2023 Denago City Model 2 Review

Greetings, Earthlings! The future is here, and it's called the Denago City Model 2. This Ebike is like the USS Enterprise, ready to boldly go where no bike has gone before. Costing just a smidgen under $1,400, this urban stallion is perfect for city commuting, neighborhood rides, or just a warp-speed tour of your local galaxy. But enough chit-chat! Check out the specs below!

Video Review

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Written Review

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Introduction:

Greetings, Earthlings! The future is here, and it's called the Denago City Model 2. This Ebike is like the USS Enterprise, ready to boldly go where no bike has gone before. Costing just a smidgen under $1,400, this urban stallion is perfect for city commuting, neighborhood rides, or just a warp-speed tour of your local galaxy. But enough chit-chat! Let’s dive right into the specs!

Motor:

At the core of our starship, we find a 500W Shengyi rear hub motor. It's as though Scotty from got his hands on the warp drive and modified it for a bicycle. This motor will take you from 0 to 28 MPH faster than the Millennium Falcon can do the Kessel Run. And with a thumb throttle on the left side, you’ve always got access to power to pop off the line in a hurry. Now, fun reviewing aside, this bike did have a pretty powerful motor, but it is tuned a bit more for the average rider, which in our opinion is awesome to see! Plenty of people coming into Ebikes haven’t ridden in a few generations, and the City Model 2 is a perfect re-entry into the bike riding game!

Battery:

The power source of this urban beast is a lithium-ion battery packing a whopping 652.8Wh, made with top-notch LG 18650 cells. It's like having a mini arc reactor from Tony Stark's lab powering your bike. Since this bike is well inside of our Affordable Category, it’s cool to see so much capacity included with this bike!

Frame:

The City Model 2's frame is forged from 6061-T6 aluminum alloy. It's as resilient as Captain America's shield and as sleek as the X-Men's Blackbird jet. Plus, the rigid, suspension-corrected fork ensures a smooth and comfortable ride, whether you're dodging Daleks or just heading to your local coffee shop. Now, what does “suspension-corrected” mean I can hear all of you asking, well, it’s one of the cooler aspects about this bike if you’re asking my personal opinion. Basically, it means that you can upgrade to a suspension fork at a later date, and it won’t affect the riding geometry in the slightest. If you’ve ever tried to upgrade a rigid fork to a suspension fork, you’ll know exactly what that means in terms of ride feel and overall riding experience. And if you wanna hear some stats, the City Model 2 weighs in at a fairly light 58lbs, and has a max payload capacity of 300lbs.

Suspension:

The City Model 2 opts for a rigid fork, giving the bike a city-sleek design. Although it may not be ready for a Jumanji-level jungle adventure, it's perfect for cruising through the urban jungle like Spider-Man swinging through Manhattan. We recommend you keep it off rooftops, of course, but the larger 2.6” tires really do make this one smooth ride! And to top off the excellent ride feel, we get puncture-resistant liners and sidewall reflective stripes, which are excellent features if you wanted to ride this once the vampires come out.

Brakes:

This bike comes equipped with hydraulic disc brakes, featuring 180mm rotors - when you need to stop, you stop. And with motor cut-off integration, you're in total control, just like Neo bending the rules of the Matrix. The brakes worked really well, and I would feel very safe riding around on this thing in any weather conditions. Tornadoes? Maybe not, but that’s not because of the brakes. I did the ride test up in Dallas, in the rain, and while we did have to skedaddle due to hail, I felt very confident on the wet, slick pavement.

Gears:

Equipped with an 8-speed Microshift drivetrain, the City Model 2 is ready to tackle any urban landscape. It's as versatile as James Bond's gadget-packed Aston Martin, giving you the flexibility to adapt to any situation. With Ebikes you don’t need licenses, be they to kill or to ride. We don’t recommend killing anyone, obviously, but the sleek design here might do that without your consent. My producer said we needed to put in a disclaimer that the bike most likely won’t kill anyone. Why can’t we just say it definitely doesn’t though? Oh…yeah that makes sense.

Extras:

The City Model 2 comes with more extras than the special edition of a Star Wars box set. Reflective stripes on the tires, wheel reflectors, a bell, a kickstand, locking grips, and even a high-resolution LCD display would make the Batcomputer look outdated. I guess it depends on which Batcomputer we’re talking about, cause some of them already are. No comparison needed.

Use Case:

The City Model 2 is perfect for urban adventurers, daily commuters, and city explorers. If the name didn’t give it away, I don’t know what to tell ya. If you want this to be a true commuter, at least how we define it around here, you’d need to add a rear rack and fenders, both of which can be purchased on Denago’s website. If you add those two things here, you’d have an affordable commuter that has way more range than the price tag would make you believe. I see this being a very popular urban bike, and at this price point, even more so.

Conclusion:

In the ever-expanding universe of Ebikes, the Denago City Model 2 shines brighter than the stars in the Milky Way. With a 500W motor, a 652.8Wh battery, and a slick, urban-ready design. If you’re in the market for a budget-friendly Ebike from a company, although pretty new to the Ebike space, has people at the helm that have been making and designing bikes for almost longer than I’ve been alive, which is pretty wild. I was starting to feel old recently, but then I was like…oh…I still have time. Time to do more Ebike reviews at least! I love hanging out and getting to chat about cool Ebikes with you guys, and we’ll catch you on the next one!