EZ Transit E-Trike Review: A First-Time Rider Walks Through Every Control and Takes It for a Spin

Meet the EZ Transit: A First-Time Rider's Walkaround

Some of my favorite footage to go back through is the first ride. Not the polished product overview, not the spec rundown, but the moment someone climbs onto an e-trike they've never ridden and finds out in real time whether it works for them. You can't fake that reaction. Either the trike wins a rider over in the first few hundred feet or it doesn't, and you can hear which way it's going in their voice.

This video is a good example. Our test rider had never been shopping for an e-bike. He'd never ridden this model. He started out carefully, admitted he didn't know how a trike was supposed to turn, and by the end of the ride he was saying he needed one for every member of his family. I want to walk you through what he found, in the order he found it, because I think it's one of the more honest looks at what owning one of our electric tricycles actually feels like.

The trike is the sixthreezero EZ Transit. Before he rode a single block, he stood next to it and went through every control one at a time. I'm going to do the same here, and I'll add some context on why each control matters. If you're new to e-trikes, understanding the cockpit before you push off is half the battle. Most of the nervousness people feel on a first ride comes from not knowing what a button does, not from the riding itself.

Drive and reverse

The first two buttons he pointed out were drive and reverse. That's not something you find on every e-trike, and it's worth slowing down on, because it solves a problem most people don't think about until they own a trike.

A bicycle is easy to back up. You hop off, grab the bars, and roll it backward a few feet. A trike is wider and heavier, and it doesn't pivot the same way, so backing it out of a garage, a tight parking spot or a narrow side yard can turn into an awkward shuffle. Having a dedicated reverse mode means you can stay in the seat and ease it backward under power instead of wrestling it around by hand.

My advice with reverse is simple: use drive for everything by default, and treat reverse as a slow, deliberate maneuvering tool. Look behind you, go at a crawl, and switch back to drive once you're pointed the right way. If backing out of tight spaces is a regular part of your day, it's worth browsing our electric trikes with a reverse gear to see how much easier it makes the routine.

The thumb throttle

Next up was the thumb throttle. Push it with your thumb and the motor moves the trike without you pedaling at all. Later in the ride, when he tried it for the first time, his reaction was that it picks right up, and the display showed him at about 10 miles an hour a few seconds later.

A throttle earns its keep in a few specific situations. Starting from a dead stop is the big one, since that first push is where a loaded trike asks the most of your legs. Crossing an intersection is another; you want to get across smoothly without grinding through the first pedal strokes. And sometimes your legs are simply done for the day and you'd like to get home. If those moments sound familiar, our e-trikes with throttle control are built around that kind of on-demand help.

One habit I'd recommend for anyone new to a throttle: feather it the first few times. Press gently, feel how quickly the motor responds, then build from there. It takes about a minute to get a sense of it, and after that it's second nature.

Two brakes, and both of them lock

He showed one brake lever on one side and another on the opposite side, and he pointed out that both of them lock. This is one of those small features that makes a bigger difference than it sounds like it should.

A trike stands up on its own. There's no kickstand to fuss with and no bike to lean against a wall. But standing up and staying put are two different things. On even a slight slope, a trike can start to roll, and the moment it tends to do that is exactly when you're least ready for it: halfway through climbing on or stepping off.

Locking brakes work as a parking brake. My routine, and the one I'd suggest to anyone, goes like this. Lock the brakes before you get on. Get settled, feet on the pedals, hands on the bars. Then unlock and ride. When you stop, lock them again before you step off. It takes two seconds and it takes away one of the most common sources of a wobbly first mount.

The 7-speed shifter

Then he moved to the gear shifter for the Shimano 7-speed. One direction shifts down, the other shifts up, and it controls the derailleur that moves the chain between gears.

If you haven't ridden a geared bike in a while, here's the short version. Lower gears are easier to turn and are what you want for starting, climbing and moving slowly. Higher gears take more effort per pedal stroke but move you farther with each one, which is what you want once you're up to speed on flat ground. Shift while you're pedaling, ease off the pressure a little as you click, and you'll be fine. You'll see in a moment that the very first thing he did when he started riding was shift down from seventh into first while pedaling, which is exactly right.

The display

The last thing on the walkaround was the console. You turn it on and off with a single button; hold it and it powers up. Once it's on, he read off what it shows: battery level, miles per hour, the wattage the motor is putting out, the distance you've traveled, and even the temperature outside.

