Hong Kong e-bike manufacturer Fiido had a difficult 2022. First the Fiido X folding e-bike was recalled after reports of snapped frames, then it was forced to replace some of its T1 models after discovering potential for a similar problem. Speaking at the time, a spokesperson told ebiketips that the Fiido X recall alone would leave the firm facing, “an unprecedented financial crisis” – yet somehow it now seems set to launch no fewer than seven new models. Or at least that’s what its website suggests.
Let’s quickly recap the two snapping-in-half problems (because it’s the kind of thing consumers like to know about). Firstly, it was found that the Fiido X folding mechanism – which had passed relevant strength tests – could weaken during shipping and fail.
Fiido were pretty quick off the mark with this. After confirming the issue, owners were immediately offered replacement bikes with a three-year warranty and the mechanism itself was redesigned.
The issue with the T1, in contrast, was a certain type of welding defect that could be found in a “small number” of the bikes. Fiido again said it would replace every bike in the affected batch.
These would represent pretty big financial hits you’d think, but the Fiido site is now promising seven new light electric vehicles – mostly e-bikes. These aren’t new iterations of the folding e-bikes the firm has habitually produced either. They’re radically different designs.
A launching soon page lists a couple of urban hybrid e-bikes, a carbon e-road bike, a mid-drive e-MTB, a beefy-looking utility fat bike thing and an electric balance bike. There’s also what is described as a ‘seated electric scooter’ which could equally be considered a low-powered e-moped. (It’s similar to the Razor EcoSmart Cargo.)
Actual launch dates and detailed specs are conspicuous by their absence, but there’s certainly some ambition on display here and a few interesting details too.
The C21 and C22 appear to the most straightforward models – effectively conventional and mid-step framed versions of the same urban e-bike with an integrated central display.
While the carbon-framed C31 is depicted with drop handlebars, given that it has a belt drive and is shown elsewhere with flat handlebars, it probably makes mores sense to assume this is also a city e-bike – one that at $3,399 is double the price of the C21 and C22. The claimed weight is 12.6kg and it’ll supposedly come with fingerprint unlock among other fancy features.
There’s also the M31, which will be Fiido’s first mid-motor e-MTB. This promises up to 110Nm of torque and will be fitted with a sizeable 696Wh battery. This will sell for $3,999.
As we say, there are no actual launch dates for any of these yet. Also, as the dollar pricing suggests, there are no guarantees they’re intended for the UK market either. There have been UK/EU versions of most of the firm’s bikes up until now though.