Ride1Up 700 Series City E-Bike Review

Ride1Up is a relatively new company that started operating back in September 2018. They’re based in San Diego, CA, and we’ve already covered their electric longboards, and their Series 500 electric bikes. Their entire business is founded on the JIT (Just-In-Time) model of production, which drastically cuts the costs of production and storage, meaning that they can offer great products for a considerably lower price compared to the competition.

The downside of this JIT method is that they can’t handle very big orders, and if you’re looking to order the 700 Series E-Bike, you might have to be patient until they get the parts shipped in. The other downside is that customer service and support is constrained by what they currently have in their warehouse; if, for example, you need a replacement controller, it might be a few weeks until the model you need is ordered and shipped in.

Thankfully, we’ve had nothing but great experiences with their customer service, and their owner is a always there to help out if we had any questions. There’s a lot of passion and dedication in that small company, and we’re rooting for them. You can even take a pledge; if you promise to replace 2 car trips per month with an e-bike trip, they’ll give you $40 off your purchase. Now, let’s take a look at this fantastic e-bike.

The 700 Series uses a 48 V 500 W Shengyi Geared Hub Motor with a 1000 W peak power output. This is a pretty good motor; Bafang is the best possible option, but this Shengyi Geared Hub Motor is a fantastic, budget-friendly alternative. The 500 Series e-bikes and many other bikes use the 500 W Bafang Hub Motors that have a 750 W peak power output; this means that the 700 Series has a higher top speed and accelerates faster; 27 mph compared to the 25 mph.

This e-bike has the removable 700 Wh Reention Rhino (52x Samsung 35E Cells) Battery. The battery fits in seamlessly into the bike’s frame, which is great if you’re looking for a low-key, “stealth” e-bike that looks like a regular bike. It uses high-quality Samsung 35E Cells that can take a beating and have a long service life. The 700 Series also comes with a 2A charger, and it generally takes 6 hours to fully charge. It’s much better to top off the battery than to drain it completely, and then recharge it. Though it is a bit tricky to take the battery out and place back in, due to the front wheel being in the way.

As most e-bikes, the 700 Series has both pedal-assist and a thumb-operated throttle. There are 9 levels of pedal-assist, which is very interesting compared to most other e-bike’s 3 or 5 presets. Levels 3-5 are very enjoyable, and level 9 turns the bike into a controllable monster on the road. The average range is 30 miles with only throttle, and about 60 miles with pedelec. Of course, the rider’s weight and how steep the roads are is not taken into account here; if you’re someone heavier than 170 lbs or riding in a hilly area, you’re looking at a bit less range.

This bike has the 48V 22A Lishui Sine-wave Controller, which is a very “friendly”, and mellow controller. The hub motor is a bit loud sometimes, but the pedal-assist feels very responsive and gentle. This is a very beginner-friendly e-bike, one of the best beginner e-bikes out there in the market if we dare say so.

The 700 Series comes with GTMRK 330 front fork adjustable hydraulic suspension; in short it feels and rides like a dream. If you’re using this bike strictly for on-the-road commuting, you can set your suspension to be pretty rigid and leave it at that. It feels like a high-end commuting bike on the road. But, if your wild side starts showing, this bike climbs curbs and goes off-road, and the suspension is pretty good. While the bike doesn’t offer full suspension, you can add a suspension seat post (Seat Post Diameter 30.4mm).

The e-bike has Schwalbe SUPER MOTO 27.5 x 2.4” tires, which are puncture resistant and all-around good all-terrain tires. You can add aftermarket off-road tires if you’d rather use this bike as an off-road one, but we wouldn’t advise that. This is a great commuting bike, it wasn’t designed for serious mountain bike off-road trails.

The Shimano Acera Rapid-Fire 7-Speed Shifter; smooth, responsive and fantastic. While some people prefer having more speeds on their bike, e-bikes do just fine with less speeds due to their electric motors picking up the slack.

We’re loving the Shimano hydraulic disc brakes; unlike cable brakes, the hydraulic brakes are smoother and much more responsive. Especially the rear brakes. There’s one more feature that comes with the brakes, and that’s the automatic motor cutoff; whenever you brake, the hub motor’s power gets cut and your brakes don’t have to fight with the motor.

This automatic cut-off feature isn’t as common as we’d like it to be, and many other well-known bikes keep running the electric motor a couple of seconds after you’ve stopped pedaling. Sometimes, in panic situations where you push on the throttle and the brake lever (it happens more than ), your hub motor not stopping can make you crash. All in all, this is a safe and reliable bike.

The Series 700 is IP-65 Water Resistant; this means that it will die if thrown into a lake or left out in a rainstorm, like most electronics. You can ride it in a light drizzle or shallow snow, it can handle wet roads, but please be advised that this is risky behavior. Bicycles, electric scooters, and any other vehicle that requires the user to doesn’t play nice with wet or icy roads. If it’s raining or snowing, it’s much better to stay inside or transport your e-bike in the trunk.

