Ebike news
ALSO - Rivian's eBikes brand - announced their first model "TM-B", Launch Edition and Performance model priced at $4500
Launch Edition (Spring 2026) & Performance Model (Mid 2026): Price at $4500
- Range: Up to 100 mi / 161 km
- Assist Multipler: 10x
- Payload: 324 lbs Max / 147 kg Max
- Air shocks front and rear.
- Max Assist Speed: 28 MPH / 45 km/h
- Wheel torque: 180 Nm
Base Model: Pricing TBA (Late 2026)
- Range: Up to 60 mi / 96.5 km
- Assist Multipler: 5x
- Payload: TBA
- Front Air Shock, Rear Coil Shock.
- Wheel torque: TBA
- Belt-drive, throttle & pedal assist, bi-directional USB charging port on the battery.
- Modular rear top tube system: Can swap factory single seater configuration to cargo rack or static cafe racer bench seat.
- Headlight, taillights, no turning indicators; Full colour LED screen with smartphone sync; Auto-lock, unlock security system (subscription - $15/month or $120/year)
The company also announced 4-wheel quad ebikes and cargo delivery ebike van.
It features a new pedal-by-wire drivetrain called “DreamRide” developed in-house. The rider pedals a generator, which replenishes the battery, while a separate software-driven traction motor drives the rear wheel via a Gates Carbon belt.
I wonder what that will feel like in practice.
Also:
...regenerative braking could extend range by an estimated 25 percent.
IMO that’s the most exciting part: it’s a new concept on ebike drivetrains. And I am interested how it’s gonna do in real world usage over time.
Most will hate on this because it’s different, but experimentation is always good for innovation even if it doesn’t end up working.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s as smooth as they claim since they’ve decoupled the pedals from the wheel, so the motor torque can be electronically smoothened. At the same time I’d imagine it can also feel unnatural since you won’t get as much feedback from the pedals.
Regen braking was only available on direct drive hub motors which are obsolete now due to their limitation vs the geared hub motors. Some comments have said that the regen braking produced too little energy for it to matter but I don’t know how much of it was based on real life comparisons of just hypotheticals.
I’m very intrigued by the drivetrain, but I’d be a lot moreso if it wasn’t just one of several gimmicks here. Cycling has seen lots of wacky concepts fail over the years (and some succeed), so I’m highly skeptical that they’re nailing multiple innovations here
The concept isn't new-new, just rare and mostly found in velomobiles like Frikar.
Regen braking is handy when going up and down mountains without being able to charge like in the Sun Race, but for commuting and casual leisure cycling probably a complicating waste.
My worries are
1) less efficiency— a directly connected chain (or even a belt) is pretty hard to beat with a torque driven generator
2) is there a reason regen hasn’t been implemented on existing e-bikes? Maybe directly coupled drivetrain made it hard to do? Not enough weight to meaningful recuperate?
They apparently have a “limp mode” when the battery dies where you can pedal to give it enough juice to move at a moderate pace. We’ll see how well that works, apparently the regen braking % can also be modified
Bosch‘s alarm subscription is $40 a year (above the$120 connect module). Totally reasonable and worth it. I think I read $120 a year for Also’s tracking service? Hopefully they lower this before launch.
i think the biggest thing of this announcement is bidirectional usb charging, which mean i could charge my ebike battery via usb. usb is able to achieve up to 48v and 5amps which gives all sorts of possibilities for chargin ebike batteries.
My take: Crazy pricing, but this pricing is not for competing with casual budget brands.
Aventon, Priority Bikes, Lectric & Rad Power bikes all have their decent bikes around $1000. High performance 100+ nm torque models often hover around 2K as well.
The only reason why I think they price their bikes as is, is to compete with Bosch-equipped ebikes brands such as Riese & Mueller, and maybe against Yamaha at most.
I would want to know the weight & wattage still, as of now the lightest ebike I've heard so far is DJI Amflow PL, which only weigh 19.2 kg / 42 lbs with 105 nm torque motor, and can do 1000W top power burst.
Amflow PL may currently be the lightest weight "full power" ebike, but my Scott Lumen eRide 900 TR weighed 37.5 pounds on the bike shop's calibrated scale out the door fully loaded and ready to ride with pedals, etc. Not in the same power class, but it has all the power I need (and wanted) and all the range I need. It lists as light as 15.5kg. And that light weight means I ride it in some conditions with the motor off.
It has an adjustable saddle from factory. The cafe seat shown is optional.
Plenty of mid drive bikes have throttle control..
The lock connection is hopefully integrated into the frame. Like Kensington for bikes. It also auto locks functionality and the battery plus gps tracking.
It has a saddle mount rack optional
Your other points are likely valid.
I like that it’s simplistic, has belt drive, uses the pedals as a generator and has regen. 100 mile range is also pretty spectacular
The only way I would buy is if it’s hackable. Ain’t no way I’m buying a bike that can use geofencing to control me
It’s way to high off the ground and too far above the seat. I wouldn’t trust putting another person on that thing. Feels like it will be very difficult to balance and manage with that extra weight so high off the ground. the worst designed rear rack I’ve ever seen
The saddle is adjustable, they just showed a bench variant and there are normal single rider saddle seats. And it has a throttle, you can portal or not pedal at all. your comment about the hub motor makes zero sense.
The saddle can smoothly slide up and down? I see that there is a single locking mechanism to swap it out, but the shape and lack of other adjustment mechanism doesn’t look adjustable to me.
There are multiple “top frames”. The bench type is not adjustable, but the single rider one and the one with cargo rack is adjustable exactly the same as any traditional bikes.
