A few of my common readers might keep in mind that I backed a risky-looking Indiegogo marketing campaign for an ultra-low-cost electrical bicycle that sounded nearly too good to be true. I clearly suggested readers towards it, however I figured it’d nonetheless be fascinating to tackle the chance myself to see what would occur.
That is the end result of that story.
Now to be truthful, I’m no newbie in terms of shopping for bizarre EVs sight unseen immediately from China. I’m the man who imported that white electrical mini pickup truck that went tremendous viral a number of years in the past (and the truck continues to be going robust!), to not point out Chinese language electrical boats and different enjoyable issues I’ve introduced in.
And so once I noticed an Indiegogo marketing campaign for a brilliant weird-looking electrical bike known as the Mihogo Mini, I knew I needed to have one. With a beginning value of $390, it sounded too good to be true, however that has not often stopped me earlier than.
When this story final left off, I had thrown down the money and began my ready sport. Regardless of the promise of supply a mere two months later, it truly took round eight months, however a motorcycle field did ultimately arrive in my household’s driveway. And to reply the query lots of you might be questioning, sure, this was pre-tariff madness, again when a $390 e-bike solely price $390 as an alternative of $899.
If you wish to see my full unboxing and testing of the bike, take a look at my enjoyable video right here, which features a tremendous catchy driving track à la the Simpson’s “Canyanero”.
As promised, my tiny e-bike emerged in all its glory from that small bike field! It wasn’t massive or highly effective, nevertheless it was nonetheless fairly superior. The little factor instantly received as much as round 20 mph (32 km/h) regardless of its modest 350W rear hub motor. The 48V 16Ah battery is even surprisingly giant at 768 Wh of capability! These figures may not sound mindblowing, however for an inexpensive and diminutive e-bike, they’re downright spectacular.
The entrance suspension fork may be tiny with what seems to be round an inch (25 mm) of journey, nevertheless it nonetheless counts as suspension. And the 12″ tires, every wrapped in an equally tiny fender, add a smidge extra cushion to the trip.
For such a small and cheap e-bike, you might be stunned to see that it comes with a reasonably detailed shade LCD display screen that may challenge turn-by-turn navigation arrows out of your telephone, a folding handlebar stem, and even entrance & rear LED lighting. It’s additionally IP65 rated, that means you may get it splashed with out worrying about immediately shorting out the electronics.
However the coolest characteristic of all, at the least for my part, is the wishbone-style body that creates a hole cavity within the center to suit a storage bag (included with the bike). Whereas driving round, you’ll be able to attain down into your mid-trunk and fish out a water bottle, your telephone, or a bag of snacks to maintain you going robust.
At simply $390, in fact there are a number of sacrifices to be made right here. The saddle is fairly removed from what most would take into account to resemble any type of ‘consolation’, and the small wheels paired with the single-speed drivetrain signifies that pedaling at above 10-12 mph (16-20 km/h) doesn’t add far more pace. You’re nearly fully reliant on utilizing the hand throttle to go any sooner.
Regardless of its small dimension, it’s additionally a bit chunky at 41 lb (19 kg), that means you’re not going to need to carry it up too many flights of stairs by your self.
The bike can be fairly compact and thus it most likely wouldn’t match somebody over 5’10” (178 cm). I’m 5’7″ (170 cm) and it felt alright to me, nevertheless it’s clearly constructed with a home Chinese language viewers in thoughts, not taller Westerners. They declare it’s going to match riders as much as 6’4″ (195 cm), however solely a lot as these circus bears technically match on these tricycles.
For $390 although, it’s laborious for me to complain about it an excessive amount of. You even get disc brakes and 5 shade choices, which is round three extra shade choices than lots of big-name e-bike manufacturers within the US!
Don’t threat it like I did
Please don’t do what I did – there are many Indiegogo campaigns which have ended badly, with of us by no means getting the e-bike or e-scooter they ordered. I went into this accepting that I used to be taking a giant threat and realizing full properly that I’d need to be happy with getting screwed over. I figured if a motorcycle arrived, I’d get a pleasant video and article out of it. And if a motorcycle didn’t, maybe there’d be an article in that, too. However please don’t take this as a blanket endorsement for backing largely unknown e-bike corporations in considerably questionable crowdfunding campaigns.
I’m glad it paid off for me, and I actually actually just like the little factor. It’s a disgrace that they raised the worth as much as $599 after the marketing campaign ended (and briefly raised it as much as $899 after my video got here out they usually apparently tried to capitalize on all of the orders they had been instantly getting). For now it appears to be again to $599 whereas the corporate waits to see in the event that they’ll have to boost costs once more because of the Trump tariffs.
Within the meantime, I’ll preserve having fun with my bizarre little e-bike. Mihogo, Mihogo!
