The Best Editor-Tested Electric Bikes for Conquering Steep-Ass Streets

· Vice

Maybe you live a life of ups and downs. And by that I mean your bike your way around a city that’s built over lumpy hills. Or, you simply like speed. Or, you hate pedaling your heart out only to arrive at work, your friend’s house, or the café sweatier than the cast of a Joel Schumacher movie. Or, you have mobility obstacles that make pedaling a bike difficult. Or, you want to give up visiting the gas pump and replace your car, even if just for some of the time.

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Cars may be more expensive than ever, but electric bikes (ebikes) have gotten significantly better and gradually cheaper since I began testing and reviewing them six years ago. I’ve ridden so many that I’ve lost track. Even just counting up those that I’ve thrown a leg over in the past year would be tough. There are lots of good ebikes these days. Only a few are truly great. Here are the greatest hits that you can buy today.

quick list: the best ebikes at a glance

MY methodology: how i chose the best Electric bikes

I rode all of these ebikes across the rough, mean, hard-on-your-spleen busted pavement of New York City. Most of them I assembled. There are tons of ebikes on the market, and some of them are quite good. I’m a picky, picky appraiser. Bad ebikes with rattling components, junky brakes, and clunky drivetrains don’t get to live on this list. Even decent ebikes that I’d ordinarily recommend with reservations don’t get a starring role here. Only the best ebikes, the ones I’d unequivocally and enthusiastically recommend as worth your hard-earned dough, make an appearance in this guide.

Light, and Not Just on Your Wallet: Aventon Soltera 3 ADV

This was a bike I was determined not to like from the moment I unboxed it and began assembly. You can read further into how the Aventon Soltera 3 ADV won me over in my review, but chalk up my change of heart to its effortless jog to 18 MPH, single speed not withstanding, and its deceptively grippy tires.

Making an ebike weigh just 37 pounds, which is light for an ebike, and selling it for $1,499 is a neat trick. Aventon pulled it off by eliminating fenders and cargo rack, which you can easily add to the Soltera 3 ADV because it has a fairly conventional bike profile, electric bits aside. It’s not like a VanMoof or a Super73 where the only accessories that’ll fit are ones purchased from the brand.

The Soltera 3 ADV didn’t go totally barebones, though. It still has hydraulic disc brakes, built-in headlight and taillights, and a Gates carbon belt in lieu of a chain. If you just want a cheap bike—and yes, $1,499 is somewhat cheap for an ebike—that’s light enough for you to carry upstairs and pedal easily once the battery runs dry, the Soltera 3 ADV is the bike to beat right now.

Read my review on the Aventon Soltera 3 ADV.

Feels Most Like a Regular Bike: Specialized Turbo Vado SL2 5.0 EQ

Specialized Turbo Vado SL2 5.0 EQ in Satin Deep Lake Metallic – Credit: Matt Jancer

Specialized nailed all the details with the Turbo Vado SL2 5.0 EQ. The grips are my favorite in the biz: Ergon GA3. The saddle is comfy. There’s a comprehensive suite of smart capabilities packed into the frame, including Apple’s Find My tracking and a built-in security alarm, not to mention the rear cargo rack, full fenders, and 28 MPH top speed (no hand throttle, though). And weighing in at a somewhat scant 44 pounds, no less.

More than any other ebike I’ve ever ridden, this one feels the most like pedaling a conventional bike. You get only the vaguest sense that maybe you have latent superpowers, that even though you can feel how much your leg muscles are contributing to the bike’s forward momentum, maybe you are actually stronger than you think.

But it’s an illusion, a trick of engineering that the bike’s electric power only subtly supplements your leg power instead of overpowering it. Take it as a downside or not, but the Turbo Vado SL2 5.0 EQ is tough to pedal much faster than 22 MPH. That’s by design. Perhaps it’s to encourage more purposeful pedaling, or maybe it’s to stretch the bike’s impressive 80-mile range, but

I’m right on the line between medium and large frames at 5 foot 10 inches, and so I tested both. The frame runs large on the Turbo Vado SL2, so size down. I was happier on the medium. Specialized provides two color options: Satin Deep Lake Metallic, a deep and blue-tinged green, and Gloss Dove Gray, a sort of dusky snow color. Each seemed to shift tones under changing light and possessed an incredible depth in their paint jobs. They were absolutely gorgeous in person, the best paint I’ve ever seen on an ebike.

(opens in a new window) Specialized

Turbo Vado SL 2 5.0 EQ (opens in a new window)

Available at Specialized Buy Now (opens in a new window)

Read my review on the Specialized Turbo Vado SL2 5.0 EQ.

