Review: Maeving RM1

Electric cars are already getting a firm grasp of the market, gobbling up ever more sales as drivers begin to shake off concerns about range and charging times and catch on to the appeal of silent, smooth torque and negligible running costs. But sadly, the revolution has yet to really get started on two wheels. Well-known motorcycle companies are still half-heartedly fiddling on the fringes of EVs, and while startups with bold promises are plentiful you still won’t see many of their wares on the road.

The electric motorcycles that are available tend to fall into one of two camps: They’re either eye-wateringly expensive and self-consciously high-tech, or they’re cheap and cheerful white goods with all the emotional pull of a tumble dryer. 

But this is where Maeving steps in with its first offering, the RM1: an entry-level option on the electric motorbike market, but one that aims to be desirable in its own right, regardless of performance, practicality, or price. Maeving itself is based at the heart of Britain’s motor industry in Coventry, counting plenty of former Triumph employees among its staff and assembling the bikes there rather than outsourcing to factories in Asia.

Photograph: Maeving

For the first creation of a completely new company, the RM1 is undeniably impressive. The style might lean a bit heavily into hipster stereotypes, but it’s undeniably well proportioned and attractive. 

Don’t underestimate the challenge that even this seemingly simple job poses when making an electric bike: For more than a century motorcycle design has been focused on the engine, and without that crutch to lean on many electric offerings end up looking like plasticky slabs as they try to disguise battery packs that can’t live up to the aesthetic appeal of an engine. 

Maeving hasn’t tried to disguise the fact the RM1 is electric, but by wrapping its main battery and electronics in brushed alloy cases and hiding cables in a braided sheath that doesn’t quite mimic an exhaust but provides a similar visual impact, it’s created something that’s a genuine rarity: a good-looking electric motorcycle. 

It’s tactile, too: Touch those brushed alloy parts and it’s a pleasant surprise to find genuine metal, not just coated plastic. Everything is finished to an impressively high standard, from the neat welds on the steel frame to the knurled aluminum of the foot pegs. The battery packs are also alloy and have strips of wood inset in the handles and sides, so they’re not eyesores when charging at home. If Bang & Olufsen made motorcycles, they might look a bit like this.

Photograph: Maeving

So, what’s hiding inside those alloy cases? The larger, front section carries the main drive battery— one of two that can be fitted. It sits vertically, while a second, optional battery can lie horizontally into the “fuel tank” above, doubling the bike’s range. Both battery cases open electrically via a bar-mounted button (only when stationary, with the side-stand down), and the batteries simply lift out. No plugs, cables, or latches, it’s that simple. 

Each battery pack weighs around 13 kilograms and provides roughly 40 miles of range in typical use, giving up to 80 miles when both are fitted. The battery packs use Samsung 18650 cells, with a nominal 50.4 volts and 2026 Wh per pack. To charge, you pull the pack out of the bike and slot it onto a purpose-made, fan-cooled charger that plugs into a standard 240 V outlet, with a charge from flat to full taking around four hours. 

In the real world, an hour and a half on the charger took our pack from 55 to 85 percent, so the claimed time sounds about right. Sadly, there’s no fast-charging option—the Maeving isn’t aimed at long trips, and the tech would add significantly to the bike’s cost—but you can buy a second charger, perhaps to have one at work and one at home or to allow two battery packs to be replenished simultaneously. You can’t charge the batteries while they’re slotted into the bike, by the way, as Maeving says this would have added more cost and weight to its EV.

Photograph: Maeving

For urban users, the removable batteries also mean the RM1 can be street-parked without needing access to an electricity supply, and, if you really need them, Maeving will sell you additional batteries, albeit at a price of £995 ($1,212) each.

Behind the drive battery case sits a smaller alloy unit housing the electronics and a fixed 12 V battery that powers the bike’s non-drive-related systems, while the drive motor itself is incorporated into the rear hub. Made by Bosch (another reassuringly familiar brand name), the hub-mounted motor isn’t the ideal choice for high-performance bikes as it adds unsprung mass to the rear suspension, but here it’s perfect to keep the RM1’s dimensions and total weight to a minimum. 

