This Minimalist British Electric Motorcycle Doesn’t Even Cost $10,000, But There’s A Catch Or Two

Back in the fall of last year, I wrote about a little startup company in England with a mission to deliver affordable and capable minimalist motorcycles to the American market. It’s been almost a year since then and now I have some good news. Maeving is finally launching its RM1S electric motorcycle in America offering up to 80 miles of urban range for less than $10,000. But, you should probably read on before plunking down money.

While electric technology is still developing for long-distance riders, those who just want a fun and cheap commute are spoiled for choice. However, some of the best electric motorcycles out there cost $15,000, $20,000 and even more. That’s a lot of coin to drop on a vehicle that’s supposed to save you money in the long run, so I always welcome cheaper alternatives.

Come September of this year, riders looking to save some money without spending 15 large will be able to pick up a Maeving RM1S and silently live out their cafe racer dreams.

From Former Triumph Engineers

Something I like about Maeving is that it’s not just some company that popped up last night by a bunch of guys who don’t know what they’re doing. This is a venture run by folks who used to engineer Triumph’s motorcycles. Here’s some information from my piece back in September:

The firm was founded in 2018 by William Stirrup and Sebastian Inglis-Jones. The pair assembled a team of former Triumph engineers to build a high-tech electric motorcycle that doesn’t have the design often found with electric motorcycles.

The home of Maeving is Coventry in England. Maeving says its location was chosen because Coventry and the Midlands are historic places in British motorcycling. Names like BSA, Norton, Royal Enfield, and Triumph can all trace their ways back to the area. Elaborating further, Maeving says Coventry was where the UK’s first practical motorcycle was built as was the location where the first motorcycle race on a track took place. Coventry and the Midlands have served as home bases for 48 motorcycle companies spanning over a century of time.

Maeving sees itself competing with the low-cost Chinese electric motorcycles flooding both America and England, and it wants to win the fight with quality and engineering. So, Maeving isn’t just planting its stakes in a historic area, but scooping up British motorcycle engineers along the way, too.

As of right now, the absolute cheapest electric motorcycles on the market come from Chinese brands with unknown quality and unreliable parts support. It’s not surprising that the electric motorcycle world gets excited whenever a Sondors or Ryvid comes around.

Unfortunately, some promising startups fail to deliver. Arc and Cake are both gone. Sondors infamously released a motorcycle that didn’t come close to its original advertised specs. Then, the whole company crashed and burned, leaving many without bikes they paid for and others with bikes but without critical replacement parts. There’s a whole other thing being reported by Electrek about the bikes allegedly not even complying with federal regulations.

So, it’s a pretty big deal when someone comes around saying they have a capable electric motorcycle for under $10,000. As you can see, not everyone can pull it off.

Minimalist Fun, But…

Maeving has done things the safe way. The company hasn’t promised the sky, and started slow and small.

Maeving unveiled its debut product in 2021, the Maeving RM1. This motorcycle is styled after vintage board trackers and café racers and made purely for city riding. The £4,995 machine shipped with a top speed of 45 mph, a 5.9 HP peak (4 HP continuous) motor, and a maximum range of 40 miles with one battery or 80 miles with two batteries.

That motorcycle made its way over to California, too, where Maeving says it received positive feedback. The term “vaporware” comes up somewhat frequently in the comments of our electric motorcycle coverage. I got to speak with Stirrup during the 2023 Los Angeles Auto Show and was happy to learn that this company is trucking along with real products. Stirrup says that the buyers of the original RM1 wanted a higher top speed to permit operations outside of cities. The RM1S is the answer.

The RM1S has the same basic design as the RM1, but has a few notable changes for usability and speed. The RM1S features a pair of 2.73kWh battery packs with LG M50LT cells for a total capacity of 5.46 kWh. Both of these batteries live in a box sitting behind the front wheel.

