I pulled a classic Seattle move while test riding an e-bike from Rivian spinout Also last week. It was straight out of the sketch comedy series “Almost Live” and the Ballard Driving Academy: I left my turn signal on.

A turn signal is about the lowest tech feature on the TM-B e-bike (Transcendent Mobility Bike), a Class 3 software-defined machine built around what Also calls its “Dream Ride” system.

The bike feels more like an EV than any two-wheeled commuter I’ve ever ridden. From the digital control portal to the immediate acceleration and regenerative braking, the TM-B is designed to treat hardware as software — relying on a pedal-by-wire powertrain.

While an enclosed belt drive delivers power from the central electric motor to the rear wheel, there is no mechanical chain or physical link connecting your pedals to the drivetrain. Instead, your pedaling acts as a digital controller, telling the motor software how much power to send to the back wheel while generating synthetic gear resistance under your feet.

Also is running a pop-up station at outdoor retailer Evo’s flagship store in Wallingford, where riders can book test spins through the end of the year. Seattle is one of 10 initial launch markets nationwide, giving commuters a chance to put the bike through its paces.

The local pop-up isn’t just a coincidence; it sits directly across from Also’s new office location on Northlake Way. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, spun out of EV maker Rivian with a $1 billion valuation, is tapping into Seattle tech and retail talent with a commercial outpost and future retail hub run by REI vet Ben Steele.

Amy Hattemer, Also’s Seattle market manager, walked me through how the TM-B works and what powers it before I set off on a ride through the neighborhood and along the Burke-Gilman Trail.

Here’s a quick look at the core specs for the high-tech bike:

• Starting price: $3,500 for the standard model; $4,500 for performance.
• Modular “top frame”: Swappable top frames (solo, bench, or utility cargo) pop off in three seconds with an eject button to adapt for different riders or use cases.
• Motor and drive: 180 Nm of rear-wheel torque powered by a zero-maintenance belt drive rated for 10,000 miles.
• Speed and throttle: Pedal assist up to 28 mph; thumb throttle boosts up to 20 mph for quick acceleration off the line.
• Battery and range: Removable 48V battery built with Rivian-grade cells offering up to 60 miles of range on standard models and up to 100 miles on performance packages. Features two-way USB-C charging to double as a power bank.
• Weight: 80 lbs total; removing the battery and top frame sheds about 25 lbs for easier vehicle rack transport.
• Tech and cockpit: Full-color touchscreen display (“portal”) with proximity locking, over-the-air software updates, hydraulic disc brakes with integrated regenerative braking, and index-finger turn signals.

Beyond performance, security is where the bike’s EV heritage really shines through software. The TM-B is built around an integrated digital locking system that disables the entire vehicle at the push of a button — locking down the motor drivetrain, top frame release, and battery compartment, while electronically immobilizing the rear wheel to prevent someone from rolling it away.

When the accompanying mobile app launches, riders will be able to unlock the bike hands-free via smartphone proximity Bluetooth, program custom PIN codes, or use NFC cards. The app will also enable full GPS location tracking, real-time tamper alerts, and digital family key sharing — turning what would normally be a target for bike thieves into a bricked, trackable piece of hardware if left unattended on a city street.

For my ride, I left Evo and took off into Wallingford headed for the University District. The off-the-line power is immediately noticeable and practically dumped me off the seat when I first engaged the thumb throttle.

Thanks to 180 Nm of torque available instantly at the rear wheel — roughly double the pulling power of top-tier cargo bikes — pressing the throttle gets you moving quickly without pedaling. Hattemer called this capability a key safety feature for clearing intersections ahead of right-turning cars.

“It is very powerful,” Hattemer said. “It’s kind of like Mario Kart real life hitting a mushroom, which is pretty great.”

I put the motor to the test by taking the steepest routes I could find, powering up hills in Wallingford before cutting over toward Gas Works Park to zip to the top of the grassy mound. Hattemer noted that in high assist modes, the software flattens out steep inclines so “it will just feel like you were still flat,” and the TM-B delivered on that promise.

Cruising downhill with a combination of pedal assist and throttle, I topped out at 28 mph of exhilarating speed. The regen braking did a nice job of slowing everything down.

Beyond the speed and torque, what sets the TM-B apart from other e-bikes is how tightly controlled that power is through software. Unlike older e-bikes where riders could clip a wire or dig into settings menus to bypass factory governors, Also’s Class 3 limit of 28 mph is hard-coded into the vehicle’s firmware. The company is also planning over-the-air updates that will introduce parental control modes — allowing owners to cap top speeds at 15 mph for younger family members or trail riding.

