The One and only
MiRider One
£1300 Compact folding ebike
With its bright orange hue and unusual design, the British designed ebike MiRider One stands out against most folding bikes especially when you add in its proprietary motor system. Jump on board and, well, it’s a nice place to be. The power assistance comes in smoothly and tracks your pedal cadence well, although with 16-inch wheels and a fairly light gear from its 48-tooth chainring and 14-tooth sprocket (which gives you a 49-inch gear) don’t expect to motor along at high speeds.
However, as a single-speed machine, the gear is a fair compromise. It’s light enough to ascend pretty much any urban slope you’ll throw at it when you add in assistance, and you can speed along happily at around 24kph/15mph.
The assistance system is based around a 250watt, rear-hub motor encased within the cast alloy six-spoke wheel and controlled by a barmounted LCD head unit displaying distance, time and current speed. You can also switch between different power levels or turn on the integrated lights by pressing and holding the ‘up’ switch.
The MiRider One offers five levels of assistance. We quickly found ourselves leaving the bike on level two for the majority of riding time, only switching up on long inclines and off when heading downhill. When it comes to hills, the One has a smart trick up its sleeve. Next to the right-hand brake lever sits a big, thumb-activated power boost trigger, which provides assistance from a standing start to 7kph without pedalling. Additionally, regardless of which power assist level you are in, if you are constantly pedalling you can use the throttle to ‘boost’ you up to the legal electric bike speed limit of 25kph. The charger (so often a big, bulky item) is minimal, weighing just 374g (including UK plug lead) and measuring only 135mm x 65mm x 30mm, so it can be stuffed in your backpack. It took on average two hours 45 minutes to charge the battery from empty, in line with MiRider’s claim of two to three hours.
We took the MiRider to a local climb that’s around a mile of undulating ascent, with the harshest part a 90m stretch where the gradient ramps up to 14 per cent. Impressively, the mighty-mini One’s motor never faltered in its assistance.
Jump on board the One and, well, it’s a nice place to be. The power assistance comes in smoothly and tracks your cadence well...
In terms of range, MiRider claims up to 48 to 56km, depending on terrain, the level of assistance used and rider weight. We achieved between 28 and 48km on test rides. The 28-km ride involved tarmac, towpath and gravel tracks with 245m of ascent: unusual for a folding commuter bike. The 48km ride was more representative of a normal commute with 105m of climbing, mostly on tarmac surfaces.
Handling wise, the One has the same issues as most small-wheeled folders, in that the lack of wheelbase length and relatively upright head angle mean it can feel a little twitchy at first. That said, slow-speed manoeuvrability is excellent and the 1.95-inch slick tyres do help provide confident grip on most surfaces. The large tyres and rear suspension mean comfort is excellent for a bike like this, even though MiRider has opted for a big, soft-padded foam saddle that looks like it’ll be comfortable, but isn’t for any ride over 30 minutes. We switched it out for a better-designed favourite.
The One has cable disc brakes front and rear. The Clarks units are paired with 160mm rotors, all controlled by large Wuxing-branded brake levers, which have a textured, all-weather surface. They do have a bit of play up-and-down as the lever travels, however, and feel a bit… wobbly. Out of the box braking was somewhat ‘squishy’, though a quick cable-tension adjustment cured this. The levers have a second cable exiting the lever body alongside the brake cable. This cable means as soon as you pull either brake, the system senses you are slowing and cuts the e-assist.
The fold is as simple as it gets, with a large central hinge (with a safety lock) halving the bike’s length. A pair of magnets on the front and rear then lock the two folded haves together. From there it’s a case of folding down the bars and lowering the telescopic seatpost. Underneath the bottom bracket is a single skate wheel, which allows the bike to be easily manoeuvred when folded. You can also ‘trolley’ the folded bike by extending the seatpost. When folded, the One is 770mm x 430mm x 680mm (bar and post on lowest setting) in comparison a Brompton is a more compact 565mm x 270mm x 585mm.
We’d like to see an optional longer seatpost for taller riders included in the box and a geared bike further down the line for more versatility. As a cost-effective e-folder for short rides or mixed-mode commutes, the One is very hard to beat.