If you spend most of your time riding around an urban environment, it’s hard to beat an electric motorcycle. So long as your riding situation doesn’t require a ton of range, you can enjoy quiet commutes, cheap charging, and the fun of instant torque. Now, your options just got a lot more beautiful. British brand Maeving has announced its new RM2 electric motorcycle, and this absolutely stunning two-seat electric runabout is going to be sold right here in America.
I first wrote about Maeving back in 2023, when it was a tiny upstart motorcycle company trying to make a name for itself. Now, two years later, the company has successfully delivered bikes to customers. That alone is impressive, as far too many startup companies make big promises that never materialize as actual products. Not this time; Maeving is ready to ship its next model to America.
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All British
Something that I like about Maeving is that it’s not some random company that appeared out of nowhere. The company was built by former Triumph engineers. Here’s what I wrote in 2023:
The firm was founded in 2018 by William Stirrup and Sebastian Inglis-Jones. The pair assembled a team of former Triumph engineers to build a high-tech electric motorcycle that doesn’t have the design often found with electric motorcycles.
The home of Maeving is Coventry in England. Maeving says its location was chosen because Coventry and the Midlands are historic places in British motorcycling. Names like BSA, Norton, Royal Enfield, and Triumph can all trace their ways back to the area. Elaborating further, Maeving says Coventry was where the UK’s first practical motorcycle was built as was the location where the first motorcycle race on a track took place. Coventry and the Midlands have served as home bases for 48 motorcycle companies spanning over a century of time.
Maeving sees itself competing with the low-cost Chinese electric motorcycles flooding both America and England, and it wants to win the fight with quality and engineering. So, Maeving isn’t just planting its stakes in a historic area, but scooping up British motorcycle engineers along the way, too.
Most electric motorcycles look like they come from a distant future. They’re full of blocky shapes, jagged edges, and sometimes overwrought details. Maeving’s approach is different. Retro looks are so popular among gasoline motorcycles right now, so why can’t electric motorcycles rock vintage vibes, too? The new Maeving RM2 gives riders more of the awesome styling that made the company’s previous efforts so appealing, but now, thanks to a nicer, bigger seat, the electric steed should be more comfortable. What I find pretty refreshing about Maeving is that it’s not promising to reinvent transportation or save the world. Its bikes don’t have AI or tech gimmicks. These motos use proven technology in a retro wrapper.
Maeving’s first bike is the RM1, which has been on the market since 2021. It’s a pure urban machine styled after vintage board trackers and café racers. For $6,495, you get a top speed of 45 mph, a 5.9 HP peak (4 HP continuous) electric motor, and a maximum range of 40 miles with one battery or 80 miles with two batteries.
Maeving also got charging mostly correct right from the jump. Many city dwellers do not have access to any kind of charging at home. Maeving’s solution is a twin removable battery system. When it’s time to charge your bike, you just remove the batteries and take them inside your apartment to charge them. Using two batteries also means that you can have one battery charging while the other is in use.
Maeving followed the RM1 up with the RM1S in 2024. That bike has the same basic design as the RM1, but has a few notable changes. The RM1S features a pair of 2.73 kWh battery packs with LG M50LT cells for a total capacity of 5.46 kWh. Both of these batteries live in a box sitting in the same spot an internal combustion engine would normally live. These batteries give the RM1S up to 80 miles of range.
The biggest change was output, as the RM1S got a hub motor good for a continuous 9.4 HP and a peak output of 15 HP and 193 lb-ft of torque. That continuous output is about the horsepower rating of a 125cc motorcycle. The peak figure means the Maeving unleashes its inner 150cc.
More Practical, Still Retro
One of the biggest requests of Maeving’s buyers and fans was a bench seat. Now, Maeving is adding just that with the RM2.
The RM2 is different, but very close to being like the RM1S. It sports a chromoly steel cradle with a telescopic fork up front and dual preload-adjustable shocks in the rear. Front suspension travel is unchanged at 4.3 inches of travel, but rear suspension travel is upgraded from 3.15 inches to 4.09 inches. Take note that the RM2 does not have the exact frame as the RM1S, as there is a lot of extra material at the rear.
