Test ride: Civilized Cycles' new $5,500 electric bike is the Tesla of two-wheelers

The Civilized Cycles Model 1 electric bike on a New York City sidewalk.

(Paradigm credit: Civilized Cycles)

There'south a new electrical bike on the market, and information technology could be a expert selection for people who would rather ride than drive a few miles to work.

The Civilized Cycles Model ane features a pneumatic break, comfortable seating for 2 and pop-out panniers to carry groceries, briefcases or even art supplies. It's got a 750-watt electric motor that tin can hit 28 mph, and the swap-out battery (you can become a second one for an extra $399) should last about thirty miles on a charge.

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The Civilized Cycles Model 1 will retail for about $5,500 when it becomes available this autumn, although early birds tin pre-social club one for $four,500 at CivilizedCycles.com. Your choices of color are black, blood-red or silvery.

That's a lot more than what many of the best electric bikes cost, but Civilized Cycles hope the Model i'southward versatility and comfort will appeal to urban commuters.

Civilized Cycles Model 1 pattern

The Model 1 looks a bit similar a vintage Vespa, thanks to the familiar curve of the panniers that cover about of the rear cycle. It's even got a congenital-in headlamp, turn signals and tail light. That's no accident, as Civilized Cycles founder and CEO Zachary Schieffelin once owned and ran a Vespa dealership in Manhattan.

Zach told united states of america that selling Vespas fabricated him realize that customers wanted something that went fast and could conduct groceries, but which they wouldn't need to annals as a motor vehicle or need a motorcycle license to ride.

The Model 1's frame is a single curved piece of solid aluminum that looks like an abstruse sculpture on its own. The motor tucks beneath the seat, and the bombardment and electronic control unit are held inside a compartment in the right pannier. If you bound for a 2d battery, in that location's another receptacle in the left pannier.

A diagram illustrating the features of the Civilized Cycles Model 1 electric bike. — (Image credit: Civilized Cycles)

The tires are proficient and fat, a piffling thicker than what you'd run across on a regular mount bike merely nowhere near as massive as beach tires. The bicycle has a five-speed internal-hub Sturmey Archer transmission, and four-piston Tektro hydraulic disc brakes front and rear. The Model i comes with a two-year warranty.

Technologically, the Model 1 has a display screen mounted in the middle of the handlebars, and at that place volition too be an app to run diagnostics or lock and unlock the cycle. You tin can as well use a PIN to lock the bike via the display screen. The screen displays your speed, an odometer, bombardment charge level and amount of range remaining.

Gliding over cobblestones

I took the Model ane for a test ride a few weeks ago near Civilized Cycles' headquarters in the Brooklyn Navy Grand across the East River from lower Manhattan. I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable and easy the ride was.

I kickoff noticed that like many electric bikes, the Model 1 is a lot heavier than a regular wheel, at 89 pounds. I certainly wouldn't want to accept to pedal it up a steep colina without a power assist.

Just as soon equally I started moving, the Model 1 felt light equally air. Part of that's due to the impressive pneumatic suspension, which puts a shock absorber right under your seat. It also helps that you've got automatic ability assist that gives you lot a flake of extra juice even when y'all've got your manus off the throttle, although you can barely feel it.

The Civilized Cycles Model 1 electric bike in a garden. — (Image credit: Civilized Cycles)

Usually, riding a cycle over a pothole is more than than a bit rough, just the Civilized Bike fabricated doing so very shine, with a soft bounciness rather than a hard jolt. I couldn't even feel the rough finish of a manhole cover when I rode over ane.

The Brooklyn waterfront has enough of rutted streets and rail tracks, just the Model 1 made those manageable. Riding over cobblestones was kind of pleasant rather than teeth-knocking.

Zach showed me how the pneumatic suspension adjusts itself to each rider. You lot become on the bike and put all your weight on it, then press a button on the left handlebar to let the air out of the interruption. When the bike's all the mode down, press the push button once more to fill up the interruption, and the bike rises up like an old Citroen to, um, run into your seat.

Gunning the motor

It wasn't until halfway through my 2d ride that I even remembered to try the throttle, which is on the right handlebar like on a motorcycle or Vespa. I gunned the Model 1 on a straightaway and the speedometer hit 37 earlier I started running out of road. The bicycle accelerates very fast.

I'd convinced myself that I'd taken the cycle upwards to 37 mph, merely Zach told me the bikes had a speed limiter set to 28 mph (45 kph) and the speedometer was probably displaying kilometers per hour. Nonetheless, 37 kph (about 22 mph) felt near as fast every bit I wanted to go on a trafficked street.

The pop-out panniers on either side of the rear bicycle looked kind of flimsy at first, merely felt solid to the touch. There'due south quite a bit of room in there — up to 80 liters of capacity when expanded, according to the Civilized Cycles spec canvass.

Together, the panniers can support up to fifty pounds of baggage. You might be able to fit 2 Trader Joe'southward newspaper numberless in each pannier, end-to-end. Each also has a thick waterproof nothing-upwardly cover to go on the contents dry during inclement atmospheric condition.

The expanded panniers on the Civilized Cycles Model 1 electric bike. — (Image credit: Civilized Cycles)

Zach told me that the pop-out panniers were also designed so that children seated backside pedaling parents could put their legs in the sections. For larger humans, there are built-in footrests.

He also told me that he and his designers made certain to continue the bike parts and the electric-motor parts independent of each other. Both wheels come off easily, he said, and any regular bike repair shop should be able to piece of work on the brakes, tires or wheels without trouble.

Zach said each battery tin can exist charged from zero to 80 percent in about ii hours when plugged into a 45-watt DC adapter connected to a 120-volt wall outlet. (The bombardment takes a USB-C plug.) The remaining 20 per centum volition take another two hours, as you lot ofttimes discover with lithium-ion batteries.

Zach told me he commutes to the Brooklyn role about eight miles each day from his home in Astoria, Queens. A lot of that route is straightaways on a dedicated bicycle path, where he guns the throttle and gives the battery a workout. By the time he arrives, the bombardment'due south down to almost 25 percent capacity, but he said it would exist more (i.e. discharged less) if he didn't advance and then much.

The idea is that commuters will pop out the bombardment and charge it when they go to their offices or other destinations. Getting a 2d optional bombardment will double the approximately thirty-mile range.

Is the Civilized Cycles Model 1 for you?

The Model 1 is not cheap. The elevation three picks on our list of best electric bikes retail from $1,500 to $2,000. For the Model 1's projected cost of $five,500, yous could selection upwardly a mid-sized Vespa that yous could ride on the motorway, merely then of course y'all'd need a motorcycle license and insurance coverage.

The Model 1'south advantage is that it'south so damn comfortable to ride, thank you to the air suspension. Nosotros're non certain if that'southward worth spending an extra couple of m to get, but the Civilized Cycles Model 1 is definitely worth examination-riding if you lot're in the marketplace for a durable commuter cycle.

Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom'south Guide focused on security and privacy. He has as well been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-haul driver, code monkey and video editor. He's been rooting around in the information-security space for more than 15 years at FoxNews.com, SecurityNewsDaily, TechNewsDaily and Tom's Guide, has presented talks at the ShmooCon, DerbyCon and BSides Las Vegas hacker conferences, shown up in random Television news spots and fifty-fifty chastened a panel discussion at the CEDIA home-technology conference. You can follow his rants on Twitter at @snd_wagenseil.