That means the motor is located on the rear hub and works by spinning the back wheel. This creates the feeling of being pushed – it’s schwinn beach cruiser that extra boost of energy e-bikes are famous for. Select models feature a throttle, which makes it easy to get going from a stop.
It’s the large battery with a five-hour recharge time that separates the Coston DX from the others. Each Schwinn electric bike has a powerful motor, pedal-assist, and throttle modes to choose from, and an extended range of at least 35 miles. The 250 watt motor can’t push much up bigger hills but it’s a lovely help when you’re pedalling. I spend most of my time on dirt roads in assist level 2 in 2nd or 3rd gear. For the big hills it was a quick shift to the nice, easy first gear.
As an avid cyclist who commuted to and from the train for years in the past, I see e-bikes as a very reasonable step forward in commuting. You also get two different frame sizes to choose from, which is a big upgrade over the single one-size-fits-all frames that many e-bike companies still schwinn beach cruiser offer. Speaking of which, check out my video below to see the bike’s performance and features in action, including those cool frame lights. 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.
Electric bikes are very similar to analog bikes – with a few key extras of course! Scroll through the carousel to learn about the unique features of our e-bikes. Easily recharge in as little as 4 hours with a standard household outlet and the included charging cable.
Once I rigged up my kids’ old trailer into a cargo trailer, I could transport even more from the grocery store. Suddenly I was spending hours if not days less time in my car, and more on a bike. I won’t pretend that exercise was a factor here — the e-bike does 95% of the work for you — but I’ll argue with any doctor that some peddling is better than sitting on my butt in a car. A 7-speed transmission from Microshift also adds to the commuter street-cred, giving those in hilly areas the ability to run through the gears on hills. The Schwinn Coston CE falls in the middle of its e-bike model line, offering a slight upgrade over the Schwinn Marshall but without some of the features found on the higher-end Coston DC. We’ve addressed those concerns by designing Extended Life Batteries for a couple of our best-selling e-bikes.
First, if you stop pedaling, after a few seconds, the pedal assist will shut down — until you begin pedaling again, which will kick it back on. These things do take some getting used to, but with repeated tests became expected, second nature behaviors of the bike. The battery, which cannot be plugged in or charged while attached to the bike, is advertised as lasting up to 30 miles per charge. Then again — the bike is still a functioning piece of equipment once the battery is dead, so maybe we should all stop being so lazy.
But it’s a great go-to steed for commuting, errand running, recreational riding, hauling a kid in a child seat and other general purposes. The fully assembled bike appeared larger than the display photo had led me to expect. In fact, I briefly wondered if I’d mistakenly been sent the L/XL size instead of the S/M.
Pedaling uphill was a bit different, maxing out at roughly 15 mph. Lighter people may be able to get it going a bit faster, though (I weigh 250 pounds for context). There are five speeds you can adjust via the bike’s thumb pad controller located on the left handle. The LED display shows you how much assistance you’re getting, as well as how much battery life is left. When you want to stop, just squeeze the brake levers and the motor cuts off. When I finally started riding, I discovered that I couldn’t be completely lazy.