An All-Around Good Bike for Everywhere: Velotric Summit 2

velotric summit 2 – Credit: Matt Jancer

Velotric calls the Summit 2 a hybrid ebike, a half step between a road bike and a mountain bike. Now does that mean it’s a gravel bike, a category recently popularized that marries a road bike’s frame and geometry with a mountain bike’s chunky trail-swallowing tires for more versatility on light off-road paths?

I’d say so, yeah, but somebody will point to the Summit 2’s flat handlebars as proof that no, without road racer-style drop bars the Velotric can’t be considered a proper gravel bike. Ok, fine. Hybrid or gravel, whatever you want to call it, the Summit 2 is a great all-around bike. Even if you don’t ever take it off perfectly glassy pavement—as a New Yorker, I wouldn’t know what the looks like, anyway—the Summit 2’s Kenda 27.5 x 2.4-inch MTB (mountain bike) tires will glue you to the road, potholes and gravel be damned.

Its 750W electric motor is a beast that blasted the bike to its 28 MPH top speed with blissful brutality. I had fun rocketing away from Brooklyn traffic when stoplights turned green and seeing the disbelieving faces of drivers when they caught up to me. The hydraulic disc brakes were very strong. I could’ve made them somersault me over the handlebars if I wanted to.

The bike weighs about 60 pounds, which is average for an ebike. The rear cargo rack is so low profile that it’s easy to miss that it’s there, and with the bike’s rear fender poking up through it, you can’t put items on top of the rack. But designed for holding pannier bags, it perfectly the role perfected when I attached an Arkel Shopper to it for carting a box across town.

(opens in a new window) Velotric

Summit 2 (opens in a new window)

Available at Velotric Buy Now (opens in a new window)

Read my review on the Velotric Summit 2.

The Cargo Queen: Lectric Xpedition2

lectric xpedition2 with passenger kit installed – credit: matt jancer

The Lectric XPedition2 is a lot of bike for under two grand, and I don’t just mean that because it’s big enough to carry three people and cargo, up to 450 pounds. I spent some quality time with the Lectric Xpedition2 last year, and it’s built like an absolute tank. Not bad considering that even though it’s like the SUV of ebikes, it weighs only 65 pounds without the batteries, each of which weighs nine pounds.

Lectric is one of those brands that seems to have one sale or another going all the time. You can pick up the XPedition2 Long Range for $2,000, with two-long range batteries for up to 170 miles between charges (if you’re economical with the electrical motor assist, as a caveat to any ebike’s maximum range). Or you can get the regular dual-battery version for $1,800 and up to 120 miles of range. Or—and now we’re talking stupidly cheap money for what you get—the single-battery version for $1,400 and 60 miles of range.

(opens in a new window) Lectric

XPeidtion2 Long Range Dual Battery (opens in a new window)

Available at Lectric Buy Now (opens in a new window)

Read my review on the Lectric XPedition2.

An Affordable Carbon Fiber Bike: Urtopia Carbon Classic

“Carbon fiber” and “affordable” don’t often go together. Not when you’re talking about, well, anything. But Urtopia has figured out a way to sell the Carbon Classic for $2,000 with a frame entirely made from carbon fiber. That means you get a fully featured commuter-style ebike with a 25 MPH top speed, hand throttle, eight-speed gearset, wheel fenders, headlight and taillight, and one of the best damn display screens of any ebike I’ve ridden. All it’s lacking is a rear cargo rack, which you can add for $99.

The Urtopia had a build quality every bit on par with Aventon, Velotric, Tern, or Lectric, and even aside from the carbon fiber frame there was plenty of clever engineering that went into the Carbon Classic. Although Urtopia didn’t grant it a mid-drive motor, its rear hub motor is an inner rotor design that reduces rotating inertia, bulk, and weight. All of it added up to a bike that had some of the best throttle response I’ve ever experienced. Even good ebikes can be a pain in the calves to pedal away from stoplights and stop signs, before their pedal sensors can detect that you’re trying to go and start providing electrical power. The Urtopia was nearly instantaneous, and one of the few ebikes that didn’t make me grumble in stop-and-go traffic.

(opens in a new window) Urtopia

Carbon Classic (opens in a new window)

Available at Urtopia Buy Now (opens in a new window)

Read my review on the Urtopia Carbon Classic.

The Classic Car: Bluejay Premiere Lite

Bluejay Premiere Lite – Credit: Matt Jancer

Just like driving a classic car, the Bluejay Premiere Lite’s calling card is the way it made me feel while I was on it. Kids pointed. Adults pointed. I’m pretty sure a Bichon Frisé pointed. Bluejay takes the classic beach cruiser bike and sneaks in all sorts of ebike parts that do a good job at staying hidden, except to eagle-eyed people familiar with ebikes who know what to look for.

