The Best Electric Bikes

I suspect this is designed to reduce battery drain when idle, but it doesn’t really work. There’s not a great spot for the wheel lock key, though you can sort of wedge it into the frame if you try. After leaving the cemetery, I pedaled a county road that unrolls over five hilltops with valleys in between. On the downhills, I went to 0 assist and flew down, hitting 36 mph on one of them. In each case I pedaled unassisted part way up the next climb, moving to a numbered assist level only when gravity began to bite.

The first thing you’ll notice about the Coston CE e-bike is that is built like a tank, which is both good and bad. It’s good because everything on the bike feels solid and borderline rugged. The downside is this bike feels about as heavy as a light-armored vehicle. The bike tops out at around 57 pounds, which is tank-like in the biking world. By comparison, my poor, neglected Trek bike weighs around 25 pounds.

Lithium polymer battery pack is fast to charge, schwinn dealers easily removable and balanced with the front…… The Marshall ebike has a throttle and 5 pedal assist levels. The pedal assist level only affects the boost you get when pedalling, not the throttle speed. As a commuter e-bike, I’m also glad to see some good commuter specific parts, like the included fenders and the excellent lighting. Not only do you get typical head and taillights, but you also have LED frame lights built into the sides of the battery.

Using its Bluetooth connectivity, the IC4 is compatible with the Zwift, Peloton, and JRNY apps for a studio or interactive cycling experience. We found the IC4 to be an impressively comfortable exercise bike throughout testing. It has loads of handlebar and seat adjustability to dial in the fit for a vast range of rider heights and preferences, as well as an agreeable performance seat and multi-position handlebar. In late 1997, Questor Partners Fund, led by Jay Alix and Dan Lufkin, purchased Schwinn Bicycles. Questor/Schwinn later purchased GT Bicycles in 1998 for $8 a share in cash, roughly $80 million. The new company produced a series of well-regarded mountain bikes bearing the Schwinn name, called the Homegrown series.[62] In 2001, Schwinn/GT declared bankruptcy.

A few participants began designing and building small numbers of mountain bikes with frames made out of modern butted chrome-molybdenum alloy steel. Using the standard electro-forged cantilever frame, and fitted with five-speed derailleur gears and knobby tires, the Klunker 5 was never heavily marketed, and was not even listed in the Schwinn product catalog. Unlike its progenitors, the Klunker proved incapable of withstanding hard off-road use, and after an unsuccessful attempt to reintroduce the model as the Spitfire 5, it was dropped from production. The Coston CE is a hybrid e-bike with several frame sizes available in both step-thru and stand over styles.

The SCiB batteries are power dense, charge insanely fast, are proprietary and un-obtainable by normal people, and just don’t make sense for an electric bicycle. It got a lot of positive press for Schwinn and Toshiba, but it’s not a very good electric bike. Even when it came out, the 350W BionX packs were setting a standard, and this bike missed it – badly. To charge the battery pack, you have to take it out of the bike. It comes out easily, but this is quite annoying, given that you charge the bike pretty much every time you ride it (or, at least, you will be, with this small a pack).

Keep in mind that you might be on your own since it likely won’t come with instructions — at least mine didn’t. Even though I don’t like it, it’s got a major redeeming factor. I’m just going to start at the front of the bike and work back. Our cycling expert editors and writers choose every product we review. We may earn an affiliate commission if you buy from one of our product links, at no extra cost to you. On the hilltop, the cemetery lanes are a mix of paved and gravel surfaces, and the robust 27.5 x 2.6 unbranded tires with hybrid tread performed well on both.