The Freebeat MorphRover is the world’s first 2-in-1 fat tire ebike for both outdoor riding and indoor exercise. And while you’re working out indoors with the connected Freebeat app, you’ll be charging your MorphRover ready for your next outdoor adventure. But while the MorphRover does a decent enough job of being both an indoor exercise bike and an outdoor ebike, it excels at neither.

Freebeat MorphRover

The Freebeat MorphRover is a powerful ebike that can transform into a variable resistance exercise bike indoors—and it’ll charge your battery while you work out, ready to power your next journey. But unless you’re already incredibly fit, I wouldn’t expect to generate much. 

Brand

Freebeat

Battery

720Wh

Weight

35kg / 77lbs

Brake Style

Hydraulic

Wheel Size

26×4 inch

Suspension

Front hydraulic only

Motor (W)

750W

Electronic Power Assist

5 levels

Charging

AC or self-charging exercise bike

Connectivity

Bluetooth to the Freebeat app

Rider Height

Step-through 5’1” to 6’; high step 5’6” to 6’4”

Tires

Chao Yang

Gearing

8 speed

Sensor

Cadence

Walk Mode

Yes

Frame

High step or step through

Lights

Front only

Rear Derailleur

Shimano

Dimensions

75″ front to back

Pros

• Keep riding even when you can’t get out, and generate free electricity at the same time
• Smooth stable ride on most surfaces
• Powerful 750W motor
• Variable resistance for workouts

Cons

• You’ll need a Freebeat subscription to get the most from it as an exercise bike
• Cadence sensor and controller lacks nuance and often overpowers
• It’s enormous and heavy, no way you’ll get this up any stairs

Specifications: Powerful, and Huge

The MorphRover is a large and heavy bike at 77lbs, and measuring 75 inches from front to back, which means that despite its ability to transform into an indoor workout bike, it’s almost completely impractical to carry up a flight of stairs.

Available in three colors (Sage Green, Sahara Sand, and Midnight Black as reviewed), and either step-through or high-step frame, the MorphRover features 26×4 inch fat Chao Yang tires—the largest you’ll find on any ebike. The step-through should be suitable for anyone 5’1” to 6’, while the high-step should suit 5’6” to 6’4”. For reference, I’m 6’1”, so I opted for the high step.

Getting a heavy beast like this to move requires a powerful motor: a 750W rear-hub drive in this case, activated by a cadence sensor, and offering up to a claimed 85Nm of torque with a throttle capable of up to 20MPH.

For safety, you’ll find hydraulic disc brakes, a small front light, and a rear reflector. Curiously, the wiring for a rear light is present, but no actual light was provided in our package to plug it into. Gearing is a Shimano 8-speed, which sits closely next to a throttle; too close for my liking, as I found the shifter buttons a little hard to press.

You’ll find an adjustable front suspension, though nothing at the rear. The battery can be fully removed with the use of a key, so you can charge it elsewhere or just remove for security. It’s all fairly standard stuff here, other than the enormous tires and convertible indoor/outdoor function.

Setup: More Construction Than Usual

The MorphRover comes with an awful lot of bits and bobs to attach, like the screen and buttons to the handlebars. It has a relatively good printed quick start guide to follow, but misses some critical steps like which cables plug in where, and the fact that you should attach the brake cable to the frame before putting the front wheel in (or you’ll have to remove either wheel or the brake lever to thread it through correctly). None of this presented huge issues, but considering they have a quick start guide that’s excellent in all other regards, it seems like an oversight. However, you’ll find a bag full of all required tools, so no need to raid your drawer.

Once the main bike is built, you can move onto the static frame add-on; it’s another three or four boxes of bits nestled inside the main shipping box, and construction there is simple enough. The front wheels sit on a basic stand that prevents it from turning; the back is elevated and locks onto the axle with an easy and secure hand screw mechanism.

I’ll note that shipping everything in a single box is convenient, but does make it incredibly heavy—about 121lbs in total. This was far more than I could handle alone, and my wife wasn’t much help; we had to phone a friend to help shift it into the kitchen.