Each of those numbers is useful in its own way. Battery level is the obvious one, since it lets you plan a ride and know when to head home. Speed matters more than people expect on a trike, because it helps you set a comfortable pace while you're learning. The wattage readout is my favorite for new riders. Watch it while you change assist levels or press the throttle, and you'll quickly understand how hard the motor is working in different situations. That understanding translates directly into getting more out of each charge. Distance is nice for tracking your rides, and the temperature reading is a small bonus that tells you whether you need a jacket for the trip back.

Five levels of pedal assist, plus zero

Pedal assist is controlled by two buttons, one for up and one for down. He clicked all the way up to five on camera, then brought it back down to one. And he made a point I'd repeat to every new rider: if it's on zero, there's no pedal assist at all, and, in his words, you're going to have to work your thighs. His suggestion was to keep it on at least one.

It's worth understanding how pedal assist and gears work together, because people mix them up all the time. Gears change your leverage. They decide how hard each pedal stroke feels and how far it moves you. Pedal assist changes how much the motor adds on top of what you're putting in. They're two separate dials, and the best rides come from using both.

Here's how I'd approach it on a first ride. Start in a low assist level, one or two, while you're getting a feel for the trike. That keeps everything calm and predictable. Use the gears to keep your pedaling comfortable, not too fast and spinning, not too slow and grinding. As you get comfortable, bump the assist up when you hit a headwind, a hill or tired legs, and bring it back down when you're cruising. Lower assist levels generally ask less of the battery, so riding with a lighter touch on the buttons is also how you stretch a charge.

Zero has its place too. If you want a real workout, or you're trying to make the battery last on a longer outing, turning the assist off and pedaling on your own is always an option. It's just not where most people want to live day to day.

Adjustable seat and handlebars, no tools needed

He pointed out that the seat adjusts in several different ways, and so do the handlebars, using quick releases. No tools needed.

I can't overstate how much this matters. A trike that's set up for someone else will feel wrong for you, and most of the discomfort people blame on the trike itself is really a fit problem. If your knees are coming up too high, the seat is probably too low. If you're reaching for the bars or your shoulders are tight, the handlebars need to come closer or higher. With quick releases, you can make small changes on the spot, ride a block, and adjust again until it feels natural. If you're not sure where to start, our BodyFit fitting guide walks you through it based on your own measurements.

A practical tip: if more than one person in your household is going to ride the same trike, mark your preferred seat height with a small piece of tape or a paint pen. Quick releases make swapping between riders fast, and a reference mark makes it fast and accurate.

A removable, lockable battery

The battery has a lock. Turn it one way and the battery is secured to the trike; turn it the other and you can remove it easily. That gives you two things at once.

The first is flexibility in charging. If your trike lives in a garage, a shed or a spot with no handy outlet, you can pull the battery and charge it inside. The second is peace of mind. Locked in place, the battery isn't something a passerby can walk off with while you're inside a store. Make it a habit to check that the battery is locked before every ride.

Front and rear baskets

He showed a mounting spot for a front basket, and noted that the front basket just happened to be in there that day. In the back there's a basket for storing things. Later in the ride, he brought this up again when he was thinking about using the trike for errands: it's got two baskets, and he said he could carry lots of things.

Storage is one of the quiet reasons people end up loving trikes. A bicycle with a full load can feel tippy and awkward. A trike carries weight low and stable, so grocery runs, library trips and picking up a few things from the hardware store become easy. If carrying capacity is high on your list, take a look at our electric trikes with a large basket, and our sixthreezero baskets if you want to add or swap storage.

A loading tip: put heavier items in the bottom of the basket and toward the center of the trike, and keep the front basket for lighter things you want to grab quickly, like a phone, keys or a water bottle. A well-balanced load makes the trike feel exactly the same as it does empty.

A rear bumper

He also called out the bumper on the back. It's a small detail, but on a trike it makes sense. The rear of a trike is wide, and between parking next to a car, rolling into a garage and using reverse in a tight spot, it's the part most likely to bump into something. A bumper gives you a little margin while you're learning the trike's footprint.

The headlight

The very last thing he showed, after the ride was over, was the headlight. To turn it on, you press the up button and hold it, and it comes right on. Even if you mostly ride in daylight, it's worth knowing how to switch the light on before you need it. Rides have a way of running later than planned, and being seen matters as much as seeing.

Easy on, easy off

One more comment came at the end of the video, and it belongs with the practical details: he said getting on and off was easy. For a lot of riders, that's the deciding factor. If swinging a leg over a high bar is a problem for your knees, hips or balance, a low frame changes everything about how often you'll actually ride. Our easy-to-mount e-trikes with a low step-thru are worth a look if that's your priority.

