Priority Bicycles Current eBike Review

Through our detailed tower ebike score system, our professional ebike mechanics here at the Tower eBike Repair Shop aim to alleviate the stress in choosing your next ebike.  With all bikes reviewed on the same guiding principles, our ebike reviews come stacked with extensive video and written content detailing everything from purchase experience, to maintenance years down the road so you're able to choose the best bike for you.

DISCLAIMER - Priority and The Current are trademarks of Priority Outdoor Products, LLC, and use of that trademark in this review does not indicate that the reviewer is claiming any interest in the mark or any affiliation with or sponsorship or endorsement by Priority Outdoor Products, LLC.

Priority Current eBike Review

Join our eBike experts as they dive into the Priority Current electric bike. Through a detailed scoring system our mechanics review every aspect of the Priority eBike. Read the full review below detailed with specific commentary videos and content diving deeper into the Priority Current.

Unboxing and Assembling a Priority Current

As a direct to consumer electric bike company, once you order online from Priority, they will ship you your bike in a box that will require assembly. Some brands do a better or worse job of handling this purchase and delivery process. How quickly can you expect your bike? What does the package on a Priority bike generally look like? These questions are all detailed in our unboxing and assembly guide. Our ebike experts run through the electric bike purchase, unboxing, and assembly process for a Priority Current.

Priority Current Unboxing

Follow along with our electric bike expert as we unbox a new Priority electric bike.

Priority Current Assembly

Enjoy our complimentary Priority bike assembly walkthrough video with some tips form our electric bike mechanic.

Operation, Troubleshooting and Maintenance of your Priority Current

There are a lot of common issues that customers may have with electric bikes. Our team of electric bicycle experts has put together this resource to help you self diagnose some of the more common issues you may encounter with your Priority Current.

How to Turn On a Priority Electric Bike

First things first - how do you turn on your Priority ebike? Here we show how to turn on the Priority display screen.

Adjusting Hydraulic Brakes on a Priority Electric Bike

Adjusting the hydraulic brakes on your Priority is a meaningful task. eBikes require more frequent brake adjustments due to their increased speeds and mileage capacities.

How to Fix a Flat Bike Tire on a Priority Current

Electric bikes are heavier than regular bikes and the general rider will put many more miles on them, so one of the biggest pains in the neck you may face are flat tires. Our ebike experts show you how to fix a front or rear flat on your Priority ebike, and more importantly give you advice on what you can do to minimize flats going forward.

Priority Current Bike Tune Up

Because you tend to put a lot more miles on an ebike when compared to a regular bike, tune ups become all the more important. eBike owners can expect to tune up their electric bike at least once a month. Most people have never even had their regular bike tuned up before, so our experts run through the common tune ups so you can self tune your bike at home. With Priority selling a direct to consumer ebike, it's a good idea to take your eBike into a shop for a tune up right after initial assembly. Our electric bike experts run you through the how, why, and what to expect during a tune up.

Priority Bike Maintenance

There are a few things you will want to be proactive about maintaining on your Priority electric bike. A little maintenance can really help you avoid some annoying issues.

Priority Current

We are going to be reviewing and rating the Priority Current Electric Bike from the company Priority Bicycles. This company has a popular name within the bike industry. They aren’t just in the e-bike niche, however. They make tons of different electric bikes and road-style regular bikes as well. They've got quite a big team over there. The Priority Current model is their take on a road-style electric bike.

It's a mid-drive belt-driven bike. It's built for a commuter or someone who lives in a city who is looking for a little bit more assistance in speed to get from point A to point B a bit quicker. The Priority Current scored a 73 on our 100-point Tower e-Bikes Score; which rates it at an outstanding e-bike. This is one of the better e-bikes we have seen come into our shop here.

But before we get into the score, I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Stephan Aarstol. I am the CEO of Target e-Bike Repair Shop here in San Diego. We see thousands of e-bikes a day come into our repair shop. After we rate and review each bike we see, we accumulate a nice central score from our Tower e-Bikes Score. And these reviews are all done by our professional mechanics. Touching back on the Tower e-Bikes Score, it is a hundred-point scale deriving from seven key attributes that score each bike.

They can score between a one and a 10 on each; one being the lowest and 10 being the highest. Then, we normalize each of these scores to give it a central 100-point scale which, at the end of the day, gives consumers and those electric bike fanatics a convenient way to compare and contrast electric bikes, especially if they're in between certain models or certain brands.

