Every weekend, I take a bike ride with two friends up and down Pacific Coast Highway in Southern California. We go about 15 miles, stop for coffee, and then come home. This past Saturday on the way home, I stopped at a red light after my friends ran the yellow. Not a big deal, I thought, because on this day I was testing the Lyric Graffiti ebike that’s incredibly powerful. I knew I’d catch up to them quickly.
So as I’m waiting at the light, five different bikers – the pompous kind wearing tight lycra body suits – pull up and deliberately position themselves ahead of me, as if they’re too fast to wait behind me. I laughed. As soon as the light turned green, I raced right through them and left them in the dust. It was incredibly satisfying.
The Graffiti really looks and behaves more like an electric motorcycle. It has a long, well-padded bench seat so you can bring along a companion without issue (provided your combined weight doesn’t exceed 325 pounds); chopper looks; and plenty of power. You can cruise with nine customizable levels of pedal assist or twist the throttle and easily hit 35 miles per hour in a flash. It’s an amazing mode of transportation that’s comfortable, smooth and fast.
However, I personally found it to be a much better bike to ride alone rather than with other people. On my ride with friends, I was constantly trying to temper the speed so that I could keep a slower pace with my buddies. In fact, it has a carbon belt drive instead of chains. So there’s no manual shifter on it to adjust tension. Thus, the bike can move so fast so quickly that when I wanted to pedal, there was often no resistance. So I finally gave up on pedaling altogether. What was the point?
I also found turning corners something I had to get used to. Essentially, it felt as if I had to lean into any turn and then let the oversized fatter tires steer me from there. Being that I typically ride just a normal electric bike, I felt uneasy with these.
You can order this bike with one or two batteries. The model I tested had two — that’s supposed to yield up to 80 miles of range. In my testing, I got more like 40 before the color-coded battery light turned red and started blinking. Mind you, I was constantly riding with only the throttle or with a lot of pedal assist – you need that to move the hefty body of the bike that weighs only 59 pounds without the batteries, but substantially more with them. But thankfully due to the 1000 watt motor, the bike has a lot of torque to speed up steep hills with ease. And its stopping power was excellent, quiet and smooth – thanks to its four-piston hydraulic brakes.
At $3,000, I see this as a fair value for the money. I think it would be ideal for someone with a 15-to-20-mile commute each way everyday. It handled all road conditions like a pro for me. But for leisurely ebike riding with friends, I’d steer you towards a more conventional model.