His last line on the walkaround, before he started pedaling, was simple: she's pretty cool, and he liked it. Then he said he was ready to roll.

Shifting down and feeling the assist kick in

The ride starts the way I'd want every first ride to start. He began pedaling forward, noticed the derailleur was sitting in seventh gear, and shifted down into first while he was pedaling, counting out loud as he went: six, five, four, three, two. Then, right as he got into the low gear, the pedal assist came on and his reaction was pure surprise. Oh, look at this.

That moment is worth explaining for anyone who hasn't ridden with pedal assist before. The motor doesn't feel like a motorcycle engine or a car accelerator. It feels like your own legs suddenly got stronger. You're still pedaling, still in control, but every stroke goes further than you expect. He put it plainly: he was pedaling, the motor was assisting him, and it was a very powerful motor. A moment later he shifted up into second gear and kept going.

His first verdict, maybe a minute into the ride: very easy, and a nice stable platform. That phrase, stable platform, comes up again and again through the rest of the video. It's the thing that stood out to him most.

The steering lesson

Here's my favorite part of the whole video, because it's honest and it's something nearly every new trike rider runs into.

As he came up on his first turn, someone from our crew off camera reminded him that when you're turning, it's all in the handlebars. He laughed and said that's a good thing to know, because he would have leaned to the inside, like on a Harley. A moment later he added that you could use your weight a little when you're turning, and he was told that's true, but mostly it's all in the steering.

I love that he said it out loud, because almost everyone who grew up on a bicycle or a motorcycle has the same instinct. On two wheels, you turn by leaning. Your body and the bike tip into the corner together, and the bars follow. It's so automatic that most people don't even know they're doing it.

A trike doesn't work that way. It has three points of contact with the ground and it stays flat through a turn. You point the handlebars where you want to go and the trike goes there. If you lean hard into a turn the way you would on a motorcycle, you're not helping the trike turn; you're just shifting your weight around on top of something that's already steering itself. A small shift of your weight toward the inside of the turn can feel natural and a little reassuring, and later in the ride you'll hear him mention leaning slightly to the inside on a right-hand turn. But the steering is doing the work.

If you're coming from two wheels, here's how I'd retrain the habit. Find an empty parking lot or a quiet street. Ride slowly in wide circles, first one direction, then the other, and focus on keeping your shoulders level and simply turning the bars. Then make the circles a little tighter. Within ten minutes, most people stop fighting the trike and start trusting it. The leaning instinct doesn't disappear entirely, and it doesn't need to. You just stop relying on it.

The other thing to keep in mind: take turns slower than you think you need to while you're learning. Because a trike stays flat, it's very stable going straight and at moderate speeds through corners, but it's still smart to slow down before the turn rather than in the middle of it.

Coasting and testing both brakes

Once he was through the first turn, he noted that it coasts really nicely, and then he did something I wish every new rider would do: he tested the brakes right away, before he needed them. He tried the rear brake, then the front, and his conclusion was that it brakes really well.

Testing your brakes early in every ride, especially your first, takes all of five seconds. Squeeze each lever on its own at a low speed and feel how the trike responds. You learn how much pressure it takes to slow down and how much it takes to stop, and you build confidence that you can stop whenever you want to. That confidence makes everything that comes after more relaxed.

Sitting up high and not having to balance

At around four miles an hour he said it was still really stable, and he added two observations that I think capture why so many people choose a trike. First, he said he likes sitting up high because you can see around yourself. Second, he said he likes that it's a trike because he can just cruise. You don't have to balance like you're on a bicycle.

That second point is the heart of it. On a bicycle, a part of your attention is always on balance, especially at low speeds, at stop signs and when you're starting from a standstill. On a trike, that part of your brain gets to switch off. You can stop, sit, look around, wave at a neighbor and start again without ever thinking about putting a foot down. For a lot of riders, that's the difference between riding once in a while and riding every day.

Then he shifted up into fifth gear and kept rolling.

Trying the throttle

A little further down the road, he said he was going to try the throttle a little bit. The response was immediate. It picked right up, and the display read 10 miles an hour. As he watched the speed tick up through eight, nine and ten, his comment was the same as before: a very, very stable platform.

What I notice when I watch this section is how calm he sounds. That's what you want from a throttle. It shouldn't be startling. It should feel like a smooth, predictable push that you control with your thumb, and that's how he described it.

Progressive brakes on the way downhill

Coming up on a downhill, he said the brakes are progressive, and that they felt very nice. Then he let the trike roll down the hill, just coasting at about seven miles an hour, and said it was very easy.

