Make sure you document the key serial number as well in case you ever need a replacement. It’s still lower than many mountain bikes making it easier to get on and off, especially on awkward spots on the trail. A small, easy to use console is on the left side of the handlebar. It’s got 3 buttons, up down and a power/enter button in the middle. There’s a port in the side of the frame where you can charge it without removing, or you can use the keys to pull out battery and charge separately.
Then cruising city streets the higher pedal assist and gears help you get up to the 20mph pedal assist limit. It’s easy to switch through the 7 gears with the twist or grip shift. I had to adjust my derailleur a bit on the first ride out so all the gears hit just right but once it was adjusted it was smooth.
When you grow up riding something as standard as a classic Schwinn bike, trying an electric bike can feel somewhere in between exciting and nerve-wracking. Our blog is coming in hot with a play by play on how exactly you ride an e-bike. Once you get on your e-bike, hold down the power button for 2 seconds to turn it on. Press the up arrow to choose the level of pedal assist you want. You can easily increase your assistance level when you feel more comfortable using the PAS and want to try riding longer distances or going uphill. It’s no secret that electric bikes are becoming more popular every day.
At level 5, the throttle propels you up to 20 miles per hour and disengages if you go faster than that (for example, if you go downhill). Class 2 e-bikes are required to stop assistance past 20 miles per hour. Level 1 throttle tops out at around 10 mph while level 5 will give you the full 20 mph. When you think about EVs, you probably (rightly) think of cars. But there’s another class of EV that might have slipped below your radar, but which has transformed my summer in very unexpected ways.
The first thing you’ll notice about the Coston CE e-bike is that is built like a tank, which is both good and bad. It’s good because everything on the bike feels solid and borderline rugged. The downside is this bike feels about as heavy as a light-armored vehicle. The bike tops out at around 57 pounds, which is tank-like in the biking world. By comparison, my poor, neglected Trek bike weighs around 25 pounds. That’s a big difference when you’re picking up the bike to turn it around or put it on a car rack.
Front and rear mechanical disc brakes deliver all-weather stopping power and speed control. You can ride with confidence through rain, dust, and more. Over the years, Schwinn has empowered millions of people, earning a special place in the hearts and minds of generations of riders. We have schwinn dealers spent over a century building the bicycle industry into what it is today, and we’re not done yet. A Schwinn e-bike only activates extra power when you pedal and when a PAS level is turned on. We’ll start our ranking of the best e-bike brands with a company that’s as American as apple pie.
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. This makes the bike easy to use for just about anyone and reduces distractions when riding. If you want to know how fast you’re going you will need to add an aftermarket LCD display as seen on the bike in this review and that could cost ~$25.
But even the mid- to low-end Shimano parts are perfectly fine for this level of bike. The Schwinn EC1 is one of those simple e-bikes that can reliably bring a smile to your face. So buckle up and check out the video review of the Schwinn EC1 below, then read on for all the tech specs and juicy details. The Schwinn EC1 isn’t a powerhouse, and it doesn’t have top-shelf components. It’s easy to see the affordable quality when you see a Schwinn.
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. The Schwinn Coston CE is very much a commuter electric bike, but it’s not one of those thin-wheeled messenger e-bikes.