A few months back we did a list of the 10 fastest home built electric bikes. Now here is a list of the top-10 fastest commercially available ebikes for those who want to go out and spend the big money, and buy a speed machine. It is very hard to build and sell a fast electric bike to the public (read our article on the high cost of speed). Warranty support and reliability issues on a bike that goes over 40-MPH can be a nightmare, and technically none of these bikes are legal on USA or European roads.
This was a very hard and laborious list to compile. You cannot do it like the car industry does, and just get these ten electric bikes to show up at a runway in the desert, and do some shoot-out speed tests. Only 3 of these bikes for sure exist, and are for sale in the United States…the Optibike, the Stealth Bomber, and the FFR Trike.
After those 3, it starts to get foggy…especially when it comes to speed claims.
The electric bike industry is full of inflated numbers and vaporware, especially this high end part of the market, and this list attempts to sift through the BS and get to the straight beef. Many of the bikes on this list exist in a “we will build when you give us your money” status, meaning the company could go under and you never get your bike. So therefore we base this list on a bunch of criteria, not just pure speed, and rate the bikes accordingly.
This list is very speculative because of the mysterious nature of many of the bikes on this list. We have done our best to identify the critical factors which make these bikes viable speed machines. We reward these machines for being more like an e-bike than a motorcycle. Undoubtedly our estimates will create some controversy but we have done our best to honestly rate these machines.
You can see how we came up with our estimated rankings in each category at the end of this story.
There are 10 bikes in this list. Bikes are ranked 1-10 according to top speed, reliability, no vaporware, sexiness, weight and price. The lower the ranking number the better. Performance rankings are added together and the lowest numbers = our top rated fast bikes. (total rank score)
* = estimated performance number.
#1 Optibike 1100R (read review)
Optibike made it to the top of our list not because it is the fastest electric bike, but because it is a well rounded and balanced machine that still looks and feels like a bike. This is a mid-drive electric bike that you can actually squeeze-in an extra 5-MPH by pedaling hard, where as most of the other bikes on this list are so big and heavy that pedaling will make little difference. The Optibike has a quality full-suspension frame, and can ride on rugged rough road.
It earned its #1 reliability ranking by having over 20 bikes make it to the top of the Pikes Peak race (a 20 mile long, 8000 foot elevation climb), as well as selling 100′s of bikes to the public, with many satisfied customers.
Claimed speed : 40MPH (with pedaling)
EB estimated top speed: #9 *35-MPH
Reliability: #1 (dominated Pikes Peak bicycle race for 2 years)
No Vaporware: #1 (we know this bike is for real and has been in production for over 10 years)
Sexiness: #4
Weight: #4 60lbs (impressively light-weight, given its long battery range and full suspension)
Stealth: #2 (looks like a 90′s y frame mountain bike…..feels like a bike)
Price/affordability: #5 $14,500
EB Total Rank Score: 26
Read more here. https://www.electricbike.com/10-fastest-ebikes/
You'll also receive a free download of The Electric Bike Book by Jim Turner.