How an electric motorbike made LA feel smaller, easier and more fun

At a glance:

• The Onyx RCR 80V is a $5,200 electric motorbike that turns short LA errands into frictionless trips by dodging traffic and parking hassles.
• It hits 65 mph, accelerates 0 to 30 mph in 1.7 seconds, and offers up to 130 miles of range in Eco Mode — but sits in an awkward pricing gap between e-bikes and entry-level motorcycles.
• Best suited for dense LA neighborhoods like Silver Lake and Echo Park; California registration and licensing rules add a legal gray area for this class of vehicle.

A week without a car in Los Angeles

Los Angeles isn't built for hesitation. The cars stack at lights, inch forward, and stop again, over and over, for eternity — always making you feel like you're negotiating for your place on the road. That's the city Nelson Aguilar set out to escape for a week, swapping his car keys for the Onyx RCR 80V, a motorcycle-sized electric bike that costs around $5,000 and can crest 65 mph. Aguilar, a CNET writer with more than a decade of experience covering Apple, Google, and mobile platforms, took the bike through his Silver Lake neighborhood for grocery runs, coffee stops, park hangs, and quick errands — the kind of in-between trips that normally default to driving even though they're close enough to walk.

The appeal is immediate and visceral. Sitting at a red light on Santa Monica Boulevard, one foot on the pavement and the other on a pedal that feels out of place on something this commanding, Aguilar watched a Tesla inch up beside him while the driver tried to figure out what he was riding. The light turned, he twisted the throttle, and took off without a sound. Cars fell away behind him and suddenly there was space on the road where there usually shouldn't be. "It feels good, almost unnervingly so," he writes. "Better than driving a car in LA ever does, that's for sure."

Everyday errands on the RCR 80V

Once Aguilar adjusted to the bike's weight — approximately 155 pounds — and its instant torque, the RCR 80V became a daily workhorse. He charged it the night before, a process that takes about 4.5 hours from empty to full, paired his phone over Bluetooth so his destination route popped up on the bike's display, and rolled out of his garage with a backpack and helmet. The display is readable even at high noon or in the middle of the night, and it surfaces apps for listening to music, making calls, and navigating.

The routine played out like this across the week:

• Coffee run, less than a mile away: he rode between 30 and 40 mph in the lanes, parked directly in front of the shop wedged between storefront glass and an A-frame, and was inside within seconds.
• Post office stop: a package sat on the bike's rear cargo rack, wrapped in a cargo net and bungee cords, and he pulled up near the entrance and was in and out before anyone in line really moved.
• Lunch with a friend: he parked in a gap between two cars that would never fit another vehicle — "VIP parking, without having to pay for it" — while his friend was still circling for a spot.
• Grocery store: he bypassed rows of circling cars, rolled straight up to the front, locked the bike to a bike rack with a U-lock and a coated steel cable, bought a few items, and was out again.
• A spontaneous stop at a vintage clothing shop: the store owner came outside, intrigued by the electric moped, and let him park it right inside the storefront — something that would never happen with a motorcycle.

"By the end of the day, what stands out isn't the speed, or even the novelty, but how much easier it is to do the small things," Aguilar reflects. "The in-between trips don't feel so large."

Learning to ride something this fast

The first ride was a lesson in humility. The RCR 80V accelerates from 0 to 30 mph in 1.7 seconds with no buildup and no warning — it jumps. Aguilar found himself overcorrecting, gripping the handlebars too tight, easing off when he didn't need to, and relearning how to trust something that responds so quickly. Balancing it at a stoplight took adjustment too, since you feel the weight when you lean, turn a corner, roll it backward, or steady it with one foot on uneven pavement.

But after a day, the hesitation faded. The throttle became predictable. He stopped thinking about how to ride and started paying attention to everything around him. Los Angeles suddenly felt bigger — not in distance, but in possibility. The bike excels precisely because most trips in a neighborhood like Silver Lake are 5 to 15 minutes by car: close enough that driving feels convenient, yet far enough that walking doesn't make sense, especially when you're carrying things. The problem is that those short trips rarely stay short. A 2-mile drive can stretch into 20 to 30 minutes of lights, double-parked cars, and the slow search for parking.

