While many ebikes will provide assist for your outward commute, and possibly back home too, options decrease significantly for weekend trekkers. Following the long-range Titan fat-tire ride, Fiido has now launched a triple-battery tourer called the Nomads.
Fiido was founded in 2017, but didn’t register on our radar until 2020 when the company made a play for international ebike commuters with a crowdfunding campaign for the funky D11. This was quickly followed by the smooth-lined X model, again funded through Indiegogo.
Ever since that somewhat troubled model, the Hong Kong-based outfit has skipped the funding crowd and gone straight to direct sales. We’ve since seen expansion into cargo haulers, urban explorers and triple-battery fat-tire adventure bikes.
The latest offering – the Nomads – is designed for folks who like to wander, and can be had with three batteries. Launched back in June, but only recently having joined Fiido’s direct-to-consumer sales model, I’ve spent the last wee while getting to know this multi-terrain beast.
“Built for meaningful journeys, and the days in between, Fiido Nomads is here to support your rides – near, far, and farther – with ease and confidence,” reads the promotional blurb. Let’s get to it.
Paul Ridden/New Atlas
Putting it all together
My e-tourer arrived mostly assembled – though the handlebar, pedals, saddle, front light, display and quick-release front wheel needed installing, along with the front fender, plus some tightening up here and there had to be done. Fiido has an assembly video available that walks through the process, which I found much easier to follow than the included user manual.
The supplied toolkit includes a bunch of hex keys, a Y-type wrench, spanners and a screwdriver – everything you’ll need for setup and beyond. Though there is a horn built in, which is activated via a button on the handlebar, the kit includes a small bell – which I actually prefer to the rather nasal digital ooze of the horn.
The ebike is built around a XC-style (cross country) aluminum-alloy frame that’s available in medium and large only, covering rider heights from 5.6 to 6.8 ft (1.7 – 2.05 m). Smooth welds help with clean lines, and much of the cabling is routed internally, with connections sprouting to the front and back. There are multiple mounting points for such things as a water bottle, too.
The bike rolls on 29-inch wheels with cool black rims wearing 2.1-inch CST Patrol tires – a kind of happy middle ground between regular road tires and draggy fat tires – that can conquer city streets and a little of the rougher stuff too. A 120-mm suspension fork with adjustable lockout helps to smooth out uneven terrain, while the rider’s posterior is treated to an ergonomic Velo saddle with a ventilation channel down the middle.
This model comes with a wide flat handlebar on an adjustable-height stem – stretching a whole 28 inches (720 mm) from ergo grip to ergo grip. Too wide, in fact, to fit in my inner-city bike locker! However, this does mean that the ride is a comfortable and stable one, and the controls have plenty of room to breathe.
There’s a Shimano shifter to the right and useful illuminated buttons to the left for adjusting PAS, sounding the horn, engaging turn signaling, and activating walk-assist. In the middle sits an integrated daytime-bright color display for at-a-glance ride data.
Assist when you need it, mostly
Whether you purchase in the US or elsewhere, Fiido has decided that a 250-W rear-hub-motor with 45 Nm (33 lb.ft) of torque is enough. In the US, the algorithms have been tweaked so that riders get pedal-assist up to 20 mph, but otherwise it’s locked to 25 km/h. Living in the UK, I fall in the “otherwise” category.
Out of the box, there are three PAS levels available. Pairing up the companion mobile app can unlock two more, including a welcome Turbo Plus boost.
Fiido
This isn’t my first Fiido ride, and I have to say that the under-the-hood programming here results in a much smoother assisted ride than, say, the first X folder and its replacement. The Mivice S200 torque sensor taps into motor power as soon as you start pedaling and offers near-instant response once you’re rolling. Switching up the pedal-assist modes provides a subtle bump in motor power at each level, which essentially makes your legs feel more powerful at the pedal.
I admit that based on my experience of other 250-W ebikes, I didn’t expect too much from the setup here. But I was pleasantly surprised at the capable grunt on offer, meaning that I could tackle flats and gentle-to-moderate inclines without getting out of puff. I’d say that Fiido has done a great job on the tuning here, the Nomads assisted-riding experience is one of the smoothest and most satisfying I’ve had so far.
There is a zero-assist mode cooked in, which allows the electronics to remain active but – as the name suggests – doesn’t provide any assist. This has about the same feel as riding the ebike with the electrics powered off (PAS is much more enjoyable!). Eco is the starting point for motor assistance, making for an easier ride on the flats. Skipping up a notch or two steadily bumps up the power until the cut-off point is reached – more on that in a bit.
The Nomads rolls as the heaviest ebike I’ve been with for any length of time. It’s also been treated to the most number of cogs at the back – nine – of any ebike I’ve tried. The latter is particularly useful, until that heady combination is not. Let me explain.
In my neck of the woods, the rules say that – on public roads – a motor should stop providing assistance when a speed of 15.5 mph (25 km/h) is reached. Now, many a cyclist on a regular unpowered bike would be able to exceed that figure without too much of a struggle you might say. And you’d be right, but rules are rules.
