In case your full listing of bicycle codecs consists of highway and mountain, then it’s possible you’ll battle to recollect what a cruiser is. Consider an extended, heavy body with handlebars that sweep again in a large curve, permitting the rider to perch almost upright on a large, comfortable seat. Fats tires make for a soft experience, typically down a highway that runs alongside a seaside in a heat, sunny local weather.

Primarily based on its identify and aesthetics, the Ride1Up Cafe Cruiser is supposed to evoke these bikes. And it does a satisfactory job with fats tires, sweeping handlebars, and an upright driving stance. However it additionally supplies the pedal help of a Class 3 e-bike, that means it will maintain offering energy till the bike hits 28 mph (45 km/hr). And that makes for a experience that is decidedly not an informal cruise.

The bike

The Cafe Cruiser is available in each step-over and step-through frames; we examined the step-over model, which weighed in at about 30 kg (65 lbs). Its heavy rack is built-in into the body, and the entrance fork has suspension to easy out some bumps. There are a few spots the place the body is thicker for apparently aesthetic causes; past that, the bike’s most distinctive function is the truth that the battery drops out of the underside of the body somewhat than slotting into place from above. This makes it considerably tougher to get it again into place in case you take away it, however it permits house to place a water bottle holder on high of that tube.

Many of the parts are fairly customary, equivalent to strong disc brakes and thick, heavy tires that absorb bumps and tough pavement. It has a set of eight gears on a rear derailleur; mixed with 5 ranges of help, these offer you many choices to fine-tune your experience. Having tried each fastened and geared e-bikes, it is exhausting to overstate how rather more nice and satisfying this makes the general expertise.

As for the help, its stage is managed by up and down arrows on a typical controller. The show can be fairly customary, displaying velocity, miles traveled, energy output, and so on. Entrance and back lights are built-in into the electronics and might be switched on and off from the controller.

One odd function is a throttle, which helps you to activate the motor with out pedaling. Technically, Class 3 e-bikes mustn’t have a throttle; these are a part of the Class 2 specification, which limits the utmost velocity to twenty mph (32 km/hr). On the Cafe Cruiser, the throttle exists and cuts out at 20 mph, however the pedal help does not minimize out till 28 mph. Possibly it is a Class 2.5?

In any case, the motor is a typical 750-watt unit that generates 60 Newton-meters of torque. That is not sufficient for it to energy up each hill with out slowing down, however sufficient in order that it by no means floor to a halt.

The motor is engaged by a cadence sensor, which merely registers whether or not you are pedaling and never whether or not you are producing any drive. As such, it is potential to set a excessive stage of help and maintain the pedals rotating gently, and have the bike barrel alongside at excessive velocity. Doing it will undoubtedly burn by the battery quicker, placing you on the low facet of Ride1Up’s 50-80 kilometer (30-50 mile) vary; conserving the help low and pedaling tougher stretches the battery out for longer distances.

Other than the body, probably the most distinctive function might be the handlebars, that are pretty extensive and arc backward from the stem. With my peak, I needed to angle the bars upward from the stem to have a snug cruising place. The ends of the bars are lined in a fake leather-based grip that is wider on the ends than it’s the place it meets the handlebar. I discovered this considerably awkward, as your fingers tended to slide towards the narrower finish, smushing up towards the brake levers a bit. Issues have been solely worse after I wore gloves on a colder day.

As with different bikes on this value vary, the Cafe Cruiser was delivered with some meeting required: connect the entrance wheel, fender, and lightweight, and add the handlebars and pedals. All of the instruments wanted have been included, and there was nothing difficult in regards to the course of.

General, by way of meeting and parts, the Cafe Cruiser was fairly typical of what you’d see in bikes in its value vary. The true standout is its cruiser design, which has some implications for the driving expertise. That, and the truth that Ride1Up selected to make it a Class 3.