Shopping for your first ebike? 5 things to look for

Something I didn't see in the article is a note on battery quality, if buying from a discount brand, make sure to look into more information on the battery to see if it is properly certified. There have been far too many reports of ebikes catching on fire from faulty batteries.

Do any of them come with bike-able roads? Because otherwise that's a decoration.

Handlebars, 2 wheels, a chain, a seat, and a frame! /s

What do you guys ride? I picked up a Specialized Turbo Vado SL a few years and 3-4k miles ago and feel like I made a good pick other than all the anti right-to-repair dealership/authorized service bullshit. It has pretty low levels of assistance, but they kept the bike very light so it feels like I'm riding it, just with stronger legs, and I can keep going when the battery dies without feeling like I'm lugging a trailer of bricks. It's the right bike for me, but there are a lot of decent bikes once you pass the budget price point and I think everyone should test ride as many as they can with an emphasis on diversity. I test rode maybe 8-12 bikes total. I liked the Trek Allant, Tern, Gazelle C380+, some Aventon bikes and I wish I could have tested the Priority Current. The Gazelle was the most interesting because I rode the C380+ and another one with a CVT and gates drive that felt good, but was too heavy for the hills around here without sufficient gearing to go up them without motor assistance.