Full Product Review
Ride1Up was one of the first companies to send me an electric bike. So, when I opened it up, hopped on, hit the throttle and quickly took off, I thought that was the status quo for e-bikes. I have come to find out that that is not always the case. Ride1Up is one of the most powerful e-bike companies I've tested. These guys have crammed a ton of power into their bikes. If you're looking for a fast, powerful, and sturdy feeling bike, this might be a good option.
The power to weight ratio is what makes this one of the fastest bikes in class. In fact, it's only one of two bikes that has a 750 watt motor. The other bike with the same size motor weighs 79 pounds, which is 26 pounds more than the Ride1Up.
First off, I wanted to cut the power, show you how hard this is to pedal without any power. Gotta flash touch the road, I'm on the first gear. If you do run out of battery on your trip, you'll be all right pedaling this thing back home on pedal assist one, casually pedaling. That's 15 on the bike, 15 on the app. Two is 16. Three is 18. Four is 21. And five is 22. And then if I really start cranking, increase my RPM up to about 70. There's 28. So casually pedaling, I hit 22 miles per hour. When I increase that by about 10 RPM, I could get it up to 28 miles per hour, which is the speed rating.
This is the type of bike where the more you give, the more it gives. In the settings, you have the option to change how many pedal assist levels you want, down to three or up to nine. You can also set the power for each level to give you a wider spread in the top speed of each of those levels. And last, you can limit the top speed of the bike, which only applies to pedal assist. The throttle is rated to around 20 miles per hour, so let's see if I can hit that. The throttle's on the left side. It's a cheaper feeling throttle, my least favorite type of throttle. Anyway, let's see how fast it can go. The throttle speed varies. It jumps up to 22 miles per hour, and then kind of bounces back and forth between 19 and 21-22.
The torque sensor on this bike is impressive and what really makes this feel like a high-end bike. Pedal assist is a little bit faster and took about a half a block to hit 20 miles per hour. If you don't like a fast start, you can change that in the settings from level zero to three. Let me show you the difference.
You can also change the pedal assist sensitivity from zero to five. Let's see if there's a difference when moving about 15 miles per hour between those two levels. Going 15 miles an hour, if I stop pedaling, power cuts off right away. If I re-engage, as soon as I move the cranks, it kicks on. Let me stop and switch it to level five. Going the same speed as before, if I stop pedaling, there's a little bit of a delay there, about a half a second. If I re-engage, there's about a half a revolution before the power comes back on. So, there is a difference with that setting. If you like a little delay before the power comes on when you're pedaling, set that to level five.
Pedal assist is a little bit faster and took about half a block to hit 20 miles per hour. If you don't like a fast start, you can change that in the settings from Level 0 to 3. You can also change the pedal assist sensitivity from 0 to 5. Let's see if there's a difference when moving about 15 miles per hour between those two levels. Going 15 miles an hour, if I stop pedaling, power cuts off right away. If I re-engage, as soon as I move the cranks, it kicks on. Let me stop and switch it to level 5. Going the same speed as before, I stop pedaling. There's a little bit of a delay there, about half a second. If I re-engage, there's about a half a revolution before the power comes back on. So there is a difference with that setting. If you like a little delay before the power comes on when you're pedaling, set that to level 5.
Next, let me show you how reactive the throttle is. From a standstill, hit the throttle. Pretty slow off the line, takes a second for it to get going. And then, while cruising around 15 miles an hour, if I release it, power instantly cuts off. If I re-engage, it's almost instantaneous. There's a small delay there. That's a very reactive throttle for the price of the bike.
The Limited produces 100 newton meters of torque, which is the most torque out of any other bike in this price range. I got a full battery, I'm at pedal assist level 5. This is a two-block long hill. The 5% grade is about half a block long. This is where it starts to get steep. Down to 7, and this is the trickiest section, down to 6. Kind of starting to get a decent burn in the legs. Coming up over the top at 8, and there you go. It can get you to the top, it's just slow getting there.
