I’ve been using Ride1Up e-bikes since their first model. In the many years since I first tried this bike, I’ve noticed the company releasing an ever-increasing diversity of different e-bikes that shared a common trend. – Wonderful price for money.
So when I recently traveled around Asia to stop at micromobility factories and take a look behind the curtain, I knew the Ride1Up factory would be the most sensible on my list. I was invited to sign up with the company’s founder, Kevin Dugger, for a field trip to the factory so I could see how Ride1Up makes sure they can keep the best quality and prices low.
Like almost all electric motorcycle companies in the United States, their motorcycles are produced in China. But you can get a wide diversity of quality in such a giant country with extensive production facilities. If you buy reasonably, you will get reasonable products. But if you design a production formula with triple and quadruple quality control inspections, you get well-made products that will treat their owners well for years to come.
This is the calculation made through Ride1Up, and it will pay dividends to the company by reducing disruption and visitor complaints. And if you have a return policy as generous as Ride1Up’s, you’d do well to make sure other people have your motorcycles. in good condition and that those motorcycles last as long as the riders expect.
My excursion to the Ride1Up factory took me straight to the factory, where parallel production lines were busy making Ride1Up’s $995 Portola ultra-folding electric bike on one side of the factory, and the company’s $2,295 CF Racer1 carbon fiber road bike. And yes, when it comes to carbon fiber road and gravel e-bikes, 2g comes at an incredibly low price.
For a tour of the factory and discover the secrets to making high-quality e-bikes, check out my video below. And don’t just read on below for more details!
However, before the portions reach any of those lines, they first undergo a pre-check. The wheels are built around the front motors and hubs employing automated lashing machines that are then fed to automated robots to make sure they are securely tied and tensioned.
Any wheel that doesn’t come out exactly right is headed to a side chute where a human inspector can compare it and send it back to rework until it’s perfect.
The procedure combines manual and automated tasks, making the most of any of the resources.
The frames are also inspected at this stage, as they come from another external paint and weld construction (as the Ride1Up factory is located in a low-emission zone).
Frames are inspected for paint chips or imperfections, and all frames are marked for repair before being sent for assembly.
The rest of the frames go to the rendezvous line.
These pre-inspected frames are elevated to the initial meeting via an elevated conveyor, where the initial meeting will begin.
On the other side of the conveyor, an employee receives the frame and installs it at its first station so that lighting fixtures can be installed on the rear rack and internal cables can be routed through the frame tubes.
The drivers are then installed on the frames, but only after they have been digitized into an intelligent control formula that digitally matches the components to the motorcycle frame. This will be used responsibly in the future. If a component is found to be defective, for example, if a driver manufacturer reports that a given batch of 20 controllers has a problem, Ride1Up can immediately know which motorcycles might be affected and can tell its owner which particular motorcycle and driver. even months or years later.
In the case of Portola folding e-bikes, the frames are then in a position to be loaded onto the assembly line’s conveyor system, which slowly moves down the line to each worker’s station.
The first step is to install the pedal drivetrain, which includes the rear mount, chainring, cranks, and pedals. The folding hardware is then installed, followed by the bracket and the rear wheel with the motor. Each component is held in a position with special treatment. Hardware designed to resist corrosion, with bolts to which a threadlocking compound is applied to ensure they do not come loose.
The handlebars are then attached to the frames with the front fork. Once the handlebars are secured, the wiring, shift cable, and brake hoses can be passed to the bars. Wire wraps are implemented to give the hardness of the wiring a neat appearance and neat look and then a battery is installed. Like the controller, the main parts, such as the motor and battery, are also digitized and recorded so that there is documentation for the e-bike to keep track of its full list of parts.
The equipment used at each level is also calibrated using sophisticated electronic equipment, making sure that if a bolt requires 10 Nm of torque to be applied, the torque wrench actually produces 10 Nm of torque.
At the end of the automated conveyor system, the e-bikes are placed on their wheels and taken to a finishing station, where the employee indexes the shifter and calibrates it so that all gears shift cleanly and without jumping.
On that day, the parallel line assembled the CF Racer1 carbon fiber e-bike. Only the most experienced staff are placed in this rallying line due to the superior tolerances of racing carbon fiber bikes. Strength equipment is also not used in this line; All meeting steps are carried out with precision hand-held equipment to avoid applying too much stress to the carbon fiber frame.