These seven key attributes are the following:

• Materials Quality
• Mechanical Quality
• Low Maintenance
• Hill-climbing Ability
• Range
• Comfort
• Universality

All seven make up the Tower e-Bikes score. The last two, comfort and universality, make up what’s called the Specialty Score. This is for a lot of the high-end bikes or certain types of bikes that are specifically sized for different people. It could be that they aren’t made for comfort or it could be that this is a road bike or a mountain bike that is made to be aggressive. We differentiate those rankings out for the Specialty Score so that the score works better for some bikes.

It's similar to the wine spectator score if you're familiar with that. A lot of mountain bikes aren't meant for riders of a certain size. They may not even have been made for comfortability, especially for a road bike that was made for speed as the end goal.

Let's get into the Tower e-Bikes Score here first.

Priority Current Materials Quality - 7/10

The first attribute we looked at on the Priority Current was materials quality. And this is a pretty important attribute to look at. It's the attribute we look at first because if a company cheaps out on materials quality, they'll usually cheap out on other areas as well. A lot of e-bikes on the market focus on marketing the battery, range, and battery size. They don't spend a lot of time looking at the components of the bike. Whether that be the pedals, the grips, or the things surrounding the main frame of the bike. It's usually a good telltale sign if they do have cheap parts surrounding the bike that they may have cheaped out on other areas.

The materials quality on the Priority Current scores a seven out of 10. This is a relatively good score. It has a nice stainless steel frame. It comes with nice seats, pedals, and grips. It does have nice WTB tires on it. Again, the materials surrounding the bike are quite good. They're going to last a good amount of time.

It scored a 7 out of 10 on materials quality.

Priority Bicycles Mechanical Quality - 6/10

The next attribute we looked at here is mechanical quality. This is another telltale sign if they're cheaping out. Mechanical quality separates good electric bikes from bad ones. When you're looking at mechanical quality, remember that electric bikes are still bikes at the end of the day. They still have gears, sprockets, FreeWheel derailleurs, and the rest. They're still fundamentally bikes.

The Priority Current scores a six out of 10 on mechanical quality. It has nice premium hydraulic brakes, which is nice and it just has good mechanical soundness to it. You can tell Priority has made a lot of bikes before and they put a lot of their good mechanics on this bike during the product development stages.

The only thing we didn’t appreciate here is that it doesn’t have enough suspension to it. You are going to feel a lot of bumps. However, this bike was made for city riding and smooth pavements. That’s something to think about.

Priority Current Maintenance - 10/10

The next attribute we looked at is maintenance. This bike scored a perfect 10. This is in large part due to it having great mechanical components as we touched on earlier. You're not going to have to bring this bike into a repair shop often.

It has hydraulic brakes, they're going to self-adjust. A lot of the quality of the components is nice and sound. It's a belt-drive bike, meaning it doesn't have a chain. Meaning that you won’t ever be burdened with having to deal with a rusty chain.

It almost is a bike that you're pretty much never going to have to do any maintenance too, which is nice.

Priority Current Hill-climbing Ability - 10/10

And then the next attribute we looked at here is hill-climbing ability. This bike scored a 10 out of 10 in this category. It has an amazing granny gear style to it. Not only does it have a nice 500-watt mid-drive motor to power you along, but you have gearing here to switch through different gears to help get you where you need to go. Again, it's a mid-drive motor, a lot of that torque and power is coming from the mid-drive power, which gives it outstanding torque. This is going to cruise up hills easily. We took it to a hill here in San Diego and it blew past a lot of other electric bikes.

It scored a 10 out of 10 here.

Priority Current Battery Range - 7/10

The next attribute we looked at was range. With the components here, the Priority Current has a 500-watt, 14-amp power, 48-volts system with Samsung battery cells. It's important that it has Samsung battery cells because that is a reputable brand name.

I'll touch on here quickly why it's important that it has Samsung cells. When you're shopping for an electric bike, there are going to be electric bikes on the market that don't quite state what cells are inside of the battery. You're going to want to get a battery that has Samsung, LG, or Panasonic cells. Those are trusted brand name companies that produce quality components and have high-quality standardizations. If you get a battery that has Samsung, LG, or Panasonic cells, you're getting a trusted battery that should output a good amount of range and last through a good amount of time.

