Powerful motors, huge batteries, ride metrics, on-board maps, and mobile device chargers are all options on ebikes now, but not everyone wants that level of technology. Some people just want a bike that makes getting around town comfortable, easy, and fun!
The Priority Glide is a simple beach cruiser-style ebike with a front hub motor, a 3-speed internal rear hub, and three levels of pedal assist plus a throttle. It’s purposefully not tech-laden, but it provides the commuter essentials: A low-slung step-over frame, Gates belt drive, narrow but multi-surface capable wheels, and all the mounts and accessories you’d want.
Priority Glide – Key Specs and Features:
For all the details on the Priority Glide, check out our launch article from this summer. Here’s a quick summary of the Glide’s main specs and features.
The Glide is built around a 6061 aluminum frame, featuring a unisex step-over design. As featured on all of Priority’s bikes, the Glide has a grease-free, low-maintenance Gates belt drive system. A Shimano Nexus internal rear hub provides three gears and is operated by a grip shifter.
Providing the assist power is a 350W front hub motor. The Glide is a Class 2 ebike, which provides pedal or throttle assist up to 20mph. A 374Wh battery sits in the down tube.
The Glide rolls on 700x38c tires and gets all-weather appropriate hydraulic disc brakes. Commuter essentials like full coverage fenders, a kickstand, a water bottle cage, mounts for racks/child seats, and top tube accessories, and integrated front and rear lights are all included.
The Glide’s weight is listed at 49 lbs. My scale showed it at 49.67 lbs.
Ride Impressions:
When I reviewed the Priority Current Plus ebike earlier this year, I finished off the assembly myself, which Priority makes pretty easy. This time, I got the full customer experience, and my local shop (shoutout to The Bike Co!) built up the Glide for me. I picked it up, dialed and ready to go!
The Glide is available in S/M or M/L frame sizes, fitting riders from 5’2” to 6’2”. At 5’10”, I’m riding a M/L. This cruiser offers a very comfortable riding position, and the swept-back handlebars allow you to sit up straight. While proper seat height is crucial on any high-performance bicycle, the Glide is a casual cruiser, so I left the seat at a lower, easy-to-mount height.
Battery/Charging:
The Glide’s integrated downtube battery has a charge port that stays accessible while it’s on the bike, so it’s easy to charge in the frame or off the bike. With the turn of a key, the battery drops out of the frame. It fits a bit tight at the top end, but it isn’t hard to remove.
During my testing, I confirmed a full battery charge takes six hours. Priority includes a wall charger, and its LED light turns from red to green when the battery is fully charged.
Display/Controller:
The Glide’s display/controller unit is easy to use and understand. It includes a power button and up/down buttons to select assist levels. The up button also doubles as an on/off switch for the lights, and the down button engages walk mode. A long press activates the dual functions of the up/down buttons.
The display is on the smaller side, which looks nice on the bike. Some text on the display is a bit small, but it’s easy to see your battery life, assist level, and speed as you ride.
One thing I found out is that the bike’s battery has to be switched on if it’s been sitting unused for a while. The power button is easy to reach, located at the top end of the battery’s underside. Between short breaks (up to a few days), the battery will stay awake, so you don’t have to switch it on repeatedly as you run errands.
Gear Range:
The Shimano Nexus three-speed hub offers adequate range for casual cruising on flat terrain and most hills, and the grip shifter is easy to use and understand. The shifter shows what gear you’re in, which is handy for novice riders. Throughout all my test rides, gear shifting has proven very reliable.
With only three gears, you will likely use all of them unless your area is dead flat. On flat terrain, I spent most of my time in gears 2 and 3. Gear 2 is low enough to get started in and allows you to cruise at a decent pace. If you want to ride at the bike’s max 20mph speed, it’s best to use gear 3. This provides a good cadence for shorter trips. For longer rides, a higher gear might be nice, but this bike isn’t built to cover huge distances.
For climbing hills, you’ll want to use the lowest gear, but it does the job. In gear 1, the Glide got me up the steepest road in my area with very little effort (in assist level 3), but switching to gears 2 and 3 challenged the motor, and the bike started slowing down.
Assist Power:
Priority describes the Glide’s front hub motor as a low drag unit. While it never fully decouples for friction-free coasting, it is designed to produce minimal drag. While pedalling the bike with a drained battery, I noticed the drag is pretty obvious at lower speeds but decreases when you get rolling at a good pace. With some speed, the drag is very minimal. Any level of pedal assist easily overrides the slight drag from the motor.
Assist level 1 offers enough power on flat terrain to make this 50 lbs bike pedal easier than a much lighter non-assisted bike. There’s just enough power to make the ride easy, but not enough to startle an inexperienced or cautious ebiker. Reaching the bike’s top assist speed would take significant effort, so use the higher levels to go faster.
Pedal assist levels 2 and 3 both offer a good amount of power. Level 2 is what most people will likely use most often on this bike, as it offers enough assist to make pedalling very easy and brings you up to speed quickly. I would top out at about 15-16mph pedalling casually in level 2.
Assist level 3 offers more power and torque, springs you off the line handily, and gets you up to max speed faster than level 2. Cruising at 20mph is easy to achieve in level 3 and gear 3. I rode over a bridge in level 3, and on this mellow incline, the assist power didn’t hesitate at all.
