Lectric XPeak E-Bike Review: First Ride & Impressions

Lectric is one of the most popular e-bike brands in North America. The products they have made so far have largely been hits that dominated sales charts in their respective categories. So I couldn’t RSVP fast enough to the invite we received for a hands-on review of the Lectric XPeak to see where the brand was headed next. It turns out they were barreling towards one of the country’s most popular e-bike categories with their all-new 26” X 4” fat tire e-bike (the first time Lectric is not making a bike with 20” tires).

We know from experience having reviewed a lot of fat tire e-bikes that there are TONS of companies popping out quality and affordable rides. So in such a hotly contested space where many brands are all vying for customers’ dollars, what did Lectric do to set the XPeak up for success? They’re going back to the same successful playbook they’ve used before: give it all the features people want, make sure it has a few claims nobody else does, and sell it at “how are they making money on this thing?” prices.

The XPeak has a 750W rear hub-motor (1310W Peak) with 85 Nm torque, a 48V, 14Ah (672Wh) battery, hydraulic disc brakes on 180mm rotors, and it comes in either a high step or step-thru frame. It comes as a class 2 ride, but can be changed to class 1 or 3. Of course, let’s not forget what puts the “fat” in fat bike as it comes with Chaoyang 26” X 4” tires. As an added bonus, they come with slime pre-installed to encourage you to head offroad and have some fun and hopefully not allow a thorn or two to get in the way of riding.

While those are the commonly-found specs shoppers go looking for in the electric fat tire market, the XPeak starts to separate itself with its suspension and durability, and of course, the price.

Lectric has equipped the XPeak with the RST Renegade spring fork with 80mm of travel. It’s a nicer fork than you typically find on these types of e-bikes, but Lectric said its inclusion was a must. Why? It helped them achieve the ISO 4210-10 rating: the eMTB standard for a bike holding up to the rigors of off-road riding. Lectric says the XPeak is the first sub-$2000 e-bike to receive that rating.

But the XPeak doesn’t just sneak in under $2000, it’s debuting at an MSRP of $1399. Those who snatch one up when preorders start on November 1st will only pay $1299, with shipping expected to start in January 2024.

The bike has everything it needs for success and now just needs to stick the landing. So how does it ride? Keep reading for all of our thoughts from our first ride review of the Lectric XPeak.

*Editor’s Note: Updated Nov. 20th, 2023 to include award badge, and links to latest info and pricing.

Lectric XPeak: Bike Overview & Ride

One of the highlight qualities of a fat tire electric bike is its versatility. More often than not, I see them being ridden on city streets and bike paths (where the fat tires lend great stability and a bit more comfort), but they can definitely hit the local fire roads and mild double-track with gusto.

When Lectric invited us to their HQ to see the XPeak and learn first-hand what it could do, I was half-expecting a jaunt around an empty parking lot and cruising down the road a little way.

Boy was I wrong.

They threw us straight into the off-roading capabilities of the XPeak with a trip to some local dirt trails. If you’re going to get a fat tire e-bike durability tested to eMTB standards you may as well show that off I suppose!

The XPeak held up well making it up and over the numerous rocks in our path. While the majority of the course was dirt and gravel, there were a handful of smaller technical sections and larger rocks to climb too, and the XPeak got me through it all.

It’s a 70-ish lbs fat bike with 4” wide tires, so while it’s not nimble like an eMTB, it is still capable in many ways as the tread grabs the dirt well, and the tires are big enough to just bowl your way over most rocks.

The rear hub motor made it so I wasn’t breaking much of a sweat. After taking a minute to figure out the gear and PAS level best suited for the course, it was rather easy to keep up with our trail guide.

Whenever I’m riding offroad with an above-the-bar, push-button shifter I try to not shift too much if I can help it – it was maybe the only thing I wasn’t particularly stoked about on the XPeak. However, I found that sticking to the fourth gear and the third PAS level really was a good combo for climbing at a nice pace and pushing ahead when things mellowed out.

Lectric has worked on what they call their PWR programming of the motor. It focuses the output to certain power levels instead of just telling the bike to hit certain speeds. It makes it a nicer option than a typical cadence sensor-based hub motor which can sometimes give you too much juice when you pedal on a winding dirt road making it a little tougher to stay on the track.

Splitting the difference between the amount of power you need to climb rocky hills, without giving you too much speed is a little tricky on hub motors, but I think the programming here on the Lectric XPeak is a little nicer than what I would have expected from a different fat tire e-bike.

As far as comfort and control, the RST fork was pretty nice. I didn’t get a lot of time to set it up to my preferences, but I thought it overall had a good feel to it.

We’ll soon have an XPeak sent to us for more in-depth testing, but for now, I feel like the XPeak will ride as well as most other sub-$2000 fat bikes on dirt roads. Maybe even a bit better compared to typical cadence sensor ones, and the value proposition of the RST Renegade fork is pretty impressive.