Back at the test station, Hattemer demonstrated how the bike’s modularity works off the road. Pushing a single eject button releases the top frame, allowing riders to swap between a solo commuter setup, a bench seat, or a heavy-duty cargo rack in about three seconds. Because each frame is digitally serialized to the owner’s account, a single bike body can easily be shared across family members of vastly different heights by swapping top frames and adjusting the seat post.

“I am barely 5-foot-4, and my husband is 6-foot-2, and so we can actually share a bike,” Hattemer said. “So I could have a small top frame, and you could have a large one. So multiple people can use this bike.”

Stripping off the top frame and battery also sheds roughly 25 pounds from the 80-pound bike — a huge practical touch for anyone trying to hoist a heavy commuter onto a standard car rack.

For a city built on steep hills and unpredictable weather, the TM-B makes a compelling case for the future of urban commuting. It isn’t just a high-end e-bike; it’s a fully software-defined vehicle platform — and a sign that Rivian’s automotive DNA has successfully made the jump to two wheels.

Also, a fast-growing electric micromobility startup born out of Rivian in Silicon Valley, has quietly pulled into Seattle and planted a flag at the epicenter of the city’s bike culture with an office on the north end of Lake Union.

The 17,459-square-foot space at 1300 N. Northlake Way — which previously housed military-grade autonomous vehicle startup Overland AI — is situated directly along the Burke-Gilman Trail at the busy intersection of the Fremont and Wallingford neighborhoods. The headquarters for Brooks Running and the flagship store for outdoor retailer Evo are right across the street.

Ben Steele, Also’s chief commercial officer, is heading up the office. A nine-year veteran of REI, he was attracted to Also’s mission-based vision for the future of micromobility. He’s been tasked with building out the startup’s business operations, marketing, and customer functions from scratch.

First he had to find a dynamic office space. He called the location the hottest spot in the No. 1 bike commuting city in America.

“If you do the heat map in Strava for bike commuting, that is the white-hot spot,” Steele told GeekWire during a tour of the office. “When we said where do we want to be, we want to be where our customers are, where they’re working, where they’re living, where they’re shopping. And we want to be where bike commuters are. And this is that hot spot.”

Founded inside electric vehicle maker Rivian more than three years ago as a special projects group, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Also officially spun out as an independent company in March 2025. The startup is focused on developing software-defined micromobility solutions designed to replace car trips and last-mile commercial delivery, backed by partnerships with Amazon and DoorDash.

Also was co-founded by Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe alongside Chris Yu, Rivian’s former vice president of future programs, who serves as Also’s president. The startup has already commanded major investor backing, achieving a $1 billion unicorn valuation following its spinout to fund vehicle development and scale its commercial operations.

The Seattle space officially opened in April and is currently home to 38 employees, with capacity to grow to around 60 on a second floor featuring sweeping views of Lake Union and the downtown skyline.

Also employs roughly 350 people globally across Palo Alto, Seattle, and a new commercial team in Ghent, Belgium. The hybrid Seattle office requires employees in three days a week — though Steele notes cross-functional visits regularly push daily headcount past 50. The company has drawn talent from Seattle-area giants like REI, Brooks, Rad Power Bikes, Sonos, and Amazon.

Steele pointed to the city’s unique intersection of cycling culture, software technology, and deep consumer retail roots as the primary draw for building a major presence outside Silicon Valley.

“If you think about retail and commercial talent, innovative companies like Nordstrom and Amazon and Starbucks and yes, REI, the talent pool that we have to draw from for this part of the business, this is really the sweet spot to do it,” Steele said.

On the ground floor of the building, Also plans to build out its very first dedicated retail store and customer service bay, complete with space for a co-working or food and beverage partner. Steele called the layout a deliberate move to keep the commercial team grounded in real-world rider interactions.

“The theory is, we want our team really living that experience with our customers,” Steele said. “To have our retail and our office together really means we’re not theorizing about what does that experience look like with our customers. We’re living it every day.”

In the meantime, local riders can try Also’s flagship e-bike, the TM-B, across the street through a pop-up at Evo. Seattle is one of 10 initial U.S. markets where mobile sales teams are conducting test spins out of dedicated vans, coffee shops, and partner locations like Evo and Rivian spaces. Nationwide, the company has already surpassed 10,000 test rides for the high-tech bike, which starts at $3,500.

