The Himiway Cruiser Step-Thru is not only suitable for the city, but it also wants to cut a good figure off-road. Because it doesn’t just have a large battery and powerful motor. It also offers a good lighting system, fenders, luggage rack, very wide tires, front suspension and decent brakes. It is also suitable for heavy people up to 160 kg – which is also a real rarity in the e-bike sector. The Himiway Cruiser Step-Thru is available for 1800 euros directly from Himiway (purchase link). A reasonable price.
optics and processing
The Himiway Cruiser Step-Thru is delivered partially assembled in a large box. First, the handlebars must be screwed on and the front wheel inserted. Then it’s time to mount the front fender and the front light. Next up are the pedals, taillight and luggage rack. Before the first ride, all screws should be tightened and the tires pumped up, optionally electrically. More about this here: Top 5: The best electric air pumps with battery for bikes and cars from 33 euros. In total we need about 1.5 hours for the construction. As an additional tool, we need a small open-end wrench to fix the nuts, which unfortunately is not included in the scope of delivery. We recommend a helmet for the ride. There are also smart ones: Indicators, emergency calls & music: That’s why a smart bike helmet is worth it.
Visually, the Himiway Cruiser Step-Thru is a real eye-catcher. This is mainly due to the bulky 26-inch fat bike tires with a width of 4 inches. But otherwise the Himiway Cruiser Step-Thru is anything but minimalist. Finally, Himiway has pretty much everything attached that one could wish for. The luggage rack with a chic wooden element, which Himiway calls the rear seat on their website, is particularly striking.
Himiway Cruiser Step-Thru Bilder
We have the Cruiser as a step-thru variant. However, it is also available as a normal step-over version, which we consider visually more successful. Nevertheless, those who may have problems getting on will be happy about the deep step-through option. We find the white finish to be less successful; we would have preferred a completely black variant for the Step-Thru. The cable management looks untidy. Too many cables run down from the handlebars.
Its massive appearance is also reflected in the high weight of 32 kg. The maximum payload of 160 kg is extremely high. This will please especially heavy people. But even those who attach a child seat, for example, benefit from the high maximum payload. With a height of 186 cm, we feel comfortable on the Himiway Cruiser. Himiway recommends a height of 160 cm to 195 cm. That sounds reasonable in our opinion.
Furnishing
The handlebar is clearly bent. This gives the Himiway Cruiser Step-Thru something cozy, a straight handlebar would look sportier. The handles are ergonomic and pleasant to the touch thanks to a soft synthetic leather. On the right is a throttle grip that accelerates the bike to 6 km/h. More is not allowed. The bell is conveniently located and elegantly hidden in the right brake handle.
The display is quite large, backlit and still sufficiently easy to read even in the sun. It has a USB-A port for charging smartphones. The bike computer’s control unit is located on the left side of the handlebars. Here the driver uses five buttons to control, among other things, the support level of the motor, the display and the light. The front light is extremely bright and directed. The rear light is also connected to the circuit and switches on and off with the front light. However, the rear light is a bit too bright and can dazzle other road users at night.
Drive
A fat bike rides a little more sluggishly than a bike with normal tires. We could already see that with the Eleglide Tankroll (test report) and notice it here too. The Himiway Cruiser Step-Thru is not particularly manoeuvrable, so it needs a larger turning circle. But it stays stoically on track and absorbs many bumps on the large and soft saddle even without rear wheel suspension. This is not only practical in the forest with a lot of roots. It’s also easy to drive up curbs in the city. The decent suspension fork, which can be adjusted in terms of hardness, also helps here, but lacks damping. Also noticeable, the driving noise is higher due to the larger contact surface of the 4-inch wide tires on the asphalt.
Nevertheless, riding the e-fatbike is a lot of fun. Hardly anything upsets the Himiway Cruiser Step-Thru, it simply rolls over minor problems that would have been insurmountable obstacles with normal bicycles. It simply doesn’t matter to the e-fatbike whether it’s riding on asphalt, meadows, snow, sand or mud. We are also grateful for the mudguards that came with the bike, even if we did find a few splashes on the trouser leg when driving through the puddle at full speed.
The Tektro disc brakes have a diameter of 180 mm. In our case, they grip really well without us having to readjust. That can be coincidence. With other cheap e-bikes from China, we often have to do this.
Motor
The rear motor has the permitted 250 watts of nominal power and an above-average maximum torque of 80 nm. As a result, the Himiway Cruiser Step-Thru pulls strongly and easily brings even heavy drivers to the permitted 25 km/h. Moderate increases are easily possible with the drive. The gear ratio of the 7-speed Shimano gears does not go down low enough for steep mountains. This is where the 6 km/h throttle grip can help. As is usual with rear motors, the motor of the Himiway Cruiser Step-Thru takes about half a pedal turn to get going. He also runs after just as long. When you apply the brakes, the engine stops immediately.
The battery, which can be removed using a key, has a high capacity of 840 Wh. According to Himiway, drivers should be able to travel 56 to 96 kilometers with it. As always, this is measured under ideal conditions with a light rider, good weather, straight track and so on. We assume that a driver weighing around 90 kg with full support level in city traffic with a lot of stop-and-go can easily cover 45 km before the battery of the Himiway Cruiser Step-Thru has to be connected to the mains again.
Preis
The Himiway Cruiser Step-Thru costs just under 1800 euros on the Himiway website (purchase link). Here in the price comparison we show the cheapest E-Fabikes.
Conclusion
The Himiway Cruiser Step-Thru simply rolls normal bikes down with its fat tires. In addition, it comes with lots of equipment such as a good lighting system, mudguard, luggage rack and step-through option. The brakes also grip well, the battery is huge and the motor is extremely powerful. This is particularly advantageous for those who want to take advantage of the extraordinarily high maximum payload of 160 kg.
The components are okay for the price. However, we would have wished for a finer gear shift. The cable management also seems chaotic at times and the handlebars could have been a bit sportier.