The Tower Beach Bum is a perfectly good electric cruiser made for easy riding, looking good, and has some subtle features to give it a little pop from the appealing price point. There’s not a lot of bells and whistles on the bike, and that’s the way I like it.

The Beach Bum is subtle and powerful enough to offer a nice easy ride to enjoy the scenery. If that’s what you’re expecting from an electric beach bike, then you’re in luck. Mechanically, the brakes are fine for mild speed, the shifter is appropriate for low-impact riding, the steering is relaxed and simple, and the big saddle with barefoot pedals are right on point.

Comfort, always comfort

Aside from the super plush seat and cozy grips, a fantastic addition to the Beach Bum are the Schwalbe Fat Frank tires. These are some of the best beach cruiser tires out there with flat prevention built-in, reflective white walls and plenty of cushion in the ride. The rest of the mechanical specs aren’t from the top shelf, but the price is right. A good set of tires isn’t a bad place to put some money in. If there was one thing I would change on the Beach Bum, it would be the brakes, simply because the top speed can be programmed for 20mph.

Fast electric beach bike

The Beach Bum has a user-programmable top speed. Using the display, it can be set past the default of 18mph up to the industry standard of 20, or a theoretical 28mph. Although the 500 W motor is tuned to provide great torque for hill climbing purposes, a high top speed is still on the table. Even though it’s possible to race around on a beach bike, I think Tower’s choice to limit the default to 18 mph is wise. It really sets an intentional precedent about the realistic performance of the system as a whole. With mechanical disc brakes on a bike of 51lbs (23.3kg), 28 is far too fast for me.

Easy bike, easy battery

In contrast to the smooth lines and elegant feel of the bike, the battery, controller and mount is down to business. The 48 V 14 Ah battery is a good healthy size, and that 8.3 lbs (3.7 kgs) of weight is mounted in the center of the bike on the back of the seatpost tube. It’s pretty easy to access, and also easy to remove the mount completely. While not common, this may be handy if the built-in controller needs replacing, a piece of cake to access. This battery and mount style is quite popular for conversions and hot-rodders on account of the ease of use. How did this workhorse wind up on a production beach cruiser?