The most compact folding electric bike I’ve EVER ridden | RYDBIKE Aero 16
This folding electric bike only weighs in at 14 kg, making it one of the lightest folding electric bikes currently in the market. But does it slack in weight mean a lacking in other departments? Today we’re going to find out. What’s up electrics? Welcome back to the channel. If you’re new here, my name is Alish. I am an electric bike reviewer and today I have with me the ride bike a 16. This is a 16inch wheel folding electric bike from Ride Bike. They are a brand new brand that we haven’t ever reviewed before. So, I’m really interested to find out more with this one because a lot of you in the comments will say to me, Alish, I really want a folding electric bike, but the weight of them generally just ends up being a no sale for you. So, the fact that this is 14 kg, I mean, it’s very compact as well. It’s very competitive in what it’s telling us that it is. But, let’s find out more. Today I’m going to be doing a range test, a hill test, a road test, a fold test, uh multicutal, I can’t even say that, a multimodal commuting test. So if that sounds good to you, then keep on watching. First up, let me give you a quick tour of the spec. The Ride Aero 16 is built from carbon fiber, including the frame, the fork, the handlebars, and even the mud guards, making it super light at just 14 kg. It folds in seconds and is designed for riders between 5’1 and 6’2 with an adjustable stem and seat post and can take a maxed load of 100 kg. Just to give you an idea of size, here it is locked up alongside a whole group of commuter bikes. It’s unbelievably compact. You get a 250 W hub motor with just under 36 new m of torque paired with a torque sensor and a maintenance-free Deco belt drive. There are five levels of pedal assist taking you up to 15.5 miles per hour as EU legislation permits. Power comes from a removable Samsung seat post battery with a max 37 mile range and a fast 3hour recharge time. You can also lock the battery to the frame with this button right here and quick release with a key for added security. Braking is handled by Tekro hydraulic brakes with 16-in puncture resistant tires and reflective strips for extra safety. Integrated front and rear lights and minimal wiring, plus carbon fiber mud guards gives it a sleek commuter ready finish. The front light has a good enough brightness to illuminate several meters ahead and is visible in lowlevel lighting. The display is also lit well. It’s lightweight, compact, and built for a smooth, lowmaintenance ride. And you’ll be pleased to see that Ride Bike passes all of the essential safety certification for your peace of mind. Thanks to the carbon fiber frame, it makes it 45% lighter than an aluminum frame equivalent. It makes it 35% stronger, and it also makes it three times stiffer. There’s also no welded joints, which means it isn’t prone to welding degradation. and inevitably it should last much longer. Now, in total, this comes in at around €1,700, which converts to generally about currently, at the time of filming, 1,500 Great British pound. So, it’s not cheap, but it’s not massively expensive for a carbon fiber electric bike. For example, the Adio Air Carbon, which I have done a full review on, which you can watch by clicking the link above, comes in at a retail price of £1,999. The Tasu Swift comes in around £2,200. And the premium Go Cycle G4i Plus comes in at a penny under £5,500. So, whilst £1,500 can feel like a lot for a bike, actually, this is a competitively priced ride. I really love the look of this bike. Firstly, it’s a gorgeous color. It’s a kind of like lilacy purple, which isn’t showing up too much on a gray day like today, but when the sun shines, it really does pop. You’ve got this gorgeous curvature of the frame that I’ve not really seen with a folding electric bike before. So, it looks great. And in fact, one really nice thing that I’ve noticed is the fact that you can connect the battery here on the frame. Generally speaking, with a folding electric bike, it will be right underneath here. And when you’re trying to connect it, a, it’s really hard to find because it’s right up in here. And B, it also gets really mucky. So, I think that’s a really smart solution to a very common conundrum when it comes to the battery being removable and in the seat post. It’s also got a rear rack, so you can include extra spillover cargo, which is great. Now, there is a max weight of 25 kg on the rear rack, and you even get an expandable strap that slots into the bottom here, so you can attach your extra cargo from the get- go. It also comes with mud guards included, including integrated rear and front lights as well. Overall, it’s a very goodlooking, compact little ride. However, that compactness doesn’t particularly translate very well when it comes to a 5’10 girly like myself. So, the frame, the setup, it’s small. You’re not getting, well, at least I’m not getting the desired seating position that I would like because the seat post can only go up so far before it reaches its limits. Of course, this is great when it comes to chucking it on public transport because the tinier it is, the less of an inconvenience is for yourself and to other people. But when I’m riding the bike, it’s a compact feel of ride. And of course, these bikes aren’t designed for the perfect riding position. They’re designed to be compact and convenient. However, I do find myself being very reliant on the motor because I’m not able to output the power that I usually would be able to through my legs because it’s much more pressure through the knees without be putting much work through my legs, which is kind of what I need to do. I’m on level