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>> Court: This is the Pedego Step-Thru and it's one of their, it's built on the Cruiser
concept, it's one of their longest running designs. Super fun, kind of this upright beach
cruiser, this one's got the fenders. Neat color choices as you can see, we've kind of
got that like coral and the blue. This is what Pedego is really known for, they've produced
these high quality fun bikes that are, fell really solid. And they're kind of like, fool
proof. So I'm going to just start off by going over the bicycle aspects of this bike. You've
got a wonderful kickstand, that's actually new in the 2014 version. You've got six speeds
to choose from up here with this nice Shimano shifter, and you'll notice it's really simple.
It's big, you can see which gear you're in and you can reach it from the handle bars
up here. These giant swept back handlebars that, as I've ridden this bike, I've noticed
it kind of you know, it keeps your head up. It's a little bit more relaxed when you're
riding and it kind of reduces the shock from going over cracks and bumps and stuff. And,
helping to reduce that shock further are these awesome balloon tires you can see here. And
they come pre-Slimed. They're kind of oversized and just really, you know, they take the edge
off I guess is what I'd like to say. There aren't any you know, shocks. This isn't like
a mountain bike but just having those two things: the handle bars and the tires goes
a long way. And then, going even further are these nice cushy seats and you can see this
right here. It's got like rubber bumpers inside and you know, big soft platform to kind of
chill out on. So I really like that and that's really, that's what cruisers are all about,
so they've captured that. What makes this specific cruiser a little bit different is
it's step through. So the frame is a little bit, little bit shorter. It's going to be
easier to mount. If you're someone, maybe you're a woman? I mean, that's really what
this bike is kind of all about right? Look at the colors and the step-thru and stuff.
It's going to fit you a little bit better but it's still going to offer a ton of power.
And so I'm going to jump right into the electric bike specs. But first, I do want to call out;
I love that they actually include a place to put your water bottle here, we've got these
nice solid metal pedals with these spikes on them. And, of course this chain guard,
because when you're pedaling along with pants or whatever, or maybe a dress. You want to
stay clean, and so I feel like they've covered all the bases in terms of bicycle features.
But you know, again where it gets fun is the electric bike components. What we're looking
at here is an awesome 500 watt gearless rear hub motor. So, gearless means it's running
off of magnets essentially. And there aren't any gears in there, potentially adding more
torque but that also means this coasts more smoothly. It's a little bit quieter and it's
sort of fool proof. They don't really break. They work really well and they last and last
which is nice. Driving that motor, or powering it I should say, is this awesome battery pack.
And this is one of the upgrades for the 2014 model. This comes in a bunch of different
choices basically. We're looking at a 36 volt 10 amp hour but if you want you can get 36
volt 15 amp hour (that just means there's more capacity, you could potentially go further)
or you can step it up to 48 volt 10 amp hour. And that 48 volts paired with this motor,
that's just going to give you even more power. So if you're someone who does a lot of hill
climbing or maybe you're a bigger person and you just want that extra power, that's a choice
you have now which is just super cool. And again, the way they've integrated this you
can see the battery is fully enclosed. The rack's a little bit bigger, and I kind of
think it looks nicer. Before they just had a metal box sitting on top. Now it's enclosed
and the painted design looks great. And this battery pack is really cool it's actually
removable, you can charge it on or off the bike. And its got a light built in, so you
can see that. So like, for safety and stuff it's cool that they did that and in general
I like this design a lot better and they kind of moved to this battery design for all of
their new bikes. They're interchangeable, pretty easy to get this swapped out at your
Pedego dealer. And it does lock to the bike, there's a lock right there. And you do have
to leave the key in when you ride, that's something I've called out before but you know,
it's that's one of the few knit picks. Also, no front headlight, you can add that of course
- after market - but just keep that in mind if you're going to be riding this around you
know, for safety. And, I wanted to call out, they've got these great brakes with a built
in bell. Before you know, you kind of had to have the bell separate. I just think this
is a wonderful design. So I'm going to hop on this thing; it's already on but essentially
you turn the key, you come up here and press this button. And it lights up and it shows
you how much battery pack, ah capacity you have left. There's no you know, speed LCD,
there's nothing else really here to distract you. Of course you could add one. But it's
just, it's kind of about having fun, being simple, that's their mantra here and this
bike definitely captures that. So, it's turned on. Kickstand is up! The way we do this, you
just twist this throttle and you're off. So I'm going to put the camera back there and
you can hear the motor. [motor whirring] Woo! Gets you going pretty good. I'm actually going
to cruise along and show you. [wind noise] I should mention, in the front is a disc brake
and in the rear it runs on a, it's like a band brake. It's kind of built into the hub.
It doesn't offer quite as much stopping power in the rear but for a single person, you know
this is pretty effective. It's pretty good, I'm going to get the wide angle lens and just
take another couple shots so you can see the whole bike in action. Okay, here we go! [motor
whirring] Woo! You can see my body position, kind of upright. [motor whirring] There we
go, ahh! So that's the Pedego Cruiser Step-Thru. For more info on this and other electric bikes
I'll see you back at ElectricBikeReview.com