That means the Roadster V2 is best for someone who enjoys cycling and simply wants an assist motor to help them go faster and farther. Those who are on the hunt for a good-looking folding fat tire e-bike that doesn’t break the bank will likely find this to be one of the more fashionable options. To be honest, the frame member is low on both of them and so they’re both easy to mount, but I actually prefer the step-through.
The $999 JackRabbit OG is in one of these fuzzy areas between e-bikes and other e-rideables. In this case, it straddles the line between an electric bike and an electric scooter. There are some things that you give up with this model, such as that the fenders aren’t included free. But for just $799, you’re still getting built-in lights, a hidden battery, large LCD display and a lightweight folder. The Lectric XP LITE is likely the latest king of bang-for-your-buck electric bikes. The lack of anything fun to ride locally and my deep desire to ride the bike all the time instilled a sense of being lost and bored, which seemed to always result in play.
The sporty tires and two choices of frame style (step over or step through) give riders plenty of options to use this bike on the trails or the streets. I love that it includes full metal fenders as well so you don’t have to spend extra on those. I’d definitely recommend spending an extra $50 for the rear rack though if you plan to use the bike as a commuter, since you never know when you’ll need to toss something on the back. With the exception of the Rock Lobster (a superb bike in its own right), they all made fantastic touring bikes, and I put in many off-road miles on each over the years. But, by modern mountain biking standards, they’re all on the gravel end of the spectrum.
I’m not sure I know any cyclists or even bike people who could reasonably ride the SRD without having fun. In practice, that translated to the bars feeling significantly stiff. Regrettably ill-equipped for the scientific process, I’d estimate deflection over their ample span to be within the acceptable deflection tolerance over the same span for a rolled steel joist designated for constructing a skyscraper. In this way, the bars don’t move, even with less-than-the-ideal torque, and won’t get crushed with more, so the risk of crush-based failure is mitigated. The handlebars and rims were made by BEAST Components, which is also based in Dresden.
Despite the 750W label, the e-bike can be unlocked to make use of nearly 1,500W of peak power. I was able to reach a top speed of 37 mph (59.5 km/h) during my testing hyper bicycles (not on public streets!). The Ride1Up CF Racer1 brings carbon fiber road e-bikes to the common man, offering both a traditional road bike and a gravel bike edition.
Given my non-mountain biking background, there may have been some mixup before I took the bike about what a trail bike is for. Contrary to my belief that it’s a bike for riding trails, I found out later that it’s instead a bike for riding at trail centers, which I guess is proper mountain biking. Chris took one of ten tubesets that didn’t work out as an opportunity to redesign the swing arm to accommodate a simplified single-pivot suspension design with just enough room for a 29×2.5″ tire and some mud clearance. As a result, the mis-mitered tubes could be used to build a fun bike to be given to friends, and after some happy accident, I ended up with one—a steel, single-pivot, long-travel trail bike or, perhaps, a slightly sketchy enduro bike. It was built under the ambiguous and slightly tongue-in-cheek Sour SRD umbrella (more on that below). It’s neither an enduro bike nor their new race-proven ultra-distance/XC prototype we saw at last year’s Bespoked.
When it comes to fast, powerful electric mopeds on a budget, it’s hard to compete with the $2,399 Ariel Rider X-Class. This is the e-bike I usually recommend when someone simply wants the most power and speed for the least amount of money. That says a lot, because Tern is known for its high quality e-bikes that are built to be ridden every day for real world errands, carpool duty and more.