Ride1Up continues to deliver with the Spyke by adding Tektro HD 285 hydraulic brakes. The right side controls the rear brake, left side the front. I like the levers. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to engage the brakes. So for light braking, no pulsating, nice and smooth. Let's do a hard brake test. Here we go. It took me about 30 feet to stop from going 20 miles per hour, and the back wheel did fishtail a little bit.
It's time to find out how long the 48-volt 14-amp hour Samsung battery can go. I've got a full charge on the bike, which takes about 3 to 6 hours. You can charge it in the bike or out of the bike. And I'm going to cruise around 20 miles per hour without a lot of stop and go.
Test complete. It was cooler riding at around 42 degrees, and I had about a dozen stops and averaged 21 miles per hour. My app recorded 21.31 miles with 698 feet of elevation gain. I did use the throttle the entire time, and the top speed only dropped by one mile per hour from a full battery to a low battery, so it's got great power consistency.
For this next test, I'm going to top the bike out with a lot more stop and go to resemble some more city-like driving.
Thank you. Test is over. The battery didn't die completely, and the last 25% goes for a while, so I'm thinking I probably could have gotten another
I didn't completely run out of battery and the last 25% lasted for a while, so I probably could have gone another one to two miles. Anyway, my app recorded just over 14 miles with 800 feet of elevation gain, and for this test, I did pedal so I could top the bike out.
Okay, guys, let me run you through the specs and stats. The first thing I noticed when I took it out of the box was the nice frame. There are zero weld marks, which is hard to find these days with a bike in this price range. It comes in two colors: gray and Sandstone. It doesn't come with fenders, and there are two bolts if you want to attach a water bottle. The frame can hold a 300-pound rider and a rider size of 5'6" to 6'4". I'm going to lower the seat all the way down. The nice thing about this is it's a light frame, it's small, and so if you are a small rider, you're going to feel comfortable on something like this. Raising it all the way up, I'm not going to be able to get on it at that point, so if you are a big rider, this is going to fit your frame as well. The posture this gives you is more of a mountain bike style. You are hunched over a little bit. It gives you a lower center of gravity, so you have nice balance and handling. It feels well-balanced, and then I take my hands off the handlebars and it moves around a little bit. I've definitely felt better balanced bikes in this category. Nothing really too special about the handling, it's standard for commuter bikes. You've got an aggressive riding stance, lower center of gravity, so that does give you better control. It's also a lighter frame, so it responds quick and fast. You can kind of bunny hop this and pop up the wheel fairly easily.
The reach is actually fairly narrow. There's only 20 inches, so I mean I can reach past the grips about 9-10 inches. Next, you've got city cafe upright handlebars. If I had to guess, I'd say about 27-28 inches. There are ergonomic locking rubber grips. They feel nice, they're stationary, they're wingtips. I do like the grips. Below, there's a Shimano 8-speed Rapid Fire Plus shifter. Going up is one at a time, nice, fast, and smooth. Coming down, one-two-three. Three and a half pushes to go from eight to one, and that is matched with a Shimano Rd m370 derailleur.
They've got a plush gel saddle, a little bit small and kind of hard for my taste. And then you've got WTB groovy 27x5 by 2.4-inch tires. Those are some higher quality tires that I've seen, and that is matched with an air front fork suspension with 80 millimeters of travel, and that suspension is butter smooth. I wish they would have added some sort of suspension here, whether it be a seat post or just something back here to make the back of the bike feel a little bit better. It's just hard to have such a nice front-end suspension and then nothing in the rear.
As far as the LCD screen, everything is just one single unit. It is a color LCD display. Plus and minus to change the pedal assist levels. Hold down the plus button to turn on the headlights, which is a super-bright headlight, one of the brightest I've seen for a bike. And then hold down the minus button for the walk assist.
My favorite features of the Limited are the air suspension, which is a rare find for a bike in this price range, and the sensitivity in the torque sensor. You have power right when you hit those pedals. There are also a lot of high-end pieces on this bike.