Where the RCR 80V works — and where it doesn't

The bike works best in dense LA neighborhoods where short trips are inconvenient enough to default to driving — places like Silver Lake, Echo Park, parts of Hollywood, and pockets across the Westside. Onyx Motors' storefront is in Elysian Valley, right next to the Los Angeles River path, which makes it easier to bring the bike in for issues like battery failure, sensor problems, or worn-out brakes. Onyx can't always be repaired at a typical bicycle shop because of its complexity, nor can it always be serviced by a motorcycle mechanic. There's a large online community of Onyx bike owners who can help with DIY fixes, but if that's not your thing, proximity to LA or another market with in-person support matters.

An electric moped isn't built for long-distance riding. You're not taking this on the freeway — legally, at least — and you're probably not riding it across the city unless you're willing to plan around range, traffic, and cargo weight. Range varies by mode:

• Eco Mode: up to 130 miles
• Normal Mode (used most of the time): closer to 75 miles

In more spread-out parts of LA, a "quick trip" can mean 20 minutes at higher speeds or long stretches without bike-friendly roads. The bike also demands secure storage — it's not something you want to leave outside like a typical bicycle, not just because it's expensive but because theft on e-bikes tends to be quiet and patient: same bike, same spot, day after day, until someone notices.

Price, legal gray areas, and the awkward middle ground

The Onyx RCR 80V starts at $5,200, which puts it in an awkward middle ground:

• Most solid e-bikes land between $1,500 and $3,000, with high-end models topping out around $4,000 to $5,000.
• Moped-style e-bikes usually fall between about $1,200 and $3,400.
• For roughly the same money, you're already in entry-level motorcycle territory — a Honda Grom or similar beginner bike runs roughly $3,500 to $5,500.

That's what makes the RCR 80V harder to categorize and harder to justify as a casual purchase. It's not something you pick up on a whim.

There's also a legal gray area. Under California law, most e-bikes are limited to 20 to 28 mph depending on class and don't require a license or registration. Once you're riding something faster or using it more like a throttle-powered vehicle, it can fall into moped or even motorcycle territory, which brings registration, a special license, and stricter enforcement. The RCR 80V can technically be registered as a moped, but if it isn't and you're riding it at higher speeds on public roads, you're in a gray area that can still get you pulled over and cited for an unregistered vehicle or riding without the proper license. Most of the time that ambiguity works in your favor, but it also means you're relying on perception — how fast you're going, where you're riding, and whether it looks like something that belongs there.

Why it still feels worth it

Despite the price, the legal ambiguity, and the practical limits around storage and range, Aguilar says the RCR 80V is an e-bike he'd still seriously consider owning. Part of it is how it rides — silent, immediate, always a little ahead of where you expect it to be. It's fast enough to keep up with city traffic, with enough range to get through most days without thinking too hard about it. You can also cruise slowly on a sidewalk when you need to.

It changes how you see the city. You're not sealed off behind glass, moving from one destination to the next. You notice small storefronts you've driven past a hundred times, restaurants tucked between buildings, and something new about your city every time you hop on the bike. There's also the off-road dimension: one afternoon Aguilar took the RCR 80V up through Griffith Park, climbing winding roads with no one else in sight and veering off onto a dirt trail through loose gravel and uneven paths. The bike handled it without much hesitation.

"There's something about riding it that's hard to explain until you're on it," he writes. "It's not just the speed, it's how immediate everything feels. You're more aware of the road, of the air, of the space around you. You're not sealed off from all of it the way you are in a car. And for a second, none of the rules really matter. It's just fun."

Tags

onxy-motors, electric-motorbike, la-transport, e-bike-review, urban-mobility