Electric bikes are all blooming (colors vary)

“Ride up abrupt hills after huffing and puffing!” “Hammer at 20 mph after breaking a sweat!” At the recent Interbike trade show in Las Vegas, an explosion of companies touted the Lance Armstrong-like powers of the electric bike — a pedal-powered bike with an electric motor for extra speed when you need it. Although E-bikes haven’t caught on in the United States as they have in Europe and Japan, makers say high gas prices, the obesity crisis, better lithium-ion rechargeable batteries and a wave of green consciousness make them right for the times.

This review includes two styles of electric bikes: “pedal-assist,” in which the rider must keep pedaling to actuate the engine, and “throttle,” in which the motor can work independently.

Likes: It looks and feels like a normal bike, until you turn on the quiet, smooth engine with its four power-acceleration settings that accelerate your own pedaling input by 25%, 50%, 100% and 200%. As with all the bikes advised here: The added you pedal, the best the 36-volt lithium-manganese array lasts. The 7200+ is also “regenerative,” meaning that it recharges somewhat with braking and can be set to regenerative mode while on downhills. Claimed mileage for a single full charge, with pedaling, is 40 miles. Recharging is almost fast: 90% allegation in 2 1/2 hours, 100% in 3 1/2 hours. The 6-pound array slides out of the arbor for alien charging. The 7200+ weighs 45 pounds, ablaze as electric bikes go, and is the low end of Trek’s three-bike Plus electric line. For commuting, go to the fender- and disc-brake-equipped Valencia+ ($2,500).

Likes: The behemothic motor leaves you activity supercharged. Working moderately hard (not all-out), I went 25 mph up a long hill in a head wind. The 36-volt lithium-ion battery has five levels of assist; claimed range on a full charge is 31 miles on high-power mode, 45 miles on standard mode, and more than 50 on economy mode. Top speed on flat ground with minimal rider pedaling is 20 mph. Currie Technologies is one of the country’s biggest Electric bicycle distributors. This is its highest-end bike.

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