The best lightweight e-bikes will make for a faster ride -particularly when accelerating and going up hills. They also make lifting and carrying your electric bike a lot easier.
Adding a motor and a battery will always increase the bike’s weight over a non-assisted bike, but bike makers have looked for ways to lower that penalty with the best lightweight e-bikes often having carbon fibre frames and using high spec components that are the same as on range topping non-assisted machines.
That applies particularly to drop-bar road e-bikes, but the same is true of some flat bar hybrid e-bikes, although many hybrid e-bikes prioritise robustness and price over weight. Options are fewer for lightweight folding electric bikes, as the need for a robust folding mechanism tends to reduce the opportunity to reduce the frame’s weight and makes folding e-bikes costly.
We’ve covered options for lightweight road e-bikes, lightweight hybrids and lightweight folding e-bikes in this guide.
Here at Cyclingnews we’ve tested lots of electric bikes across a range of different bike categories and understand the advantages of a lighter wieght model, We’ve also got loads of other coverage of e-bikes, so if you want to know more check out our pick of the best electric road bikes or if you’re looking for a budget e-bike then look at our guide to the best electric bikes under £1000 / $1000.
Meanwhile if you want a little more background information, our piece on electric bikes: everything you need to know will help you along.
Best lightweight e-bikes: road bikes
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If you like the sound of a hand-made carbon lightweight electric bike, then Alchemy is the answer. Since 2008 Alchemy has been putting out work like no one else. All the manufacturing for every bike happens under the roof of its Denver, Colorado headquarters. That in-house manufacturing makes for added flexibility. The electric assist limits custom geometry options for the E-Ronin, but if you’d like to make your bike unique, custom paint starts at $500.
Other perks include a crash replacement discount, a two-week money-back guarantee, free shipping, and a lifetime warranty. There are four available builds and five frame sizes. There’s also the extremely rare – for electric bikes – option of buying only the frame and building it up yourself.
The electric system in the Wilier Cento1 Hybrid is almost an afterthought, in the best way possible. Yes, there is the same Mahle X35 system that finds its way into a lot of the lowest weight electric bikes but that’s not the focus. The focus is on making a bike that feels like a bike.
The carbon frame and fork come from proven Wilier designs, and in this case, the carbon construction comes paired with endurance geometry. The slightly taller head tube and shorter reach provide a more relaxed and less racy position. It’s a design perfect for longer distances but it doesn’t leave anything on the table.
When you think about the category of high end, lightweight electric bikes there’s no way to not consider the Specialized entry. The S-Works Turbo Creo SL was only launched a few years ago and yet in this category that’s practically a lifetime. Specialized was there early with an attention-grabbing bike that set the standard.
The motor system is a custom unit unique to Specialized. It features a 320Wh integrated battery and there’s also a 160Wh range extender available. Move over to the traditional bike components and you will find SRAM AXS, plenty of carbon, and the Specialized Future Shock system.
The combination of a Trek Domane design plus the Fazua Evation electric drivetrain makes this bike a two in one endurance monster. Every time you ride it you can take advantage of Trek Isospeed at the rear of the bike, which means extra movement in the seatpost for a road-smoothing suspension effect.
If you decide to really stretch out the miles, the lightweight frame and Fazua system mean the bike is easy to pedal without any electric assist. Then if you feel like you can take things a little easier you can leave the electric assist system at home and utilise the space for storage.
Cannondale was one of the companies that took all the time it could before moving to aerodynamics. It has a history of prioritising weight and building race machines with exceptional handling. In 2021 there’s not really a place for ultralight, non-aero optimised bikes, and aero has spread throughout the entire range.
That history is still there though and the SuperSix Evo is the closest to the old lineage. Cannondale has also been a company known for innovation and they’ve jumped into the electric bike market with both feet. The SuperSix Evo Neo is in many ways the culmination of what Cannondale stands for. It’s an ultralight, super responsive, high technology bike. It also happens to have electric assistance.
Ribble offers its Endurance SL e in four starting build levels. Of course, as with all Ribble bikes, you can get in and customise from there but those four starting places represent a wide range of pricing.
