The Super Soco CU Mini is a lightweight, compact electric moped. Coming in at an affordable price, it aims to appeal to those considering buying an electric bicycle. Being fully motorised, however, the moped requires you to pass a CBT, which in the UK can be done if you hold a provisional driving license or of course, one can attain a full A1, A2 or A license. It’s worth noting that the bike is also AM-compliant too.
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Super Soco CU Mini price & competition
The reason why the CU Mini might appeal to those looking at an electric bicycle is due to its cost. At the time of writing and in the UK, it can be found between £1,700-£1,849. Super Soco offers a two-year warranty on the bike itself and three years on the 1.1 kWh battery.
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As for its motorised competitors, there are a few electric bikes on the market. Here are some that we’ve reviewed that you might want to consider for your city commutes: the Sunra Miku Super at £3,499, the Sunra Robo-S electric at £3,299, the Super Soco TS Street Hunter at £3,799, and the Seat Mo 125 at £5,800.
Of course, there are a few electric bicycles too, such as the ones that we’ve reviewed: the E-Trends Trekker at £1,199, the Eskuta SX-250 Series III at £1,795, the Brompton Electric (M2L) at £2,875, the Brompton Electric P Line at £3,695, the Specialized Turbo Vado 4.0 at £3,900, and the Raleigh Stride 2 at £4,395.
Read next: Specialized Turbo Vado 4.0 review: A multi-purpose e-bike
Super Soco CU Mini design & features review
In terms of its design, the CU Mini is quite stylish. It’s available in White, Nardo Grey, Dark Grey, and the pictured Red. It features an LED light at the front and rear. The bike weighs in at around 50kg, making it easy to manually manoeuvre or even pick up. Given its compact size and weight, it’s actually very easy to topple over, even when its centre stand is deployed; a side stand has been omitted altogether.
While the utmost stability while parked does go amiss, it’s great to see the inclusion of a built-in alarm. Indeed, via the included fob, one can power on and off the bike, and set the alarm. This should give you a little peace of mind when leaving the CU Mini in a public area. There’s also said to be integration with the Super Soco App, which should allow you to track the bike, however, we weren’t able to get this to work with our tested model.
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On the subject of technology, there’s a singular USB Type-A port located towards the front of the bike and a rather primitive LCD display. While useful information such as the remaining battery percentage and your speedometer are shown, there are no means of resetting the trip counter nor a way of displaying the remaining battery range in miles or kilometres – rather disappointing.
Equally, the switches and buttons found on the handlebars are rather cheap and flimsy. There’s no push-to-cancel feature on the indicator either, which is quite frustrating as you’ll have to move it to its centre position each time to cancel it.
Read next: Eskuta SX-250 Series III review: The moped-looking e-bike
Super Soco CU Mini storage & comfort review
Another limitation of the CU Mini is the lack of storage capacity. Due to its compact form factor and the bike’s battery located underneath the seat, it means you’ve not got any storage within the bike itself. There is, however, a small hook at the front and the ability to mount a small rear box.
As for comfort, we’ve got no complaints. It should suit those who weigh around 70kg and measure 6ft (182cm). The seat is soft and with the inclusion of front forks and rear shock absorbers, traversing across uneven terrain doesn’t present itself with any issues.
Read next: Seat Mo 125 review: Style over substance?
Super Soco CU Mini performance review
Similarly, due to its lightweight nature and compact form factor, the CU Mini is plenty of fun to ride. It’s very agile and easy to manoeuvre while traversing at speed. It also has 130mm front and rear disc brakes, which give you good stopping power on the 70/90-12 tyres that the bike sits on.
However, the experience is quickly dampened by its lacklustre performance. Super Soco includes a 0.6 kW motor that provides up to 1 kW of power and a mere 11.8 Nm of torque. To put its specs into context, we tested it using Racelogic’s Performance Box Touch. Here, we recorded 0-20mph in a whopping 13.81s, where 10-20mph takes 10.48s.
It’s excruciatingly slow to get ahead at the traffic lights and with its top speed of around 26mph, it’s not suited to be taken out of the city. Worse still, its measly 0.6 kW motor struggles to provide enough power when going uphill; with a 70kg rider, the CU Mini couldn’t push past 8mph, resulting in an electric bicycle even overtaking the motorised moped – quite embarrassing.
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Indeed, its performance doesn’t inspire much confidence however, it’s CU Mini’s inability to get out of a hairy situation, which is a cause for concern. Simply put, should the issue arise, there’s not enough power to get you to safety.
Things don’t get any better when we look at the bike’s electric range. The manufacturer quotes one should attain 25 miles (or 40 km) from its 1.1 kWh battery but in our own tests, we netted a rather shocking 17 miles – tested with a 70kg rider. This means that even if you live in a big city, such as London, you’ll most likely need to recharge before making the return leg.
Considering most electric bicycles have a range of around 30-60 miles and can still be used by pedalling once their batteries are depleted, it means the CU Mini is at a major disadvantage in comparison to its two-wheeled friends.
Its short electric range is certainly a limitation but so is the time required to replenish its 1.1 kWh battery pack. Using the bundled charger, be it connected directly to the bike or externally to the 7kg battery, it’ll take a monumental seven hours to go from 0-100%. Considering the bike’s range, that’s 2.5 miles for every hour spent charging – ridiculous. To add to its misery, the charger is rather noisy with its audible fan required to cool the unit; therefore, it might cause an issue when taken into the workplace or a cafeteria.
Read next: Sunra Robo-S review: A stylish all-electric scooter
TotallyEV’s verdict on the Super Soco CU Mini
Ultimately, to us, the Super Soco CU Mini doesn’t make much sense. You’re better off buying an electric bicycle, which will provide you with almost double the assisted electric range and will give you an unlimited amount of miles through conventional means.
E-bikes aside, the electric moped really lacks power and has limited top speed. The motorcycle’s build quality similarly doesn’t inspire much confidence and the limited amount of features does make you question its £1,700+ price tag.
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What do you make of Super Soco’s electric moped? Let us know in the comments section below or via social media; we’re on: YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
