Even though this electric bike offers 24 speeds (and thus has grip shifters on the left and right handle bars) the cockpit is relatively clean. The grips are comfortable, the brake levers work fine with the Tektro rim brakes and schwinn mountain bicycles the display console and thumb throttle are easy to reach and use. There’s not a lot of choice here, you just turn the console on with a 0/1 toggle switch and either begin pedaling or push down on the giant paddle trigger.
Simply put — plenty of people would rather bike to work than drive there, if distance and climate factors are in their favor, for reasons environmental and health-related. I mostly used the motor in pedal-assist mode, though I will cover the throttle in the next section. The motor on this bike is very aggressive in that is starts up quickly with even the slightest movement of the pedal, and it goes hard. When riding with level 5 assistance my pedals were free-spinning most of the time even on the highest gear. Of course, the premier feature of this e-bike is the “e” part. This is a class 1/class 2 e-bike in that it can be a pedal-assist bike up to 20 mph or you can use a dedicated throttle lever without pedaling.
Cantilever brakes grab the rims for stopping power, although with the price of this bike, we would expect disc brakes. Front and rear lights that run off a traditional tire-contact generator are included. The whole package is aesthetically really old-timey looking — which will not please everybody, though we find it to be really quite charming. It’s surprisingly elegant, and mongoose excursion though one friend described it as “goofy” looking, we think that its look suits the intended rider — but more on that below. For those not terribly familiar with electric bikes, the Schwinn’s battery charges up about as fast as its contemporaries on the market, and is actually much faster than many. Take your adventure further than ever before with an electric mountain bike.
That being said, the small-ish 250W motor isn’t going to be a powerhouse on hills. The bike accelerates fine on flat ground, but you’ll definitely need to add some leg assist if you’re going to be climbing tall hills. Speaking of which, check out my video below to see the bike’s performance and features in action, including those cool frame lights. A removable battery allows extra batteries to be used, extending the range of the bike. Unfortunately, Schwinn doesn’t outfit the Monroe 250 with any accessories you’d typically want for commuting, such as fenders or racks. To be fair, not many competing e-bikes tend to come with these extras anyway, so with its comparatively low price, you’ll have extra money to pick out the accessories you want.
Uphill, however, we definitely expended a significantly higher amount of energy with our toothpick-like legs. On flat roads, shifting gears will allow you to put more or less effort into your ride as you please, allowing for a lot of levity in the experience. We didn’t clock our speeds, but the bike can supposedly top about 15 miles per hour on flat ground with the pedal-assist on, and that sounds about right to us.
The LED display shows you how much assistance you’re getting, as well as how much battery life is left. When you want to stop, just squeeze the brake levers and the motor cuts off. The Schwinn Monroe 250 gets its mongoose excursion 250 moniker from how many watts the hub drive puts out. This power level proved more than enough for me and my lifestyle, though there are models from other brands with 500 watts should you need even more.