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Welcome to Flywheel, a weekly exploration of the used side of owned micromobility. Each newsletter will highlight five of the most interesting used vehicles being sold in the market followed by an observation of trends emerging in the industry.

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This week’s features are an electric cruiser, a compact utility ebike, a commuter, a fat tire ebike, and an electric mountain bike. Flywheel officially passed the milestone of processing 5000 used micromobility listings over this past week, so this edition’s observation of the week is a recap exploring the best performing brands in used micromobility since the inception of Flywheel.

Top 5 Vehicles of the Week

1. Electric Bike Company Model C | $800 | Seattle

The Model C by Electric Bike Company is one of the most powerful electric cruisers on the market. With a 500W hub motor that has an astounding 1,250W peak power, the Model C has a higher performing motor than most electric cruisers yet sells at ~1/3 of the cost of its competitors. The 845Wh battery pack is also equally impressive. Designed by Turn-Life (a battery manufacturer that Electric Bike Company has invested in and owns 50% of), the battery pack is custom made with dual temperature sensors and comes with one of the best battery management systems in the industry. The only complaint that many riders mention is that the Model C is single gear. Given that the Model C weighs a hefty 56.8lbs, only having a single gear can make it very difficult to pedal this bike on hills. However, the powerful motor more than compensates for this issue as long as riders are willing to rely on the throttle more than they might for other class-2/class-3 ebikes. This specific listing is still under warranty, has a refreshed battery, and is selling for almost $1500 below MSRP despite only having 441 miles of usage. Listing can be found here.

2. Rad Power RadRunner Plus | $1,700 | NYC

The RadRunner Plus is a class-2 compact utility ebike that I would say is the most versatile ebike on the market. Micah Toll of Electrek even calls the RadRunner Plus “the most capable electric bicycle I’ve ever reviewed.” The RadRunner Plus features the same powertrain as the original RadRunner (750W hub motor and 672Wh battery pack), but (for just $400 more) also includes a front suspension, a 7-speed shimano drivetrain (upgraded from single-speed), a rear passenger kit, and a few other accessories. Even with a second passenger on-board, the RadRunner Plus is more than capable for most trips in terms of range and torque on hills. The only real con of this ebike is its 77lb weight. At this weight, most riders typically use the throttle more than the pedals, and the small 20” wheels with such a heavy weight magnify the effect of bumps and other obstacles on the road. Listing can be found here.

3. Kalkhoff Agattu B7 | $1,500 | Seattle

The Agattu B7 is an economical class-1 commuter. Designed by the brand known for bringing european city cruising bike features to the US, the B7 is an aesthetically pleasing step-thru commuter that is built to be easily approachable by first time ebike riders. The B7’s powertrain is built on the Bosch Performance Line (250W mid-drive motor and 400Wh battery pack), which is one of the highest rated ebike motor setups in the market and is rarely available on bikes in this price range. The 250W Bosch Performance Line is also very gentle in its acceleration and speed assist, making it much less intimidating for first time ebikers. This specific listing is is selling for $1500 less than MSRP despite only having 131 miles of usage. Listing can be found here.

4. Sondors X | $1,800 | SF - Bay Area

The Sondors X is a supercharged version of the beloved Sondors Fat Bikes. Designed as a class-2 ebike, the X has a powertrain featuring a 500W Bafang Motor and an 840Wh battery pack housed in Sondors’s signature triangular compartment. Most fat tire bikes are typically used for mountain biking. However, the X’s lack of suspension and very basic transmission that is hard to shift makes it a difficult vehicle for more advanced trails. On the other hand, the fat tires, powerful motor, and ultra-long range make this an extremely fun and capable city bike with great towing capability for a child or cargo trailer. This listing comes with an upgraded 7 speed trigger shifter to make shifting easier and has a recently replaced battery pack that is very well maintained and has less than 50 charge cycles. Listing can be found here.

5. Specialized Turbo Levo SL Expert Carbon | $6,400 | LA

The Turbo Levo SL Expert is a class-1 electric mountain bike and one of Specialized’s most popular mountain biking models. Despite having a full suspension, the Levo’s carbon frame allows it to still be one of the lightest electric mountain bikes available and almost as light as many of Specialized’s pedal mountain bikes. Its default powertrain consists of a custom Specialized 240W mid-drive and an integrated 320Wh pack, but the seller of this listing is also including a Specialized 160Wh range extender that slots into the water bottle holder. The seller has also upgraded the suspension to a Fox34 front fork, and the battery is reported to be in 100% condition. This is the best available value at the moment for a used Turbo Levo SL Expert; the listing is in excellent condition with low mileage and is selling for almost $2K less than the average resale price. Listing can be found here.

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Observation of the Week

The best performing brands in used micromobility

Flywheel officially passed the milestone of processing 5000 used micromobility listings over this past week. As such, I wanted to do a recap of the top performing brands since the inception of Flywheel.

Below is a ranking of the top 5 brands by number of listings and number of listings sold, broken down by region:

Unsurprisingly, as one of the biggest bike brands in the world and one of the first entrants into the ebike space, Specialized dominates proceedings. Looking more closely at specific regions:

• In SF and Seattle, sport-focused brands like Specialized, Trek, and Giant seem to be most popular.

• In NYC, budget-friendly brands like Nakto, Gopowerbike, and Swagtron are selling the best. This aligns with the fact that average resale prices in NYC are much lower than in other regions.

• In LA, there’s a bigger presence of stylish, scrambler and racer style ebikes from the likes of Sondors and Juiced.

Looking at the US market as a whole, the overall top performing brands (Specialized, Rad Power, Aventon, Ecotric, and Trek) made up 13.13% of all used listings and 12.99% of all sold listings. For players looking to enter the used micromobility market, focusing on these brands would be a smart starting point.

That’s it for this week. Thanks again for joining, see you next Sunday!

- Puneeth Meruva

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