Rivian's first electric bike does not come from Rivian. It comes from Also, a micromobility company spun out of the truck maker, and Irving Torres got an early ride on its debut model, the TM-B, around La Jolla in San Diego. It is a Class 3 e-bike, which means pedal assist up to 28 mph, and the video frames it as the first time a serious automotive player has shipped a real, scalable last-mile product rather than a one-off concept. The standout claim is the engineering underneath. The TM-B uses what Also calls a DreamRide pedal-by-wire system, where the pedals are not mechanically linked to the rear wheel and the whole drive is software controlled. Torres rides it hard, including up a 9 percent grade, and walks away impressed by how planted, quiet and quick off the line it feels. He describes the build quality as closer to a vehicle than a bicycle.
Here is the part the ride video does not dwell on: the price, and who it is for. Also lists the TM-B from 3,500 dollars for the base model, with a Performance trim at 4,500 dollars. That is steep in a category where many of the best-selling e-bikes sell for under 1,000 dollars, so the TM-B is not chasing value shoppers. It is betting that buyers will pay a premium for automotive-grade build, over-the-air software updates and a company likely to still exist for parts and support in five years. The video leans on that last point through Eric, a local market manager who argues the segment has been burned by brands that vanished and left owners stranded without replacement parts. The bike also leans on modularity: the host notes a top frame that swaps in seconds between a solo seat, a bucket seat and a utility rack. Whether the reliability promise holds is the open question, but the positioning is unmistakably premium.
On the ride itself, Torres says the bike starts off feeling like a normal bicycle at low assist, then pulls hard once he steps the assist up to its highest setting. The DreamRide system detects an incline and adjusts pedaling resistance in real time, which he says made the 9 percent climb feel almost flat. Because California does not allow a throttle on Class 3 bikes, the throttle button was disabled and the bike ran on pedal assist alone, which he found was plenty. The video explains that Also engineered the bike to accelerate hard off the line, citing data that most cars pull away at around 0.3g, so the TM-B was designed to keep pace and avoid being cut off at junctions. He flags two unfinished items: turn signals with no audio cue, so he kept leaving them on, and an app and navigation portal that were not fully live, which is meant to offer fastest, balanced and calmest route options. Range is quoted up to 100 miles on the performance model and 60 on the base bike. The video closes with word that Launch Edition bikes start shipping in July, with a free Alpha Wave helmet offered to reservation holders for the delays.
Bottom line: If you want the cheapest way to get around, this is not it, and Also is not pretending otherwise. The TM-B is for the buyer who treats an e-bike like a small vehicle and wants it engineered like one, with the software and support to match. The pedal-by-wire drive, the incline-aware assist and the swappable frames sound genuinely clever, but the missing app features and the repeated delivery delays mean early adopters are buying a promise as much as a product. Ride one at one of the brand's free events before you commit. At this price, you should feel it in person first, not judge it from a spec sheet.
Commentary on a third-party video. Figures and claims are as presented in the source and have not been independently verified. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it.