I rode a friend’s electric bike a few months ago and absolutely loved it but she paid close to $2,000 and that was too much for me. I kept wanting one and after looking at the features and reviews for this bike, decided to take a chance.
The bike arrived in a single cardboard box and was well packed with lots of foam padding and zip ties to keep parts from flopping around. After removing all the packaging, I was left with about six or seven parts to assemble and a bag of included tools.
Next, I plugged in the charger and walked away to do some errands. I think the manual says it takes five hours to charge from empty but it was full after less than three hours.
I was ready to give it a full test on the street. This bike is a lot less expensive than my friend’s bike so I had little doubt it would ride just fine but thought maybe it wouldn’t feel as solid or be as peppy when using the electric part. I was wrong. There are three speeds to the power portion and you can really feel it! At each speed it seems to sense how much you’re pedaling first, and then it kicks in with extra boost. It keeps supplying power after you stop pedaling but then again senses if you’re slowing down and the power stops. I had just as big a grin on my face as when I rode my friend’s bike. The real surprise that I wasn’t expecting is there’s actually a throttle on the right hand grip and you can supply power by turning it. You don’t even have to pedal.
I’m trying to think of things I don’t like but I’m really happy with this purchase. It’s a good looking bike and full featured and you can’t beat the price for what you get in return. Literally everything is included to put it together (I did use my own adjustable wrench to remove a temporary rod installed in the front fork). The manual is the weak part with maybe two illustrations and ten pages of safety warnings. I would have liked assembly instructions with a focus on how to make sure everything is perfectly aligned and secured and some more info about the onboard computer but I’m not going to ride the manual, so not a deal breaker.