Technological advancements to rechargeable lithium-ion batteries came in the mid to late 1990s and really spurred the e-bike movement across the entire bicycling industry. In general, if purchased on the Schwinn website, your new bike will be shipped within hours of being ordered and should arrive within 7-10 days. Please know that we have free shipping for all orders over $49, that we have a live chat option available Monday through Friday, and Schwinn has a limited lifetime warranty on all our bikes.
These vintage-inspired bikes feature padded seats and upright riding positions for extra comfort every time you ride. At just $898 with its current Black Friday sale price, the Schwinn EC1 definitely offers more bang for your buck than a lot of other electric bikes out there. There’s nothing overly fancy about it, though I’d say the fact that it comes with built-in fenders and a rear rack is a nice feature. I like how the Marshall is a bit more upright than a standard mountain bike but in a better position for standing than a cruiser.
The lowest gear is a nice big ring in the back for helping on those hills. I mostly used the motor in pedal-assist mode, though I will cover the throttle in the next section. The motor on this bike is very aggressive in that is starts up quickly with even the slightest movement of the pedal, and it goes hard. When riding with level 5 assistance my pedals were free-spinning most of the time even on the highest gear. The motion of the pedal is necessary to engage the motor in pedal-assist mode, but I rarely felt like I was assisting the motor except on the steepest hills and that was only when I was in the highest gear.
On my long rides on a hybrid bike, I averaged 15 mph but once I got going, I realized 20 mph isn’t a big deal. Similar to how you can change gears on a multi-speed bike, you can choose how much the motor assists you, too. If you’re having trouble going up a hill, just increase the assistance to maintain your speed. Speaking of trails, I found that the Schwinn EC1 is great for more than just nice bike lanes and smooth sidewalks. The decently large tires also make it a fun bike for nature trails and gravel paths. I wouldn’t want to take it off any jumps due to the lack of suspension, but it’s not really meant for that, either.
At the time, most bicycle manufacturers in the United States sold in bulk to department stores, which in turn sold them as store brand models. F. Goodrich bicycles, sold in tire stores, Schwinn eliminated the practice of producing private label bicycles in 1950, insisting that the Schwinn brand and guarantee appear on all products. In exchange for schwinn mountain bicycles ensuring the presence of the Schwinn name, distributors retained the right to distribute Schwinn bikes to any hardware store, toy store, or bicycle shop that ordered them. W. Schwinn tasked a new team to plan future business strategy, consisting of marketing supervisor Ray Burch, general manager Bill Stoeffhaas, and design supervisor Al Fritz.