Rated for a continuous 3 kW (4 hp) and peak of 4.4 kW (5.9 hp) for shorter bursts, with 160 Nm of torque, the motor offers performance that’s roughly on a par with a 100cc single-cylinder bike—a bit more than a 50cc moped can achieve, but not quite the speed you’d get from some 125-cc learner bikes. Top speed is around 45 mph with an average-size rider aboard, although there are two additional riding modes that reduce that modest performance in favor of more range.

I’ve had an extended break from riding, and like most of Maeving’s expected customers haven’t been on an electric motorcycle before, so I’ll happily admit to some nerves when it came to reintroducing myself to two wheels on something so unfamiliar. I needn’t have worried: The RM1 is without doubt the simplest bike I’ve ever experienced, and all the better for it. 

The key is familiar enough, but there’s no start button, clutch, or gear change. You simply turn it on, flip up the stand, and hold either brake while hitting the drive button on the right bar, extinguishing the neutral light on the ultra-simple instrument cluster. This cluster tells you speed, battery percentage remaining, and which riding mode is selected … and that’s about it. Then you’re ready to go. 

If you want more tech, there’s a USB-C port next to the second battery, and you could always add a phone mount on the bars for media and navigation. But to be honest, it’s a refreshing change to get away from multilayered menus and touchscreens.

Maeving’s engineers have programmed the throttle response to be gentle: However heavy-handed you are with the twist-grip, it’s not going to surprise you with a burst of uncontrollable torque off the line. In Mode 2, selected by hitting the drive button again, it’s softer still, while a third press brings up Mode 3, limiting top speed to around 20 mph and cutting torque even more. 

The company knows its customers aren’t likely to be seasoned riders, and the RM1 is designed to make sure they’re instantly at ease. The same applies to brakes, which lack ABS but have been intentionally designed to be progressive, making lockups unlikely. The front brake, in its conventional place on the right-hand bar, needs a hefty tug (I’d have preferred something a bit more responsive), but I found myself using the left-hand lever more than expected. It acts on a linked braking system that applies front and rear brakes together—40 percent front and 60 at the rear—and most of the time it’s all you need. 

There’s no regenerative braking, just a disc at either end gripped by Chinese-made calipers, but Maeving’s reasoning is that such a system wouldn’t have recouped enough power to make the additional complexity and cost worthwhile. But even so, the bike’s power consumption was on target. After 28 miles over mainly flat ground at sensible, urban speeds, I used up 25 percent from a full charge on my double-battery RM1.

From its appearance I expected the RM1’s ultra-simple suspension—twin shocks at the rear, skinny, conventional forks at the front, all sourced in China—to be a weakness. There isn’t much adjustability on offer—just preload can be tweaked—but even in its standard settings the damping was more refined than expected, coping well enough with bumps, at least with my 12-stone (76 kg) frame aboard. 

And speaking of weight, the Maeving comes in at a light 111 kg with one battery in place or around 124 kg with two, and on the road it feels like even less, making maneuvering easy. In urban settings, it’s something close to ideal: It’s hard to imagine a better bike for tackling a city, although if your commute includes faster roads, the lack of outright top speed could become wearing.

Photograph: Maeving

Given the Maeving’s boutique appearance, tactile materials, British-made appeal, and good fit finish, it would be disappointing but unsurprising if it were lumbered with a ridiculous price tag. But that’s not the case. The RM1 starts at a palatable £4,995 with one battery, or £5,990 with two battery packs. 

The company reports that most sales so far have been the twin-battery version, but anecdotally, a lot of owners—once comfortable that the bike will achieve their commute without running out of charge—tend to leave the second battery at home. In that case, its dedicated bay in the “tank” becomes a usefully large storage space. 

Maeving sells direct through its website, delivering bikes to customers in the UK (no word yet on US distribution) and providing at-home servicing support, although without the complexity of a petrol engine, there’s relatively little service work required. 

While there are cheaper electric city bikes and scooters out there, nothing on the market at the moment offers the same sort of balance between visual appeal, materials, and affordability: Maeving has struck a rich seam here, and it will be fascinating to see where it goes next.