The Lectric XPeak 2.0 Can Handle More Than Your Typical E-Bike

Wide tires and a front suspension mean a smooth ride

They're just big-boned. Credit: Stephen Johnson

There's a lot to unpack with the XPeak 2.0, so let's start from the bottom: the tires. They're fat—four-inches wide—with knobby, "all-terrain" treads, and they're meant to be ridden under-inflated most of the time. The treads, softness, and extra surface area provide traction, which will keep you upright and in control, especially on slippery surfaces like sand, snow, or gravel. The XPeak 2.0 also has an adjustable front suspension fork with 80mm of travel, which is another big plus for offroad riding: the fork handles roots and rocks that could wipe you out on a suspension-free bike.

To test out the XPeak 2.0, I rode over 100 miles in the Santa Monica Mountains, taking it on sandy trails, fire roads, dry and wet creek beds, gravel trails, and everywhere else. My verdict: this bike eats up loose surfaces. The squishy wheels glomp over smaller rocks and trail chatter, while bigger obstacles are absorbed by the front fork, all of which reduces the amount of shaking to a minimum and helps you keep control, without having to master the technical side of mountain biking. It's really freakin' fun.

For a heavy bike (more on that in a second), it handles well, but it rides more like an SUV than a sports car. That means it's solid, but not nimble by any stretch. Still, even though it's not exactly bouncy when you get it up to speed, it's also not overly leaden. I felt in control of this bike, even when the terrain was a little hairy, and, as a relatively novice off-road biker, that's exactly what I'm looking for. That said, if I were riding technical mountain biking trails, I'd opt for a different bike. This one seems better suited for easier trails and fire roads than steep single-track.

It's definitely a cushy ride, but the XPeak 2.0's shock absorption comes with a cost. Soft, wide tires take more power to get up to speed, so the motor needs to be bigger, and that extra power requires a bigger battery. All of that means extra weight: the Lectric XPeak 2.0 weighs 75 pounds, so it's kind of a beast. For comparison, the Canyon Spectral e-mountain bike I reviewed recently with skinnier tires and full suspension weighs just over 50 pounds, and so does the last commuter style e-bike I reviewed.

The Lectric XPeak 2.0's motor is powerful

Credit: Stephen Johnson

To keep those wide tires spinning and all that weight moving, the XPeak 2.0 boasts a 750-watt Stealth M24 motor with a maximum output of 1,310-watts—that's as powerful a motor as anything allowed to be called an e-bike in most of the United States. It makes getting up hills a breeze, even when the ground (and tires) are soft.

The torque-sensing pedal assist delivers smooth power through its five levels. The pedal assist feels responsive to rider-input even at slower speeds and at lower gears. It's a rear-wheel drive bike, so it's not as natural-feeling as a mid-drive e-bike, but it costs way less. Bonus: it's pretty quiet for such a beefy ride. Like all class 3 e-bikes, the Lectric XPeak 2.0 takes you to 20 mph with the throttle, and up to 28 mph with pedal assist.

XPeak 2.0's build quality, brakes, and drivetrain

Credit: Stephen Johnson

From the sturdy feeling aluminum frame to the Shimano drivetrain and RST Renegade fork, it's clear Lectric Bikes designed the XPeak 2.0 with durability in mind: you expect a bike that looks like this to be tough, and it is. Nothing broke during my time with it, and I heard no alarming rattles and felt no wobbles, even after a lot of bouncing down rough trails.

A 75-pound bike designed to be ridden downhill on dirt needs some serious stopping power, and the XPeak's hydraulic disc brakes with a 203mm front rotor and 180mm rear rotor do the job well—like the bike, they're brawny. Given the weight, no brakes would be able to stop this bike on a dime, especially while going downhill, but the XPeak 2.0's brakes are more than adequate for general stopping needs. One of my bad off-road habits is hitting the brakes too hard (because I'm terrified), and in my testing, I found that even when I felt like I "should" have spun out due to braking too hard at the wrong time, the brakes bit in instead.

Meanwhile, the XPeak 2.0's drivetrain—Shimano transmission and Altus Derailleur—shifts smoothly through eight speeds without complaining, hitching, or skipping gears, even when dropping multiple gears at once or shifting under pedal stress.

