Riding on my Electra Cruiser 1 has been going well the past week .
it seems the pedal forward bikes are the only ones my old knees will tolerate.
I needed a geared bike for the hilly cart paths around here .
So, I ordered a 2023 Electra Cruiser 7d in matte Indigo . A new color for this year .

Congrats! This is a good time of the year to be riding and I hope it allows you to ride with little or no pain.

Picked up my new 2023 Electra 7d cruiser this morning.
swapped out the saddle and pedals , made adjustments to fit , and added a Cateye bike computer.
I like it so far , but can see me changing things in the future.
Since the cranks are three piece square taper , but can’t swap out the chainring , I’ll probably swap the cranks off a mountain bike frame I built up last year so I can put on a smaller chain ring to enable me to use more of the 14-34 freewheel.
I can’t believe they still make freewheel hubs . I wish it were a cassette. And may change out the wheels one day and upgrade to 1x8 cassette drivetrain with a thumb shifter instead of the twist grip .
But for now , I’ll just ride it .

Nice ride. As for gearing, I'd say swap the freewheel for a DNP 11t-34t instead. It's less expensive, and gives a nice range.

Very nice color. Matte finishes are starting to grow on me.

an 11-34 would only add speed at the top end with the 11 tooth gear at the bottom in place of the 14 tooth I wasn’t using anyways.
I needed a smaller chainring up front , so this morning I stole a set of Shimano 170mm cranks with a 30 tooth changing off another bike , I hadn’t ridden in months .
Now my normal start up gear is second gear and I can utilize all seven gears on the rear .
As a bonus , my low gear is perfect for spinning up those big hills when I run across one .
the chainring was orange so I put in an order for a black one that should be here tomorrow. Although the orange does go with the brown grips and natural aged Brooks B-67 saddle. I’m

I missed the part about the bike having a 34t cog. My bad,... I'm glad you had a spare crankset from a bike you're not using. This sounds like you have it perfectly set up now. ENJOY!!!

No problem!
I don’t know why a company that builds cruisers would build a bike for fast riding .
It would make more sense to build a bike that’s easier to pedal for “ Cruising” .
I realized too, the majority of the folks that buy their bikes aren’t old farts like me .

I’m surprised that Electra finally went away from the old standby 1 piece crank after all these years. The square taper still should give you a ton of options and I have read you can put an 8 speed freewheel on the original wheel. You may need to add a spacer/washer to give it that touch of clearance. I did see an 11-32 8spd on amazon for about $30.

I wasn’t a fan of the grip shifter on my 7D and put a Shimano Rapid-fire trigger on it a long with Shimano levers. I thought the stock levers felt sloppy and rattled.

Like you my knees are in rough shape and the low 1st gear makes any of the hills easier. I can spin…I just cant crank. I have the 11-34 on mine but anymore really don’t need to go as low as 11. The jump from 34 to 24 is a bit long and if I could find a better spaced freewheel that would be an improvement.

Either way enjoy the 7D I’ve really like mine, they are great riding bikes.

While much of Electra's line do have one-piece cranks, I think the Townie series has always used a threaded standard 1.37 68 mm bottom bracket. My wife's 2004 3-speed Townie has a threaded BB shell, as I changed the crank to a 32 front (originally 44) and the rear to a narrow Nexus 7 (she wanted 7 speeds, but the bike HAD to be red, so it was time to swap cranks and build wheels to make wife happy.)

The Electra's are nice, I love my e-version,such a smooth ride.

I borrowed a set of square taper cranks off a build I put together last year and swapped them out .
For now I went with a 30 tooth chainring.
I know you guys are thinking this is way too low , but my knees need it .
And now I can utilize the full 14-34 freewheel.
The 30x34 combo allows me to spin up the biggest hills at round 5 mph . That’s fast enough for me . I’m not in a hurry to get anywhere .
I haven’t ridden in a week because the knees started bothering me ?
I’m hoping to get to where I can take leisurely rides around the neighborhood again .

I get it 100% I used to love going fast, I think that’s the inner 12yo in us all, but the gearing especially the low gearing is what allows me to ride on anything but the flats since my joints have gotten as a bad as they are.