five assist right now and I’m getting up to about 20 kilometers an hour, which isn’t the max speed that this bike can go. It can of course go up to 25 km an hour. So, we’re not getting that max speed, but when you do hit about 20 km an hour, you do then end up getting a bit more of a ghost pedal. And it’s actually quite difficult, isn’t it, when you’ve got a single speed electric bike because obviously you don’t want there to be too much tension when you’re starting from a standing start. But you also need there to be tension when you are at those higher speeds. So you feel like you still have that connection with the bike. So I would say that this is a bike where you need to be at a slightly slower level of speed to be able to feel like you’re still connected. Once you go past that 20 km an hour, that ghost pedaling does start to begin. Overall in level five assist, the motor does carry me really nicely when it comes to flats. picks up speed pretty quickly, albeit not to the fastest speed that it claims it can go. But what that does mean is that I feel a little less confident when it comes to tackling busy roads. Because what I like about being able to really feel that connection with the bike and go as fast as I can by putting as much weight through my legs to get that speed is that I’m able to react when you need to. when there’s danger, when there’s things that need to be avoided, when you need to have that start at the traffic lights that kind of beats everyone else to it so you get into a safe position. So, my one gripe would be although it does handle well on the flats, I don’t feel fully in control of this bike because of the seating position. I’ve popped it down to a level two assist just to get a feel for how it is actually in those lower modes because naturally the battery’s range will begin to run out and we might need to have just a little bit less assist to get us to our destination. Now I’m just coming off a hill here but I want to see how that motor performs on those lower levels. Okay, here we go. So I’m just going to stop here. Okay. Yeah, the assist as we would expect. There is definitely less coming from the motor. Now I’m able to reach a kind of comfortable 13, 14, maybe 15 at a slightly slower pace. That is, I’m sorry, kilometers per hour I’m talking in here. But I can feel the weight of the bike a bit more. There’s a bit more tension and pressure going through my legs, which is inevitable with those lower levels. Now, it is fine on the flats, but I am not sure how this is going to fair on the hills. In fact, should we find out? It’s time for the hill test. So, this hill I have here, we are currently in Wimbledon where there are some really good gradients. And I’d say this is I think it’s about up to 12% gradient. So, it’s a pretty good hill to test this bike on. Now, I’m very intrigued to see how this does because on the flats, it does okay, but when it comes to the hills and my riding position, let’s see what happens. So, I am I’m hoping I can capture the screen well for you. It’s quite tricky with the little tiny LCD screen. So, okay, on number five assist already in a little bit of an incline. Oh, let’s go. Okay, so actually it’s picking up some nice speed already. There’s a slight incline going on as I say. Let me just adjust this up a touch. There we go. See a bit better what’s ahead. Now it is progressively getting steeper. But we are about 15 14 km an hour. Here’s where it starts to get steeper. Okay. You can hear the motor is wearing away. Okay. So it’s still right. The motor is still kicking in. Still 14 15 km an hour. I thought it might start to just fall back by now, but actually the power keeps on coming. I am pleasantly surprised. I am putting that weight through my knees, but I’m not getting too much of a twinge, which is good. Now, this is becoming the steepest bit. I’ve ridden this on an analog bike before, and it takes the breath out of you. But we’re on 14, 13. It’s not dropped too much, and we’re starting to level out. Oh my goodness. Pleasantly surprised. Pleasantly surprised. First and foremost, can we just take a moment to stop and appreciate how stunning the houses are here and just how humongous they are. Oh my god, the amount of money that you need to own one of these. I’m feeling very out of my depth right now. But I have to say the ride bike that did so much better than I was expecting. I’m sorry, but I love I love a little surprise. pleasant surprise. I’m going to go back down again and try it on a lower level just to see how it feels in case we’re running out of battery and we need to be in that lower mode. This time I’m tackling the same hill in level two assist. And off the bat, the bike needs more power from my legs to get it going, but that is of course to be expected. It feels much wastier to the point where I already need to turn it up to level three to get myself to 10 km an hour. The steepest part of the hill, thanks to an additional speed bump, had me riding at around 8.5 km an hour. So, all in all, I’d recommend riding hillier terrain in a top assist, unless you’re happy with a plaudier pace. Next up, I’m taking you with me on a busy midweek commute home from the office. It’s peak commuter time, and I’m really hoping the A16 can keep itself compact and out of the way for the very busy and huffy London commuters. Just a reminder that you are allowed to take a folding electric bike on London trains as long as you can stow them, but please make sure to check before you travel as different services have differing rules. As you can see, stairs are no problem when you’ve got a 14 kg electric bike to carry. Taking it along the platform is a breeze. Thanks to its narrow