5 Best Electric Bikes for College Students

Bikes have been a great way for college students to get around campus for decades. With the advent of electric bikes, college kids can now get around even faster and easier. Since most college kids are on a tight budget, you want to shop for an electric bike that is efficient, but also will not damage the bank account too severely.

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Top Electric Bikes for College Students

After a thorough review, here are our recommendations for the best electric bikes for college students. We will also give a breakdown on each of the categories that we reviewed, so you can be sure that we considered all of your needs when making our recommendations.

JupiterBike Discovery X5 

This comes in at the ideal size for college students. The compact size means you can easily stow this in a classroom or a door room. The bike is designed with a low center of gravity meaning it will respond well to your maneuvers while you are riding. You can even take this bike on the trails, and are not limited to just the college campus.

Green Bike USA GB750 Mag

Designed with the taller person in mind, this bike is great for riders over 5’7”. With more force than some bike, if your college has a lot of hills, this bike can help propel you up the hills with minimal effort on your part.

If you are a more petite person and you only travel on roads, this bike might be a little more powerful and bigger than you need.

JupiterBike Defiant

With fat tires, this is the bike for college students that live and ride in inclement weather. This bike is suited for all terrain and can be used in snow, dirt, sand, or any road condition. You can easily ride this bike on the trails or right to class. If trail riding or snowy riding is one of your top priorities, you will want to put this bike on the top of your list.

Ecotric Vortex

A fairly inexpensive option, this bike is made from a strong Carbon Steel frame, making it lightweight and durable. With a great braking system that includes mechanical front and rear disc brakes, this bike is a safe option for you to use on busy roads or in traffic. If your top priority is safety, look no further than this option.\

X-treme X-Cursion

Folding up for easy storage, this is a great option if you do not have much room in your dorm to keep your bike. The battery pack on this model also helps you to be able to ride for longer distances before running out of power. You do not want to risk being in the middle of a long ride and having the battery power go out.

Things to consider when buying an electric bike

There are a few different important features of electric bikes. What might be the perfect bike for someone might not work for you. Take into consideration all of these topics when you are shopping for your electric bike.

Terrain

Where will you do most of your biking? Will it be rocky, bumpy, or sandy? And, do you anticipate using it on a lot of snow? If the terrain has some obstacles in it that the average road does not have, you might want to consider an electric bike with fatter tires that is designed to traverse on roads in all conditions.

The road bike that works well on clean streets is a different bike than you will need if you right in winter or on bump roads. You should be able to accurately predict what kind of terrain you will spend most of your time biking on based on where your college is located and the layout of the campus.

Hills

Some bikes have more power than others, which can be important if you frequently travel up and down a lot of hills. You don’t need to pay the extra money for a more powerful bike if you never bike up hills. However, if you are going to college in San Francisco or another hilly location, you are going to thank yourself for getting the extra power.

Price

While it might be tempting to just buy the cheapest bike available, that’s almost never a good idea. With the cheapest bike, you will get the bare minimum. That might work in some cases, but you might need some special features.

Make a list of everything you need in an electric bike, and then price out the options of bikes that include all of those features. When you make your list, consider what factors you absolutely must have versus factors that would be nice to have, but not necessarily a requirement. That can help you when you are considering price points.

Weight

Is weight of the bike important to you? Will you be carrying your bike at all? Some people take carry their bike on and off public transportation in addition to riding it around campus. If you will never be carrying your bike, it might be ok if it is on the heavy side. However, the first time you carry your heavy bike up a subway platform, you will regret not investing in a lighter weight bike.

Consider your own height and weight as well. Some bikes are built for taller, bigger people, and others are lightweight and work best with more petite individuals.

Storage size

This is unique to your situation. Are you sharing a tiny dorm room and need to be able to fold up your bike and fit it underneath your bed? Or, are you in a bigger apartment and can keep your bike upright leaning against a wall? Don’t think about just this moment in time either.

In college you might find yourself moving a lot. Consider where you be living in the next couple of years throughout your college life. It might be easiest to get the bike that folds up and takes up the smallest amount of storage space.

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