The general steps are the ones that were noticed in the first line of the meeting, but they are carried out with an even greater point of sophistication. The frames are first visually inspected for any imperfections before being hoisted along a suspended conveyor formula to the assembly line. From there, staff install controllers, batteries, wheels, handlebars, shifter, pedaling, and other accessories.
After reaching the end of the rendezvous line, the motorcycles are routed to their own area, where the brake lines are bled and the gear lever is calibrated.
Once fully assembled, the two motorcycle models are deposited in their own pens, where visual ions await. Quality testers go through the motorcycle to dozens of things and make sure they are well assembled.
All disorders are reported and motorcycles are placed in a side pen for correction. The clever tracking formula also links the factor to the employee who performed that task, allowing the plant to formulate disruptions by promptly addressing any mistakes an employee may make. Workers who make few to no mistakes also get financial bonuses on top of their wages, further incentivizing motorcycles to be ridden perfectly the first time.
Approved motorcycles then move on to the next level of driving tests.
At the moment, none of the electric motorcycles have a saddle. This is because they are all tested to ensure that all purposes are working properly and the staff use the same seats that are replaced from one motorcycle to the next. The saddle that comes with the electric motorcycle is added just before packing, making sure that when a visitor finally opens their electric motorcycle, their first cheeks adorn that saddle.
Once the motorcycles have passed their driving tests, they are complete, even if they are not yet in a condition to be packaged.
Before e-bikes can be packaged, they will first need to pass a series of third-party inspections. These hired outside inspectors are not painters from the Ride1Up factory, but they actually work somewhat antagonistically with them. Their task is to redo all inspections and locate everything that was lost in the last rounds of inspections.
Because they are not technically workers at the Ride1Up factory and instead come from a third-party inspection agency, they go through inspections and are in a better position to find any issues that might have gone through previous rounds of internal inspections.
Only once electric motorcycles have passed third-party inspections are they in a condition to be packaged. At this point, they head to the last leg of their journey, which takes them on a meticulously subtle packing regimen through Ride1Up over several years. The company implemented its experience of shipping tens of thousands of electric motorcycles to find ways to better protect the motorcycles while also minimizing the amount of plastic and foam used in the process.
As I followed the packing steps, I couldn’t find any foam historically used in motorcycle wrapping, and the only plastic I saw was the cable ties and a single piece of padded plastic that was used to protect the fork.
Interestingly, a final inspection point is still implemented even after the e-bikes are packed. The entire can is weighed precisely, making sure it reaches exactly the right weight.
If a single component or part were omitted from the packaging, the box would be too light and the factory would know there is a problem.
It’s the icing on the cake of an all-round formula filled with redundant protection and quality inspections performed before, during, and after the meeting process.
I’ve noticed many e-bike factories over my years covering the industry, however, it’s rare to see so many random checks and quality assurance built into so many other production process spaces and meetings.
The tour was an engaging behind-the-scenes look at how Ride1Up builds their e-bikes and answered the question of how they can offer so much value.
As a direct-to-consumer company, you want to offer electric motorcycles that perform well right out of the box. These electric motorcycles are largely shipped to personal customers, not to large motorcycle stores or professional assemblers. Therefore, you must be in a condition to travel, without repairs, from day one. Anything else would result in a costly return procedure for Ride1Up.
Over the years, they’ve subtly refined their formula to make quality e-bikes that are built to last while also offering moderate value to riders.
I’ve long touted the company’s quality and functionality from my own testing of its various e-bike models. But that was only the end of the story: getting to the finished product. Now, after witnessing the meeting and the quality controls, I can nevertheless ensure their professionalism from the beginning of the process.
Micah Toll is an electric vehicle enthusiast, battery enthusiast, and one of Amazon’s number one best-selling books: Lithium Batteries for DIY, Solar Power for DIY, The Ultimate Guide to DIY E-Bikes, and The E-Bike Manifesto.
The e-bikes that make up current Micah users are the $999 Lectric XP 2. 0, the $1,095 Ride1Up Roadster V2, the $1,199 RadMission Rad Power Bikes, and the $3,299 Priority Current. But it’s a list that’s evolving quite a bit these days.
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