Progressive is a word worth understanding. It means the braking force builds smoothly as you squeeze the lever harder, instead of grabbing all at once. A light squeeze slows you a little. A firmer squeeze slows you more. There's no sudden lurch. On a downhill, that's exactly what you want, because it lets you hold a steady, comfortable speed by modulating the levers rather than alternating between rolling free and stopping hard. If you're new to riding downhill on a trike, pick a speed you're comfortable with before you start down, and use gentle, steady pressure on both brakes to hold it.

Leaning back and cruising

Once he had the basics down, his comments shifted from figuring things out to simply enjoying the ride. One of the first things he called out was the back rest. He liked that he could just lean back and cruise.

That's a bigger deal than it sounds. On a lot of bikes, your back and core are working the entire ride to hold you in position. Having something to lean against lets your upper body relax, which takes pressure off your lower back and makes longer rides far more comfortable. It also changes the mood of the ride. Leaning back while you pedal along a quiet street feels less like exercise and more like a stroll.

A right turn, and still very stable

He took a right-hand turn a little later, said the brakes were good, mentioned leaning slightly to the inside, and repeated, very stable. Then he said something I appreciated. Since it was his first time on the trike, he wasn't going to go real fast, but he was still doing nine miles an hour and doing really well.

That's the right mindset for a first ride on anything. You don't need to find the top speed on day one. You need to get comfortable with how the trike starts, stops and turns, and let speed come later. His next comment was that it was fun, followed by a line that made the whole crew laugh: he needed to get one of these for every member of his family.

Replacing short car trips

Here's where he started thinking past the test ride. He said he could see it replacing the car for short trips, like going to the grocery store or just getting around town. And he pointed out, again, that it has two baskets, so he could carry lots of things.

I hear this from riders all the time, and it's one of the most practical reasons to own an e-trike. A big share of the driving most of us do is short, local and repetitive: a few miles to the store, the pharmacy, the post office, a friend's house. Those are exactly the trips where an e-trike shines. There's no parking stress, the baskets hold the shopping, and you arrive having been outside instead of in traffic. Later in the ride he made the money side of it plain too: he wasn't wasting a cent of gas, and at current prices, he said, that's fantastic.

A little more throttle, and a suspension that isn't too stiff

At the next corner he was asked whether he wanted to go right or left, picked right, and gave it a little throttle on the way up. Up we go, he said, and he called out the speed as it climbed on the display. His reaction was that this was great, and he added that the suspension was not too stiff.

Suspension tuning is a balancing act. Too soft and the trike feels floaty and vague. Too stiff and every crack in the road goes straight into your wrists and spine. Not too stiff is exactly what you want to hear from a rider on neighborhood streets, where the surface is mostly smooth but full of small bumps, seams and driveway lips.

Turning on a dime

He turned around to head back the same way, and his comment was that it turns on a dime. That came up again near the end of the video, when he swung it through another tight turn and said, look at this, that was impressive.

Tight turning matters more than people realize when they're shopping. Narrow streets, cul-de-sacs, driveways, bike paths with sharp bends, and the back of a parking lot all demand a trike that can come around without a three-point turn. When a first-time rider is impressed by how tightly it turns, that tells me the steering is doing exactly what it's supposed to do.

Stable at higher speed, and smooth while coasting

Back on a straight stretch, the display climbed a bit more and he said it was still stable. He also noticed again how nicely it coasts, and called the ride very smooth. A little while later he called it a beautiful neighborhood cruiser and said he'd have to get one.

Coasting is an underrated quality in any bike or trike. When something coasts well, you can stop pedaling, let it roll, and save both your legs and your battery. It's also a good sign that the wheels and drivetrain are rolling freely and not fighting you.

Being out in the open

Some of the most genuine moments in the video have nothing to do with specs. He talked about how nice it is being out in the open like this. You can smell the air. You can look at the trees. You can check out all the local businesses you'd drive right past in a car. Along the way he said good morning to people he passed and stopped to ask a neighbor how they were doing.

That's the side of e-trike riding I think gets lost in a lot of reviews. You're moving at a pace where you actually notice your neighborhood. You see the new shop that opened, the garden someone's been working on, the people walking their dogs. He summed it up a few times in a few different ways: beautiful out here today, and he said he hoped viewers were having as much fun as he was.

His summary, mid-ride

After making a U-turn and heading back, he gave the clearest summary of the whole video. Like he'd said before, he called it a very stable platform. It was really comfortable. You could control the speed really easily. The brakes were great, very progressive. And it was just nice being out there. He said he felt very fortunate to be testing it, and then added something that's stuck with me: he'd never been in the market for an e-bike, but now he thought he needed to get one.

