At first glance, it’s tough not to love the MG Doble. About the size of a Schwinn Stingray, it looks like a toy on steroids. The model I tested has a candy-apple red aluminum frame, a cushy black banana seat, chopper-style handlebars, built-in head and taillights, and 3-inch-wide tires. The MG Doble projects such a sturdy, powerful vibe that, five minutes after it arrived, my partner Brian was riding laps around our backyard like it was a mini motocross course, laughing his head off.
The 52-pound MG Doble, with a capacity to haul up to 325 pounds—one or two people, plus a few surfboards or bags of groceries—is petite compared to your average electric cargo bike. Compared to JackRabbit’s original 25-pound OG2, however, it’s huge. Like all six JackRabbit models, the MG Doble has no chain, derailleur, or pedals, which makes it hard to wrap your head around what exactly this e-thing is.
When I asked JackRabbit CEO Jason Kenagy, he told me that JackRabbits are hard to categorize. “They’re about transportation,” he said, adding that Google employees use them to commute across its Mountain View campus. “Our competition is cars more than bikes.”
Doble the Fun
Photograph: Steph Pearson
It may look like a toy, but the Doble is purpose-built to be an urban workhorse. It has a 749-watt motor; two easy-to-charge (on or off the bike) batteries that live on the outside of the down tube with a combined total of 720-Wh and a range of about 48 miles; and three official modes—Eco, Mid, and High. The latter tops out at 20 miles per hour, and it also has an additional off-road mode can be “unlocked” for use on private roads and riders 18 and older.