Husband and I recently changed from Berlin Cruisers to Ultimates for a few reasons, namely weight of bike, step thru and ease of steering. We had an issue with one bike during assembly and the Leitner staff were most helpful. Whilst I love the Ultimate because it's lightweight and steers much more smoothly than the Berlin, I have one major criticism. The pedal assist speeds are inconsistent, particularly when I compare with the Berlin. As a previous reviewer has noted, assist 1 and 2 basically give no assist (13-14km/h) whereas assist 3 races (19-20km/h) and assist 4 sits on 24km/h. I haven't even tried going to 5. I loved the Berlin on assist 3 - it maintained speeds between 16-18km/h which I found comfortable especially on dirt tracks around our area. It appears the Ultimate assist levels do not even have the range 16-18km/h. If this is a known problem, I'd like Leitner to perhaps reassess the controller they supply.

Value for price – This article is not in any way to be taken as a promotion for Leitner, neither is it to recommend or condemn Leitner electric bikes, but rather a review of what I see as the pros &cons of these machines. The Ultimate range of bikes come in three styles, Step-though, Semi Step-through and Step-over. They are driven by a 250W motor in the rear wheel coupled to a 10 aH, 36 V Samsung lithium battery mounted internally within the frame. There are 5 power settings available from the selector on the handlebars. The 7 speed Shimano Tourney gears with a single chain ring is fine when you have power to assist. They run 700c wheels fitted with Tecktro disc brakes. The biggest ‘pro’ by far is the cost! At around $1500, it is far below the mean for comparable bikes. At 17kg, weight is also a plus (especially when it requires lifting onto a car rack). Cons are, it comes in a box and needs assembly (not difficult) and it does not have mounting for water bottles, pumps etc. The Tecktro brakes, although efficient can be very noisy. The worst problem is the supplied controller/readout is FAR TOO SMALL TO BE USED EFFICIENTLY. However, for around $100, a much larger unit can be purchased from Leitner that we have all found to be highly beneficial, even close to mandatory. In summary, these cycles are good value for money, but like all things you get the components that you pay for. I am sure that you can find brilliant e-bikes with top equipment fitted if you want to pay for it, but for the price these bikes I find are satisfactory for Cynthia and my use. Dave

Hubby loves it! It will finally get him exercising again.

Leitner Ultimate Mid-Step e-bike - light, good to ride and affordable – After some months of looking at virtually every e-bike on the market, I eventually decided that the Leitner Ultimate Mid-Step fulfilled the majority of what I wanted. One of the factors that influenced that decision was that many e-bikes are incredibly heavy, often 26 kg plus, are simply awful to ride and badly balanced. The Ultimate is around 17kg and, apart from being a bit tail heavy ( the motor is in the back wheel), basically it feels like a regular bike. The finish is excellent and, although much of the running gear is mid market (e.g. Tektro mechanical disc-brakes) every thing works very well.

Excellent value. Suits us perfectly – Received our Ultimate bikes just a few days after ordering. Solid construction. Light enough for caravan at 17kg each. Easy to assemble. Already charged. We’re off and pedalling within a couple of hours. Very easy to operate. Battery charges and lasts well. Will replace hard seat with something more comfortable but finally enjoying hills and headwinds.