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Feb 24, 2025

Test-Riding The Volt Burlington Electric Bike

The Volt Burlington is easy to mount and has a slim battery As age creeps forward more back aches set in, leg cramps become an abundance, and joints begin making worrying noises. When Volt sent me the

The Volt Burlington is easy to mount and has a slim battery

As age creeps forward more back aches set in, leg cramps become an abundance, and joints begin making worrying noises. When Volt sent me the Burlington electric bike to test, I was initially fit. Two days later, I had a cracked knee and hadn’t even ridden the bike yet.

I desperately needed exercise after resting it for some time. Luckily, the Burlington eased my nerves from doing further damage. Being a step-through meant it was easy to mount, it felt capable over most terrain, and its powerful motor did most of the legwork.

I’m 5’11" and sometimes finding a comfortable riding position can be difficult, but the Burlington’s upright stance made this and tackling a rural test route, containing steep hills and bends through tarmac and gravel, easy.

Its 27.5 x 2-inch tyres are suited to tarmac but performance is great over loose gravel, with heaps of grip in reserve. The SR Suntour lockout suspension, although set to open, still felt slightly bouncy over larger ruts, but this isn’t a mountain bike.

It does a mighty job at smoothing out road imperfections and the eight-speed gearing system provides versatility over different terrains.

The Volt Burlington feels solid and is packed with tech to boot.

Likewise, its ride quality is a highlight, and regardless of where you end up, the Burlington will offer an excellent balance of comfort, responsiveness and efficiency.

A small handlebar-mounted LCD display makes it easy to monitor speed and battery level while turning on the lights, and flicking between the four assist modes is done via the display’s large plus and minus buttons.

Along the route, I was faced with a steep incline (a 10% gradient). Not quite up to task with my dodgy knee, engaging the power setting saw the Burlington effortlessly pull itself up with little input needed. Glancing at the display on straighter sections in this mode also showed a 16.2 mph top speed and flicking to eco mode on downhill sections regenerated any lost battery.

As expected ,you can feel the power difference when switching from low to normal mode and with the latter engaged, the speed limiter deploys at 16mph. Although, hitting 20 mph isn’t an issue if you do the legwork.

The Burlington comes with keys and a fob and although the latter sounds techy, starting the electric bike is straightforward. Holding down a button found on the battery for a few seconds initiates lights, you then scan your fob against the LCD screen and that’s it.

All Burlington’s come with a luggage rack but my loaner had an additional side-mounted storage bag which was ideal for carrying the battery charger. It wasn’t an OEM bag, but Volt offer similar for £127 ($159) extra.

The Volt Burlington easily tackles varied terrain

Leaving your electric bike alone outside may cause concern, but Volt has fitted the rear wheel with an ABUS integrated security lock although buyers can equip an optional £199.90 ($251.67) GPS tracker.

Travelling far? The 36v removable tube battery has a claimed 60-mile range and will charge from empty to full in around three hours.

The Burlington is a great all-rounder. It’ll easily tackle rougher surfaces before settling back into a comfortable cruiser. Similarly, it’s fast, will return excellent efficiency, and most importantly, easy to ride.

It is on the heavy side at 24.1kg (incl. battery) and I found it difficult to maneuver through tighter spaces. But if you have the room, this electric bike is certainly worth it.

Special mentions: Sinclair Cycles, Loch Leven

Price as tested: £2,199 ($2,768)

Motor: 250W SpinTech with Bafang motor

Range: 60 miles

Weight: 21.5kg without battery/ 24.1kg with battery.

Battery: 504Wh Removable Panasonic electric bike tube battery