review

I ride e-bikes a lot. Some days it’s a lightweight road e-bike. Other days it’s a longtail cargo e-bike. And some days it’s a ridiculously overpowered full-suspension fat tire e-bike. And as you may have guessed, I’ve been having a lot of days like those lately while reviewing the EUNORAU Defender S e-bike.

REI, the nation’s premier outdoor equipment retailer, enters the e-bike space with its CTY e2.2. For reasons unclear, REI decided to enter the electric bike space with a city bike rather than something made for off-road. If their goal was to nail down a commuter bike and test out their mettle, I believe they’ve succeeded. 

The newly released RadRover 6 Plus marks the biggest update Rad Power Bikes has ever launched and showcases brand-new components like upgraded hydraulic disc brakes, new dual-screen displays, and a totally redesigned semi-integrated battery.

NIU is famous for its smart electric scooters – as in seated electric scooters. But the company recently made waves by announcing its entry into the electric kick scooter market with the NIU KQi3. Despite this being a totally new kind of electric scooter for NIU, they nailed it with their first model.

The RadRunner Plus from Rad Power Bikes is perhaps one of my favorite all-time, do-anything electric bicycles – and that’s coming from someone with hundreds of electric bike reviews under his belt. I may have ridden some e-bikes that go faster or carry more passengers or fulfill any number of specific niches. But if I had to choose one single e-bike that could handle as many different daily tasks and types of riding as possible, I think it would be the RadRunner Plus.

One of my favorite things about Fiido’s electric bikes is that the company has always done things a bit differently. And the Fiido L3 continues that tradition, while bringing along some key upgrades and improvements as well.

The Torque 1 electric bike from Florida-based RideScoozy is a commuter style e-bike that combines two features rarely seen together: a torque sensor and an affordable price tag.

As much as I love electric bicycles, I have to admit that we rarely see anything revolutionary anymore. The last few years of e-bike advancements have largely been incremental. Important, but nothing groundbreaking. However, one look at the Igogomi e-bike had my inner child buzzing with excitement – finally something new!

Single-speed e-bikes are excellent options for anyone in search of a lightweight, straightforward e-bike that simply works. And one of the best options on the market in the US has proven to be the Propella V4.0.

Electric bicycles in the rugged moped style are all over the place these days, and for good reason. Unlike fitness e-bikes that are often used for a combination of exercise and leisure riding, electric mopeds are built mostly for good old fashioned getting around. And the Addmotor M-66 R7 moped fully embodies that design ethos. It’s a transportation e-bike that will have you zipping around your city faster than a car and cheaper than a public transport season ticket.

The Apollo Phantom electric scooter is one of the first truly new electric scooters I’ve seen in a long time.

Metakoo is a fairly new e-bike brand that was spun off by the same company that brought us the MacWheel series of e-bikes that we enjoyed testing late last year. These bikes aren’t known for being top shelf (or even mid-shelf), but they do present strong bang-for-your-buck in the entry-level class. The company’s first model, the Metakoo Cybertrack 100, offers a quasi-mountain bike format designed for price-conscious consumers.

The market is seemingly flooded with impressive new electric offerings in both the four-wheel and two-wheel varieties. But what about three-wheeled electric vehicles? I recently took a test ride on the Arcimoto FUV and its chopped-top rebel cousin, the Arcimoto Roadster, to see what this wild and wacky EV could do.

The Ariel Rider X-Class 52V e-bike is one of those electric bikes that just straight up looks like it needs to be ridden. Everything about it screams, “Hop on and rip it!” so that’s exactly what I did.

You know those sleeper cars that roll up looking like any other bucket on the road and then proceed to shred a set of tires right before your eyes? The Biktrix Swift Step-Thru is pretty much the electric bicycle equivalent.

It’s a fine-looking e-bike, though nothing fancy initially jumps out at you. But when you start to examine it deeper, you realize all of the hidden high performance that makes this an electric wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The Inokim Quick 4 electric scooter is a masterclass in high-quality scooter design that focuses on safety and performance over flash and glitz. I was super excited when Miami-based FluidFreeRide announced they were bringing Inokim scooters to the US market last year, and getting to test out the Quick 4 confirmed everything I’ve heard about the quality of these scooters (and that I saw on my own test of the Inokim Light 2 last year).

While electric bikes are loads of fun and make for great utility riding, they aren’t known for being cheap. Adding extras like fat tires or full-suspension only send the price higher. So I wanted to see how good one of the cheapest full-suspension fat tire electric bikes on the market could be. And to do so, I turned to the Aostirmotor S18 e-bike.

The Aventon Aventure was just released earlier this week, marking the popular e-bike company’s first foray into the full-size fat tire e-bike market.

And that’s good news for anyone on the hunt for a full-size fat tire e-bike that combines a sleek design with the latest tech.

When I think of the bicycle company Specialized, I tend to think of their hardcore road bikes, or perhaps their mountain bikes. They make awesome models of both, though as an e-bike journalist I find myself particularly drawn to their Turbo line of electric road and e-mountain bikes. But until I learned about the company’s Turbo Como line, I didn’t realize how awesome their “Active” line of comfort cruising-around bikes were. And the latest Specialized Turbo Como SL brings a whole new level of approachability (and lightweight design) to the e-bike line.

I’ve watched in fascination as Erik Buell’s latest two-wheeler company, Fuell, unveiled and then began deliveries on a high-end electric commuter bike. Now that the company let me borrow a Fuell Flluid for a test ride, I can finally tell you what I think of the bike.

Spoiler alert: It’s pretty sweet.

One of the most common uses for electric bicycles is as an alternative urban transport vehicle. Why drive a 3,000 lb car when a 60 lb electric bike can move you through the city quicker and cheaper? But unlike typical metro e-bikes, urban e-mountain bikes like the e-JOE ONYX add a bit of sportiness to the mix.