheel, it is understood, these pads are an important part of the wheel, not just an add-on. How these will work in practice remains to see.
  • Removable seat
  • 8x5W adjustable LED headlights, angle manually adjustable.
  • Built-in speedometer and power display
  • Integrated kickstand
  • Max load 120kg.
  • USB 3.0 output
  • Trolley handle
  • Front bumper

These are all useful features, probably not exceptional, but greatly add value to the wheel.

Power control has been entirely designed by Kingsong engineers. 

  • Controller is modular, handling many tasks like on-off, lights, integrated display, charger.
  • HV TO-247 Mosfets – 12pcs
  • 16 heat sink columns to dissipate heat effectively
  • Low battery protection to reduce speed at 30%, an audible alarm at 5%. Pedal tilt-back to full stop at 0%
  • High temperature protection at 80°
  • Bluetooth 5.0 protocol

Not much has been said about the Kingsong KS-S22 Eagle body sealing and waterproofing. In fact if you look closer, you do no find any body panels, as is the case with Gotway, Sherman or Inmotion. Kingsong has gone entirely to the other direction with S18 and continues the same way with S22. The batteries are sealed in the container and form most of what can be called side panels. Controller is placed at the top and is also sealed. In a way, this looks already good if the same kind of IP-level is maintained like with S18. For the record, with IP-certification not done, Kingsong has still a challenge to bridge

Let’s summarize with the words from a guy from New Zealand: “There is absolutely nothing here Not To Love IMHO, can’t wait to see the real deal!”