2021 Green Bike City Premium Review

Video Review

Written Review

The Green Bike Electric Motion City Premium is an exceptionally well thought out folding electric bike with upgrades in all the right places. It has a starting price of $1,699 USD, and has the option to upgrade the battery to a massive 21 amp hour just in case you plan on riding cross country. Green Bike has a generous 1 year comprehensive warranty, and offers free shipping to the U.S, which translates to around $200 of savings. Two thumbs up.

So let’s dive into the specs of the City Premium starting with the motor, which is going to be a 350 nominal watt hub motor located in the rear wheel. This motor can crank out 500 peak watts of power, and feels surprisingly peppy, most likely because of the mechanical advantage it gets from the smaller 20” by 3” Innova tires. This motor can bring the City Premium up to a top speed of 20 mph out of the box, or 28 mph in the unlocked configuration. You can reach this top speed with the cadence sensing pedal assist, or the throttle. There’s a bit of lag with motor activation, which you’ll find with pretty much every cadence sensor, but thankfully the City Premium’s throttle is live from 0 mph, so you can just use that to get you going from a dead stop. 

The battery on the City Premium is a 48 volt, 15.9 amp hour with an estimated max range of around 60 miles under perfect conditions. Real world range is usually about half of that, but of course it really just comes down to a case by case basis. Now, if you’re really looking for some serious range, you can opt for the battery upgrade, which leaves you with an incredible 21 amp hours of juice. That’s like an 85 mile max range, which translates to 10 straight hours of riding at an average speed of 8.5 mph. 

This is a silverfish style battery and is located behind the seat post, making the City Premium a bit back heavy. In order to remove it, first you have to remove the saddle, then unlock the battery and finally, slide the battery out. Not a big deal since there’s a quick release on the seat post, but I think it’s worth pointing out. The battery is also locking and removable, and the key must be left in the battery in the “on” position in order to actually turn actually use the motor. 

Right by the motor we’ve got a Shimano Tourney derailleur with a 6-speed cassette and a Shimano SIS Index thumb shifter on the right side of the handlebars. Top gear here feels perfect for the 20 mph top speed but in the unlocked 28 mph configuration it can feel a little like you’re beating eggs when trying to get all the way up to top speed. The City Premium has a plastic double-sided chain guard which will help keep that chain locked into place. It’s a simple piece of gear, but really does a good job of cutting down on derailments. 

I really appreciate the upgrade choices here on the City Premium, and it’s clear that Green Bike really thought everything out. For example, Green Bike skipped using upgrade points on the derailleur and shifter, where it really doesn’t matter for a city bike like this, and instead dropped them on hydraulic disc brakes with 160 mm rotors in the front and rear. The extra stopping power offered by the hydraulic disc brakes compared to mechanical disc brakes is going to be especially important for those of you who unlock the top speed to 28 mph. The brakes also have motor inhibitors built in, which instantly cut power to the motor whenever you hit the brakes. This servers as another great safety feature and just helps ensure you have the shortest possible stopping distance. 

Another great upgrade choice Green Bike made with the City Premium is on the suspension. Instead of dumping all the points in to a super beefy front suspension, which again, isn’t really needed on a city bike, they instead chose a modest front suspension with around 40 mm of travel, AND a seat post suspension. Combined, they help make this compact bike feel much more comfortable to ride.

The City Premium does have a headlight, but honestly it’s not super bright. More than anything it just helps to increase your visibility when riding in low-light conditions. If you like to ride at night, you’ll definitely want to get an aftermarket light to throw some more lumens down your path. Wire management is great and looks really clean. Everything is bundled together nicely and even though they are externally routed, it still feels neat and tidy. 

The frame is made of 6061 aluminum alloy and the City Premium has a curb weight of approximately 55 pounds, a bit on the heavy side for a folder, but not surprising given the front suspension, seat post suspension and large capacity battery. The frame is a single tube step through design which makes this a super approachable ride that’s easy to mount and dismount. There’s a single gusset connecting the main tub and the seat post tube, which adds some structural integrity to the frame, but also doubles as a nice handle. 

Folding and unfolding the City Premium is a piece of cake and can be done in just a few seconds. There’s a kind of sort two stage latch on the handlebars, really it’s just a safety latch, and then there’s a true two-stage latch on the frame. Once both of those are undone, the handlebars can fold down and the frame can fold in half. The pedals also fold up just in case you need to save an extra few inches. Unfolding is just as easy, only in reverse and again just takes a few seconds to deploy and latch everything back up. 

I think the City Premium is a great choice for anyone looking for a compact, folding electric bike that offers good value but isn’t going to break the bank. Overall, the value for this ebike is pretty much superb, which can be said for pretty much all the ebikes we’ve reviewed from Green Bike. These guys just do a really good job of choosing their components!