Rivian's TM-B electric bike

a full suspension e-bike, 500+Wh battery, with a belt drive for $4,500 is honestly a really good deal. There is a shortage of options when it comes to full-suspension bikes that are good for commutes. Compare this to any e-bike with the Bosch e-bike system. The big risk here for consumers if whether they can match the service, support, and reliability that Bosch has. There appears to be a class-2 e-bike option which is something that significantly differentiates it from bikes with the Bosch system.

"Honestly" does not make it a "really good" deal.

It's an e-bike. The competition is stiff, better looking, and better priced.

If they're lucky, this will appeal to university professors and over achieving parents of unsuspecting kids who want a cool bike but got an expensive dorky one instead.

The e-bike market has multiple tiers/segments. This is not priced to compete with brands like Rad Power Bikes, Lectric, or Aventon. It's likely going to compete with brands like Tern, Benno, Gazelle, Trek, etc.

edit: ask yourself why the median new car in the US sells for over $50k when you can easily find cars for less than half that price.

I really don't get what the point of the pedals on a thing like this, though. I guess mainly to satisfy some sort of regulations which separate bikes and motorcycle like vehicles? Considering that they aren't even connected to the drivetrain...

I find it hard to imagine what the overlap between this and e.g. ebikes from Trek, though. Besides the price of course... It's an entirely different product.

The article clearly states it’s class 3.

In the U.S., there are 3 classes of e-bike: Class 1: pedal-assist only up to 20mph (helmets optional for adults) Class 2: same as Class 1 but with optional throttle to 20mph Class 3: pedal-assist only up to 28mph (helmets required, adults only)

There's also a maximum power rating of 750 watts for all of these. I'm not sure where the "pedal by wire" feature is from a regulatory perspective, but to me this fits into either class 2 or 3 depending on what option you get.

From the article:

> It also features a throttle good for 20mph where regulations allow.

That must mean they have a class 2 option.

The way I read it is if you use throttle-only you can reach 20 mph, but then if adding pedal-power you reach 28 mph. The pedal is probably not generating sufficient force to add 8 mph, but it’s telling the control system to do that.

You can usually limit the bike to go less than 20mph in those cases.

It would be nice to have the GPS automatically set the pedal assist max speed when riding on shared paths with pedestrians and people.

I have also seen road bikers on those same shared paths pedal faster than 20mph.

I was in the market for a commuter recently and my runner-up was this bike from Bulls (German brand trying to break into the US market) with full suspension, a Bosch motor, and coming in at a staggeringly light 58 lbs (battery included) for $3300. Extremely tempting, if I hadn't managed to snag a heavily-discounted Aventon Level 2 instead. https://bullsbikesusa.com/products/iconic-evo-tr-1-750

that's a nice bike! bummer that the rear rack isn't co-sprung.

class 2 and class 3 are mutually exclusive. You cannot legally have an e-bike that supports throttle up to 20mph that can also continue to e-assist if you pedal up to 28mph. While it's technically possible in software to switch between these modes, consumers aren't supposed to be able to do this on their own.

Based on the video and rivian history I think they wanted to redesign from the ground up a bike to match the packaging success they had at rivian and companies like lucid vs how legacy automakers approached it. The problem is the current laws about bikes and ebikes limited them and they had to make many tradeoffs which is what we are looking at. I guess we will find it if it was worth it to go ground up vs more off the shelf. As a rivian owner I'm concerned about repair-ability and maintenance.

120mm seems like an absurd amount of travel for ostensibly what is a city bike

My state doesn't even require helmets for motorcyclists. I am guessing any regulations on e-bikes date back to the days when 2-stroke "moped" bikes were briefly popular.

Some people actually do like to double up a bit of exercise with their commute.

You have an incorrect definition of Class 3.

Class 3 allows pedal assist up to 28 and throttle to 20

https://thecyclistchoice.com/resources/electric-bike-classes...

A really good deal based on what? You can buy bikes with double the battery off amazon for a quarter of the price. What are you comparing this to?

I did it on my e bike...all I did was lie to the computer about how big my wheels were, which was a directly accessible in the settings menu

No consumer GPS is precise enough to reliably distinguish between a bike path and an adjacent regular road, especially if there are any overhead obstructions nearby. Many bike paths don't have a 20mph speed limit anyway.

Lets it soak up harsh bumps at at higher speeds.

Cars that cost North of 50k is a good example. I wish this bike looked as attractive as its price needs it to be.

you can get a high quality 4khw 20kw electric dirt bike for $4500... oh right, maybe not the best for commuting. they were fun before the cops caught on.

Why do you need full sus on a commuter though? I think it's a gimmick that's not worth the 4500