The MorphRover is imposing—one of the largest e-bikes I’ve reviewed yet. With 26-inch fat tires, it’s ready for some rough mountain trails, combined with a durable frame. This definitely wouldn’t be suitable for anyone on the smaller end of the spectrum. I’m 6’1″ or 185cm, and it still feels big to me.

The battery arrived completely empty, though in fairness, it was shipped over from the USA to the UK, and took around three months to deliver, so that’s probably not the case for most customers.

The full user manual also reveals a very interesting point: it refers to the “Velotric” bike six times. My guess is that the MorphRover is a modified Nomad 1. The specs and frame are identical, while the controller, with its Bluetooth capabilities, is probably the only difference.

As a Spin Bike: You’ll Probably Want a Freebeat Subscription

When you’re ready to exercise, elevate the rear wheel onto the stand; slot it onto the bar on one side, then tighten the bolt on the other. The front stand is even easier; slide it under the front wheel for stability. The rear stand folds up for storage, and the front side is small enough not to take up much room anyway.

The whole thing felt stable enough that I could stand up and ride vigorously without fear of toppling over.

Before you can workout indoors, you’ll need to swap the bike over to indoor mode. You can either do this through the app—it connects easily over Bluetooth the sensors built-in to the bike—or via the LCD screen and control buttons on the handlebar. It’s also recommended that you place the MorphRover into the highest gear. When indoor mode is activated, you’ll find the usual speed adjustment instead changes the variable resistance in the motor, between 0-100. This can either be controlled manually with the +/- buttons on the handlebar, or you can let the app automatically adjust the level for you.

Without a Freebeat subscription, you’ll only be able to access the Free Ride section of the app, which contains some stats about your current ride. There’s no interactive elements or gamified experience there—just your cadence, power output, speed etc.

If you want access to any of the other programs, workouts, or gamified beat-matching parts, you’ll need to sign up to the 45-day trial, and provide your credit card details. After 45 days, you’ll be charged either $20/month for the single-user plan, or $35/month for the family plan.

So what does this get you?

First up: Exercise Classes. Follow along with an actual instructor, being scored on how well you match their specified cadence. I should note that I’m new to “spin” classes, and while I’m sure some people will enjoy this, I found them difficult to follow on a small iPhone screen—I could barely make out how fast they were cycling, and the interface is otherwise fairly unintuitive. This would be better if you’re riding in front of a TV screen, but out of the box there’s no detachable tablet stand or even iPhone holder.

With some classes, I found the music and instructor’s voice was so badly mixed that I couldn’t hear a word the poor woman was saying. Some classes include other elements that involve getting off the bike, which is more suited to the rest of the FreeBeat range.

Then you get the Rhythm Game mode. Unlike the exercise classes, there’s no choice here—you’re thrown straight into a random song, none of which I actually recognized, and all sounded like generic pop music. Cycle faster or slower depending on the beat, and attempt to match the lines that come down the screen. But unlike games like Guitar Hero, there are no buttons to press, so it’s a tenuous connection at best between what your feet are doing and how it matches the beat.

Once you’ve done one song, it automatically moves onto another. Again, though, there’s no choice, and I don’t really see how this is any better than simply putting on Spotify. Sure, you won’t be scored on how well you match the beat, but you can make it up and spin away as your heart desires anyway.

Both classes and the rhythm-matching game modes include an automatic resistance adjustment, but it didn’t feel like it was working. It hovered around 10/100 no matter what I was doing. Eventually, I gave up and took control manually.

Finally, there are Scenic Rides. You can pick a lovely mountain pass or similar to ride through, and view it on your tiny phone screen. I was expecting that the faster I rode, the faster the video would progress. Or if I stopped, the video would stop. No such luck. Regardless of what I was doing, it played at the same rate. I started to wonder if my bike was broken, but no, it was still connected. You get the usual stats of course, but it’s completely disconnected from what the on-screen video does. It’s no better than finding a scenic ride video on YouTube, and playing that while you spin along.

There are other annoyances with the Freebeat app too, like the constant notifications telling you to ensure the bike is set at gear 8 (it was); this happens every session.