The meats are different as well. The RM1S has 2.15-inch-wide, 19-inch-diameter wheels, while the RM2 sports a 2.15-inch-wide wheel up front and a 2.5-inch wheel in the rear. Both wheels are shod in Mitas H-02 3.5-inch tires, slightly wider than the Dunlop K70 3.25-inch tires found on the RM1S.
For stopping power, a triple-pot caliper munches on a 300 mm rotor up front. In the rear, a 240 mm disc is squeezed by a single-piston caliper. The front and rear brakes are linked and operate with a 40 percent front, 60 percent rear bias.
Every other metric is ever so slightly different, like how the RM2 has 25 degrees of rake to the RM1S, and its 26 degrees of rake. The changes are so small that I would bet most riders would be hard-pressed to tell the difference.
The biggest changes are in weights and capacity. The RM2 weighs 320 pounds, 9 pounds more than the RM1S. It can also carry 474 pounds, a healthy bump over the 284-pound limit of the RM1S. That extra weight is carried by the RM2’s nice and long bench seat. If you’re a solo rider, now you have a bit more room to find your optimal seating position. If you like riding with a partner, they now have a seat, too!
Maeving didn’t just throw a pillion seat onto the RM1S and call it a day. As I noted earlier, the frame is different. The rear suspension has been relocated, a different rear fender is fitted, and the RM1S has a smaller, teardrop-style false tank. This time around, I think it has a bit of a vintage BSA or Triumph vibe. I love it.
The RM2 also has just enough tech to keep things modern. There are three riding modes: Eco, with a 30 mph top speed; 1 Mode (45 mph); and Sport Mode, good for 70 mph. The motorcycle is said to get about 52 miles on a charge (with two batteries) if you use Sport mode. If you ride it flat out at 70 mph non-stop, Maeving says to expect up to 30 miles of range. Either way, you should be able to run the bike in Sport mode until the battery drains to 10 percent.
Maeving also claims that, you can get 90 miles out of both batteries in Eco Mode. Being conservative, Maeving seems to imply that this bike gets in the range of 60 Wh/mile. Of course, your real-world range may vary from these ambitious claims, especially when carrying a passenger.
Practicality is pretty high, too, as the false tank can store 8.5 liters worth of gear, and you can get a top case that adds another 30 liters of space. You can also remove the passenger seat for even more storage options.
A Couple Of Catches
Now, it’s time for a couple of snags, depending on who you are.
Maeving is charging $10,995 for the RM2. That’s only a small bump over the $9,995 RM1S, but still pretty expensive for what you get. To give you an idea of what Maeving is going up against, the Ryvid Anthem has a higher top speed and a similar range figure, but costs $7,995. The Ryvid charges much faster, too. The Ryvid Outset is even cheaper at $7,495. If you’re willing to roll the dice on a used Sondors Metacycle or something from China, prices get even cheaper.
So, I would think that the primary reason to buy a Maeving would be for the style. To be fair to Maeving, it is a pretty good selling point.
Now there’s the other elephant in the room. I said that the batteries can be removed and charged in your apartment. The good news is that these batteries can charge from a regular household outlet. The bad news is that this ease of charging comes with the downside of taking a long time to charge. Maeving says that you can charge from 20 percent to 80 percent in 2.5 hours, or get a full charge in 6 hours. Ideally, you’ll just have one battery charging while you’re using the other battery, but single-battery operation cuts the range in half.
The Maeving RM2 is almost strictly an urban machine. Sure, it’s fast enough to traverse down highways and country roads, but you won’t be going very far from the city.
I’m still impressed with what Maeving has achieved. It came to America with a relatively expensive bike, and yet it has managed to stick around. Too many startups can’t say that! Maeving is holding on even in this era of headache-inducing tariffs. Imported motorcycles are technically subject to America’s 50 percent steel tariffs, yet, for now, Maeving is holding course on pricing. Maeving seems to have a lot of fans, too, which is great!
I won’t say that the RM2 is perfect. I’d love to see better charging times and a lower price. However, I absolutely adore how it looks. I think this is the most beautiful electric motorcycle that you can get in America right now. It’s also good that Maeving appears to be sticking around for the long haul and is actually delivering bikes to customers. If you dig the style as much as I do, and you happen to have both the money and the use case, you’ll likely love the Maeving RM2.
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