Testing the best bang for your buck e-trike

Lectric eBikes is know for two things – making affordable e-bikes and making a lot of them. The company’s main goal has been to look at the e-bike market, figure out what people want, and find a way to make it more affordable. They’v’e done it time and again with their other e-bikes and that’s exactly what they’ve done this time with the new Lectric XP Trike.

The company invited me out to see the new e-trike at their headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. There I had the chance to hop aboard and get a sense of just what this $1,499 electric trike can do.

And the answer, it turns out, is a lot. It can haul. It can climb. It can fold. It’s a three-wheeled Swiss Army knife with a ridiculous amount of torque and seating for one.

I only spent a single day with the capable little trike, and so this isn’t a full review… yet. That’s still to come. But even with only a few hours in the saddle, I can already tell you that this is absolutely going to be a major hit… if they can keep it in stock.

Check out how the Lectric XP Trike performed in my first ride video below. Then keep reading for the nitty gritty details.

Lectric XP First Ride video

What the e-trike offers

Let’s nail the specs right away, so we can quickly get to the ride.

I’d say that the trike is almost like a three-wheeled version of the famous $999 Lectric XP 3.0 folding e-bike, albeit with hydraulic brakes, a bigger battery, and an extra wheel.

The Lectric XP Trike has a 500W motor that puts out 1,092 peak watts of power. It’s mounted in a mid-drive setup as the trike’s jackshaft, giving it the ability to power both of the rear wheels via an open differential axle.

It draws power from a 48V 14Ah battery with 672 Wh of capacity, which is enough for 60 miles (96 km) of range in the lowest power mode on pedal assist. But honestly, even on throttle at the trike’s top speed of 14 mph (22 km/h), you’ll probably still get a solid 30-40 miles (48-64 km).

The bike rolls on 20″ x 2.6″ tires, has a single speed drivetrain, and rocks hydraulic disc brakes on 180 mm discs. The brake levers each have a parking brake, which I’ve never seen before on hydraulic brakes.

The 69.5 lb (31.5 kg) e-bike folds to fit in tight spaces, and that folding trick allows it to arrive in fully-assembled form. You don’t have to bolt anything together, you just unfold it and ride. That’s going to be a major benefit for many riders, especially older ones that don’t want to be bent over a box lifting a 70 pound bike around.

Speaking of weight, it’s actually relatively lightweight for an electric trike. And the low step-through size makes it great for shorter riders down to 4’10” (147 cm). It’s apparently good for taller riders also, with a rating for folks up to 6’4″ (193 cm). I’m squarely in the middle of that range, so I can’t personally speak to the extremes, but it felt great to me in terms of sizing.

It can also fit a wide range of rider weights thanks to its maximum capacity of 330 lb (150 kg). In addition to the rider payload, the rear rack can carry 75 lb (34 kg), while the front basket can carry 35 lb (16 kg).

And as part of the launch, Lectric is including the cargo package consisting of the front and rear basket for free! Getting an entire trike plus the cargo package for just $1,499 is a hell of a deal.

So how does it ride?

Here’s the crazy part: Despite being nice and gentle when you keep it in the lower power modes, there’s some significant torque in the higher power modes that is great for hill climbing.

The Lectric team took me to a hill that looked like a small mountain, and I was able to ride the Lectric XP Trike right up the side of it. We even put a few dozen pounds of steel weight in the rear basket to give me a sense of what it’d be like if I was a heavier rider. The trike didn’t care – it just kept climbing like a machine.

Coming back down the side of the mountain helped me appreciate those hydraulic disc brakes, especially when I remembered how much steel weight I had in the back.

Moving to a park next, I did a combination of paved trail and off-road grass riding. The trike performed well at both. Tight donuts are even possible, though you have to be careful about going too tight. I could get the outer wheel to lift up in tight turns if I really tried, but it was something I had to make an effort to achieve. I never felt like I would tip in a normal turn.

Is it as stable as the RadTrike? Not quite. That one feels like the king of stable trikes to me. And the Lectric XP Trike is a tad narrower in the back and has a bit higher center of gravity with taller wheels and a higher cargo rack in back. But it still feels plenty stable, and I’d be comfortable putting my parents on it – if that puts things into perspective.

While there’s no suspension on the trike, you’re never really going fast enough to feel like it’s critical. Suspension is more important to me at higher speeds where I hit obstacles with more force and where I have less time to avoid them. At a maximum speed of 14 mph, you see things coming up in slow motion and can easily wiggle around them.

As you can see in the video above, I even took the Lectric XP Trike over some seriously rugged terrain in a washed out dry riverbed. I was truly surprised how well it handled such rough off-road conditions.

That being said, the three wheels takes some getting used to when avoiding obstacles. You have to learn how to put the pot holes or rocks between two of the three wheels or take a wide berth around them.

It’s something that new trike riders will take a few days to get used to, but quickly becomes second nature.

Is the Lectric XP Trike worth the price?

At just $1,499, this is a smoking hot deal, and it follows Lectric’s playbook of bringing popular e-bikes at affordable prices to the masses.

How long will the bike last? I have no idea. I only spent a day with it.

But the trike felt solid so far, and I also saw a room full of customer service representatives sitting in Lectric’s Phoenix headquarters waiting to help anyone should they have an issue in the future, which gives me good confidence on the customer support side.

For the thousands of people aging into electric trike territory every day, I’m excited to see options like this hitting the market. And once I get even more time on the XP Trike than just a fun day in the sun, I’m sure I’ll like it even more.