The future is electric. And the future of transport is electric too like our best electric bikes.
If you’re looking to get around easily, find easy parking and deal with new pedestrianized zones popping up anywhere and you don’t fancy an electric unicycle or an electric scooter, then an electric bike is an excellent option.
You need no level of fitness to ride one, they’re super fun and they’re up to your daily commute.
The only minor drawback is their popularity, due to recent global events, these things go in and out of stock rapidly. If you find one you want, you may need to snap it up there and then or wait a month or two before it’s available again.
So, check out our 8 best electric bikes, they’re all awesome and there’s bound to be one there for you. Then ride into an electric future.
Best Electric Bikes
Trek Allant+ 9.9S
EDITOR’S CHOICE
When you’ve got somewhere to be and you need to be there on time, this is the best e-bike.
Specialized Turbo Vado
TOP RATED CHOICE
Very powerful, lightweight and just so much fun to ride around on, an excellent hybrid.
Priority Current E-Bike
BEST VALUE CHOICE
If you want the traditional bicycle appeal for your e-bike, you can’t beat the Priority Current.
Trek Allant+ 9.9S
The Trek Allant+ 9.9S stands apart from the crowd!
It’s the sort of bike that we’d expect to see featured in Design-Milk and other curations of cool things.
The battery life is impressive and you can add a second battery for even more range between charges.
The smartphone hub console allows you to charge your phone, get directions and listen to music (or even take calls) on the go.
Quick Fact: The motor in the Trek Allant+ is made by Bosch and the gears are made by Shimano, the best known gear manufacturer in the bike world. These are hallmarks of quality.
1. The carbon frame and fork make this especially light
2. It’s absolutely gorgeousb
3. You can effectively double the range by adding a second battery
1. May be more complicated than you need, particularly for very short journeys
2. It’s expensive even for an e-bike
3. The frame tends to smudge when touched with naked fingers
Specialized Turbo Vado SL 5.0 EQ
Your reviewer used to own a Specialized mountain bike, so we were delighted to try the Specialized Turbo Vade SL 5.0 EQ and didn’t disappoint.
They use a small scale drive motor but which offer excellent performance to move you around quickly and easily.
It also had incredible shock absorbers which made the commute silky smooth and yet, the bike is still very light when you need to carry it.
Quick Fact: This bike doesn’t need you to control the speed, you can hand that over to the Smart Control app which can read a map and then help you to get from A to B, efficiently.
1. The Smart Control App is amazing – you won’t even know it’s on
2. The ride is smooth as silk and great fun
3. The bike is very light, idea for commuter runs
1. This is still a pretty expensive bike, all told
2. It really needs a phone mount
3. You will probably want to buy a range extender
Priority Current E-Bike
This Priority Current E-Bike is the spitting image of a non-e-bike, bike.
If you catch our drift?
And you can use it like a real bike too – you don’t have to switch the motor on at all to glide around town if pedalling is easy enough.
However, this may be an essential as you only get 30-60 miles out of a fully charged battery which needs nearly 7 hours to take a second charge.
Quick Fact: The combination of the Envolio NuVinci gears, Gates Carbon Drive CDX and the mid-motor requires very little maintenance to stay in tip-top condition.
1. The gel saddle makes it a delight to sit on this bike
2. It looks like an actual bike rather than an e-bike, which is cool
3. Mid-priced but great value
1. Range is slightly short at 30-60 miles
2. If you want pedal assist above 20 mph, you need to pay to upgrade to a class 3
3. The display didn’t offer the best user experience of our tests
Electric Bike Company Model X
Though this is competitively priced, we didn’t feel that they’d compromised on the build quality of the Electric Bike Company’s Model X.
This product is fully assembled in the USA and you can feel how much care and effort goes into the process.
We like the fact that the motor has a peak power mode that allows for bursts of speed when you really need to.
Quick Fact: This bike has one of the largest ranges of customization options of any electric bike and you can change the basket, the rack, the forks and the colors!
1. You can build your own bespoke model but it arrives fully assembled
2. You can get up to 120 miles from a single charge!
3. You have a burst of speed mode if you need it
1. Changing the tyres is harder because of where the motor is
2. You only get this in a single size
3. The frame is step-over only
Batch Bicycles E-Commuter E-Bike
This is an affordable e-bike model that will make you very happy when you take a look at the parts list.
The Batch Bicycles E-Commuter E-bike runs on a Bosch motor, has Kenda Kwick Twenty tires, Shimano drivetrain and much more!
One odd omission, however, was LED lights, we expected them to be included on the bike and instead, you have to buy them separately.
Quick Fact: The battery on this bike takes up to 6.5 hours to charge and you can get a range of 30-80 miles (depending on terrain) out of it which ought to be great for commuters.
1. Really high quality parts included as standard
2. Decent range for commuting
3. The price is very attractive
1. You can’t get a step-thru version of this bike
2. There are no LED lights included
3. It’s not quite as powerful as some other e-bikes
Rad Power Bikes RadRunner1
Very affordable, with a unique sense of style, we can see why a lot of people opt for the Rad Power Bikes RadRunner1.
It’s not best in class at anything but it is solidly reliable and we think it’s quite a lot of fun to speed around on too.
The rear rack can accommodate up to 120 lbs., so it’s perfect for an evening run to the supermarket.
Quick Fact: Rad Power’s CEO Mike Radenbaugh knows there are compromises to be made when making a cheap e-bike and we think he made the right calls here.
1. This is a super affordable bike which comes unassembled
2. Assembly, however, is very easy, no DIY degree required
3. It’s a lot of fun to ride and it looks cool
1. It weighs a ton and you will notice when you start pedalling
2. Suspension? What’s that? Enjoy the bumps
3. The pedals are made out of cheap plastic rather than aluminum
Tern GSD S10
If you want to haul cargo around on your e-bike, may we recommend the Tern GSD S10?
It’s a game changer.
Fun, easy to ride and super convenient while retaining all the utility that you’d want in this kind of vehicle.
You can upgrade this bike to a double battery system which makes life even easier.
Quick Fact: Not only is this bike cargo friendly, it’s also child friendly – you can fit two Thule Yepp Maxi Child Seats on it, perfect for a family day out.
1. Very compact for a cargo bike
2. Can handle up to 400 lbs. of load
3. The handlebars fold down so you can put it in a car
1. They say you can stand it on its end to put in an elevator – but we couldn’t
2. A bit expensive
3. You will need that second battery which pushes the price up again
VanMoof S3
The VanMoof S3 looks more like a mountain bike from the future than an e-bile and we like the fact that they kept all the wiring inside the frame and integrated the lights into it too.
Opening the box is like opening a high-end consumer product should be, one pull tab and it’s done.
All the tools required to put it together are included too, which we absolutely loved.
Quick Fact: This bike has a full suite of anti-theft capabilities and if someone tries to steal it, lights go on, the alarm goes off and you can track it on the accompanying app.
1. Very competitive pricing
2. Anti-theft capabilities
3. The LED display is great
1. If you can’t find it, you have to pay to get VanMoof to track it down for you
2. It’s a bit heavier than we’d like
3. Getting the battery out is a real pain
Final Thoughts on Electric Bikes
We think that an e-bike is the perfect life companion after a little apartment therapy. The more you reduce your environmental footprint, the better that life can be.
We hope that you found the ideal e-bike for you on our best electric bikes list and that your commute is now as much fun and as easy as ours has become.
