Harley Davidson Electric Bike Review:Harley Davidson Ebikes - Anyone Have One? If So, How Do You Like It?

When a marquee name like Harley-Davidson, the very embodiment of open-road freedom and thundering V-twin engines, wants to make e-bikes, people take notice, and questions arise. This isn’t just another brand piling on with an e-bike to its lineup; this is a cultural icon rethinking how we get around. For enthusiasts and idle onlookers alike, the fundamental question is simple but significant: Have they bottled the Harley-Spirit in a box powered by batteries? Is a Harley-Davidson electric bike a rightful inheritor of the legacy, or little more than a logo slapped on a new product? This review goes deep into the world of Harley-Davidson’s e-bikes, which are the result of its Serial 1 brand, to offer you the substantive, real-world insights you want. We will see what it is like to ride one, what makes them different, and ultimately, decide if this premium electric bicycle experience is for you.

The Serial 1 Lineup: Quality Over Quantity

The Harley-Davidson e-bike operation has an official name, Serial 1, a nod to “Serial Number One,” the oldest-known Harley-Davidson motorcycle. They have a carefully curated product range and clearly aim for quality, not quantity or anything that can be rushed to the market. This is the full scope of what they offer:

Serial 1 Premium eBikes

• RUSH/CTY Collection (The Ultimate Commuter: includes Step-Thru, and Speed models)
• MOSH/CTY Series (The Urban Playbike)
• BASH/MTN Series (The Stiff Single-Speed MTB)
• SWITCH/MTN Series (The Hardtail Trail Bike)

Behind the Handlebars: The Riding Experience

To really understand what Serial 1 has created, you have to look past the spec sheets and talk about how this bike rides. I’ve already clocked a lot of time on two of their most popular models: the MOSH/CTY and the RUSH/CTY Step-Thru. One is designed for road riding, the other for gravel, and they serve different riders, but both clearly share some DNA of top-shelf engineering. Taking the MOSH/CTY is a lesson in joyous simplicity. It’s a single-speed bike — you might think that’s limiting, but it works with the Brose S Mag mid-drive motor for a monstrous amount of power. As soon as you put the pressure on the pedals, the bike thrashes forwards with an instant, seamless, and eerily quiet wall of torque. There’s no jerky start; instead, it feels like suddenly your own power is tripled. The MOSH/CTY is nimble, aggressive, and direct; weaving through city streets is like playing a game of Pac-Man, darting around obstacles and scooping up bonus pellets. The pavement you feel on you. The lines are strikingly clean; the battery is integrated into the frame so well that people often don’t realize it’s an electric bike — until they see the signature light-up headbadge, a brilliant touch of modern class. The belt drive is classic Gates carbon, another masterstroke: Quiet (so stealthy), clean (no grease on your pants), and next to no maintenance. This isn’t a bike that’s just suited to get you from A to B; it’s a bike that makes you want to take the long way home, slice up some corners, and enjoy that instant acceleration. Not so with the RUSH/CTY Step-Thru, which is as refined as it is comfortable and practical. The step-thru frame makes getting on and off the bike seamless. The experience is delivered by the Enviolo AUTOMATiQ intelligent automatic transmission. You don't shift gears. You just choose the pedaling cadence you want and the bike takes it from there, with a perfectly linear, uniform feel whether you’re starting from a stop, cruising on a flat, or climbing an incline. It’s an otherworldly level of pampering, taking all the thinking out of it and letting you enjoy the ride. It’s a sensation of gliding, of being pushed languorously across the city. It includes a robust rear rack, custom fenders, and an integrated storage space, and is truly able to replace your car for most urbanites. It’s smooth, stable, and confidence-inspiring, a sign of the design care taken with this premium daily driver.

The Investment: Quality, Design, and Support

Before forking over for a premium product like a Serial 1, potential buyers are right to think about their riding experience in the larger meta context. What are you really investing in? For a start, you’re investing in a Harley-Davidson quality and design legacy. These are not off-the-shelf frames with a motor bolted in. It’s the complete-package e-bike; frame, motor, battery, and components – all designed and developed in unison to work from the same Plug & Play platform. This translates into better balance, handling, and long-lasting performance. Second, there is also the inestimable benefit of that dealer network. Unlike a lot of online-only brands, you can actually walk into a showroom, see the bike, physically touch it, and best of all, test-ride it. This close-up experience is so important for such a large purchase. Better yet, this network offers expert assembly and perhaps most importantly, a dependable line of communication for service and support — a huge peace of mind for buyers. You're also getting best-in-class components that contribute to an unparalleled ownership experience, such as the silent-running Gates Carbon Drive belt that's free from messy chain grease and the maintenance headaches that come along with it, and the high-torque, German-engineered Brose motor that leads the pack when it comes to reliability and seamless power delivery. This is a peace-of-mind purchase from the build, quality, the after-sales support, and rightful position in the premium market. This is another tale about purchasing a fully-fleshed and polished product from a brand that has a century of engineering backing it up.

