What do you get when you combine an iPad and an e-bike?
Enlarge / The Carbon's design is striking, lacking a full seat tube. (credit: John Timmer)
As I was trying to figure out how to position the Urtopia Carbon e-bike so it could get enough signal to join my Wi-Fi network and download new firmware, I took a moment to ponder what would have happened if Apple had taken a tiny fraction of the money it has reportedly spent on its rumored electric car project and diverted it into making an e-bike instead. What would years of experience with mobile computing, hardware/software integration, maps and voice commands, and more mean for a bike?
Urtopia is clearly trying to make software one of the Carbon's differentiating features, but the company is still in the learning stages. There are some interesting ideas in the software, and it's hosted on a pretty solid e-bike platform. But the package needs a bit more refinement and integration.
The bikeThe Carbon's design is something that only became possible with the advent of carbon fiber frames, and it's certainly a striking bike. In theory, the joints between the different sections of the tube could be engineered to provide enough flex to absorb some shocks. But the Carbon is probably the stiffest e-bike I've ever tested. (I also may have made the ride a bit bumpier by inflating the tires too much, since I was unable to find any indication of what the preferred pressure was.)