2022 Surface604 Twist Review

Video Review

Written Review

The Surface604 Twist is an approachable, easy to ride, step-through folder with high-quality components and a well-thought-out design, like pretty much all the electric bikes from Surface604.

We’ve reviewed a lot of e-bikes from this company, like the super chonky Boar Explorer, the Quad, which is a superb e-mtb, the Werk, Shred, Colt, and the Rook. So we’re particularly familiar with Surface604 and their offerings, which is why we are so excited to talk about the Twist today.

The Twist has a starting price of $2,399 USD and comes in three different colors — black, pink and grey. Surface604 also offers a 7-day money back guarantee on this ride, as well as a 1 year comprehensive warranty and free shipping.

The Twist has a Bafang 500 nominal watt geared hub motor in the rear wheel that can crank out 80 Newton meters of torque. This is great for accelerating from a dead stop, and of course it also helps take the ill out of hills. 

This motor will bring the Twist up to a top speed of 20 mph out of the box, which makes this a class 2 e-bike. So, it’s legal to ride just about everywhere. You can also unlock the Twist to reach a 25 mph top speed, changing it to a class 3 e-bike. And you can reach that top speed using the thumb throttle or the torque sensing pedal assist. That’s right, I said torque sensing pedal assist. 

Look, this is just one of the reasons we love Surface604, but having a torque sensor makes for such a luxurious ride. Torque sensors measure the pressure you place on the cranks, and it feeds that info back to the motor to determine how many watts to spit out. So, when you ride the Twist, it feels like the motor is empowering you, because when you pedal lightly, it offers only a little bit of power, but when you really hammer down on the cranks, the motor comes alive and matches your pedal intensity. At the end of the day, torque sensors are like an Iron Man suit… it amplifies your power instead of overpowering you… if that makes sense. 

The 48 volt, 14 amp hour locking, removable battery is located inside the Twist’s main tube, keeping this folder looking clean, and also keeping the battery clean too. 14 amp hours of juice gives the Twist a max estimated range of 45 miles in ideal conditions, which is great. And the Samsung cells are a nice bonus too. 

The Twist is light too, with a curb weight of nearly 62 pounds, but it still manages to keep a relatively high max payload capacity of 285 pounds. That’s impressive for a single-tube step-through, and it’s an important stat too because it means you can safely load up the rear rack without over stressing the frame. 

Folding the Twist is easy breezy… like pretty much everything with the Twist. Even if you’ve never seen a folding e-bike in your life, you could still fold and unfold this frame without much difficulty.  

But my favorite aspect of this frame is just how easy it is to get into the saddle. If you can step onto a curb, you can mount the Twist. That’s how easy it is. And that’s important if you’re like me and have back issues and knee issues. Sometimes it’s nice to NOT have to swing your leg over the saddle like your Indiana Jones or something… as cool as that would be. 

At the rear of the twist we’ve got a super high quality Sram x5 derailleur with a 9-speed, 12 to 36 cassette. The lowest gear is low enough to climb Mount Whitney, seriously, and the highest gear is absolutely perfect for that unlocked 25 mph top speed. Surface604 really nailed it here. 

To bring the Twist to a stop we’ve got Tektro Auriga hydraulic disc brakes, and combined with the motor inhibitors and super grippy CST Big Boat 20 inch by 4 inch all purpose fat tires, the Twist will stop on a dime, every time. 

The Twist is equipped with integrated lighting and the headlight is fairly bright, but still not quite bright enough to safely ride at that unlocked 25 mph top speed at night unless you’re in a well-lit area. 

The tail light is pretty groovy. It gets brighter when you hit the brakes, just like a car, so those that are behind you know you’re slowing. 

Combined, the lighting does a great job of increasing your visibility to other riders, pedestrians and cars. 

The wire management on the Twist is just stellar. Surface604 did an amazing job here. They’re bundled together quite nicely, and they’re internally routed, which is pretty difficult to do well with a folder, and that’s why you don’t often see this. 

The handlebars are telescoping, so you can adjust the height depending on your preferred riding posture.

In the middle we’ve got a beautiful full color display with a polarized screen. This makes it super easy to read in direct sunlight, but if you wear polarized sunglasses, beware. The double polarization is going to cause the screen to look like it’s not even on. 

On the left side of the handlebars we’ve got the independent button pad and the thumb throttle, and on the right side we’ve got some really nice trigger shifters.

At the end of the day, the Surface604 Twist is an absolute bargain buy… no doubt about it. The components are top shelf, the design is well thought out, it’s clean, it’s versatile, it’s approachable, it’s adjustable, it comes in different colors… honestly, I don’t even know what else I can say about this thing except that if you’re in the market for an e-bike you can pack up and throw in you trunk, or ride to work and stow under your desk… wait are people still going into the office… anyway, the Twist is a great e-bike.