Bianchi Aria E-road

Bianchi Aria E-Road

Bianchi Aria E-Road

This bike is actually a time machine.

It doesn’t go into the future but the Aria E-Road will transport you backwards in time by twenty years.

Remember how fast you were twenty years ago? Remember taking on 60-mile rides, not having touched your bike in the preceding two weeks? Remember being able to do lots of random activities on a Sunday afternoon (without complaining about your knees) even though you did 45 fast miles in the morning? If you enjoyed riding a road bike back then, throw a leg over the Aria and hit the button on the top tube so you can relive the experience.

How does Bianchi do it? They put a 250-watt Mahle hub motor on the bike and stuff a bunch of batteries inside the Italian-made carbon fiber aero frame. They outfit the bike with Vittoria tires, Shimano Ultegra components including hydraulic disc brakes (we didn’t have those twenty years ago!), Vision aero wheels and cockpit components made by FSA.

Assist level indicator and state of charge in one button

Charging port

Fairly discrete 250 watt motor

The system can be operated simply with the single button on the top tube (toggle through low, medium and high settings with a colored LED to show state of charge) or the motor can be controlled via an app on your phone or Garmin computer. You can customize the assist system, providing a little bit of help or a lot. You can even program it by doctor’s orders: setting the motor to kick in whenever your heart rate reaches a certain threshold.

This is a fun bike. It isn’t a 65-pound moped with wheelbarrow tires. This is a high-performance road bike that rides well with or without the motor turned on. It handles great, looks like a bike should look and only weighs 25 pounds.

Note: Not recommended for riders under the age of thirty as twenty years of time travel might actually require the use of a tricycle or training wheels.