Enlarge / If green isn't your thing, the Tyson comes in black and blue. (credit: Eric Bangeman)

This time, I'll lead with the conclusion. The Heybike Tyson is loaded with all of the e-bike features I could ever want, is a blast to ride, and can become unsafe to operate at a moment's notice. The unit I reviewed had more than one build-quality issue that cannot be overlooked, which is a shame, because this is also one of the most fun electric bikes I've ever ridden. If you just wanted to know if the Heybike Tyson is worth buying, you've got your answer and can close this tab. If you want the details, read on.

Priced at $1,699, the Class 3 Tyson is Heybike's folding e-bike. Built with a magnesium frame and painted bright green, the Tyson's scooter-like handlebars, mountain-bike-like suspension, and fat knobby tires result in a ride that looks equal parts goofy, charming, and rugged. Capable of carrying up to 400 lbs (163 kg) of rider and cargo, the Tyson sports a dual hydraulic suspension to smooth out the rough spots on the pavement. It has the same Shimano seven-speed groupset and hydraulic disc brakes you'll see on most e-bikes.

The Tyson looks more like an electric moped than anything else. It has a headlight, taillight, turn signals, and even a horn that does a passable imitation of the Roadrunner right before he's about to clown the coyote. It's powered by a 750 W motor and a 48V 15 Ah battery that can charge fully in four to five hours. Unfortunately, you'll never quite know how much battery life you actually have once you start riding—more on that, later.

Enlarge (credit: John TImmer)

As I watched a few berries I had just carted home roll gently down my driveway and into the road, it was hard to escape the sense that my plan to use nothing but a cargo bike for two weeks might have been overly ambitious. Several weeks filled with Canadian wildfire smoke and tornado warnings later, it was pretty clear that I had greatly underestimated the complexities involved.

The e-bike I used for my testing, the newly introduced Trek Fetch+ 2 , is very good, and it readily hauled whatever I asked of it. But using a cargo bike is very different from any other biking experience I've had—and that's saying something, given the large range of bike styles I've now had the pleasure of sampling.

So this review will be divided into two parts. In the first, I'll talk a bit about the cargo bike experience; if you already know what that's like, you can skip ahead to the second half, where we'll go in-depth on the Fetch+ 2.

Enlarge / The E-Coast is a beautiful bike. (credit: Eric Bangeman)

Sometimes, no matter what you think your level of expertise is, you need to follow the advice of others. I learned this lesson again while assembling the Priority E-Coast , a $1,999 electric beach cruiser from Priority Bicycles. Priority told me right there on the box. "Warning: Bicycle assembly should be performed or verified by a professional bicycle mechanic."

Once I finished putting the E-Coast together, I was left with a gorgeous e-bike that was enjoyable to ride. But getting there involved more time and swearing than I'm used to. The good news is that Priority apparently heard the curses of its customers, as the part that made assembly miserable has been removed. So you might not need a pro bike tech after all.

Unlike some e-bike manufacturers, which seem to have popped up out of nowhere in the last couple of years, Priority has been around since 2014, when it launched via Kickstarter. Nine years and two Kickstarters later, it has a robust lineup of motorized and human-powered bicycles.

Enlarge (credit: Velotric)

I can't get over how good the T1 looks. It's a beautiful bike, especially in the two-tone frosted blue color of my test ride. It's so smoothly contoured, devoid of wires and generally eye-catching that, for once, I'm more afraid of it getting stolen for its looks than for the powerful motor and battery that are well-hidden inside it. So it's a good thing the Thunder 1 comes with a number of anti-theft features installed.

Over weeks of testing, the $1,800 T1 (initially the "Thunder 1" at launch, since renamed by Velotric) has been a fun ride. The bike has a responsive torque-sensing motor and a wide range of power options paired with actual gears. The app is about as reliable as any other Bluetooth-based single-device app (i.e., not wholly), but it provides useful data, configuration, and anti-theft options. Most of the cables, settings, and other obvious parts of an e-bike can't be seen. You just ride and notch the assist up or down when you want.

You can't entirely forget the T1 is an e-bike, as every time you look down while riding, you see a thumbprint sensor. But riding it around on a steady power level and shifting gears—with it looking for all the world like a standard flat-bar bike—you can get most of the benefits of electric assist with very few of its signifiers. It quietly flattens hills and shortens miles.

Enlarge / The Trek Domane+ SLR9 with eTap before an epic ride. (credit: Eric Bangeman)

One of the things I love most about working at Ars Technica is the lunchtime bike rides. My home in the northwest suburbs of Chicago lies two miles from the Des Plaines River Trail and about three miles from the North Branch Trail. When the weather cooperates, I'm generally furiously pedaling through the woods on my Trek Checkpoint ALR 5 gravel bike.

