BIANCHI BRINGS E-OMNIA TO AMERICAN SHORES
Famed Italian bike manufacturer Bianchi is finally bringing their e-bikes to North America. We featured the new bikes a while back, but now they’re here in the flesh. The e-Omnia (omnia is latin for “everything”) line includes three bikes, the C-Type (city bike), the T-Type (trekking/touring) and the FX (full suspension). The C-Type is a low step-though frame, the T-Type comes with either a diamond-shaped frame or a mid-step frame, and the FX is a full-suspension frame.
All three feature some cool edges and a fairly intricate design, which they were able to achieve by gravity casting the aluminum frames. They all also have Bianchi’s integrated lighting, including a bright headlight that also has side-mounted LEDs that offer 180 degrees of visibility up to 100 meters away, while tail lights in the chainstays offer 90 degrees, and visibility of up to 500 meters behind.
We were invited to the launch event, held at the Marconi Automotive Museum, and had a chance to take a test ride on one of the T-Types. It has a Bosch Performance Line Speed motor (Class 3, 28mph) and really voluminous Schwalbe Supermoto street tires. Testing the cornering at full clip, the tires offer ample grip and a really smooth ride. The bike loves to be up above 25 mph, and gets there easily.
The C-Type is also a Class 3 bike with the same Bosch powerplant, where the FX uses a Performance Line CX motor (Class 1, 20 mph). The FX is a full-suspension e-mountain bike with 150mm of travel in the rear and 160mm in the front.
The other bikes in the lineup, including the flagship e-SUV, aren’t available in the U.S. at this time. They have promised they’ll be introducing more bikes in the near future. Currently, they’re operating at about 90% racing and 10% e-bikes. Pat Hus, CEO of Bianchi USA, said that within 4 years, that number for e-bikes should be 40%.
PRICES
C-Type $5700
T-Type $6000
FX $7500
