Segway's Myon Ebike: A Tech-Packed Commuter with Safety Features
Bikes should be intuitive enough to figure out on the fly—in theory, anyway. In practice, it’s a wise idea to read the instruction manual first. With Segway's new Myon ebike, the cockpit is so packed with bells and whistles—there are 11 separate buttons, toggles, switches, and a throttle—it feels like the control panel on a small aircraft. On my inaugural test ride, I was so distracted by the options that I almost collided with a car.
My bad. After I returned home, read the instructions, and rode the Myon a few more times, I found that once I understood how to operate it, the bike is loaded with features that increase its visibility, enhance its rideability, and decrease the odds of it getting ripped off.
Safety First
Segway’s dedication to safety begins before you even turn on the bike. The Myon is UL 2849 certified, meaning that its electrical drivetrain, battery, and charger system have been tested to the highest US standard for fire safety. One might assume that this certification is mandatory for all ebikes sold in the US, but it isn’t—not yet, anyway. Having UL2849 certification brings peace of mind and increases the likelihood that a local bike shop will fix it.
Powering up the Myon feels akin to logging in to your online bank. To ride, it requires communication with its Intelligent Ride System, which keeps the bike locked until the user physically enters a password on the bike’s computer screen or toggles the power on via a smartphone companion app. The same app can employ Apple Find My and has built-in GPS. Cyclists can even micro-adjust their gears from the app with the bike’s Shimano Cues nine-speed e-shifting derailleur, which is a quality component for a bike at this price.
This isn’t an ebike that allows you to be far from your cell phone, especially if you set off the alarm, which sounds like a foghorn. I set it off multiple times when trying to wrangle the Myon out of the garage or unlock it from the rack outside a local restaurant. There is a way to override this feature in the app, but until you figure that out, there will be a few embarrassing seconds that the bike is making itself known to the world
Once it’s up and running, riders can activate turn signals that illuminate the end of the handlebar, honk a horn at traffic, tinkle a bell to warn others of their presence, and turn on powerful headlights that, when in Auto mode, illuminate the way in low light.
It’s all good stuff, but with more tech comes more that needs to be troubleshot—the right blinker never did function, despite unscrewing the Allen bolt at the end of the handlebar and checking the turn-signal harness plug for damage to the pins, which seemed just fine.
One additional safety feature, sold separately, is a Rearview Radar ($100) that can attach to the back of the built-in rack and detects cars in the bike’s blind spot. When a car is approaching from within 230 feet of the bike, it sends sound, light, and onscreen alerts. There’s a spot in the app to tweak radar sensitivity, but even so, the radar didn’t illuminate every approaching car, so it’s always essential to ride with full awareness. Segway promises 97 percent accuracy.
A Great Commuter Ride
Safety is paramount, but perhaps what makes a bike safer than any gadget is one that is smooth and comfortable to ride. At 72.75 pounds, a maximum torque of 85 nm, and a rear-hub, 500-watt motor, the Myon is not a rocket ship. But it isn’t a wimp, either. In fact, the bike feels appropriately powered rather than one so amped that it will launch you into the stratosphere, as many ebikes increasingly seem powerful enough to do.
Another feature that smooths out the ride is the bike’s torque sensor, which can intuitively feel inclines, providing more power, and a torque-filtering algorithm that matches motor output with cyclist input, which eliminates the choppy, inconsistent, and sometimes dangerous surges of power when switching gears or starting up from a stoplight.
As for geometry, the stack and the reach feel just right, making for a comfortable, upright riding position for my 5'9" frame. The 80-mm front suspension fork, along with nearly 2-inch-wide tires, adds enough stability to navigate potholed streets and the occasional hard gravel surface.
You’d be wise, however, to keep the bike on pavement when possible. While cruising along a scenic byway near my house, I veered off the pavement on a soft gravel shoulder to let a car pass me, like I would on my analog gravel or mountain bike. The front wheel wobbled, and I quickly realized that keeping a 72-pound bike upright while clocking 20 mph onto soft gravel was more than this e-whip and rider were meant to handle.
Stay on pavement or hardpack gravel roads, however, and you’ve got yourself a fantastic commuter, with a rear rack that can hold up to 50 pounds, a very visible integrated taillight, and rear and front fenders to keep the street crud off your office attire. With a 48-volt battery that provides a max range of 80 miles and easily pops out of the downtube for a 5.5-hour recharge time, range anxiety is a nonissue with the Myon.