Maeving says these batteries can be removed from the box to be charged at home or remain in the box and be charged out on the road. Here’s where we arrive at our first catch. Sadly, the charging system here is pretty weak sauce. The motorcycle charges on Level 1 only. That means going from 20 percent to 80 percent in an excruciating 3 hours. If you’re going from dead to a full charge you can expect this to take 6.5 hours. Each battery weighs 36 pounds, so at least you’re not lugging boulders into your apartment.

When you’re all charged up, Maeving says you’ll be able to get up to 80 miles out of a charge. As with all electric motorcycles, taking the bike out on the highway will absolutely destroy that range figure. Maeving doesn’t say by how much, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it got cut in half. If you’ve been reading my coverage of the Zero DSR/X, you’re well aware that I’m not a fan of slow charging. America’s charging network already sucks in rural areas, so it’s best if your bike can be done charging as soon as possible.

Maeving’s sort of solution to this is to allow the motorcycle to run on just one battery. That way you can ride while the other battery charges. Of course, this automatically cuts your range in half, so this will be useful only for people riding around a city.

Moving from the battery compartment, on top of the box is what would normally be a fuel tank for a gasser, but in this application, it’s a 2.6-gallon storage compartment.

Those small batteries are powering a Bosch hub motor on the rear wheel. The RM1S gets a motor good for a continuous 9.4 HP and a peak output of 14.9 HP. That’s roughly the equivalent of a 125cc motorcycle of continuous power and about 150cc’s worth of power in peak mode. Maeving doesn’t say for how long boost mode lasts, nor does the brand mention cooling, though the batteries are said to benefit from a “heat dissipation structure” to keep temps down.

The extra power at the rear wheel means that the motorcycle has a top speed of 70 mph. That’s just good enough for legal highway travel. However, I would not recommend taking this anywhere near a highway. Keep it on slower, more fun urban roads, country roads, and side streets. Maeving sees its customers being city riders as well as people in rural America who just want a quiet ride between towns.

All of this rides on a chromoly steel cradle with a telescopic fork up front with 4.3 inches of travel and dual preload-adjustable shocks in the rear that offer 3.15 inches of bump-smoothing action. The bike rides on 19-inch Dunlop K70 tires and features linked brakes with a 60 percent rear bias. Loaded up with both batteries you’re looking at 293 pounds.

Classic Style, Zero Emissions

To put all of that into plain English, this motorcycle is simple and isn’t bringing novel tech to the table. Maeving is working with proven technology, just packaging it in a form factor that looks pretty.

Remember how I said Maeving’s engineers come from the British motorcycle industry? As you might expect, this motorcycle comes in colorways nodding to the past like paint to look like a Triumph T120 Bonneville or a Vincent Black Shadow.

Maeving says it’s been enjoying strong sales and enough Europeans have been scooping up the machines that there’s a waiting list to get one. The RM1S has also been receiving pretty positive reviews from the European motorcycle press, so that’s a good thing. The folks of Visor Down gave the RM1S high marks for build quality and handling in urban environments but noted the high price compared to ICE options.

It’s a similar story here in America where the RM1 is sold out. The RM1S is already here and you can ride one out in California. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until September when Maeving begins its real national rollout.

Last year, I projected the price to be about $10,000. I was close, but off by a little; the actual price is $8,995. For that, Maeving says you’re getting a motorcycle built out of premium materials. You’re getting real metal, carbon fiber, and a slick Smiths-style analog gauge. They’re also built in the UK and shipped directly to your door.

That’s all great! However, the range and charging limitations will make the Maeving RM1S almost strictly a city machine in America. Sadly, that is the current reality of the electric motorcycle world. Electric motorcycles with range comparable to gas-burning bikes are usually mind-bogglingly expensive, while the cheaper ones have a lot of compromises – and I didn’t even get to the part where the Maeving is strictly a solo rider affair, limiting its practicality more.

Still, as you may already know, I’m always a huge proponent of choice. Today is a great time to be a motorcyclist because there’s so much choice out there, both gas and electric, to fit all sorts of styles and budgets. From the sounds of things, the Maeving RM1S is great for that urban rider who wants that British riding experience, but without breaking down on the side of the road.