Review: Fiido Air Carbon Fiber Electric Bike

Despite a few outliers like the $7,850 Brompton T-Line E-Motiq, most electric bikes are big and cumbersome. While 40, or even 50 pounds is not considered heavy, if you’ve ever had to carry one up a flight of stairs, or manhandle it onto a bike rack, you’ll beg to differ.

Electric bikes are hugely practical if you have a garage or easy access to storage, but in urban areas, where space is limited and bike theft is common, basic pedal power or bikeshare schemes remain the sensible way to go. But Chinese direct-to-consumer brand Fiido has a better idea in the form of the Air, a single-speed, pedal-assist electric bike built around a carbon fiber frame and components that weighs just 30.3 pounds.

The Fiido Air uses a belt-drive system instead of a chain, comes with pneumatic disc brakes, 250-watt rear axel motor, 208.8 Wh (watt-hours), and a quoted maximum range of 37.49 miles. It also boasts a fingerprint scanner, integrated lights, app, and smartwatch. And despite it looking like something a twelve year old might ask Sora to design, I’ve absolutely loved riding it. There’s plenty I’d change though, and it won’t suit everyone, but for urban commuting on a reasonable budget, I’ve not ridden better.

Design and Features

Photograph: Chris Haslam

There’s something amusingly futuristic about the Fiido Air. The curved contours of the carbon fiber frame and internally routed cabling give it a sleek appearance. Some people have chuckled at it, one boy pointed and said, ‘Woah, look at that cool bike Daddy!’ I’m somewhere in between. But I do love the fact that it looks more like a traditional commuter bike—albeit a souped-up, space-age one—than your average clunky electric bike.

As well as the frame, the front fork, handlebars, stem, and aero style seatpost are all carbon. It’s an impressive amount of carbon fiber for the cost, and shows how hard it is to keep the weight of electric bikes down. Being single speed, and ditching the display, also reduces weight.

It is available in medium, large and XL, catering to everyone from 5’5” to 6’9”. The large fit my 5’9” frame well.

Carbon components aside, the Fiido Air features a 250-watt rear motor with 35 Nm (Newton meters) peak torque, paired with a Mivice torque sensor that adjusts assistance based on rider input. The integrated battery is 208.8 Wh, charged via a 36 volt charger, and the brand has calculated a range of up to 37.5 miles in Normal mode, dropping to 32.3 miles in Sport mode. Top speed for assisted pedaling is just 15.5 mph, which might not suit everyone, but it’s more than acceptable for short urban commutes.

The headline stats are a little underwhelming, but this isn’t a bike designed for long distances, flat out speed, or tough conditions. It’s a lightweight urban commuter, and for my circumstances—living in a major city with a short daily ride and not many hills—it’s a practical one at that.

The bike has two standard speed assist modes, Normal and Sport, or you can choose to use just pedal power. It comes with Shimano BR-MT410 hydraulic disc brakes, nice and chunky Kenda 700×40C tires, and a surprisingly good saddle. It has a maximum payload of 264 pounds, and the single speed drivetrain uses a Gates Carbon Drive CDN belt system with a 60-tooth crankset and 22-tooth rear cog.

The Air’s 208.8-Wh battery is small by electric bike standards, but helps to keep the weight down. Integrated neatly into the carbon downtube, it maintains the bike’s clean lines, but has the downside of being non-removable, so you’ll need to bring the whole bike to a charger.

A quick release front thru-axel means assembly is wonderfully simple, but in truth, a bike aimed at urban commuters, with quick release anything, is asking for trouble. There’s also a “secret” Allen key mounted on the underneath of the frame for on the fly adjustments. Neat idea, I’m just praying London bike thieves don’t read WIRED.

Connectivity and Control

Photograph: Chris Haslam

The Fiido Air does not have a traditional handlebar-mounted display. Instead, ride data and controls are handled either via the fingerprint scanner mounted in the top bar, the basic but serviceable smartphone app, or the Fiido Mate smartwatch.

And no, you’re not mistaken, I did say fingerprint scanner. It’s easy to set up via the Fiido app, and in practice it works pretty well, although you will need to dry it well if the sensor is wet. You can also assign multiple users if you’re sharing the bike.