Unlike all the beach cruisers I saw back in the pre-ebike days when I lived in an actual beach town (hey Wilmington, North Carolina), the Premiere Lite’s very classic-looking frame is aluminum alloy. That helps offset the weight of the Bafang rear hub motor and other electrical components. Weighing 52 pounds for the size-large frame I tested (there are only large and small, which weighs 50 pounds), the bike was very rear-heavy but easy to pick up when I had to carry it up a staircase. Easier than 52 pounds should’ve felt.

Tucked into that aluminum frame is a removable 417Wh battery that’ll carry the Premiere Lite up to 50 miles, as Bluejay tells it. I’m amazed that Bluejay packaged in a removable battery. If any ebike had a worthy excuse to skip including a battery you could take out and charge in your home, it’d be the Premiere Lite. Instead they made it work.

Also just like a classic car, the Premiere Lite doesn’t ride like a modern bike. The motor carries it to 20 MPH in a snap, giving it strong acceleration, but the brakes could be better, and the chain felt clunky every time I stopped pedaling while moving. And you want to nitpick, the hydraulic disc brakes, electric hub motor, and 10-speed gearset shout that this is a modern bike. But the Bluejay is a smile machine, for the person on it and anyone who sees it go by.

(opens in a new window) Bluejay

Premiere Lite (opens in a new window)

Available at Bluejay Buy Now (opens in a new window)

Read my review on the Bluejay Premiere Lite.

there are a lot of ebike types, right?

Right. And the market is only coming up with more of them as the bike has gotten electrified. Moped-style ebikes mimic motorcycles and tend to be very heavy, very powerful, and very fast. The Super73 S2 SE is a popular bike nationwide, and a perfect example of a moped-style ebike.

General-purpose ebikes have a few monikers: city ebikes, urban ebikes, and commuter ebikes. They’re all the same thing. These are the sedans of the ebike world, the jacks of all trades. Some are lightweight, some are fast, some are both. Nearly all of them come with or can be fitted with a cargo rack to allow for shuttling some goods around, although not to the extent of a cargo ebike.

Electric mountain bikes (eMTB) are off-road bikes built for desert trails. When I grew up in the ’90s, everyone and their pa seemed to be riding mountain bikes on their suburban streets, me included. I see that a lot less these days. But the US hasn’t given up its love for burly, SUV-like bikes.

Gravel ebikes, a distant cousin, are one of the more recent bike styles. They marry the road bike’s format with the chunkier tires of an eTMB to allow it more ability on trails, although not to the degree that eMTBs can go slogging through deep mud and blasting over wilderness trails. Gravel bikes also work well in cities with rough pavement, such as cobblestones and potholed streets, because their tires’ thicker sidewalls help cushion the rider and bike from violent jarring

Folding ebikes are self explanatory. They fold up so that you can store them in a cramped apartment or tuck them under your desk at the office. They have small wheels, but due to their folding mechanisms they can be surprisingly heavy. Then there are cargo ebikes, which—you’re not going to believe this—specialize in carrying cargo. These bikes, with toughened frames and large cargo racks, can carry a bunch of heavy gear. Many can carry two or three passengers. These are the Chevrolet Suburbans of ebikes.

Almost certainly, as long as you’re in the US. There are no federal laws governing ebikes, though. It’s going to come down to your state or, more likely, your local government. Local lawmakers, ebike manufacturers, and ebike advocacy groups have coalesced around a system of classifying ebikes in the US in three separate but fairly well defined ebike classes.

Some states, like Hawaii, require registration of ebikes. Most don’t. New York City recently passed a 15 MPH speed limit for ebikes—the first that low in the US—that nobody here pays any attention to. Lots of cities don’t let you exceed a certain speed in bike lanes or ride ebikes in parks.

The best way to figure out the ebike laws in your town is to Google your town’s name and “ebike laws.” As always, make sure you end up looking at official sources; those websites that most likely end in .gov. on some Facebook post by a guy who wears a trash bag over the top of his head like a big, plastic sock isn’t the sort of person I’d take legal advice from. Or any advice.

the bottom line

Answering “What is the best ebike?” is a question that looks less like a Q&A and more like a flow chart. What are your needs? Do you have mobility challenges? Do you have the store the thing in your living room, or do you have a garage? Do you have to ride the thing in traffic because your town has few bike lanes? All of these drive people to a range of “bests” that take different spots on the podium depending on their user.

All of the ebikes I highlighted here are “bests,” in their own way. And I’ll keep on testing ebikes to supplement and expand this guide. Most won’t make it into this guide. Not every ebike can be a “best.” I know that when I’m recommending an ebike to a reader, I’m vouching for that bike and am partly responsible for parting a person from a significant amount of their money. I don’t take that lightly. As long as you soberly appraise your particular needs, what you want from an ebike, you can’t go wrong with any of those listed here. It’s just a matter of choosing.

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