The bike comes with Blaze-Lite front and rear lights; these lights are integrated into the bike, and use the onboard battery. We’re not impressed; they’re basically a single LED light that is decently bright, but it won’t let you see at night. If you’re someone who loves night rides, invest in a bright LED front light. The rear light is fine, the reflective surface is good enough, but a reflective vest, backpack or helmet are even better. Ride carefully at night.

Two frame sizes: 16” Step-Thru and 19” High-Step. Ride1Up had the “man” and “woman” versions of the bike in mind when they used these two different frame configurations. The smaller frame fits shorter people, up to 5’5”, and the larger frame fits people up to 6’4”. They both feel great, but the small frame’s design and ease of use took our heart by storm. The two frames feature different handlebars. The Step-Thru 16” frame has City/Cafe Upright Handlebars, which are lovely and allow the rider to sit back for a leisurely stroll, while the High-Step 19” frame has Low-Rise Bars, which are more sporty and feel like a mountain bike’s handlebars. The frame is made out of 6061 Aircraft Grade Aluminum Alloy, which is the industry standard.

There’s a certain aesthetic issue we had with these bikes: they cone in only two colors, industrial matte gray and matte gray-olive. The bikes look very unassuming, and you can barely see the Ride1Up logo. More color options would be nice, but we can use their longboard decals to spruce our bikes up.

What we liked is that the Series 700 comes with a standard rear rack and aluminum alloy fenders; both the rear rack and the fenders are sleek and durable. The fenders are completely silent during the ride, but they don’t protect you from the wet road all that well. If you’re someone that lives in a rainy area, you might want to invest in bigger fenders.

The e-bike features a Full Color LCD Display; we’re impressed. It’s bright and easy to see in the day (make sure you dim it in the night because it’s practically blinding), and the extra features like walk-mode are nice to have.

The bike comes in a narrow box, and it requires some assembly. You’ll need to attach the fork to the frame, mount the front wheel, the handlebars and add the seat. If you’re experienced with bike maintenance, it’s not too hard. You can also follow the video tutorials at https://ride1up.com/bike/Support. If you’ve never done this, there is no shame in going to the friendly neighborhood bike shop. The last thing you want is to have your front wheel fall off, or damaging the bike in some way; so leave it to the pros.

The Ride1Up Series 700 is classified as a Class 3 e-bike when using pedal-assist (faster than 20mph), and a Class 2 e-bike when only using the throttle (slower than 20mph, but faster than 15mph). This means that is should be legal anywhere in the USA, but please check your state’s laws and regulations. These bikes are not legal in Europe, as EU bikes are limited to a maximum of 15 mph.

How does the Ride1Up Series 700 compare to other e-bikes of similar performance and quality? Compared to other e-bikes within its price range, it practically dominates. You’re not going to get a better bike at a lower price. The Series 700 is one of the best possible beginner bikes out there. On the other side, $1449 is no pocket change, and there are some e-bikes under $1000 that are a great entry-level bike to the hobby for people that aren’t looking to shell out a grand and a half for their first e-bike. The Series 700 is often the second bought bike in the household (after your spouse or your kid claims your bike as their daily rider), and that’s perfectly fine.

Now, since this bike is punching up, we can compare it to some bigger names in the industry, such as the CrossCurrent X and the Pedego City Commuter, bikes that cost considerably more than the Series 700 yet offer similar performance. The build quality and the features are about the same, and all three bikes boast that they’re the best commuter bike out there. The competition is stiff, but the Series 700 brought a ridiculously low price into the fray. It’s interesting and exciting that a young, small company with a very small selection of e-bikes can challenge the bigger players, like Rad Bikes, VoltBike or Magnum. Of course, the Ride1Up bikes can’t compete with specialized, premium e-bikes that cost several thousand dollars such as the Turbo Levo or the Bulls Copperhead. It’s a small, affordable and durable commuter’s bike that isn’t perfect.

In short, we’re quite impressed. There are a few downsides such as the lack of customization (mainly the colors), the weak headlight, the lack of a rear suspension and the rather annoying battery placement that makes removing it and putting it back in a bit of a hassle, but everything else is fantastic.

The best feature this bike has is the amazingly low price; there are bikes that cost a grand more that don’t have all these features. The build quality, the gentle controller, the good motor and the front suspension, the hydraulic brakes, and all the other features are a nice surprise we didn’t expect. To be honest, we thought this bike would cost $2,200, and it would’ve been an okay choice at that price, but at $1,449 it’s a fantastic choice. For the extreme enthusiast crowd, this bike is nothing special compared to their $6,000+ e-bikes, but they’re not Ride1Up’s target crowd.

But if you’re a e-bike beginner with a lot of disposable income, this is your best bet; and if you’re someone who’s already had a taste of how great entry-level e-bikes are, this is the next step.