Before we get into the e-bike itself, I want to take a moment to talk about e-bike ownership and what it has meant for me. I mentioned the shunning of my trusty Trek bike in lieu of my e-bikes this summer, but the reason for that has been life-changing for me. I've been using an electric bike and a shoulder bag for most of my shopping "can you grab me XYZ from Target" runs. In general, if purchased on the Schwinn website, your new bike will be shipped within hours of being ordered and should arrive within 7-10 days. The second thing to notice is the battery pack removal lever. If you have a key on an electric bike with an expensive, exotic battery pack, it might make sense to lock the pack into the bike somehow. This bike is powered by a small front hub motor. The controller for it is zip tied on a fork tube. Overall, given the fundamental shift I have seen in my personal bike riding habits this past summer, I very much enjoy having an e-bike. But it’s just not a good bike for this - it’s heavy and slow. The standard batteries that come on our Marshall, Coston CE and Coston DX bikes are good for up to 45 miles of riding. But Schwinn knows many riders want to go farther, so we developed higher capacity batteries that are super easy to install (you'll only need a screwdriver). These additional batteries extend the riding distance up to 80 miles on both our Coston and Marshall series of bikes. On the right is the shifter for the Shimano Nexus 8 speed rear hub. It shows you what gear you’re in (1 is low, 8 is high), and you twist it to shift. Quick, easy, and when properly adjusted, surprisingly nice. But of course half the fun of riding a bike is using your own power for propulsion (or at least sharing the load). So I usually found myself keeping it in the second or third pedal assist level out of five total levels. But while the Schwinn EC1 isn’t a fancy cruiser, it is a comfortable and pleasurable ride. But it's one of the least expensive ones you can buy from a bike company. Respectfully, most of the e-bikes you find online come from companies with alphabet-soup for names that may sell just as many portable batteries as they do e-bikes. The first thing you'll notice about the Coston CE e-bike is that is built like a tank, which is both good and bad. It's good because everything on the bike feels solid and borderline rugged. The downside is this bike feels about as heavy as a light-armored vehicle. That being said, I also didn't get much extra range beyond miles, even after I set the pedal-assist at level 3. In the past, the range you got depended on how much work you were willing to put into it. On my older e-bike (also a Schwinn) I get about the same 20 miles of range at level 5, but I also get closer to 40 miles at level 3.