We Tested 5 Electric Bikes. Here's What We Found.

Before you buy an e-bike, the first thing you should figure out is whether it’s legal to ride one where you live. Until recently, the laws governing the use of e-bikes were different in almost every state, says Morgan Lommele, the director of state and local policy at People for Bikes, a bicycling industry group.

People for Bikes has been lobbying state legislators across the country to enact uniform regulations governing the use of e-bikes. For now, your best bet is to look up the laws that apply to where you live in the group’s state-by-state guide.

For our tests, all riders used each bike equally to average out any differences in performance due to weight, riding level, and style. We did not evaluate the built-in computer that comes with many e-bikes—generally to track speed and distance—but we do mention which models have one.

Here’s how to understand each of the features we rated.

Range
We fully charged the bikes’ batteries, and then rode a hilly loop course on our test grounds at CR’s headquarters. We maximized the assistance provided by the motors, and the loop included stops and starts, full-speed stretches, U-turns, a long uphill, and a sharp downhill. The score for this test is based on the number of miles each bike covered before the battery was depleted.

Acceleration
We timed the bikes on a set course, starting from a standstill and accelerating to the highest speed.

Braking
We measured the distance required to come to a stop from the highest attainable speed under assistance or throttle.

Hill Climb
We timed each bike as it climbed a short, steep hill.

Control Response
We judged how quickly each bike disengaged assistance when the rider stopped pedaling—an important safety feature.

Unassisted Hill Climb
A judgment of how easy it was to climb hills without pedal assistance or throttle, based on the lowest gear ratio available.

Unassisted Cruising
A judgment of how easy it was to cruise at the highest speed without the pedal assistance or throttle, based on the highest gear ratio available.

We tested five models that included a variety of features, at prices ranging from $600 to $2,600.

These are all regulated as either Class 1 (where the assist is activated by your pedaling and gets you up to 20 mph) or Class 2 (where the assist is activated by a throttle and gets you up to a maximum of 20 mph). We did not test any Class 3 bikes, which have top speeds of 28 mph.

These five models can’t be seen as representative of the entire electric bike market, but they do provide a snapshot of the wide variety of e-bikes at the lower end of the market.

The e-bikes are presented in alphabetical order. Each is rated on several features, but there is no Overall Score.

Whether you're a cyclist or a driver, there are several things to keep in mind when you're on the road. On the "Consumer 101" TV show, Consumer Reports' experts Mike Monticello and Jon Linkov offer to host Jack Rico tips for drivers and cyclists to safely coexist.