On steeper hills, you will want to use assist level 3 and the bike’s lowest gear. The motor will help quite a bit, but on steep grades, you can tell it’s working hard, and at a point, it will slow down. If you’ll be riding steep hills regularly, you might need more power than the Glide offers.
The Glide’s throttle is not powerful enough to jerk the bike forward, even in assist level 3. This is great for this bike’s intended rider – those who want assistance but don’t need a powerful, high-speed ebike. The throttle will get you up to max speed, but it won’t launch you up to 20mph at any surprising rate.
I tried to get the front wheel to spin out on gravel surfaces, but even at assist level 3/gear 1, and going up small gravel inclines, all I could get was a little blip before the wheel found traction. It seems to have very good control over this! On pavement, packed dirt paths, or grassy fields, the front wheel never spun out.
Quirks:
One thing I found a bit quirky about the bike’s behaviour is the front hub motor overdrives every time it kicks in – it typically keeps assisting for about a second after you’ve stopped pedalling. At first, this surprised me a bit, but it’s easy to get used to once you expect it. The Glide’s brake levers include motor shut-offs, so if you get startled by the overdriving and grab the brakes, it will cut the power off instantly.
Since the bike operates via a cadence sensor, I realized that if you rotate the crank inadvertently, the motor kicks in! A few times while walking with the bike, I felt it pull forward, and realized I was hitting the crank with my leg. Fortunately, the motor is not powerful enough that this ever caused an accident – just a little surprise.
I also realized that if you rotate the cranks slowly while cruising (not fast enough to gain speed), it causes the motor to start assisting. It’s weird, but once you know it happens, you can avoid it… or provoke some assistance with basically no effort!
Range:
The Glide’s range is listed at 20-60 miles depending on assist level, throttle usage, rider weight, terrain, etc. On my first charge, I got to 32.5 miles before power delivery started to falter. I mostly used assist levels 2 and 3, and rode almost entirely on flat terrain.
I rode the Glide until the battery completely died. The last bar of battery life didn’t last long, and when you get really low, the empty battery outline on the display starts flashing. From this point, the bike struggled to deliver consistent power. It would intermittently kick in when it was easier for the motor to assist (on flat ground or slight downhills), but as soon as it starts cutting out, don’t count on reliable assist power. At 34.5 miles, the bike was barely assisting at all.
I tried the throttle with the low battery warning flashing, and it did nothing. On another try, I got about a second of assist before it cut out again, and that was it.
On my second battery charge, I used assist levels 2 and 3 most often, and made a point of going up a hill on each ride. The battery provided reliable assistance up to about 63 miles, with the power output fading over the last few.
At 61.7 miles, I tried using level 3 assist to go up a hill, and the battery icon immediately went from one bar to empty and flashing. I rode down to a flatter area, and within one more mile, level 3 was barely providing power. I switched down to level 2 assist, but by 63 miles, it began struggling to assist, and the battery icon was flashing again. At this point, the throttle could barely keep me rolling along, and by 66 miles, it did nothing. I went down to level 1 assist, which continued to inconsistently try to assist my pedalling until I got home at 67.1 miles. It’s nice that the Glide’s power doesn’t immediately cut out, but once it starts to struggle, it’s time for a recharge.
If you drain the battery, the Glide is not terrible to ride, but there is some drag from the hub motor, especially when accelerating from a low speed. Once you get cruising, the drag reduces to a minimal level, and the narrow tires help this 50 lbs. bike cruise along relatively nicely.
Components:
The Glide’s Gates belt drive ran smoothly and quietly, and never worrying about greasing up your pants is nice! I expect it to perform well with little or no maintenance for quite some time.
In my opinion, the Glide’s tires are the perfect width for a commuter bike. They’re fast on pavement, but wide enough to provide some cushion on rougher surfaces like grass or gravel. The Glide is not an ideal bike for any terrain rougher than that.
The center mount kickstand is very handy – It’s not great on uneven ground, but works well on level surfaces. The water bottle mount inside the front triangle is a nice feature, too.
Priority’s Cruiser saddle is very cushy and comfortable, but I do not love the Glide’s plastic pedals, as they are a bit small and not that grippy. At least they’re included!
The fenders are great for staying clean and dry while commuting. I rode through a bunch of puddles on one ride, and only got a bit of splash on my lower pant legs. The bike got a bit splattered on the lower areas and the rear stays, but the top half of the bike remained very clean.
In all kinds of weather, the Glide’s hydraulic disc brakes offered ample braking power and consistent control.
Lights:
The Glide’s integrated lights got me home from outside of my small town just fine. They are definitely sufficient for urban riding. They’re OK for darker rural areas too, but those who regularly ride very dark roads might want a more powerful headlight.
The Glide’s lights are not automatic like they are on the Current Plus; you have to switch them on using the controller (but that’s easy). Finally, the brake light function is nice. It works reliably and adds a bit of safety when riding in traffic.
MSRP for the Priority Glide is $1799 USD – although for the rest of November, you’ll get $300 off for the ‘Month of Black Friday’. Frames come in Black or Navy.
