Ride1Up Prodigy: | Full Review Coming Soon
Starting off our list of the best mid-drive electric bikes is a great value option. Mid-drives at this price are pretty rare – especially ones with a premium, German-manufactured mid-drive like Brose, whose moniker proudly adorns the motor casing on Ride1Up’s Prodigy. In short, mid-drive models with this quality of mid-drive are typically a thousand bucks more, clearly making this an e-bike of absolutely outstanding value.
It’s not just the quality of the motor that makes it standout value; there is a reasonably-sized 504Wh frame-integrated battery, dual piston hydraulic brakes, 9-speed Shimano Alivio gearing, front and rear LED lights, sleek Brose full-color display, full length mudguards and kickstand. Now that’s value!
The mid-drive itself is a Brose TF, actually one of their higher-specced mid-drives, with an amazing 90Nm of torque and featuring Brose’s trademark virtually silent belt drive technology. Smooth power responds intuitively to your pedal pressure, and being a speed pedelec, class 3 model you can keep up the assisted pedaling all the way up to 28mph. There is no throttle, but of course that makes it a good machine for both exercise and for extending the range on rides (typical stated range is 30-50 miles).
The ST and XR variants feature step-thru and lowered top tube style frames respectively. Both make ideal commuting and leisure bikes for smoother surfaces as both lack any kind of suspension. They also look like capable load carriers, with an impressive 300lb rider-plus-cargo capacity.
However, there is a ‘cross country’ XC variant that for an extra 100 bucks adds in a 120mm travel air suspension front fork. Air suspension forks are certainly a big step up from steel sprung budget forks in terms of quality and ride performance. The XC variant also has 2.4” wide knobby tires to make it a truly capable off-road e-bike. Note there are no mudguards, rack and kickstand included as standard with the XC variant.
We’re actually mid-way through testing the XC version as of this publication, but we’re already so taken with the value and performance of this bike we had to include it on the list of best mid-drive electric bikes.
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