I use this bike mainly for my commute that’s 26 miles round trip. The motor itself is amazing, it’s powerful and doesn’t feel janky when you’re stopping and starting. It also makes you feel like you’re pedaling and putting in the effort on the bike which was important to me. Hills just melt away, stopping for red lights is no longer a pain of having to accelerate again and it really helps keep you motivated on longer commutes. I’ve biked with rain, ice and in the cold and have had no issues at all with any conditions. The tires are extremely high quality, I bike mostly in the pothole ridden hell that is NYC and North Jersey and I’ve had no flats whatsoever even after riding over some glass and large rocks. Overall the bike is built well and can take punishing potholes without the folding mechanisms ever feeling loose and everything about the bike lends itself to a great riding experience. The battery tends to last me the whole 26 miles on high with just a little bit of charge (like 1-2 miles left) left but my commute has fairly ridiculous elevation changes, lots of stops and starts, and just lots of things that would wreck an ebike’s battery so other folks may get luckier with it than I have.

This bike has also made me fall in love with cycling and given me the confidence to ride on roads and now I own a gravel bike (n+1) :).

I do have a few minor nitpicks:
1. The rear light doesn’t appear to have been glued on with the strongest adhesive in the world and it hangs pretty far outside the frame. At one point I bumped it on my door frame and it came slightly loose and thought nothing of it. At some point in my next couple of commutes it appears to have bumped itself off with all the potholes. (I really do need to figure out a replacement…). In a possible next version of this bike I think the light should be flush with the frame so possible bumps on the side won’t spell the end of the rear light.

2. The handlebar folding mechanism did come loose for me once or twice. This isn’t a huge deal as the fix is actually really easy (there’s a small metal bolt you can turn to tighten it!) but the manual doesn’t have that information well documented. It just says go to your LBS which is fine but my LBS (and most) will not have exact experience working on this bike’s mechanisms so they know just as much as me. I think having a blurb in the manual about tightening the mechanism would be amazing or even a YouTube video! I’ve found that it needs to be tense enough to hold itself tight over big bumps but not tense enough that you can’t push it in.

3. This really is just a quibble but the stock seat is fairly uncomfortable. I thought I’d get used to it as getting a cushioned bike seat can also lead to problems but after I got another bike with another stock seat and this one is actually just really uncomfortable for very long distances. It really isn’t bad unless you’re doing a serious amount of time on the bike. Shorter errands I’ve done have been fine but by the end of my commute I’m definitely feeling the lack of comfort.

Even after all these nitpicks I think this bike is a 5/5, the high quality components for the motor/drivetrain/brakes/tires and the quality of the bike’s build really makes you feel capable of taking on longer rides.

I was surprised on how solid the M-E1 felt, it felt more solid than several non-folding eBikes I’ve ridden. Terrific bike!