Market Alternatives: The All-Terrain ENGWE

Despite the tremendous integration of the premium segment — such as that demonstrated by the Serial 1 — in the end, the electric bike market is still massive, and plenty of riders are hungry for unique mixes of rugged versatility, practicality, and feature-rich value. For this cyclist, a brand like ENGWE makes a big splash in the market and riders are swooning over their models including the EP-2 Fat Tire Foldable Electric Mountain Bike with 20-Inch Wheels. That’s because this bike is designed for a different mindset: all-terrain instinct with ultimate convenience. Where it really stands out immediately, though, is its 20 x 4.0-inch fat tires —which are meant to grip just about anything from smooth pavement to gravel paths, dirt, and yes, even sand. The fact that it’s foldable sets it apart; the e-bike folds for portability and can be carried on a bus or subway, or stored in the trunk of your car, so that you can take it wherever and in whichever way you like. The EP-2 Boost is also a beast, with a Boost button that brings to life 55 Nm of torque for climbing hills with ease, but with the torque sensor system, ensures the power assist feels very smooth, as if it was pouring out with your natural pedaling. Its long 120 km maximum range per full charge and sturdy frame which can carry a load of up to 150kg makes it an ideal companion for long journeys or even city delivery activities. As it is, the EP-2 Boost is so loaded with useful features off the shelf – like a rear rack and fenders, and powerful 180mm disk brakes – that it’s an inspiring and incredibly well-specced choice for commuters who need versatility and power in one package.

Web Summary of Harley-Davidson Serial 1 eBike Details and Specs Comparison

Five Questions Buyers Are Asking

Are these nothing but a bunch of generic bikes with a Harley-Davidson decal thrown on?

Absolutely not. This is one of the key differences. The Serial 1 e-bikes were developed from the ground up by a team of engineers and bike designers at Harley-Davidson. The frame, integrated battery system, and overall geometry are exclusive to Serial 1 bikes. They looked to the leaders in the industry for components, such as Brose for the motors and Gates for carbon belt drives, and yet the result and all its seamlessness are all their own, exemplifying a desire to construct a high-end, singular vehicle.

Do the RUSH/CTY models with the AUTO gear box work in practice?

It’s hard not to say that the Enviolo AUTOMATiQ hub won’t change the game for many riders. It does not have fixed gears, but rather a continuously variable planetary (CVP) hub. In practice, this means you install the app or an included controller, and then dial in your preferred pedaling speed (cadence). Thereafter, the bicycle’s computer will continuously and silently adjust the gear — the mechanical advantage that determines the difficulty of pedaling — so your pedaling effort feels about the same whether accelerating from a stoplight, rolling at 20 mph, or chugging up a hill. No shift, no clunk, no delay — it’s just power transmitted as a smooth stream. It’s thought-free riding across a range of terrain.

What is the real-world, realistic battery range?

The official specs have a wide range (usually 35 to 105 miles or so), but real-world performance differs greatly based on a bunch of factors, like how much assist you’re using, the terrain (hills suck the battery), your weight, and even the wind. In a mixed-terrain city environment on a medium-assist level of power, most riders expect a perfectly workable range in the region of 40 to 60 miles (65-95km). And if you ride conservatively in the lowest eco mode on flat ground, you can certainly stretch toward the high end of the official range. That’s more than enough for a full day of commuting and errands for most people.

Are Serial 1 bike maintenance-intensive and costly?

Day-to-day maintenance is unexpectedly low due in large part to the Gates Carbon Drive. It runs on a belt, rather than a traditional chain, and doesn’t require lubrication or rust, so it has a two to three times longer life span. This prevents the most common and nastiest job when maintaining your bike. The remaining ingredients, namely the hydraulic brakes and the tires, are part of regular bike maintenance. The only bit of technical stuff is the electrical part (motor and battery), which should be dealt with by an official dealer. This is more expensive than a basic bike shop tune-up, but the durability of the components is excellent, and it’s part of that peace of mind that you’re buying from a brand with a service network behind it.

Do they really justify the high price tag relative to other e-bikes?

This is the final question of worth. If your only concern is getting from A to B with a motor, there are more affordable options. But if you care about beautifully made and integrated consumer electronics, a near-silent, intuitive ride feel, no maintenance, and a swath of dealer store service and support available to you, it doesn’t take much to see where the offer is fair value. Your money is buying chrome, sophistication, and dependability that’s less like a conglomeration of components and more like a cohesive machine. That's an investment in a trouble-free, pleasant ownership experience, supported by one of the most famous brands in the world.

Finally, a Harley-Davidson electric bicycle that provides both a ride and experience befitting the iconic brand name.