Upway review

[Nesdon]

Be careful, great resource for used ebikes with some shady practices.

They have an amazing selection of bikes and I found one I love. But, it was misrepresented on their site, as was the first bike I bought, which I returned partly due to the misrepresentation.

The second bike, the one we kept, was missing a screw so that the headlight fell off as soon as I rode it, and the first one had a loose front wheel. It also had a little badge stuck on the head tube with tape, which fell off, and whose return the salesperson used as an excuse to demand a $200 restocking fee despite the false advertising.

Additionally the same salesperson was quite aggressively trying to convince my son, who I was helping to select his bike, to take a much less discounted bike that did not meet the criteria I had given and which I had explained to him at length from my perspective as a former bike shop owner and mechanic. The salesperson succeeded in offloading the bike to someone else that day, so I expect he was acting in his own interest.

Note too that test riding the bikes, at least in Brooklyn, on a narrow little loop among the rows of bikes doesn't really allow and decent comparison.

 

[indianajo]

In 8/31/26 I bought a used ebike from Upway, a Momentum PakYak. It was the only one of that model nationally that google could find. It has been discontinued by the manufacturer. My local Momentum dealer tried to instead sell me a Momentum MTB, then a 20" fat tire geared hub cargo bike. The PakYak was listed as 571 miles & 4 years old. I bought from Upway website, having no idea that one could visit the Brooklyn warehouse. I don't want to drive to Brooklynn in my P/U, 150 gallons of gas and probably $60 in tolls, plus 3 nights in motels. Shipment was $250 which seems reasonable since UPS FedEx DHL will not handle used Lithium Ion batteries. Upway cannot sell a used ebike for local pickup in Brooklyn anyway, against NYC law.
So far everything works. Paint was superbly protected. One defect is that the seat bolt, a button head hex socket drive, has been boogered by a previous failed attempt to remove it. Fortunately the seat is in a position marginally acceptable. Seat was very hard, but a Planetbike gel cover made it acceptable on a 6 mile ride. Discount of 45% off new price covers the one bad bolt I suppose. Another defect was there was only one key to the storage locker and battery door. I cannot get it duplicated in town, and the card that gets me a new one with a square you take pictures of probably costs $50. I could have bought a used unpowered Yuba bodaboda on Ebay, the same model as stolen, but only one was in Berkeley CA local pickup only, which would have cost me 200 gal gas and 7 nights in motels. I was anxious to buy a mid-drive cargo bike, as I have burnt the winding of 4 350-750 watt geared hub motors on my last 4 attempts to ride the bodaboda to my summer property. 1000 watt up geared hub motors were great for 6 years, but these have been outlawed by the industry standard law adopted by 41 states.
Upway freight source Seko Logistics has an odd practice. They announce a delivery date, then do not put the bike on the truck unless you make an appointment. I stayed home 07:00 to 19:30 10 days with no knock on the door. The bike had to be signed for, of course. I could not receive E-mail on this old computer which is the only method that Upway will communicate. $900 in new Chinese computer has not yet solved the email problem. Not having email has not previously been a problem with ebay, mcmaster, bhphotovideo, universalcycle, modernbike orders. Bike could have shipped 08/31 but did not actually ship until 9/3. Seko Logistics kept changing the delivery date to the future. I tried to call them at 06:00 the 3rd day the delivery was scheduled, but the person answering the phone at national # had no information and gave a phone number of the local warehouse. This was not answered until 09:30. At that time the bike was not on any truck. It had been in the local warehouse 8 days. I pointed out that their proposed future delivery of 14 days after shipment was going to earn Upway a 1 star review. Seko ran a special van out to me at noon the same day as the website said the delivery was scheduled.
Speaking of salemen that don't listen to requirements, the local dealer first tried to sell me a Momentum mountain bike in all black dress. With fast steering that is the type of frame that has dumped me on my chin 7 times since I quit work in 2008. The 20" cargo bike had fat tires, that cannot be ridden without power. I have to ride without power 15 of my 30 mile commute, as the 50 steep hills of the last 15 miles burn up all of a 840 watt battery. The MTB and 20" cargo bike had half that battery capacity. Also, the 20" bike had a 750 watt geared hub motor, exactly the model I have burned the winding on 2 of my last trips on the bodaboda.
BTW, my upway used bike was electrically okay. Those could be $2000 problems. The stuck seat bolt, it took a $7 5 mm adapter to my impact wrench to wallow the socket out completely. Metal shards flew. It will take a $14 6 mm drill to remove it, to allow it to be replaced with a bolt & nut.

 

[oliviathompson4]

To be honest, I’m a bit wary of buying used bicycles... unless it’s from someone I know and trust to be acting in good faith

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

To be honest, I’m a bit wary of buying used bicycles... unless it’s from someone I know and trust to be acting in good faith

Me, too — especially ebikes. You have no idea how the battery was really treated, and that bears on fire risk.

 

[oliviathompson4]

Me, too — especially ebikes. You have no idea how the battery was really treated, and that bears on fire risk.

Exactly! I've also heard stories of people who have had great experiences getting good ebikes for such a good price, but i think it's a lottery, they are so bleessed and fortunate

 

[Nesdon]

I have to say tho, I rode about a dozen bikes in Brooklyn and all seemed in new condition. I found these little flaws, but doubt that any of the batteries or drive units were or would be a problem. In large part I'm one of the ones who got a good bike for a great price, but with a meh experience.