Lectric XPeak 2.0 battery life

Credit: Stephen Johnson

The base level Lectric XPeak 2.0 comes with a removable, UL certified 48V 15A battery built into the downtube, and there's a 20Ah long-range battery in the upgraded model. Lectric says these have ranges of "up to" 60 and 80 miles, respectively. I guess that's possible, but in real life, riding trails with under-inflated tires, I got about half of the "up to" mileage—still a respectable range for an e-bike. One battery issue I had: because the battery is removed from the bottom of the top tube, the front wheel gets in the way, so it's fiddly to take out, especially with one person and such a heavy battery. You can charge the battery without removing it, but if you do, the bike won't start until you hit a button that requires taking the the battery out anyway. Boo.

The little things: the Lectric XPeak 2.0's small details

Credit: Stephen Johnson

Powerful motor and a nice drivetrain don't matter if you don't like the vibe of the bike, so here's a look at some of the smaller details on the XPeak 2.0 that determine its overall feel.

Display screen: unlike the last generation of XPeak bikes, the 2.0 features a full color display screen that's bright enough to see even in direct sunlight. Visually, there's nothing special about it: Just the usual, "here's how fast you're going; here's the level of pedal assist you're using," but I appreciated the ability to customize different aspects of the bike's controls, once I figured out how to navigate the menus. I wrote a post about how to change the settings on an XPeak 2.0 here.

Throttle: the XPeak 2.0's thumb-throttle is logically placed on the dashboard and suitably responsive. It's a little tweaky/jumpy if you're not used to thumb throttles, so go easy at first if you're new.

Geometry: The high-step frame strikes a nice balance between step-through designs and high top bar designs. Rider position is upright enough to be comfortable, but not leaned over enough so much that your weight is distributed unreasonably.

Pedals: The XPeak 2.0's pedals are nice and wide. They're clipless, but equipped with pins that will work with mountain biking shoes to keep your feet where they should be. Also: the pedals are instant-release, so they can be put on and taken off without tools.

Saddle: I had no issues with this bike's lightly padded seat, but saddle-preference is a very personal thing. Luckily, it's effortless part to replace if your butt doesn't approve.

Suspension seatpost: I don't like suspension seat posts in general, but it seems particularly pointless on a bike that already rides "soft." A suspension seatpost is a poor substitute for actual rear wheel suspension: you don't need it on paved surfaces, and your weight isn't on your butt when you're riding downhill anyway, so I don't get the point. Especially since it's not adjustable like a proper suspension system, so heavy riders will be bottomed out a lot, and it won't flex enough for lighter riders. This is the one part I'd definitely replace on this bike. Like the saddle, it's a job that you could do in three minutes with no tools.

Is the Lectric XPeak 2.0 a good deal?

Credit: Stephen Johnson

At $1,399 for the base model (right now), the Lectric XPeak 2.0 is among the lower priced e-bikes I've reviewed, and it's a lot of bike for that price. So it's a good deal. But let's talk about value and e-bikes. If you search on Amazon or peruse the bike aisle of your local Walmart, you'll find e-bikes that seem similar to the XPeak 2.0—fat tires, says "all terrain" and "full suspension"—but they're listed at less than half the price. So why pick this model over those?

Well, while there's a place for cheap, semi-disposable tech products in the world, that place is not offroad e-bikes, mainly for safety reasons. Cheap bikes are made of cheap parts, and cheap parts fail. You don't want anything breaking on a bike when you're going nearly 30 mph down a mountain. Unlike $500 Walmart specials, the XPeak 2.0 is ISO 4210-10 certified for mountain biking; that means it's been proven rugged enough to hold up to the rigors of trail riding. The battery is UL 2271 & UL 2849 certified too, so there's way less chance of it burning your house down.

Then there's the customer service. My review unit arrived with a bent brake rotor—a shipping issue and a blessing, because it gave me a chance to test out Lectric's customer service. I didn't tell them I was a reviewer, I just called the tech support number, and a new rotor was on its way in a couple days, covered under the bike's one-year warranty.