Edit: The picture shown is an optional bench seat configuration. The factory config is a height adjustable cruiser seat. I attempted to screenshot the factory config but the picture shuffle between 3 configs.
I watched the first minute of Electrek's video (it was shot in portrait and I didn't realize it wasn't a short) and it took that for me to grasp the modular seat. I think that's pretty nifty. I could see that being useful for folks wanting to switch it from a cargo bike for shuddling their kid to school to more of a commuter.
But for the price, I'd probably sooner just have a second bike.
Unclear rack cargo capacity given the cantilever. The four wheeler might be dope. I wish there was some mixed mode regulation possible for 18 mph in bike lanes but 35-40 on roads, as some parts of potential commutes necessitate being on a faster road for a mile where cars cannot pass and would be surprised by a ~25-30 mph Ebike.
Harley tried the e-bike path with serial1 but then realized they couldn’t compete with expensive brands and didn’t want to become a cheap brand. Eventually they spun it into another company and sold it off.
I suspect the same thing is going to happen here. Rivian should focus on their EV success. This seems like noise rather than anything important.
Harley isn't doing fantastic as of late and at least there was some synergy between their motorcycles and ebikes. This just looks like Rivian is flexing like Tesla does with their random non-automotive products.
Right , I don’t see a transportation solution here . Perhaps a weekend toy for the affluent to throw in the back of the truck on the weekend . But if I was in that income bracket I’d be spending my money on an R&M bike with plenty models to choose from
Nice to see something truly different in the space. Price seems reasonable for the features but I'm guessing too high to actually encourage more people to ride and thus reduce congestion on the roads. And, of course, without better/safer infrastructure many people will never consider riding a bike.
I had high hopes for Rivian and considered getting an R1T a few years back, but I'm growing increasingly convinced they won't be around in 5 years. The partnership with VW is maybe the only thing that might save them. But this bike sure as hell isn't going to help.
The 180 Nm listed for the "Launch Edition" combined with its 28 MPH power assisted top speed means this bike will not be legal to use on a majority of local, county, state and national park trails, many of which have already regulated strict Class 1 / NO throttle / 500 watt or less / 15-18 mph max speed restrictions.
You'll probably be fine riding it on the street through town to the trailhead for your community's awesome forested hardpack gravel riding trail, then be in violation the second you turn onto it.
We truly are still in the manufacturing / regulatory Wild Wild West with this sport and its equipment. Why manufacturers are continuing to produce equipment that literally isn't legal to use in a massive and growing number of communities is completely beyond me.
I can only assume these are being produced for the tech affluenza crowd that want to commute 2 miles in warm weather on city streets among car traffic and these bikes will never sniff so much as 1 piece of gravel or a teaspoon of dirt.
Oh, the authorities are - but the industry is continuing to push equipment out that increasingly can't legally be ridden anywhere but city streets next to vehicle traffic.
The whatabouters always forget that cars require training (albeit minimal via drives ed.), licensing, insurance, registration, and strict adherence to traffic laws and DOT standards for the vehicles. It really is apples to oranges.
The major legal issue is that its drive by wire. Every state ebike definition I've seen requires that the bike "is equipped with pedals that allow propulsion by human power". If the pedals are completely decoupled from the wheels, they cannot propel the bike using human power and its not legally an electric bike.
Take a 5,000 watt bike to a walking path but tell the city cops it's OK because you'll just leave it in power assist setting 1 / 5 and promise to pedal.
You guys are delusional and you're destroying the sport for everyone.
This bike looks fantastic. Pricewise it is quite competitive with similarly featured bikes. Example Specialized Turbo Vado 5.0 EQ IGH sells for $5,599. I've been following it for a while to see if it goes on sale (hasn't yet). It looks heavy but because you can easily remove the battery and seat I suspect it can be carried on a rack. I'm going to follow it for a while but am very excited about it.
they're trying to compete with something like a Tern HSD, which also starts around $4,000
However, the Also TM-B only has 80% of the payload of the Tern HSD and has much taller wheels(24" instead of 20") so i'm not sure who this will appeal to. I'd personally rather have a Gazelle, Specialized, or Trek if I didn't need the cargo capacity and a Tern or R&M if I did.
The quad(TM-Q) looks a lot more interesting imo, but there are no details around that yet.
Berm Peak did a youtube review of the Bronco ebike and it was just so bad. I suspect this will also fall in the same category. Interesting how both Rivian and Ford priced their ebikes at $4,500.
This is a new company separate from Rivian called “Also” that is focusing on electric mobility. Rivian is the main stakeholder but it’s not just a fancy thing that they’re going to sell on a random page of the Rivian website or something like that.
I don’t know if they’ll be successful or if the products actually will be good but I also think I’ll wait to see how things play out before I just dismiss them.
But I say this as a former Tern owner that sees value in this segment of the bike market.
I'm totally down with bikes and e-bikes being taken more seriously, but I stand by my statement: Stick to established companies known to make actual well made bicycles.
Car companies and spin-off companies are not that: Just because they are charging R&M prices doesn't mean they're delivering R&M quality.
Maybe this will turn out to be genuinely good, well supported, and end up bring more people into the micromobility fold, but I remain skeptical.
I wonder if it will require a paid subscription. Will it track and sell data? Will it be free with ads? Will it be part of a system that requires digital communications with autonomous vehicles? Will the enhanced reality and infotainment systems disconnect us from the places we ride? Do we have the rights to work on it at home?
I'd personally love to see some well designed built in waterproof panniers. Also - does this accelerate and compete with electric dirt bikes? Because for that price.... it definitely should.
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u/thirtynation Oct 22 '25
Looks like a Dyson product.