The Ride1Up Turris is a new adventure-oriented touring model from the affordable mail-order electric bicycle brand. The Turris is a hybrid e-bike put together more along the lines of what’s known in Europe as a “trekking” bike, with an upright riding position that resembles a casual townie bike, fenders and integrated headlight like a tourer and thick tires and front suspension suited for country roads and multi-use trails.
With a powerful 750-watt motor and large battery, it’s got plenty on tap for long days of exploring. And while it isn’t as slick or sporty as a city bike like the Velotric Thunder 1 or as utility-oriented as the RadRunner 2, it’s inexpensive, well-built and versatile enough for most paved and not-so-paved surfaces. It’s a bit heavy, and as a direct-to-consumer bike-in-a-box, assembly is more involved than some other models we’ve tested, but the Turris gives you a lot for your money.
The Turris has a powerful 750W motor, a big battery, quality components and a solidly constructed frame and wheelset that can handle most trips short of singletrack, all at a more affordable price than similarly spec'd competitors.
What we liked about it
Plenty of comfort for long rides
The Ride1Up Turris provides an upright riding position that puts most of your weight onto the thick, cushioned seat — I didn’t experience any discomfort, even following a 20-mile ride. Nor did I feel much pressure on my hands, and the ergonomic grips were comfortable to use and spread out what weight I did need to put into the handlebars effectively
The bike (available in step-over XR and step-through ST frame designs) sits on knobby, 27.5-by-2.4-inch tires that smooth out rougher terrain and vibration from the road, and the suspension fork (with 100 millimeters of travel) can soak up bigger bumps. Overall, the Ride1Up Turris is a very comfortable ride.
Well-designed and equipped with useful accessories
The Turris takes the place of the earlier and more-stripped-down Core-5 in the Ride1Up lineup, adding fenders, a suspension fork, hydraulic brakes and more-capable tires, along with a sleeker frame, to the package. The Turris offers an integrated downtube-mounted battery, and build quality is evident in the smooth welds and sleek paint job.
The bike comes equipped with metal fenders, an integrated headlight that runs off the bike’s battery (though no taillight, oddly enough) and a kickstand. There’s room for more bike accessories too, with a set of water bottle bosses on the seat tube and rack mounting points on the rear triangle (Ride1Up offers a rear rack to match).
Zoom hydraulic disc brakes with 180mm rotors give you plenty of control over your speed. I was able to stop at a moment’s notice, and the brakes are set up with electronic cutoffs for the motor, a feature we like to see since it reduces the weird feeling of having the bike trying to keep accelerating for a moment after you decide to slow down.
The 750W motor is complemented by a 1x7 Shimano drivetrain with an Altus derailleur — it’s a basic unit, but one step up from Shimano’s most basic Tourney system. The Shimano SL-TX30 shifter can feel a little wonky to use entirely with a thumb, but it changes gears nimbly even when I’m coming to a stop at a red light and only have a couple of seconds to shift all the way down from top gear.
Where many e-bikes in this price range offer no cycling computer or only a minimal unit, the Turris has an easy-to-read LCD control unit with plenty of ride information on tap. It provides info on battery level, pedal assistance level and speed, and it can cycle between other metrics like odometer, trip meter and current motor output (a useful measure for gauging how much juice different types of riding are actually pulling from the battery and how much work you’re doing on your own).
Ample power for fast, low-effort riding
The Turris is set up as a Class 3 e-bike, meaning it provides pedal-assisted power up to 28 mph. You can also run in Class 2 mode, where you can use the thumb throttle to get the bike up to 20 mph with no rider effort, and with a 750W (that’s 1 horsepower) rear hub motor, there’s plenty of oomph to get up most hills or up to speed from a standing start easily.
I found the motor more than up to the task of zipping up to that 20 mph, throttle-only cruising speed even as a 230-pound rider. With some pedaling on my part, it would happily speed up to its top speed without even asking me to break a sweat. The relaxed riding position and ample motor power mean even fast riding can still feel like a casual jaunt (as long as you’ve got some glasses/goggles for the wind) — it’s easy to find yourself zipping along with minimal effort.
I took the Ride1Up Turris out for a long afternoon ride with plenty of throttle use and Class 3 riding to see just how far its 614.4Wh battery could go on a charge, and it got me 26.3 miles before it tired out. While this is at the lower end of Ride1Up’s estimate for the bike’s range (they suggest?you’ll get anywhere from 25-45 miles out of a full charge), and wasn’t the best range per watt-hour of the bikes I’ve tested, such performance is heavily dependent on everything from wind resistance to how heavily you’ve loaded the bike.
Once the battery was dead, I could still get along at a modest 12 to 15 mph without too much fuss thanks to the bike’s gearing. Getting home after a long ride, the last thing I’d want to do is haul the 58.8-pound bike (heavy, though not among the heaviest e-bikes) up to my apartment, so it’s just that much more convenient that the Turris has a removable battery I can take up and charge.
Affordable pricing
A key selling point of Ride1Up’s bikes is how low their prices are. The Ride1Up Turris at $1,295 isn’t as cheap as they come, but it’s definitely priced toward the low end, and is cheaper than similarly equipped bikes available at retail from bigger brands. In terms of the included hardware and the apparent build quality of the bike. It’s a great package at this price.
What we didn’t like about it
More involved assembly than most e-bikes
All direct-to-consumer e-bikes entail a bit of assembly, but the Ride1Up Turris was perhaps one of the most involved models I’ve dealt with lately.
The bike took well over 45 minutes to assemble. This required inserting the front fork, adding spacers and attaching the handlebar — which, if done wrong, can lead to a front end that doesn’t want to turn, clunks or worse still, will let the wheel turn independently from the handlebars and lose all control (ask me how I know). The front wheel needed to go on, and the front headlight and fender also needed to be attached?(and my experience with fenders so far is that they take forever to put on straight.)
These are all standard enough among direct-to-consumer models, though with the Turris the drive-side crank arm also needed to be installed along with the chain, and the front brake caliper had to be mounted to the fork and aligned with the rotor.
Though the Turris is affordable, this is more assembly than you’ll have to do with some of the slightly more expensive models we’ve tested, so it’s worth factoring in the price of professional assembly if you don’t feel comfortable putting it together yourself. As with most direct-to-consumer bike manufacturers, Ride1Up includes the tools you need for the job, in this case a solid set of Allen keys.
Big battery means lengthy charging time
The Turris’ big battery means a long wait for it to charge, about six hours with Ride1Up’s included 2-amp charger. This isn’t all that uncommon for e-bikes, and slower charging speeds can be safer and healthier for the batteries, but it can still be a drag if you get some great weather and motivation to ride only to find you need to kill several hours waiting for a top-up.
Bottom line
The Ride1Up Turris is a great ride in the city and out — it’s not suited for real off-road riding, but can handle some dirt and gravel roads and light trails. With both Class 2 and 3 operation on tap, you can get anything from a minor assist to let you get some exercise to a trip from A to B solely using the throttle for moped-like operation. The Turris’ quality components, comfortable ride and sturdy build make for a well-rounded package. If you’re after a strong all-arounder that’ll be as good for grocery runs as it is for more adventurous treks and you don’t mind playing bicycle mechanic, it’s a solid choice.
