The Schwinn Monroe 250 gets its 250 moniker from how many watts the hub drive puts out. This power level proved more than enough for me and my lifestyle, though there are models from other brands with 500 watts should you need even more. But, another thing to consider is that the Shimano Nexus 8 with Roller Brake retails for around $250 alone – so if you want one, this one comes with a whole 700C based electric bike attached! Throw a better battery and a better controller on it, and I bet you can get a whole lot more than 250W out of the motor as well. You shouldn’t ride this bike at night without some other source of lighting.
The higher you go, the zippier and faster the motor will spin but it will also draw more power, depleting your battery more quickly. The second chart is a schwinn electric bike battery level indicator showing five dots, each representing a 20% drop. This chart resembles the five square LED lights on the top of the battery pack.
One of the oldest bicycle companies to form in America, Schwinn was launched way back in 1895, in Chicago Illinois, USA. These days, it’s part of a conglomerate called the Pacific Cycle group, and is expanding into electric bikes with products such as the sporty Schwinn Monroe 350. schwinn electric bike It has been interesting to watch Schwinn over the past decade, because they were one of the earliest entrants into the ebike space in 2007 with the World GSE model. Compared to that bike, the Monroe 350 is 25% less expensive, a lot lighter weight, and much more streamlined.
The 250-watt electric motor offers 7 different levels of powered drive or pedal assist, selected using the LCD screen and achieving speeds up to 20 miles per hour. Aluminum frame and wheel rims deliver lightweight durability while an integrated LED headlight illuminates the road for nighttime rides. The best bike for you depends on how you will be using it.
The panel displays your speed and power level, plus you can cycle through other functions like an odometer, tripometer, and other stats like average speed, max speed, and total ride time. As reviewed, the bike didn’t have much in the way of storage, but other models have a rear rack and even storage in the seat. Speaking of the seat, it’s not the most comfortable I’ve ridden on, but that’s easy enough to replace with a third-party seat if you like. The Schwinn Coston CE is very much a commuter electric bike, but it’s not one of those thin-wheeled messenger e-bikes. Putting your bike together is actually pretty easy.
On flat riding roads, where we did most of our testing, the assistance creates an experience where, though you still need to pedal, you can definitely feel a substantial amount of help from the motor. We’re not saying it’s without effort, but it’s a greatly reduced effort. Uphill, however, we definitely expended a significantly higher amount of energy with our toothpick-like legs. On flat roads, shifting gears will allow you to put more or less effort into your ride as you please, allowing for a lot of levity in the experience. We didn’t clock our speeds, but the bike can supposedly top about 15 miles per hour on flat ground with the pedal-assist on, and that sounds about right to us. For that ride, just getting the feel of the bike, I headed for a local paved rail-trail.