Beyond personal e-bikes, Also is setting its sights on transforming commercial delivery — a push anchored by a high-profile multi-year collaboration with Amazon, headquartered just across the lake in South Lake Union.

The partnership, announced last fall, centers on a customized pedal-assist e-cargo quad (the TM-Q) designed to navigate dense city centers and operate within dedicated bike lanes. Also plans to roll out prototype units with Amazon in two cities later this year before broader expansion in 2027.

“If you think about a city like Paris, where they’ve closed a lot of Paris down to cars, you can use a vehicle like that to get into the city,” Steele said, pointing out that the quad leverages automotive-grade technology to carry heavy delivery loads up steep hills without the high maintenance of traditional bike chains and derailleurs.

The company is also collaborating with DoorDash to test autonomous last-mile delivery using smaller form-factor vehicles capable of traveling up to 30 mph on streets, hopping curbs, and navigating sidewalks directly to a customer’s front door.

Also enters the market as Seattle’s e-bike landscape undergoes a major shift. The city was once ground zero for breakout success Rad Power Bikes, which helped pioneer consumer e-bikes before suffering a steep post-pandemic downturn that culminated in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and an asset sale early this year.

Steele, who watched Rad’s trajectory from his time leading retail operations at REI, noted that Also is taking explicit notes from the broader e-bike industry’s past missteps. Rather than treating their machines like standard bicycles with added batteries, Also is focusing heavily on custom, automotive-grade hardware and software-defined integration — while staying intentionally lean on retail overhead.

“Building the best e-bike is not our mission,” Steele said. “Building the future of micromobility is our mission. And the first thing we’re building is the best e-bike.”

That philosophy directly shapes how Also plans to roll out its physical footprint. With customer orders now converting and initial Launch Edition bikes shipping over the coming weeks, Steele says the startup is taking an adaptable approach rather than rushing to sign leases on traditional retail store networks.

In addition to fixed hubs like the North Lake Union location, Also is launching a national “test spin tour” using mobile vans to bring 10 bikes and dedicated staff to 20 cities across six weeks.

“I don’t want to be beholden to a single model,” Steele said of the expansion plans. “The thing I wanted to not do is say let’s go build 10 stores and then see if that’s right. Long-term vision is to be really adaptable and really agile with how we do it, and to have what’s the right solution in each market versus a single model that we try to drop in everywhere.”

For Steele, bringing Also to Seattle isn’t just about opening an outpost or testing hardware — it’s about actively shaping the daily routine of local commuters along the lake.

“We want this to be a part of that vibrancy of the neighborhood, not just a place you go by,” Steele said.

That civic integration hits close to home for Steele, who lives near the University of Washington and instead of sitting in his car on Montlake, commutes down the Burke-Gilman Trail on an Also e-bike every morning.

“I arrive at work less stressed out on the Burke-Gilman Trail,” Steele said. “I’m living the product benefit every day. It’s pretty awesome.”

The Velotric Discover M e-bike we reviewed earlier this year had a feature I found somewhat annoying: It would sporadically block much of the display with an alert telling me I should be in a different gear. While the implementation bugged me, the concept made a certain degree of sense; most e-bikes now know your cadence, how much torque you're generating, and how that power is being translated into speed. That's everything you need to know to determine an optimal gear.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I thought, "If you're so smart, why don't you just shift for me?"

I was completely unaware that Shimano had already developed a system that did exactly that. And for the past few weeks, I've been using it on a $4,500 cargo bike from Xtracycle called the Swoop ASM that let me see what it's like to hand control of my gears to an electronic brain.

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© John Timmer

[GRMNT] decided to bring his grandpa’s beautiful road bike into the future by making a sleeper e-bike conversion.

Going into the project, [GRMNT] didn’t really know what he was working with, but it turned out grandpa had good taste and was rocking a Bianchi. No stovepipe bike boom stuff here, only high quality Tange steel. After cleaning off the years of grime, it was time to rebuild a second-hand Bafang mid-drive electric motor for the electric boost for the ride.

We really like the custom solenoid-powered display that [GRMNT] built into the handlebars for an excellent electromechanical readout of the battery charge. Coupled with the hand-built battery pack inside a leather case and hidden motor actuation button, this build looks slick without screaming e-bike.

We’ve covered some other conversions in the past including this one using an electric skateboard motor or this plug-and-play kit. If you’d rather power things with your bike, you’ll like this hack that can make everything bike powered.

Asus unveiled a compact e-bike conversion kit called Oxiis E250G1, a lightweight device that clamps onto your seatpost and adds electric assist to almost any regular bike.