So when Trek offered me the chance to ride its top-of-the-line Domane+ SLR 9 e-bike, I jumped at the opportunity. Yes, the weather can be dodgy during seasonal transitions, but I'd be facing the changing temps and gusting winds astride a carbon-frame gravel bike with carbon wheels… and a 50 Nm electric motor paired with a 360 Wh battery in the downtube.

But even as I picked up the Domane+ from a local bike shop, one question kept popping up. Why would I want to ride an electric road bike?

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  Acer's ebii, an out-of-left-field attempt at an e-bike from a company best known for affordable PCs. [credit: Acer ]

When you think of Acer you probably think of PCs, whether they're cheap beater laptops and tablets, slightly nicer but still budget-focused ultrabooks and gaming laptops, or weird swing-and-a-miss experiments . But today the company announced something else entirely —the " ebii ," a lightweight e-bike that, aside from an associated smartphone app, has nothing to do with PCs or tablets.

We've reviewed e-bikes with stylish designs and appealing curvature , but the ebii looks decidedly more utilitarian. The chunky "ebii Box" in the middle houses the control box, battery pack, and headlight, and the seat and handlebars jut upward out of it. In a nod to its history as a PC and tablet maker, the ebii's 460 W battery can be removed and used as a portable charging station for USB-C devices.

At just over 35 pounds (16 kg), the ebii is lightweight—it saves weight partly by using a single-sided fork for the front tire. Acer says it can accommodate most riders between 4.75 and 6 feet tall (145 to 185 cm), meaning that especially tall riders probably won't find it comfortable. The bike also won't break any speed or distance records, with a top speed of around 15 mph and a 68-mile range.

Enlarge / The Vanpowers City Vanture. Spotting the "e" on this e-bike at a glance is trickier than most. (credit: Kevin Purdy)

A "city" bike could mean many different things. It could be cheap, so there's less angst when it is almost inevitably stolen. It might be simple, with fewer gears and add-ons because the commutes are short and relatively flat. Or perhaps it's a lighter bike, one more easily hauled onto a curb or up a flight of apartment or office stairs.

Vanpowers' City Vanture is cheap and light only compared to other e-bikes (fully assembled, it costs $1,750), but its belt drive, internal hub, and five-level assist make it somewhat simple. It's also limited by a lack of accessory mounts and a gearing and motor setup that makes it more difficult to start and stop often in traffic or climb steep hills. For the right kind of rider, it could be a good pick. But you'll want to look closely at the City Vanture before choosing it for your urban or trail commute.

Oh, and you can build it yourself if you want to save a few bucks. This bike is a collection of interlocking tubes held together by mortise-and-tenon construction and bolt collars. You put the tubes together, run the cables through them, bolt everything else on, and put the wheels in place. More on that in a bit.

Enlarge / The Carbon's design is striking, lacking a full seat tube. (credit: John Timmer)

As I was trying to figure out how to position the Urtopia Carbon e-bike so it could get enough signal to join my Wi-Fi network and download new firmware, I took a moment to ponder what would have happened if Apple had taken a tiny fraction of the money it has reportedly spent on its rumored electric car project and diverted it into making an e-bike instead. What would years of experience with mobile computing, hardware/software integration, maps and voice commands, and more mean for a bike?

Urtopia is clearly trying to make software one of the Carbon's differentiating features, but the company is still in the learning stages. There are some interesting ideas in the software, and it's hosted on a pretty solid e-bike platform. But the package needs a bit more refinement and integration.

The bike

The Carbon's design is something that only became possible with the advent of carbon fiber frames, and it's certainly a striking bike. In theory, the joints between the different sections of the tube could be engineered to provide enough flex to absorb some shocks. But the Carbon is probably the stiffest e-bike I've ever tested. (I also may have made the ride a bit bumpier by inflating the tires too much, since I was unable to find any indication of what the preferred pressure was.)

Enlarge / Nothing fancy, but solid construction and lots of bonuses like fenders and a rack. (credit: John TImmer)

As someone who's not a car person, being told that a new offering is "the Honda Accord of e-bikes" doesn't have a lot of resonance. As near as I can tell, the implication here is that the bike is just a bit more expensive than low-end offerings yet provides something a lot closer to a high-end experience.

Even if that wasn't the intended message, it does seem to be what the bike—the $1,299 Velotric Discover 1 —delivers. There's nothing especially exciting about the ride, and the bike won't turn heads or invite questions. But in terms of the overall experience, it delivers something a bit closer to a high-end e-bike at a cost that's much closer to a no-frills budget option .

What you get

The Discover 1 has a standard U-shaped frame. There's no top bar, which makes getting on and off the seat simpler—and easier for people with limited mobility. If, like me, you have been irreversibly trained to throw your leg over the top bar when getting on a bike, it will lead to awkward moments halfway through the process where you realize you don't need to complete the movements your brain has just automatically started. In any case, the lack of a top bar means that the bike's other tubes and joints have to be significantly stronger to maintain a stable frame. This produces a pretty heavy bike unless you move up in price to where carbon fiber is an option—and it's not for the Velotric.