The hill test

Of course, the real test for any e-trike is a hill. He pointed it uphill and said, let's see how she goes up the hill here. The answer came quickly: lots of power. Lots of power, no problem. And then the detail I'd pay most attention to if I were shopping: he said there was power in reserve.

Power in reserve is what separates a motor that just barely gets you up a hill from one that gets you up comfortably. If you're already at your limit halfway up, a steeper grade or a heavier load means you're pedaling hard or walking. If there's power left over, the hill feels like part of the ride rather than an obstacle. A couple of tips for hills on any e-trike: shift into a lower gear before the climb starts rather than in the middle of it, and bump up the assist level a notch or two if you want the motor doing more of the work.

The bump test

A little later he spotted a bump in the road and said he wanted to see how it handled it. He went over it and said, ah, no problem. Then he picked right back up again and kept going. A minute after that he said what he'd been showing all along: this is a blast.

He'd buy one, and his wife would borrow it

At the end of the ride, after the impressive tight turn and his comment about how easy it was to get on and off, he gave his final answer without being asked. He said he would absolutely get one of these. As a matter of fact, he thought he needed to. And then the line that got a laugh: he'd probably need to get one for his wife too, because she'd just borrow his.

I've been doing this a long time, and I don't think there's a better endorsement than that. A rider who walked in with no plans to buy an e-bike ends the day already thinking about who else in his house would want one. That's not a spec sheet talking. That's a ride that made sense to him.

Who this e-trike suits

Based on what he experienced on camera, here's who I'd point toward the EZ Transit.

First-time e-riders are a natural fit. He had never ridden this model, didn't know how a trike steered, and still felt comfortable within minutes. The combination of a stable three-wheel platform, low assist levels to start with and a throttle you can ease into makes the learning curve gentle. Riders who don't want to think about balance are another. If balance at stops, starts or low speeds is a concern for you, this is exactly the kind of ride he described: you don't have to balance like you're on a bicycle, you just cruise. Many of the riders who tell us that are seniors, and if that's you, our electric trikes for seniors collection is a good place to compare options.

Errand runners will appreciate it too. Two baskets, a back rest and a stable platform make it a strong match for short, practical trips around town, the grocery store runs he was already imagining. And riders who need to maneuver in tight spaces get both reverse and a turning circle tight enough to impress a first-timer.

First-ride checklist, straight from the video

If you're about to take your own first ride, here's what I'd do, pulled directly from what our test rider did right and what he learned along the way.

• Walk through every control before you roll: drive and reverse, throttle, both brakes, the shifter, the display, the assist buttons and the headlight.
• Lock both brakes before you get on, and lock them again before you get off.
• Adjust the seat and handlebars with the quick releases until your knees and shoulders feel relaxed.
• Check that the battery is locked in place.
• Start in a low gear and a low assist level, at least level one so the motor is helping.
• Test both brakes at low speed in the first minute of the ride.
• Steer through the handlebars rather than leaning like you would on two wheels.
• Feather the throttle the first few times so you learn how quickly it responds.
• Slow down before turns and use steady, progressive pressure on the brakes going downhill.
• Shift into a lower gear before a hill, and add a level of assist if you want more help.

I'd add one item he didn't mention on camera: wear a helmet. It's a simple habit that's worth building from the very first ride, and our sixthreezero helmets are designed with the same comfort-first approach as our trikes.

Comfort matters as much as power

When I listen back to his comments, the ones about power are great, but the ones about comfort are what would sell me. He talked about the back rest, about the suspension not being too stiff, about being able to lean back and cruise, and about how easy it was to get on and off. Power gets you up the hill. Comfort is what makes you want to go back out tomorrow. If comfort is at the top of your list, browse our most comfortable electric trikes and pay attention to seat shape, riding position and how easy the frame is to step through.

Try it for yourself

Watching someone else's first ride is helpful, but nothing replaces your own. If you're local, you can visit our store and take one for a spin. If you're ordering online, our 30-day test ride gives you time to ride it on your own streets, up your own hills and to your own grocery store before you decide.

The last thing our test rider did on camera was turn the trike off and show us how the headlight works, press and hold the up button, and it comes right on. Then he said thank you. Honestly, I'd say the same to him. It's rare to get such a clear picture of what a first ride on an e-trike really feels like: a little uncertain for the first turn, then steady, then fun, then the moment you start planning which errands you're going to do on it next week.

If you have questions about the EZ Transit or about which e-trike would fit you best, reach out to our team. We're happy to talk it through.