On my fat bike my average speed is in the 5-7 mph range but it will go almost anywhere at 5mph. The Cruiser is a little faster but I’m not in any hurry to get anywhere its all about the ride.

I thought that the Electra Townie was the only forward pedal bike from Electra.

all Electras have varying degrees of pedal forward technology.

Isn't it too expensive for the facilities it offers?

My other bikes are all in storage so I have been riding my Steel Electra Cruiser 1 every day. I've got Fat Frank balloon tires on it aired down just enough for it to float over the road cracks. It isnt fast but it is very comfortable.

Stunning bike

VS ???

Electra's are a little spendy but not compared to an equivalent bike. I don't think a Walmart bike is in the same league. You are getting the design and local bike shop assembly which in turn gets you LBS service. You get what you pay for IMHO.

As much as I like my low end schwinn/huffy/sun/firmstrong bikes, they are almost exactly the same bike with a little variation.
Then you hit Electra/Trek/Diamondback/and bike shop quality Schwinn cruisers.
They are much better in quality. where the big box bikes come with low end everything (hubs/rims/bottom brackets/seats/stem/bars, etc) They, bike shop bikes, come with upgraded parts and frames/forks. That's why you see us all pushing towards the higher end of the bike spectrum.
Buy quality, ride for years. Buy low end, not so much.

I thought I should update this old thread with new information on my knees condition.
It’s been three years since I bought this 7d , I thought was going to ease up on my knees allowing me to ride many more years .i was certain the extra gears was going to help .
I was wrong about the pedal forward bikes helping my knees .
I have since discovered that the pedal forward and long cranks creating more bend in my knees was the issue . Along with arthritis and old age of course . Young folks can ride just about anything without issues.
I actually gave up riding for over six months until I decided to try a set of 152.5mm MTB cranks on an old MTB I had converted into a Cruiser .
What a difference.
Now , all of my bikes have short cranks on them .
I started back riding in May this year. Since then I’ve ridden 1198 miles as of today .
I’d like to say they’ve been pain free miles , but they haven’t. But I have experienced less pain in my knees than I used to have .
Before , after a ride I would have to use a handrail to go up and downstairs.
Now I go and down normally . I can actually run up the stairs if I want .
So I’ve given up on the pedal forward technology.
I’ve stripped the bikes and I’m using the wheelsets to make cruisers from old steel MTB’s . The ones with horizontal dropouts and the steel frame allows me to squeeze the frame a little to fit the coaster brake wheels .
Makes a fine cruiser .
I’ve also built them with 7 and 8 speeds using a derailleur, but right now I’m enjoying single speed again .
My latest has been an old Trek 800 with a 2 speed kickback hub that I’ve been riding for the past week .
The pedal forward bikes may work for a lot of folks , but I’ll stick with the old tried and trued diamond frame bikes .

I agree. This is my current "cruiser", an old Diamondback Axis with pretty thin steel tubes, good range of gears (20/32 front; 10/50 rear) and otherwise "normal" components for the time. A very smooth riding companion for around the burg or even off road.

Good to hear that the short crankarms helped with your knee pain. I ride both diamond frame uprights and recumbents. I know a lot of folks in the recumbent community have discovered that shorter cranks provide relief from knee and hip discomfort. I haven't tried them yet but as my knees are starting to bark at me a little, I might experiment with them in the near future.

I, personally, also found out that pedal forward bikes absolutely KILL my arthritic knees. My Puma Nevis made me have to move the seat more forward than I thought I would have needed to, as it's somewhat pedal forward. It totally KILLED my knees. I still have it, as it's always been one of my all-time favs. I need a new shifter, and she'll be back on the road again.
Show me your cruiser.

I did enjoy riding the Electra bikes . I wish they would offer a regular framed cruiser . They are a well made cruiser frame . The wheels are functional but nothing special .
This is a couple of my MTB conversions I’m enjoying riding now .
The silver one is a 2 speed kickback coaster hub . Both are coaster rear , v brake up front .
I like using a smaller frame with a taller seat post and stem . Gives me a lower top tube which is easier for this old guy to dismount after a 10 mile ride.
I’d rather own and ride one of these old steel frame bikes than a new $2000 bike .
Because I have custom built it to suit my body and my riding style .