This article explores the speed regulation problem of permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) systems subjected to unknown time-varying disturbances. A continuous sliding mode control (CSMC) technique is introduced for the speed loop to enhance the robustness of PMSM systems and eliminate the chattering phenomenon caused by high-frequency switch function in the conventional control law. However, the high control gain of the CSMC law in the presence of strong disturbances leads to large steady-state speed fluctuations for PMSM systems. In many application fields, PMSM systems are affected by time-varying disturbances instead of constant disturbances. For example, electric bicycles are usually affected by changing environmental disturbances, including wind speeds, road conditions, etc. These disturbances may be in the form of constant, ramp, and parabolic disturbances. Hence, a generalized proportional integral (GPI) observer is employed to estimate these types of disturbances. Then, the disturbance estimation method and the aforementioned CSMC method are combined to establish a composite sliding mode control method called the CSMC+GPI method for the speed loop of PMSM systems. Contrary to the conventional sliding mode control technique, the proposed method completely eliminates the chattering phenomenon caused by the switching function in the conventional control law. Moreover, a small control gain for the CSMC+GPI method is chosen by feed-forwarding estimated values to the speed controller. Hence, the steady-state speed fluctuations are small. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is verified by simulation and experimental result.