Fiido Air review: so lightweight you’ll forget it’s an e-bike

Yes, it’s an electric bike, although you wouldn’t know it just by its looks or by taking it up some stairs, since it weighs as much as a normal city bike: just 30 pounds (approximately 14 kg).

What you are looking at is the Fiido Air, a carbon fiber electric bike from the Chinese company that I tried out once on a whim, just to see what a $999 direct-to-consumer electric bike was like. Turns out he wasn’t great, and his following had a habit of splitting in two.

But hey, I’m the type that forgives and the company made amends to those affected. And Fiido says the Air is “the lightest urban electric bike in the world” with a “super early” price of just $1799 at launch (either €1799 in Europe) – rising to $1999 and then $2799 later, before August shipments. It’s too tempting not to try it, especially when it costs half as much as the comparable Gogoro Eeyo.

And after spending over a month with a Fiido Air as my daily user, I have to say: I’m impressed… as long as you ignore the app and the silly smartwatch that comes with it, and aren’t afraid to do a little of effort and problem solving yourself.

The first thing you’ll notice about the Fiido Air is the battery, or the lack of any visible trace because it’s integrated into the slim frame. Normally that’s a problem, but this bike, unlike VanMoofs and some Amplers, is something many can still carry on an elevator or up a flight of stairs in a pinch due to the liberal use of stiff, lightweight carbon fiber in the bicycle frame, in the front. fork, handlebar and seat post.

In fact, you wouldn’t know it was an electric bike if it weren’t for the giant ON/OFF graphic that Fiido inexplicably chose to shine on the frame as if its owner needed to forever remember where that button is. . The otherwise clean design is helped by internally routed cables.

My bike arrived partially assembled in its shipping box. However, a spacer for my front axle assembly was stuck in the packaging materials, causing me to overlook it when mounting the front wheel and handlebars. I realized something was wrong and eventually fixed it with the help of the Fiido stand, but less experienced bike owners could have lived with the slightly noisy, slightly wobbly and potentially dangerous set.

My European Fiido Air is equipped with a 250W power supply. Mivice rear hub motor and the Mivice torque sensor (as you’d expect in this price range) to make pedal-assisted power feel more natural. It also has many off-the-shelf parts that should make maintenance easy at any local bike shop. That’s not always the case with Fiido’s cheaper e-bikes which use parts that aren’t widely available outside of China (I once had a hard time finding brake pads). The Fiido Air uses Shimano BR-MT410 hydraulic brakes, a Velo saddle, and a Gates Carbon Drive CDX belt drive, with the latter rarely needing maintenance unless your bike was shipped with a loose belt, like mine.

Tightening the belt is not difficult, but it is not intuitive either. However, it’s never good to spend $2,000 and find out your transmission fails with a loud noise. thud by stomping on the crank to quickly cross the street against traffic. I also recently had to lubricate the bottom bracket (where the crankset attaches to the bike) after the pedals started making a horrible creaking noise with every downward stroke. Both fixes were relatively easy to do, but they’re not something that’s typically required after a few weeks of driving.

The Air is equipped with a fingerprint sensor surrounded by a colorful ring of light. To prevent people from riding the e-bike after pressing the well-labeled ON/OFF button, the motor can be set to unlock with the fingerprint sensor. This worked surprisingly well 99 percent of the time. It worked fine in light rain, as long as I could dry and protect it, but I once tried unlocking it in a heavy downpour and no amount of cleaning allowed the sensor to recognize my finger. That meant opening the app to unlock the engine.

The app is… terrible and should be avoided at all costs. Fortunately, it can be abandoned for daily use, but not until the initial setup is done and then occasionally to check the battery level, which appears to be down by up to 20 percent as there is no indication. of it on the bicycle itself. It’s a shame Fiido didn’t reuse the colored ring around the fingerprint sensor as some kind of battery indicator.

After the fingerprint sensor unlocks the bike, more taps will steadily increase the power assist with corresponding color rings (yellow, blue, a slightly brighter blue, and green) to show the current selection. A quick double tap on the sensor turns the integrated running lights on and off. Unfortunately, the bike doesn’t remember its preferred settings when turning it on and off.

Fiido ships the e-bike with a cheap plastic Fiido Mate smartwatch, which is ridiculously bad. It can be used to unlock the motor or as a dashboard on the wrist, but cannot be easily attached to the frame. After trying it once I never used it again. I already use an Apple Watch, but there isn’t an app for that.

The Fiido Air places the driver in a very aggressive and sporty position, creating an uncomfortable hand position that is not ideal for long trips or casual strolls around town. But is fun! Pedaling assistance is delivered smoothly, intuitively and very quietly, but the motor’s modest 40nm of torque makes this single-speed e-bike best suited for mostly flat commuting. Out of the box, the Fiido Air has a top speed of 25 km/h (15.5 mph) that shoots up to 30 km/h (18.6 mph) with a simple (and often illegal) software setup.

Fiido says the Air can go up to 80 km (about 50 miles) on a single charge, which is wildly optimistic for its 209 Wh non-removable battery, but it may be doable on the lowest power settings (I always tested on maximum ). In my tests, the pedal assistance already degraded noticeably after about 40 km (25 miles) of driving. Fiido also sells an optional bolt-on range extender that can be brought inside for charging from Fiido’s relatively small charging block.

For what is supposed to be a city e-bike, it ships without a kickstand, bell, or fender, which means a rooster tail splashed across your back if you get caught in the rain. However, it does have attachment points for the front and rear fenders, if you decide to go that route. It also comes with Kenda 700*40C tires that seem better suited for gravel than city streets.

Overall, I really enjoyed using the Fiido Air as my primary around-town vehicle for the past six weeks and as a change. At $1799 it’s a good deal for anyone looking for a nicely designed, lightweight electric bike. At $1999 it’s still worth a look, but at $2799 I’d consider other options first.

All photographs by Thomas Ricker / The Verge