If a company doesn’t state what battery cells they have in their bikes, that might be a red flag. They might have included non-standard, non-branded, or low-quality cells in their products. There's quite a difference between brand-named cells and low-quality batteries on the market. Again, we tested it and it scored pretty well. It took us quite far.

It scored a 7 out of 10 on the range.

Priority Bikes Comfort - 3/10

Then the next attribute we looked at here is comfort. Even though it is a road bike, it’s still highly comfortable. However, it doesn't have too much suspension. The positioning of the rider is a little bit hunched forward as well, but that is typical of road bikes. If you're looking for a nice road bike or a commuter bike, this is the best bike I think you can get on the market. It's a sound road bike.

There are a couple others that are great as well. This bike really is one that you should consider first when shopping. However, if you're just looking for an electric bike to get you from point A to point B, maybe it’d be best to look at a couple of different areas. Comfort should be at the top of everyone’s preference on an e-bike. No matter how good the bike is, if it’s not to your liking, you would neglect to ride it more often than not. The only way you're going to want to ride the bike is if it's comfortable. It’s something to consider.

On comfort, it scored a three out of 10. Like I said before, there are some areas that it could probably improve on, but again, it is a road bike. It's just not made for everyone.

Universality - 7/10

The last attribute we looked at was the universality of the bike. It is fitted for a lot of different riders.

The Priority Current comes in different sizes and the handlebars are highly adjustable. Even if you’re on the taller side, you can get on this bike with ease.

The Priority Current scored pretty well on the universality. It got a seven out of 10. That wraps up the Tower e-Bikes Score.

Tower e-Bike Score (73) and Specialty Score (82)

Again, it scored a 73 out of a hundred giving it a rating of an outstanding e-bike. Let's touch on the Specialty Score. To recap, the Specialty Score omits the universality and the comfort rating of the bike. On the Specialty Score, the Priority Current scored an 82. It did score quite higher on the Specialty Score.

Priority Current Weight (49 lbs)

Then we're going to look at weight here. The bike weighs roughly 49 pounds. That's ideal for a bike, especially an electric bike as a road bike. It's going to be easy to pick up this bike at 49 pounds.

The final thing we'll look at here is just the looks at the bike. It does look like a typical road bike. It does have the battery and everything else on the inside of the frame of the bike, which is nice. It gives it a look of just a regular road bike. At first glance, a lot of people probably wouldn't even be able to tell that the bike is an electric bike. Especially with that mid-drive motor, there's no hub motor. I think it has a nice sleek look to it.

Low Proprietary Risk Score - 3/10

The final thing we'll look at here is something that's also important. It's not built into either of those scores, but it is something we like to add to them. It is the low proprietary risk score. With this score, we look at how much of the hardware has proprietary parts. For example, if the battery of your bike dies, can it be replaced by a different brand of battery cells or will you need to contact the mother company from which you bought the product?

Especially being the CEO here at our Tower e-Bike Repair Shop, we see certain bikes come in all the time. Sometimes a bike will come in and the customer will need a new controller. What if the company they bought their bike from is out of business and they can't find the controller? That means we can't service the bike, unfortunately. This score is looking at how likely the company is going to be around in the future? If they do go out of business, are you going to be able to find parts to fix your bike further down the line?

As I said before, Priority is a highly reputable brand. They make an array of different electric bikes. But on the low proprietary risk score, the bike scored a three. It's a pretty diversified company. But there are some non-standard parts of this bike. The tire size is a little bit strange. And again, the battery in the frame is especially proprietary.

If you have an issue with its current battery, the only place you can get a replacement battery is going to be from Priority themselves. We have dealt with priority before, especially with our customer service, and we're repairing some of our customer's bikes here and they are pretty good about sending replacement parts. They are easily reachable and they are quite good at sorting customers out. It did score a three out of 10 on our proprietary risk rating because there are some proprietary parts here on the bike.

These are important things to consider, especially when shopping for a bike and spending a lot of money on it. Make sure that it has parts that you can get when you eventually have it repaired.

 

That is our Tower e-Bike Score on the Priority Current. Check out our site for more Tower Scores and a growing list of other e-bikes that we see come through here on a repair shop.

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DISCLAIMER - Priority and The Current are trademarks ofPriority Outdoor Products, LLC, and use of that trademark in this review does not indicate that the reviewer is claiming any interest in the mark or any affiliation with or sponsorship or endorsement by Priority Outdoor Products, LLC.