It’s a shame, because there’s so much interactivity they could have done with this. Instead, I canceled my membership and downloaded Holofit for the Meta Quest 3. Attach a cadence sensor to the pedal, and it knows how fast or slow you’re cycling, and moves your virtual cycle at the same rate. It’s fun, but the rendered scenery can be a little bland. VZFit is a similar app, but subscription-based, with access to actual Google Street View imagery (which sounds fun, but the reality is a bit of a distorted mess). Unfortunately, there’s no third-party access to the built-in sensors.

Heading Outdoors: Rough but Powerful

The MorphRover features a cadence sensor, albeit a very responsive one, which means the motor kicks in with the full power of whatever level you’ve set it on the moment it detects some pedal action—up to 750W.

On flat terrain, even at level 1 PAS, this felt a little too much, as if my pedaling wasn’t required. On the other hand, turning off the PAS completely meant I could barely move the thing due to the sheer weight. There’s not a lot of nuance here.

The power that the cadence sensor commands on the MorphRover means you’ll be micromanaging your power levels and gearing quite often, depending on how steep the terrain is. On the other hand, what’s great about a torque sensor is that you only ever get your own power amplified; push harder, get more motor. But with the cadence sensor on the MorphRover, it feels like all or nothing.

The lack of a rear suspension or three-bar linkage also means that riding over really rough terrain is quite an ordeal. I also felt the pedals were a little too close to the ground compared to other off-road ebikes, resulting in more frequent scraping along deep valleys or rocky outcrops.

The 26-inch fat tires result in great traction and help to smooth out the ride a little, but the overall off-road ride experience was nothing compared to the Himiway Forest Cobra.

Range: Not Massive, but Not Tiny Either

The 720Wh removable battery, charged either via a traditional wall socket or your own pedal power while exercising indoors, should offer up to a stated 60-mile range. As always, that number will be tested with a 130lb test rider on flat terrain using only a single level of pedal assist. In reality, that meant I got more like 20–25 miles. Of course, if you’re particularly worried about range, you could also pop the stand in a backpack and recharge it yourself.

Freebeat claims 30 minutes of exercise will get you 10 miles of range; but again, that’s optimistic in every way. You would need to ride flat out for those 30 minutes, and you’d need to be on the light side for that to translate into 10 miles. In percentage terms, 30 minutes netted me about 5% battery, which is more like 1–2 miles.

Annoyingly, I also found the battery would drop 2-3% overnight. It’s possible the long shipping times had an adverse effect on the battery, so it could be an isolated issue that will eventually solve itself after calibration. For now though, that 5% battery I earn ends up diminishing completely if I leave it for a few days.

Should You Buy the Freebeat MorphRover?

From an ebike perspective, nothing on the Freebeat MorphRover is outstanding in any way, but what it does offer is a stable, powerful ride on or off-road (just not too off-road). The included indoor stand and conversion to an exercise bike with variable resistance is an outstanding feature that lets you recharge with your own pedal power and continue to enjoy your bike even when the weather isn’t agreeable.

On the software front, while I didn’t find the FreeBeat app and classes compelling enough to justify a subscription, it’s not required to use the indoor cycling mode.

However, you should realize that how much power your body can produce is likely a lot less than you think, so don’t be under the illusion that you’ll be leaving the wall charger in the box. Still, it’s a feature you just won’t find on other ebikes. That alone makes the MorphRover worth it.

Freebeat MorphRover

The Freebeat MorphRover is a powerful ebike that can transform into a variable resistance exercise bike indoors—and it’ll charge your battery while you work out, ready to power your next journey. But unless you’re already incredibly fit, I wouldn’t expect to generate much. 

Brand

Freebeat

Battery

720Wh

Weight

35kg / 77lbs

Brake Style

Hydraulic

Wheel Size

26×4 inch

Suspension

Front hydraulic only

Motor (W)

750W

Electronic Power Assist

5 levels

Charging

AC or self-charging exercise bike

Connectivity

Bluetooth to the Freebeat app

Rider Height

Step-through 5’1” to 6’; high step 5’6” to 6’4”

Tires

Chao Yang

Gearing

8 speed

Sensor

Cadence

Walk Mode

Yes

Frame

High step or step through

Lights

Front only

Rear Derailleur

Shimano

Dimensions

75″ front to back