Magicycle Cruiser Review

Like many affordable electric fat bikes, the Magicycle Cruiser is built around a 750W rear hub motor. This one is made by a motor manufacturer called Shengyi and makes a notable 86Nm of torque.

Powering that motor is a 52V, 15Ah (780Wh) battery that’s a little on the larger end of the spectrum. Most e-bikes in this category sit at about 672Wh, though there are some larger ones.

You also get the standard-issue mixed Shimano drivetrain, which uses an Altus rear derailleur and Tourney Shifter — a setup that’s quickly become the norm for sub-$2,000 electric fat bikes.

Finally the brakes on our review model are an unbranded mechanical disk brake. All the other componentry is fairly normal spec of a bike in this category at this price. You’ve got a comfort saddle, Kenda fat tires, ergonomic grips, a rear rack capable of 55 lbs and a few other accouterments you’d expect like fenders and lights.

But while much of this bike is standard issue, there are some performance (and other) issues that came up during testing that are worth noting.

The first is the bike’s extremely high speed. Our review bike came to us fully unlocked, with both the throttle and pedal assist capable of powering the bike well over the respective legal limits. On throttle alone the Magicycle cruises at 27 mph on flat ground. This means this bike is not street or bike path legal in most U.S. states despite the brand marketing it as a Class 3 e-bike. We did attempt to change the settings to legal levels and even reached out to Magicycle for guidance, but we had trouble getting any speed adjustments we made to stick. Each time we restarted the bike, it would default back to unlocked speeds.

This unlocked speed is a safety and legal concern that we’ll dive into in more detail in the motor performance section, but it’s an immediate red flag for our testing team.

The second issue, which also ties in to the bike’s high speed, is the brakes. The unbranded mechanical disk brakes on the Magicycle are unacceptably poor performing. We’ll dive into the particulars of just how poorly they worked in our brake test section, but the short and sweet of it is that this bike far outpowers and outweighs its braking capability.

Lastly, which isn’t directly related to on-road performance but is information I’d like to know if I were a consumer eyeing this bike, is that, during our testing, a competitor to Magicycle reached out to us with evidence that Magicycle had cannibalized much of their website and reappropriated it as their own. Everything from the design to the words to even some of the product photos were directly taken from this competitor’s site and rebranded as Magicycle. We independently verified these claims and found articles, photos and even an entire product page on the Magicycle website that belonged to this competing brand.

Asked for comment on this issue, Magicycle in an email defended their website and said they were attempting to “learn” from the competing brand in question and other successful affordable e-bike brands.

“We respect them as great competitors but we are totally different and we are not their duplication,” Magicycle said in the email. Magicycle has since changed or removed much of the cannibalized content after Electric Bike Report reached out for comment on the issue.

This last fact isn’t performance related, but it is something I’d like to know if I were on the other side of this screen trying to decide which e-bike to spend my money on. It may seem trivial, or like a spat between two competitors that doesn’t hold bearing over the end consumer, but issues like this can serve as a smoke signal for problems that could directly affect the end consumer.

Obviously the Electric Bike Report testing team has concerns over the Magicycle Cruiser’s higher-than-legal top speeds, which we’ll dive into shortly, but from a performance perspective, the Cruiser’s 750W rear hub motor performs about as expected.

It makes 86Nm of torque, which makes it good uphill, and it has an aggressive acceleration profile reminiscent of the Himiway Cruiser. (In fact, there are many performance, style and even — ehem — naming elements of the Magicycle Cruiser that are reminiscent of the Himiway Cruiser.)

Among other affordable electric fat bikes, the Magicycle’s performance is fairly standard if not slightly higher powered than its competitors. It does have seven levels of pedal assist, which is quite a bit higher than my (and much of the EBR testing team’s) preference of three, but that’s a detail that’s likely adjustable. On our test circuit, the bike performed well, though it’s speedy hot lap in PAS 7 does serve as a reminder that this bike does not meet the legal definition of an e-bike.

And really, that’s the rub that overshadows much of the 750W motor’s on-par performance in our testing. Our review bike is not a street or bike path legal e-bike, despite indication on the Magicycle website that it’s supposed to be. The bike tested here arrived with a throttle capable of speeds up to 27 mph on flat ground and pedal assistance capable of speeds over 30 mph. E-bikes in most U.S. states are capped at 20 mph using the throttle and 28 mph using pedal assistance, so while our review model has pedals and is marketed as an e-bike it more fits the definition of an electric moped.

We attempted to adjust the speed settings and even reached out to Magicycle for guidance on how to do so, but no matter how many times we changed them the bike reset back to its stock unlocked speed each time we restarted the bike.

Aside from the legal issues, an e-bike capable of speeds this high poses a major safety concern for both the rider and pedestrians. Like other affordable electric fat bikes, the Magicycle Cruiser’s natural habitat is bike paths, bike lanes and other paved thoroughfares where you’re likely to encounter high volumes of pedestrian foot traffic. Considering the several hundred pound gross weight of this bike plus the weight of an adult rider, you could inflict serious harm on a dog walker or a parent pushing a stroller should you barrel into them at 30 mph.