MAEVING
THE BRITISH ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE
We love discovering like-minded businesses who, like Aubin, set out to make products with integrity, built to last and timeless in style. Maeving is one such brand. Launched at the end of last year and now right at the start of their very first production run. An innovative British brand, they make beautiful electric motorcycles in the heartland of British motorcycle production, Coventry, UK. They have created something completely new to the growing competitive market of electric vehicles, and it is ticking a lot of boxes. Until now electric motorbikes have been mainly of the scooter style- moulded plastic bodies, often overly heavy, not particularly pleasing to the eye. Maeving has come along to challenge this.
Maeving’s co-founders Seb and Will met at university where they studied Philosophy. Following some uninspiring ethics tutorials, they decided to start their own discussion group at the local pub. This group soon grew in popularity, and it was during these meetings they realised their shared passion for combating climate change. They saw tackling this as not only as the biggest challenge faced by their generation but also their greatest passion.
In 2017, after five years of going their separate ways and gaining experience in the corporate world, Will and Seb came back together to start Maeving. The brand name itself derives from the word ‘maven’ meaning a connoisseur or expert which imbibes both the company’s commitment to the planet and their ethos. Though they are clear that they are by no means trying to save the world, they have set out to create a vehicle with a beautiful aesthetic to encourage people to make the all-important move to electric.
"IF WE WANT PEOPLE TO HAVE A BIKE THAT THEY ARE GOING TO CHERISH AND BE PROUD TO OWN THEN WE QUICKLY REALISED WE WOULD NEED TO STEER IN THE DIRECTION OF BRITISH DESIGN."
Built in Britain
Maeving is based in Coventry, a city within the “golden triangle" of British motorcycle manufacture. The first ever motorised bikes were manufactured here in the late 1800’s and all major British motorcycle brands were founded in or near Coventry. Having investigated producing their bikes in China where removable battery motorcycles are commonplace, they realised that the level of styling they required was nowhere to be seen. To produce the quality that the European and British market required they concluded that it must be produced in the UK. So it was here that they began to lay roots, starting with a very important conversation with Graham Gilbert, the ex-head of product at Triumph motorbikes.
First bike
The first bike to be launched at the end of 2021 was the Maeving RM1. Aimed at the urban commuter this bike was designed to be lightweight and easily manoeuvrable for the city commute. Inspiration for the design came from two eras in bike engineering history. The first is the Board Tracker era during the turn of the century, when the first motorcycles were being made not far from the company’s current home in Coventry. People were taking conventional bicycles and converting them into motor bikes.
For additional styling Maeving looked to what was known as the Café Racer era in 1960’s Britain when bike owners were customising and adapting their bikes and then racing them between cafes. They stripped away all the extraneous parts of a motorbike, side-panels, chain covers, fairings etc, creating a very minimalist machine with exposed metal work. Both eras worked incredibly well towards designing a great looking bike, lightweight and ideally optimised for electrification.
After a little convincing Graham left Triumph to join Seb and Will’s venture to create their dream electric bike. With his guidance they hired a talented team of engineers, who have been making Britain’s most revered motorcycles for over 25 years. It’s this team that individually hand make each Maeving motorcycle in their Coventry workshop. As Will put it- “If you want to make the best British bikes you need to find the best British motorcycle engineers”.
An impressive 65% of a Maeving bike’s componentry is made in Britain but like Aubin, with each component they have also looked at where it can be made best and gone there. So their battery cells are made by Samsung in China because they make the best batteries, and the motors are made by Bosch in Germany because they are the top of their field in electric motor manufacture. But everything from the design process, the quality control and the testing not to mention their small and very passionate team of engineers all work on site to build the bikes, so it’s about as British as it gets.
“It’s about as British a motorcycle company as there has been for 50 years and certainly the most British motorcycle company existing currently”.
"BEING ABLE TO TAKE YOUR LIGHTWEIGHT BATTERY OUT OF YOUR VEHICLE GIVES THE ABILITY TO TURN ANY 3-PIN PLUG SOCKET INTO AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATION."
Charging
The ease and simplicity of the charging process adopted by Maeving is impressive and a big selling point. Inspired by their time in China where removable battery bikes are ubiquitous, their motorcycles have batteries that can be easily lifted out at the end of your journey or commute and plugged into any standard three-pin plug socket, just as you would your phone or lap-top. This system totally does away with the issue of range anxiety and gives huge confidence to simply enjoy the performance of your bike.
Better is Greater Than More
Aubin’s ethos of Better is Greater Than More is enthusiastically shared by Maeving and embodied within the very concept of the brand. Their beautiful motorcycles offer a very pure, stripped back approach to transportation, and they are expertly made to last. The electric engine, in comparison to the combustion engine, has no moving parts, just a magnet moving around so there is little that could go wrong. As battery technology improves you can replace the battery and essentially upgrade the bike every time. A bike at the very cutting edge of technology but firmly rooted in the golden era of motorcycle history. A bike that can be cherished and kept for many decades to come.