handlebars, I’m not taking up too much space, and I can pack it away pretty quickly once I find my position on the platform whilst I wait for my train. Another feature which could be helpful for your commute is the walk assist feature. When the bike is folded by the frame, if you press the down arrow on the display, the motor kicks in and will walk the bike for you. Now, I will say it’s a bit too powerful for my liking. The rear mud guard gets flung to the floor if you’re not careful, and it now has a few scratches because of it. Folding it down is easy peasy. The carbon fiber frame and compact size means I can handle it without any awkward weight distribution going on. In its compact size, I’ve seen backpacks being brought onto trains that are bigger and heavier than this. Getting on the train would be smooth as butter if it wasn’t for the usual commuters stopping right next to the door, but unfortunately that can’t be helped. Then it was plain sailing for the rest of the ride home. It can fit neatly under the luggage rack with not too much extra sticking out to trip up unaware commuters. The one thing I will say is the magnet didn’t always keep the wheels tucked together, but other than that, it was a brilliant multimodal companion. So, what about the range? Well, bearing in mind the temperature has been around 18° C, I’ve ridden mainly flat terrain on level five assist, and that is with my total weight of about 65 kg. I’ve been able to get a total range of 16 mi on one charge. If you’re riding hillier terrain or you’re heavier, you will most likely get less range. So, I say this is a suitable option to bridge the gap between public transport and your destination. This bike does have a lot of pros. It’s super lightweight. It’s really convenient. It’s really passed the test when it comes to multimodal commuting. It can be stored in your home, no problem. So, if you live in a small flat, you’re really not going to have much of an issue with this bike. It’s also really low maintenance thanks to that carbon belt drive. You’re not going to need to do anything to it for a very long time. You can just jump on and go. It also really pleasantly surprised me on the hill test as well. Granted, it does need to be more so in level five to give you an okay amount of speed, particularly with my way anyway. It’s also got a quick charge. It’s got a removal battery, so that gives you even more flexibility when you’re out and about or if you’re at home and at work and you need to charge somewhere. And finally, it has hydraulic brakes and it also has the integrated lighting so you have that safety and visibility. But let’s talk about some of those cons. When you’ve got a compact electric bike, it’s going to have that compact wheel size as well. So 16in wheels, you need to make sure that you are feeling confident with your balance because it does require a bit more stability from the rider. The max load of this electric bike is only 100 kg. Now, despite it being carbon fiber and it has that rigidity, it doesn’t take as heavy a load as maybe the average person would need. So, me being around 65 kg and then having that 25 kg on the row rack, I can do just about fine. But when you’re start starting to push maybe 75 85, that’s where it starts to get a little bit trickier because you might be having something on your back or on the rear rack as well. I’d also say the rider he high is a little bit limited as well. Of course, it’s a different style of ride, but if you’re a smaller rider, I think it’s a little bit more well suited. If you’re like my size, 5′ 10 and up, you have to adjust to a different kind of riding style. And finally, on a personal level, I don’t feel as comfortable riding an electric bike like this just because I can’t be as reactive because I am very reliant on the motor and when it comes to very busy London roads, I want to make sure that I can really put power through my legs when I need to. So that style of riding does limit me in that sense. But overall, I would say it is a really great option for a last mile solution. If you’re somebody that doesn’t have too far to go and you just want to get from A to B after going from the train or going to the train, but also if you are a smaller rider as well, I think this could cater really nicely to you. So guys, I’d love to know your thoughts at home. What do you think? Let me know down in the comments below. I hope you enjoyed this video today. I hope it helped you in your journey of purchasing a folding electric bike. If there’s any other electric bikes that you would like me to review, please let me know down in the comments and I will see you for the next one. [Music]
If you’ve ever wanted a folding electric bike but found them way too heavy, this one might change your mind. The Rydbike Aero 16 weighs just 14kg thanks to its full carbon-fibre construction — frame, fork, handlebars, even the mudguards. It’s genuinely one of the most compact and lightweight e-bikes I’ve tested.
In this video, I take a deep dive into what the Aero 16 is all about:
✨ How compact and commuter-friendly it really is
✨ What the carbon-fibre build offers in real-world use
✨ The key specs — including its torque-sensor system, belt drive, hydraulic brakes and fast-charging battery
✨ How it performs on flat roads, hills, and public-transport commutes
✨ Practical features like lights, folding mechanism, and portability
✨ Who this bike is really designed for
If you’re looking for a last-mile commuter, a bike that’s easy to carry, or simply something that won’t take up space at home or in the office, this could be one worth considering.
#Rydbike #aero16 #electricbike
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