ebikes

When Harley-Davidson spun off its electric bicycle division into Serial 1 and then released several models of urban e-bikes bearing the “/CTY” suffix, the company was dropping a fairly heavy hint that non-city electric bikes would soon follow. Now Serial 1 has made good on that heavy foreshadowing, unveiling the brand’s first electric mountain bike known as the BASH/MTN.

Schwinn’s electric bicycle line has significantly expanded over the last couple years. When I first started riding electric Schwinns, I was largely limited to cruiser e-bikes. But with several new commuter-specific e-bikes like the Schwinn Coston CE that I recently tested, this household bicycle name is making a big move on the wider e-bike market.

Spoiler alert: Electric vehicles are the future, and they’re destined to replace fossil fuel-powered cars. Unless you’ve got your head firmly buried in the sand, that won’t come as a shocker to you.

But credit where credit is due. We humans, we’re a pretty ingenious animal. We figured out how to build massive societies fueled in large part by poking holes in the ground and then burning the super-pressurized pre-historic algae we found. That was a neat trick, until we realized that it had the small downside of destroying the world we’re leaving for our kids. Whoops.

Now we’re in the process of righting that wrong. Some are embracing the change wholeheartedly, and others are being dragged into the future, kicking and screaming. But make no mistake, it’s the future and it’s coming.

Heybike, makers of eBikes small and large, has set a new standard for a feature rich electric folding bike. With so many ways to enjoy electric bikes, the Ranger model can make short work of any commute, off-road short-cut or an otherwise hum-drum day.

The descriptors “nimble” and “fat tire” rarely go together as well as they do with the Juiced RipRacer. This self-proclaimed fun-sized electric bike deftly combines the exhilaration of go-anywhere electric bikes with the convenience of small-format micromobility vehicles.

Ukrainian electric motorbike company Delfast has seen its electric bikes used for some vastly diverse tasks, such as breaking Guinness World Records and outfitting Mexican police. But their latest use is perhaps the bikes’ most important mission yet: helping Ukrainian soldiers strike a David vs. Goliath blow against Russia’s barbaric invasion of their country.

It’s been over two years since Harley-Davidson spun off Serial 1 as its quasi-independent electric bicycle company. The first generation bikes were met with nearly universal acclaim for their sleek design and high-quality manufacturing. Now the company is back to announce its second generation e-bikes, this time touting a new partnership with Google Cloud.

It was an inevitability that once electric bikes started skyrocketing in popularity, more e-bike thefts would soon follow. But NYC-based electric bike company Wing Bikes is helping riders fight back with a free location tracker included along with its electric bikes.

May is National Bike Month in the United States. With a combination of more cities focusing on walkability/bikeability as well as an increasingly alarming outlook on climate change, a larger discussion on switching to smaller vehicles couldn’t come soon enough.

But for those who never considered switching to a bicycle before, it may be time to take a second look. And that’s because with the invention and subsequent skyrocketing in popularity of electric bikes, switching from an expensive and polluting car to a cheap and efficient two-wheeled alternative is easier than ever. In fact, I go nearly everywhere by electric bike and I barely even touch pedal bikes anymore. Here’s why.

Electric cargo bikes, especially four-wheeled versions that function as mini delivery vans, are becoming an increasingly common solution for mail delivery around the world. As USPS struggles with its own delivery van ordering scandal, the latest example of alternative lightweight and efficient electric four-wheeler delivery vehicles saw yet another European country demonstrating the effectiveness of switching away from gas-powered mail trucks.

The Buzz Charter F, which is the latest e-bike from the value-oriented electric bike brand Buzz, offers up a low-cost $999 folding model with the battery hidden in the seat post.

The UK-based micromobility company Eskuta says that its SX-250 electric bike combines motorcycle design with e-bike pricing to offer two-wheeled commuters the best of both worlds.

Back when COVID-19 ravaged New York City and turned the city’s transportation needs upside down, significant portions of the road space were repurposed for non-car use. From bike lanes to public seating and urban parks, roads that previously saw gridlocked traffic were nearly instantly transformed into public spaces that benefitted a wider group of residents.

After being forced to realize the benefits of such repurposing of streets, the city is now asking, “Why shouldn’t it just stay that way?”

Aventon’s electric bikes have always impressed me with their build quality and attention to detail. When the company launched an updated version of its popular Pace 500 e-bike, I knew to expect more of the same excellent qualities. Now that I’ve been able to spend some quality time testing the bike, I’m even more convinced of the brand’s commitment to giving its customers more than they anticipated.

Specialized’s electric bikes are many things: Quality, highly engineered, covering a wide range of riding styles. But one thing they aren’t is low cost – at least, not until now. That’s because Specialized has just announced that it is launching a new and more affordable line of e-bikes known as Globe, which will focus on utility and cargo electric bikes designed as car replacements for city use.

Barcelona-based Rayvolt not only has some of the most beautiful electric bikes I’ve ever seen, but also designs its own technology to ensure that those e-bikes offer industry-leading performance and user-experiences. That kind of combination of beauty and brains is rarely seen outside of a Hollywood blockbuster, which is why I just had to stop by Barcelona in person to check out the latest from Rayvolt.

Fucare’s new Gemini X electric bike pairs a novel-looking trellis-style frame with some high-performance electric bike parts to create a fast Class 3 e-bike that looks at home on both the streets and the trails.

Electric bicycles that blur the line with electric motorcycles and mopeds are an increasingly popular category of the e-bike industry. The latest new e-bike to take a full-throttle approach to this design philosophy is the C3STROM Astro.

The new Mahle X20 electric bicycle powertrain is set to lead to some ultra lightweight e-bikes thanks to the pared down electric motor and battery combination.

If there’s one thing I love as much as playing with batteries, it’s charging them up from the sun. And when it comes to my electric bikes, which are kind of outdoor toys by definition, being able to charge in the field is a pretty darn neat trick for extending range when camping or just spending all day in the great outdoors. I recently had the chance to test out QuietKat’s all-in-one electric bike solar charger for just that purpose, and I can tell you that this is a really cool piece of gear to bring on your next e-bike trip.

When it comes to bang-for-your-buck electric bicycles, it’s hard to beat the Phoenix-based company Lectric eBikes. While it may not have the fancy components of the big-name companies or the sprawling reach of the industry top dogs, there’s a reason the company has such a dedicated following: It offers good e-bikes at great prices. Having just released two new e-bikes on both the higher and lower ends of the market, plus offering a great mid-tier option, we’re going to break down the differences between the Lectric XP 2.0, the Lectric XP Lite and the company’s newest model, the Lectric XPremium.