Does it feel like a gimmick? Maybe, but in the absence of any onboard display or controls it's the closest thing we've got. Press it to scroll through the ebike assistance levels, or turn it off for manual power. If you press and hold it you also toggle on and off the integrated lights. Never forgetting your lights is one of the great advantages of e-bikes.

Photograph: Chris Haslam

Not having a display saves weight and prevents the Air from looking like a typical electric bike, but not having at-a-glance data on battery life or power modes is a pain. There is a small LED ring around the scanner button that shows which mode you’re in, but it’s hard to see in sunshine, not especially intuitive, and requires you to take your hand off the handlebar to adjust.

The same issue exists with the supplied smartwatch, which offers greater control over the bike, plus more detailed battery information, ride distance, speeds, and general health metrics. But you have to look at your watch while riding. No thanks. The watch will automatically power up (and down) the bike as you approach or leave, but the fingerprint scan is just as fast.

The $99 smartwatch is perfectly acceptable, although nobody is giving up their Apple Watch for one. The display is bright though, there’s plenty of fitness, health, and wellbeing settings, plus general smart functionality. In my test however, the Bluetooth connection dropped so frequently I gave up on it.

The Ride

Photograph: Chris Haslam

Despite the lack of onboard controls, no throttle, and fairly meagre motor, the Fiido Air is great fun to ride and feels closer to a regular bike than any electric bike I’ve ever ridden, just without the effort. The forgiving carbon frame and chunkier gravel style tires are a treat on tarmac, towpaths, and grass, and they soak up potholes well. It's a really easy bike to ride and I've greatly enjoyed generally not having to put any effort into getting around town.

It picks up quickly at lights, and acceleration—especially in Sport mode—is reassuringly quick when it’s time to overtake. I’m delighted by how effortless the overall performance is, and how smoothly the torque kicks in. What’s more, moving it, wheeling it through the house, lifting it onto bike racks, and even just doing basic things like locking it up, is just easier in every way. The motor is quiet, too. While not totally silent, it’s not a distraction.

Impressively, too, the Air can also be ridden reasonably easily without electric assist. A 30-pound single speed bike won’t set any track records, but if power does fail you—or more likely, you misjudge the battery level and forget to charge overnight like I did—it won’t be too much of a workout to get home.

But please don't confuse this commuter-style electric bike with a powerful mid-drive motor electric bike. With a meagre motor and only one gear (and quite a low one at that) it does not love hills. Steady inclines are easy, but there's one short, sharp-ish hill close to my office that requires me to stand up and pedal hard to get to the top. I wasn't as gassed as I would be without any motor assistance, but I definitely wasn't flying effortlessly up hills.

I’ve also become a convert to the brilliance of belt-drive bikes. They need less maintenance, last longer, and prevent greasy black marks on pant legs. Fiido uses a Gates belt drive here, one of the best systems available, and ideal for urban riding.

Competition and Verdict

WIRED’s current favorite commuter ebike, the Aventon Soltera 3 (8/10), weighs 37 pounds and costs around $500 less than the Air. It’s a superb blend of push bike feel and lightweight electric power and with more power on offer, a faster top speed, and cheaper price, it remains the one to beat. But there’s no denying the appeal of the Fiido Air. It’s a beautiful bike to ride, with stylish looks, nimble acceleration, and push bike practicalities. At 30 pounds, it is impressively light, and easy to live with.

Lightweight electric bikes are starting to appear but competition remains slim. Ribble’s new aluminum Allgrit E AL Sportfit Apex weighs 30.4 pounds and has a hugely practical 12 speed SRAM Apex XPLR AXS gearing. It does cost twice as much, though. Carbon options are limited to a couple of folding designs for now, including the $2,420, 35-pound ADO Air Carbon, and $1,599 Urtopia Carbon Fold Step Thru that weighs just 31 pounds.

So the Fiido Air ticks a lot of boxes, and if you’re looking for a cool pedal-assist electric bike for short, flat urban rides, I highly recommend it. But if there are hills in your life, and you want to keep both hands on the handlebars at all times, the Fiido Air might not be the bike for you.