Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Review: The Biggest Battery in the Bracket, Now Discontinued

What it is

The Sohamo S3 Step-Thru is a folding fat-tire e-bike with a 750 W hub motor, a low step-through frame, assist to 28 mph, and — in its top trim — a 960 watt-hour battery. It weighs about 69 lb.

That battery figure is the reason this bike is on the site. Nine hundred and sixty watt-hours is the most energy available anywhere in the value bracket, by a clear margin: it is a third morethan the 720 Wh big-battery commuters and more than two and a half timesthe 360 Wh packs on the lightest budget bikes. It is also the number the base trim does not have, which is the single most important thing to know before you order.

The two trims are effectively two different bikes

Sohamo sells the S3 with either a 720 Wh or a 960 Wh pack under the same model name. That is a 33% difference in stored energy, which on this kind of bike is the difference between a solid commuter and a genuinely long-range one.

Run the numbers at our standard 20 Wh-per-mile planning figure for throttle-heavy riding on fat tires:

• 720 Wh trim — about 36 miles. Good. Comparable to the best of the road commuters.
• 960 Wh trim — about 48 miles. This is the number that lets you stop thinking about charging entirely on a normal week.

Sohamo’s 60-mile claim belongs to the big pack and requires favorable conditions; 48 is the honest planning figure. Read the amp-hours on the listing, multiply by the system voltage, and confirm which bike you are actually buying. A model name is not a spec. Our range guide sets out the whole method, and the charging cost pageputs a full 960 Wh fill at about 20 cents— still the cheapest fuel you will ever buy.

A step-through frame on a fat-tire bike is unusual

Fat-tire e-bikes are usually built around a substantial diamond frame with a high top tube, which is exactly the thing that makes a heavy bike awkward to mount. The S3 drops the top tube entirely.

The practical effect is that you can get on and off a 69 lb bike without the balance-on-one-leg maneuver, which matters most for shorter riders, anyone with stiff hips or a knee that objects, and anyone who rides in normal clothes rather than cycling kit. It also means you can put a foot flat down at a light while still seated, which is the single most reassuring thing about a low frame in traffic.

The one thing to verify is seat height range against your inseam. A low standover does not automatically mean a low saddle, and a bike you cannot get your foot down on comfortably defeats the purpose. Sohamo publishes a fit range — read it before ordering.

The Class 3 question

Assist to 28 mph makes the S3 a Class 3 e-bike, and that is a real constraint rather than a technicality. A large number of multi-use paths, park trails and greenways in the US permit Class 1 and Class 2 only. Some states set a minimum rider age for Class 3; a few mandate a helmet by law on Class 3 regardless of age.

If your riding is on roads and in bike lanes, 28 mph assist is straightforward upside — it lets you move with traffic on a 30 mph street rather than being constantly overtaken. If the reason you want a bike is a specific rail trail, check that trail’s posted rules first, because a Class 3 bike that is banned from your one good route is the wrong purchase at any price. The classes and laws guideexplains what each class permits, and the Class 2 bikes in our beginner picks are the path-friendly alternative.

69 pounds, and what folding actually gets you

The S3 is heavy — not unusually so for a big-battery fat-tire bike, but heavy enough that the weight should shape your expectations. A 960 Wh pack is itself several pounds of cells, and fat tires, a 750 W motor and a folding hinge all add mass.

Folding, as on every heavy folder, buys storage rather than portability. It fits in a car trunk, a closet or a corner of a garage. It does not become something you carry upstairs or take on a train. Plan on ground-floor storage or a lift, and check any car rack’s weight rating before assuming the bike will go on it — many trunk racks stop well short of 69 lb. Our weight guide covers what each band means in practice.

Power, and where 750 watts helps

The 750 W rated motor is at the top of the value bracket and it does real work here. A step-through frame with fat tires and a big battery is a heavy object, and 350 W would struggle to move it convincingly. On rolling terrain and moderate hills the S3 pulls confidently; on a sustained steep grade it will still bog like any single-speed hub motor, which is a property of the design rather than this bike — our hub vs mid-drive guide explains why, and our motor power guide covers what rated wattage does and does not tell you.

Charging and safety

A 960 Wh pack is a large amount of stored energy and deserves proportionate care. Use the supplied charger only, never charge unattended or overnight, charge somewhere that is not your only exit from a room, and stop using any pack that swells, smells or runs hot. Confirm what certification, if any, the specific trim claims; the CPSC’s micromobility guidance recommends packs certified to UL 2271 and complete systems to UL 2849. Our battery care guide has the full routine, including how to store a big pack over winter.

Who it was for — and what to buy now

The S3 (960 Wh) was the right bike ifrange was the spec you actually cared about, you wanted a low frame on a fat-tire bike, you rode roads where 28 mph assist is legal and useful, and you had ground-floor storage. Nothing else in the bracket carried that much energy, and a bike you charge once a week is a different ownership experience from one you charge every other day.

What we recommend instead. For the biggest pack you can still buy, our pick is the SASIKEIBIKE 20″ folding fat-tire bike: 52 V x 20 Ah is 1,040 Wh, more than the S3 ever offered, with front and rear suspension and a UL 2849-certified system for around $700. The honest catch is the frame — it is a conventional folder, not a low step-through. If the step-through was the reason you were here, the Aipas A2is the step-through fat-tire folder we now point people at, at 614 Wh.

The S3 was the wrong bike ifthe price gap pushed you onto the 720 Wh trim without you meaning to, if your key route bars Class 3 bikes, or if you needed to lift the bike regularly — 69 lb folded is still 69 lb.