Mate X electric bike review – ride easier and ride with confidence

80%

The Mate X electric bike offers the latest cutting edge features, the highest quality parts and ties that all together beautifully for a smooth and enjoyable riding experience.

• VERDICT

When I was told the Mate electric bike has been called the Tesla of electric bikes I knew, as a Tesla driver, I had to take a look at it. And of course I was already interested in electric bikes.

Electric bikes are quite popular right now but we should point out if people think the motor does all the work they are mistaking an electric bike for an electric scooter.

The Mate X – that’s the model we had – works like every other electric bike.

It still has pedals and the motor kicks in to assist.

There are five levels of assistance available with Mate X which can be adjusted by a controller on the left side of the handlebars.

So if you are facing a hill you can work the gears like you normally would (it is a Shimano 8-speed and has Tektro disc brakes) and engage the motor with the pedals to make even lighter work of it.

This is what makes an electric bike more attractive to customers – they can use it to get to work or wherever they need to go with much less effort than a regular bike so you’re not all sweaty and hot and bothered when you get there.

I weigh more than 110kgs and the Mate X electric bike still showed its power even when riding up hills.

And on top of the assisted pedalling, there is also a throttle on the right handle which lets you coast on flat ground.

In fact, you can actually get away with just using the throttle to maintain your speed after a downhill run and on flat stretches.

The Mate X has a 250W motor onboard with a hi-torque 48W battery with a 17.5 Ah capacity.

On a full charge you can get about 80km of range with a top motor speed of 25km/h.

There is an LCD display right in the middle of the handlebars which offers at a glance everything you need to know about your ride like current speed, battery level and the level of assistance you’re getting.

It will also tell you how much juice you’ll need to get home.

One thing about the LCD screen – it was hard and, at times, impossible to read in direct sunlight.

We’re not sure whether that’s because of a lack of brightness or because the screen can be positioned at a friendlier angle.

Not a deal breaker – we could see the screen clearly most of the time.

We would have also been happy use our own phone as the display with a companion app that pairs to the bike via Bluetooth.

This would have also slightly lowered the price as well.

The ride of the Mate X electric bike was smooth and enjoyable.

Smooth thanks to the suspension that’s on both the front and back wheels to really takes the bumps out of play.

Speaking of wheels. The Mate X has these fat 20-inch wheels that are four-inches wide that can take you anywhere.

With these chunky tyres it means you can confidently ride in all terrains – including the park, off-road tracks, sand and shallow puddles.

So if you wanted to go off-road or take a short cut – you’re limited with tyres that are only designed for the road.

On the safety side there is also a front light and rear brake light. There is even an indicator that will activate a blinker on the rear light to show what direction you’re heading.

And if have a bag or groceries or anything else you need to carry, the rear rack makes this possible – all you need are the straps to hold your cargo in place.

The Mate X electric bike also conveniently folds down in three easy steps so you can take it on a train or store it under your desk when you get to the office.

The Mate X electric bike is not a cheap electric bike – it’s priced at $2,699 and is available in burnt orange (that’s the bright colour we had), black, white ice, shocking pink, dusty army and jet grey.

VERDICT

The Mate X electric bike offers the latest cutting edge features, the highest quality parts and ties that all together beautifully for a smooth and enjoyable riding experience.