Audi makes awesome cars. Lets just get that out of the way. I love ’em. I would never buy one but I can really respect them. So much that some jerkface used to park his 2010 R8 in the handicapped parking spot at my gym and I kept catching myself trying to justify that kind of behavior, because… it’s a freaking R8! Needless to say they know how to design automobiles that not only look killer but are monsters on the road. But how much of that knowledge really can carry over into the world of bikes? Enter their offering, the Audi eBike.
At first glance, this electric bicycle certainly continues the Audi tradition. The laundry list of tech in this carbon fiber beast is ridiculous. Built-in head and tail lights, electric motor, touchscreen display and wifi? Even a wheelie mode where it balances on the back wheel like Segway? All crazy awesome features. But my question is this: who is this (I can only assume) insanely-priced machine aimed at? Commuters? People doing freestyle tricks? Trail riders? With practically no rear travel and those puny front shocks it can’t be trail riders. And it looks like the frame’s rear suspension is a unified rear triangle, aka the worst kind of rear suspension ever. All modern bikes have some sort of variant on the 4-bar linkage suspension so that as the shock compresses your bike doesn’t shrink in size or get chain slack. And lets be honest, commuters aren’t riding any real distances on that seat. Oh yeah, that seat! Ridiculous. Looks like a one way ticket to the proctologist. No, but for real. Nobody’s sitting on that seat.