Takeaway: The Roadster from Ride1UP is a belt-drive single-speed e-bike that's low on price but a heck of a good time once you get it up to speed.
- Belt-drive is silent, smooth, and doesn't need much maintenance.
- A hub-based motor delivers 40Nm of torque to help you turn over the big gear with ease.
- Price is hard to beat.
Pros
- Belt drive drivetrain
- Appealing price
Cons
- Not the easiest gear to start from a stop
- Rim brakes
More From Bicycling
Weight: 35lbs
Style: E-bike single-speed
Wheel Size: 700c
Fork: 1-⅛ Aluminum Fork
Frame: 6061 Aluminum Frame
Drivetrain: 64T x 20T Belt Drive (86 gear inches)
Cranks: Alloy Square Taper
Brakes:Tektro R315 Dual Pivot Brakes
Wheels:(F) Loose Ball Bearing Hub, Quick Release, 32 hole / (R) Shengyi Hub Motor, 36 hole
Tires: Kenda Kwest 700Cx28C
Saddle: Custom Gel Ergonomic Road Saddle
Seatpost:6061 Aluminum, 30.4mm dia.
Handlebar:6061 Aluminum, 550mm width, 60mm rise, 25.4mm clamp
Stem: 90mm length, +7 degree rise
Single-speed city bikes are not a new idea. They’re simple, practical, get-around-town bikes and are a long-time favorite of riders looking for low maintenance, cheaper alternatives to bikes with gears. Their main downside is also what gives them their appeal; just one gear. This can be great if you live somewhere flat, but a real challenge if you live in a place with hills.
The Ride1UP Roadster V2 adds a hub motor with 40Nm of torque and a 252Wh battery to help get the single-speed belt drive up to a max assisted speed of 24mph. A bit shy of the usual top speed of 28mph limit for class 3 e-bikes. The belt drive is a nice touch for any bike meant for daily miles, promising a long, maintenance-free service life. The rest of the build is pretty straightforward, with dual-pivot Tektro rim brakes, a narrow 550mm riser bar, and a generic saddle and seat post to complete things. The whole package comes in relatively light (compared to most e-bikes) at 35-pounds.
There’s a lot to like about the Roadster. It’s discreet, lightweight, and makes getting around a big city or small town a breeze. Plus, it’s priced very competitively. It does give up lights, a rack, fenders, and disc brakes to hit both its price point and weight. But, if you’re looking for a low-cost, durable e-bike, then it’s worth considering the Roadster.
Ride Impressions
Riding the Roadster is as simple as any other single-speed, but with the added kick of 40Nm of torque from the hub-based motor. Like many e-bikes, the assistance is not instant, taking a few pedal strokes for the motor to kick in while I struggled to turn the huge 86-inch size gear on my own. However, once you get going, even in the lowest assistance setting, cruising along at 17-18mph was effortless.
While the Roadster is a class 3 e-bike, meaning that it will assist you up to 28mph, the single-speed nature of the bike limits your ability to take advantage of this. It’s probably the biggest quirk of the Roadster. A harder gear would make the bike even harder to get going from a stop, plus make hills even more challenging, but an easier gear would limit top speed even more than it already is. For most riders living in relatively flat-to-slightly-hilly places, the gear on the bike will be perfect.
Riders routinely dealing with hills above 5-6% in grade should probably consider alternatives to the Roadster (such as the Charge City or Aventon Level). While the Roadster was capable of tackling hills, the heavy gear ratio means that you need to turn up the motor assistance to the max setting to do so., But in that mode, you can practically watch the battery drain by the pedal stroke. For instance, on a single trip up a nearby two-mile climb in Easton, PA, cost me roughly 25% of a full charge.
Heading back down the hill, the Roadster felt surprisingly stable and nimble at speed. The very narrow handlebars and the lackluster brakes were the biggest limiting factor for me to ride the bike more aggressively. At just 550mm wide, the bars were ideally suited for squeezing in between traffic, but as soon as you wanted to get out of the saddle or lean the bike into a corner, the narrow bars would feel awkward and unbalanced. The brakes were likely chosen for their clean aesthetic and cost savings they offered rather than their stopping power. While the Tektro dual-pivot rim brake calipers do a fine job at stopping the Roadster, they require a bit of anticipation at higher speeds, particularly on descents. Both things prevented me from feeling fully comfortable on the Roadster at higher speeds.
Assistance from the hub motor is available in five different levels, with everything controlled by a small handlebar-mounted remote. The remote also has a small LCD panel to give you essential information, including speed, battery level, and which assistance level you are currently using. It’s a minimalistic design that almost looks like an old-school cycling computer rather than an e-bike control center.
The traditional frame design of the Roadster helps give it a sleek and sporty appearance. Unfortunately, its frame is only available in either a large 58cm or a small 52cm frame. While many other e-bikes feature limited size options, most deal with this by offering a step-through frame design that is much more accommodating for riders of different proportions. I’m six feet tall and tested the larger size. This size fit me ok, but if I were being picky, it would be too big. On the other hand, the smaller size would be far too small for me. I suspect I’m not the only rider that would be caught in the middle of these two sizes. No matter your height, I strongly recommend either taking the Roadster for a test ride or studying the geometry chart very carefully before buying.
Riders who can’t fit on the Roadster but would still want a single-speed drivetrain should also check out the Rad Power Bikes RadMission1. It’s similarly priced and is available with a step-through frame design that can accommodate smaller riders. Check it out and 17 other models in our 2021 E-Bike Awards round-up.
The standout feature of the Roadster was the belt drive system. I’m a huge fan of belts, particularly on bikes meant for everyday miles. They are silent, smooth, and, best of all, don’t require any chain lube to stay that way. I’m happy to see a belt used on an e-bike at this price point.
Priced at $1045, the Roadster offers a solid value for riders looking for an e-bike that’s near that thousand-dollar mark. While it certainly cuts some corners to hit that price point, the Roadster can still be an excellent bike for folks that don’t need to carry lots of bags up and down a big hill all day.
