• Ryvid merges “rhythm” and “avid”—elements of motion and emotion—to define its desired user experience.
• Its first electric motorcycle, the Anthem, won the 2024 Rider’s Choice Award for MicroMobility.
• Capable of 85mph, a 1.1-second 0-30mph time, and a slew of other innovative features (like its removable battery), the Anthem made a huge impression on current and prospective riders.
• Ryvid’s next bike, named Outset, remixes its core concept for urban and off-the-beaten-path adventurists.

If the name “Ryvid” sounds familiar, it’s because it isn’t exactly a new company. But today, I’m writing about its first attempt at making bikes because, even almost a year on from winning the 2024 Rider’s Choice Award for Best Commuter Motorcycle, the Ryvid Anthem is as relevant as ever.

Buried deep within AIMExpo’s confines, I confess that Ryvid wasn’t a company I was expecting to see. Before even spending any face-to-face time with the bike, Ryvid’s booth display made it clear that the company was trying to do things differently. It took on the form factor of a shipping container with framed excerpts of the bike’s development and field testing neatly arranged among its available accessories (more on this later), an assortment of snake plants, and well-designed stickers that looked perfectly sized for your motorcycle gas tank or garage toolbox. All this is to say that Ryvid looked like a pretty cool company from a distance, and those impressions only got stronger the closer I got.

FOR THE USER

I’ll hold back from saying that Ryvid is “doing things differently;” that’s about as generic and overused as defaulting new e-things as “cutting-edge.” Where Ryvid sets itself apart is by manufacturing an electric motorcycle with human quality—it’s a device that fits into our daily lives in the same way that a smartphone or computer does. By putting the user first, Ryvid’s user experience vastly differs from any e-motorcycle alternative that relies only on its powertrain technology.

The Anthem’s electronically adjustable seat height immediately stood out to me. My 1977 CB550 had been converted to a monotube Ohlins shock out back, and it was cumbersome to get this dialed in when I first bought the bike. With the Anthem, the seat goes up and down with a press of a button, which makes it infinitely more flexible for multiple riders.

The second thing you should know about is its battery/motor. It occupies roughly the same real estate as a conventional engine, but the combo is mounted low on the pressed-steel frame chassis. This means the center of gravity is low, making the bike feel even lighter than its curb weight—240 lb (108 kg)—suggests. That already sounds like a big win, but the battery can also be detached from the frame, transported like a carry-on suitcase, and charged in, say, your office if there aren’t any vacant plugs where you’ve parked your bike.

Last but not least, the Anthem rocks a 4.9” TFT display, all LED lighting, and dual high-output USB ports for device charging. Compared to the cool, detachable battery, these seem a bit pedestrian. But you’ll appreciate these features right away once you’ve spent time on the bike.

FAST ENOUGH

All those features add up to nearly nothing if the bike can’t perform, and since the Anthem was Ryvid’s first attempt, it had immense pressure to deliver. As a result, the Anthem can scoot from 0-30mph time in just 1.1 seconds and hit a top speed of 75mph. Fast doesn’t just reflect the Anthem’s grunt; the bike charges quickly, too. From its integrated 3.3kW charger (via a household 110V outlet), the Anthem can go from 0 to 80% in just 2.5 hours and 100% in 3.5. With a beefier 220V surge (or Level 2 using a J Plug adapter), those figures drop to 1.25 and 2 hours respectively.

PERSONALIZED RIDE

Technically, there’s one other user-centric thing I haven’t shared. The Anthem is built aerospace chassis, and engineering this pressed-steel frame from scratch meant that Ryvid could dictate how its fairings would attach to the body. Ryvid opted for an ingenious solution: offer full fairing kits in a multitude of pre-painted finishes. These panels can be mixed, matched, and swapped to suit your bike’s style (or your mood). I think the modularity of style is a huge selling point, and even if all five available finishes don’t thrill you, it’s easy enough to wrap them in a myriad of other hues.

“Riding the Anthem is a personal experience, with a level of customization that translates to a feeling that the bike was built just for you,” offered Ryvid Founder and CEO Dong Tran. If I hadn’t experienced the bike in person, I would’ve thought this was just some “curated” marketing speak. But the Anthem, in its humanness and pliability, does feel like a tailored product. That’s a very hard thing to achieve, and seldom labels that you’d assign to a consumer product nowadays.

TWO FOR ONE

There are probably a lot of readers saying all of this sounds too good to be true, and I confess that I’m not done singing Ryvid’s praises yet. Even though the Anthem is its first electric motorcycle, it hasn’t gone the way of passing along those costs to the consumer. As much as it could probably sell for $10,000, the Anthem starts at a reasonable $6,495. Ryvid’s second release, the beyond pavement bike called the “Outset” is even cheaper at $5,995. You could feasibly buy both of these Ryvid e-machines and have way more fun than a single motorcycle. I never thought I’d be saying that.

CHERRY TOPPER

People don’t often describe motorcycles as safe, but becoming a more proficient rider can get you out of a bind. The last cool thing I’ll say is that Ryvid actually wants to pay for you to learn how to ride. No, this course isn’t going to show you how to drag knee through COTA’s fast sweepers like a full-blown MotoGP pro, but it will make you considerably more comfortable behind the handlebars without having to go through traditional classes or dreadful DMV visits. Saving us that headache is worth its weight in gold.

If it’s not abundantly clear, I’m an immense fan of these Ryvid bikes. For anyone who hasn’t ridden before, this is a great way to dip your toes into a new world. And for riders of old, this new dog has plenty of tricks to show you, too.

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