Carrying 450 pounds of combined cargo, passengers, and rider—however you divide it up—at 28 miles per hour is no small task for an ebike. I’ve reviewed a lot of ebikes over the past five years. Not all of them get my nod of approval. In fact, most of them don’t because it’s still an immature market early in its evolutionary cycle.
Lectric’s Xpedition2 survived the abuse of Brooklyn’s post-apocalyptic streets, keeping up with aggressive traffic when there were no bike lanes and absorbing punishing pot holes. So I came away impressed with the amount of bike you get for a modest $1,399.
Lectric
XPedition2 (opens in a new window)
Available at Lectric eBikes
Buy Now (opens in a new window)
The Lectric XPEDITION2 Is Fast and Powerful
Lectric eBikes feels like it’s been around for longer than it actually has. Founded in 2018, it came into being just in time to capitalize on the COVID lockdown-induced ebike boom and quickly made a name for itself in the cargo and folding ebike spaces.
Lectric gave the Xpedition 2.0 a very slight name change to Xpedition2 partway through 2025. It’s still the same bike. Its 750 Watt motor (1,310 Watt peak power) is powerful and provides 85Nm of torque to the rear wheel. I’ve zipped around town on ebikes that had a third of that power in their motors.
As a class 3 ebike, the Xpedition2 provides electric assistance up to 28 MPH as long as you’re pedaling. The motor cuts out at 20 MPH if you’re using the hand throttle. I tended to use the hand throttle to accelerate away from stoplights and then rely on pedaling for motorized assistance.
The bike’s small, 20″ diameter gave it good maneuverability around crowded New York, although it made the bike feel darty at times. If it weren’t a somewhat heavy bike at 65 pounds, it could’ve felt nervous, but it had enough weight to be a stable biking platform.
The Xpedition2 retains a few major drivetrain features from the 2020 era of when ebikes exploded in popularity, such as batteries hung from the bike frame rather than integrated into it, and a rear hub motor rather than a mid-drive motor nestled between the pedals.
That’s what I’d expect from an ebike that hovers around the $1,500 mark. These technologies are trickling down from more expensive ebikes, but they’re not yet omnipresent.
Lectric did update the Xpedition2 with a torque sensor, though, which displaced the previous Xpedition’s cadence sensor. Torque sensors provide more of a natural pedaling motion, whereas cadence motors tend to make it feel like your pedaling isn’t really moving the bike, as the electric motor’s assistance overshadows it.
The Xpedition2 is a solid, stable bike that feels akin to a two-wheeled Ford Explorer or Chevy Tahoe. It’s not fancy or cutting-edge, but it’s solidly built enough for loads of cargo or a passenger (two if they’re tiny).
Lectric
XPedition2 (opens in a new window)
Available at Lectric eBikes
Buy Now (opens in a new window)
The post I Took the Lectric Xpedition2 Cargo Ebike for a Spin—Here’s How It Rides appeared first on VICE.
