From the urban streets to the country trails, the King Song 16X is still often touted as one of the best all-around electric unicycles. Its 2200W motor and 1554Wh battery pack a punch providing riders with speeds up to 50km/h and up to an incredible Real Range of up to 80km per charge.
King Song is known for their reliability and attention to safety and the 16X is no different with its rock solid build. There is a reason King Song chose to include the 16X in its 10 year anniversary lineup, and to this day the 16X is simply one of the most joyous wheels to ride thanks to its fantastic maneuverability and pure sense of fun and freedom.
King Song 16X vs Gotway Nikola
Both the King Song 16X & Gotway Nikola were released at around the same period, an assessment of the capabilities of the 16X should be made within context of the Nikola. Since introduction, Gotway have already produced several large battery variations of the Nikola, including a 84V/2100Wh, 100V/1845Wh & now a 1800Wh with the Panasonic 21700 format battery cells. In the 100V configuration, the Nikola has max speed performance advantage over the 16X, but the 16X is equipped with a more powerful 2200W motoor.
- Design: the 16X is a radical departure from the standard King Song design theme—first unveiled back in late 2015 with the 16B— which was replicated across the whole model range in variation with the 14D/S, 16S, & 18L/18XL. The Nikola is more in keeping traditional designs such the Inmotion V8/V10 but has some unique visual properties, like the high-density LED atmospheric ring around the whole outer perimeter of the Wheel.
- Price: the Nikola in the same spec is $100 less expensive than the 16X.
- Weight: the advantage here goes to the King Song 16X, which is around 2lb/~1kg lighter than the Nikola.
- Dimension & Wheel Width: both Wheels match the height (23.2″) & length (15.7″) but differ in the width, where the King Song is 1″ thinner than the Nikola at its widest point (with the pedal folded up).
- Folding Handle: on the Nikola, Gotway have gone with a folding design, similar to the Inmotion V5F/V10 & Ninebot E+, where the handle is folded around the contours of the body. With the Ninebot E+, this choice proved to be a particularly weak point in the Wheel. In contrast, King Song’s vertically centered retractable handle provides better stability when trolleying, after a number of iterations on the 18XL, it is considered to be one of the best designs available.
- Other Notes: Gotway
claims the Nikola has 2x 25W stereo speakers, which if true, is a
significant step-up from the standard 5W speakers found on every other
Wheel with the Bluetooth Music service. The 16X sports quad-5W speakers
in addition to a 10W sub-woofer.
The 16X has a seat option, as well as a rear mud-guard (which is standard equipment), while the Nikola has neither.