Standout Premium E-bikes
Every year brings its own crop of e-bikes that, despite their higher price tags, leave you admiring the design and just wanting to hop on for a ride. Here’s our pick of those premium priced e-bikes that caught our eye in the last 12 months.
As you might expect, premium e-mtbs remained hugely popular and one that really caught our eye for high-end spec, value for money and aggressive downhill style performance was the Canyon Torque:ON.
Over in Europe Yamaha launched the Booster series with their own PW-S2 mid-drive plus a removable 630Wh battery and 20” x 4” tyres. There are 15.5mph and 28mph versions available.
Cube are a major player in the European e-bike scene and their Trike Hybrid model finally made it into European shops after a lot of advance PR. It comes in both family and cargo models, was co-developed with BMW and also uses the Bosch Cargoline mid-drive system.
One of the most innovative e-fat bikes from 2023 was the Quietkat Lynx with its dual-speed rear hub motor.
It was also notable that kids’ versions of premium e-bikes made more of an appearance in 2023. Specialized’s Turbo Levo SL Kids is a hardtail e-mtb with 100mm of travel and parent configurable speed and assist settings. It features Specialized’s own SL 1.2 mid-drive that parents can tune through the Specialized Mission Control app.
Spanish e-mtb specialist Mondraker also aimed high quality rides at younger riders by introducing The Play and F-Play (the latter being the full-sus version) lines are aimed at older kids – 6- to 14-year-olds say Mondraker. Both lines are equipped with the Mahle Ebikemotion X35 rear-wheel drive.
2023 was the year premium e-bike manufacturers also got in on the throttle and hub motor market. Trek’s Electra brand launched the Ponto Go!, a moped-style machine with a bench seat and footpegs, turn indicators, 20mph capable throttle, rear hub motor and a 350lb carrying capacity.
Trek further expanded their hub-based offering with the highly capable looking Haul LT, a sequel to the ST short tail version. As with many of these premium manufacturers expanding into hub motor e-bikes, the Hail LT looks to occupy a mid-price point between the cheaper budget hub models and the premium mi-drive models – this bike features a powerful rear hub motor and a 772Wh battery for $3500.
Momentum is Giant’s lifestyle brand and late 2023 saw them launch the Cito E+ following the trend of premium brands occupying the middle priced ground with hub geared motors. The Cito Plus also featured a throttle – again unusual for a premium brand – and a large 780Wh battery.
The continued success of Upway is good news for those who want a premium quality e-bike at a good price. They began life as a French company offering overstock and used (refurbished) e-bikes at between 20 and 60 percent off retail. And now, according to Time Out, they are in the US. A quick scan around the Upway website reveals they only deal in e-bikes with a great reputation. Once the e-bikes have been received they are refurbed (if already used) and once sold will be given a pre-delivery inspection before being delivered to a customer in a matter of days, complete with a one year warranty.