The top of the line gets Dura-Ace Di2 and all the pieces to match that level. Down at the bottom is where things get really interesting. You get the same top of the line frame and low weight motor system but it comes with the very dependable Shimano 105 mechanical shifting. It also comes with an excellent price for a top caliber bike.
Best lightweight e-bikes: hybrids
The Orbea Gain range includes both alloy and carbon frames. This version has the latter and whereas most Gains are drop bar road bikes, there are a couple of flat bar hybrid options. Apart from the bar choice, the M30 Flat Bar has all the features of the other high spec Gain bikes, including the same carbon frameset and motor system.
There’s tyre clearance up to 40mm, integrated lighting front and rear, and even an included out-front mount. As an original development partner for the x35 system Orbea also had the expertise to massage the algorithm a bit.
Top of the line, lightweight, and carbon fibre. Those words commonly refer to the latest, greatest, top of the line race-focused road bike. Instead, they describe a new city bike from Tour de France legend Greg Lemond. It’s an integrated everything flat bar bike, that is perfect for city living.
It’s easy to carry up a flight of stairs, looks amazing, and rides in a way that might make you think you haven’t turned on the electric assist. That is until you turn off the electric assist and realize how much it was actually doing.
Read more about what we thought of the LeMond Bicycles Prolog e-bike in our first ride review.
Specialized’s e-bikes fall into its 4x You and 2x You categories, with the Turbo Vado SL in the latter. That’s because Specialized uses its lighter weight, less powerful SL 1.1 motor in the Turbo Vado SL. There’s still a claimed 130km range though thanks to the relatively high battery capacity and you can add a range extender for an extra 64km between charges.
The 5.0 spec comes either without lights, mudguards and a rack or as an EQ version which adds these – and a little extra weight. Both bikes get Specialized’s FutureShock 1.5 suspension headset with 20mm of travel to the handlebars.
You can read our first ride impressions of the Specialized Turbo Vado SL 5.0 here.
Best lightweight e-bikes: folding e-bikes
For light weight for a folder, the Hummingbird Gen 2.0 bike takes the prize. Made of carbon fibre with a trussed rear section and kitted out with lightweight components it undercuts even the best road e-bikes at 10.4kg. The rear hub motor helps with ride quality and handling too.
Of course compromises have to be made to hit this weight and the Hummingbird doesn’t fold quite as small as the Brompton Electric, it has more limited range, you only get one gear and it’s expensive too.
At over 15kg and with a steel frame, the Brompton Electric C Line Urban folder may not really fit the “lightweight” bill, but its iconic folding mechanism makes it a great option for the commuter and the battery pack unclips from the front of the bike, allowing you to carry it over your shoulder as a separate 2.3kg package and dropping the bike weight somewhat.
Our full review of the Brompton Electric C Line Urban folding bike covers all the attributes of ownership.
Best lightweight e-bikes: Everything you need to know
Is there any drawback to a lightweight e-bike?
With most things in life optimizing for one feature means other features get left behind. When it comes to non-electric bikes that usually plays out as a choice between aero optimisation or lightweight. But what about with electric bikes? Is there a trade-off for going lightweight?
The answer is both a yes and a no. It all depends on how you look at things. If you are expecting an American style, class III e-bike with a big battery and huge torque you won’t find it. As long as you set expectations that what’s possible is light assist and smaller batteries then there’s no real drawback to going light.
No performance drawback doesn’t completely mean no drawbacks at all though. The one big trade-off when you go lightweight is price. When it comes to bikes, powered or not, if you want a light bike, it’s gonna be more expensive. Electric bikes aren’t immune from this same equation.
Do lightweight e-bikes ride differently to heavier models?
Lightweight electric bikes are a distinct flavour of electric bikes. They have a unique ride feel to them and as long as you understand what you can expect you won’t have any surprises.
There are some electric bikes that speed along at up to 28mph with very little rider input. These types of bikes are common in the American market. European law makes them difficult to own but they also make more sense in expansive American cities. The distances travelled are farther and there’s more mixing with auto traffic. It makes sense in this context to travel at higher speeds.
You won’t find anything like that in the ultralight market. Bikes of this style feel more like a traditional bike with the wind constantly at your back. With the x35 system, you can even set it to add assistance based on heart rate. It’s a much more sport-focused design that makes it easy to forget you even have electric assist.