Fiido
On lighter ebikes I’ve lived with, the transition from pedal-assist to “you’re on your own matey” has been a fairly smooth one. But the Nomads is not a lightweight, so the cutoff can feel a bit brutal – akin to being hit by a sudden gust of wind.
This wasn’t helped by the higher gear I naturally found myself in at the point when the motor stopped providing assist, which meant that I suddenly had to put in much more effort at the pedals. The effect can be mitigated to a certain degree by some quick down-shifting to a lower gear when you reach cut-off speed – which sounds counter-intuitive, but your legs will thank you for it – to keep the pace up. If you remember in time.
Amusingly, on the occasions when I was hit by that imaginary gust of wind, the overall momentum slowed as a result. This often got me under the threshold again, and the motor kicked in to return PAS superpowers to my legs. Before cutting out again once I’d slipped beyond the cutoff point. Rinse and repeat.
Folks who regularly ride heavier ebikes are probably used to such things, but this was new to me so I thought it worth a quick mention so you’re not taken by surprise.
Onward and upward
The unpleasantly steep hills that I’m blessed with between my home and the city often proved too much for the hub motor. And even though I could hear the faint whine of the motor driving away between taking in huge lungfuls of air, it actually felt like the power at the hub had abandoned me when the going got tough.
This is certainly not unique to the Nomads, but worth noting all the same – particularly as this is not a featherweight contender so I definitely got a few healthy workouts during my review. As I said earlier, this model does have more Shimano gears to tap into than many of its competitors, which were especially welcome when shifting down before hitting those hills as well as building up speed on more level ground. The ebike doesn’t come with a thumb throttle, but does sport walk assist to help you push the Nomads up slight inclines.
Paul Ridden/New Atlas
The specs list a per-charge range of just under 50 miles (79.36 km) in eco mode with the single-battery (417.6-Wh) configuration. The Nomads electrical systems meet EU safety standards, and Fiido says it’s undertaken real-world tests to get that range figure. The results were achieved with a 187-lb rider in the lowest PAS mode on flat terrain. That endurance dropped to 39.95 miles in Sport mode, and 26.52 miles in Turbo.
I weigh in lighter than Fiido’s test rider, but I also don’t ride in just one PAS mode for the whole journey. And did I mention that we have hills around here that seem to reproduce overnight at an alarming rate? As such I got less than the ideal range – averaging about 30-35 miles before needing to find a wall outlet. Recharge time takes around 7 hours.
In its standard guise, this trekker is reported to tip the scales at 54.5 lb (24.7 kg), which is considered at the higher end of middleweight ebikes – but, weakling that I am, it proved to be a not insignificant heft up the steps at the transport hub.
Three are better than one
The Nomads can be optioned with two extra batteries, which arrive separate to the bike. Installing the dual battery cage on the rack at the rear and then popping in the bagged-up spares naturally added to that dry weight considerably – adding another 17 lb (7.7 kg) or so onto the scales and tipping the ebike very much into the heavyweight class.
For me, this made the thought of trying to shoulder the bike before ascending steps a daunting one, and I certainly wouldn’t like to tackle any steep hills with minimal (or even zero) assist while hauling the triple-battery setup. On the plus side, having that extra weight at the back made popping wheelies a lot easier.
These extra batteries are not cabled up to the system to merge into one huge energy supply, but stowed in weatherproof bags until needed. The idea here is to park up when the downtube battery starts to run red, pop a spare from its bag and hotswap to keep the motor-assisted trek going.
Paul Ridden/New Atlas
Of course, the extended-range configuration means extra miles between charges – Fiido estimates 147.9 miles – but the extra weight can have a negative impact. Thanks to often unsavory weather during my free hours, I’ve not had the chance to put Fiido’s ideal extended range claim to the test. But based on very loose back of the envelope calculations for my hill-cursed landscape, I reckon that somewhere between 90 and 110 miles would be the order of the day for my kind of riding – particularly when a heavy backpack and/or panniers are added into the weight equation. Total payload capacity is 264 lb (120 kg).
Speaking of ride-unfriendly weather, you can go out in most conditions with the Nomads if you really want to – yes, I’m a fair-weather rider – as the ebike is IP54-rated for dust- and water-resistance. Effective stopping power is provided by Tektro HD-M275 hydraulic disc brakes with 160-mm rotors. A dual LED headlight illuminates the path ahead, and there are LED tail-lights mounted to the frame – with turn indicators below.
The bottom line
Over the last few years, I’ve got kinda used to riding ebikes sporting smaller wheels – lightweight rollers for an easy carry up stairs or onto the train. But I obviously haven’t forgotten the extra stability and easier ride offered by the larger wheels on regular bikes from my past.
The Nomads sports 29-inch wheels wearing knobby rubber, and I readily admit to enjoying this big-wheel experience immensely. I felt more confident in traffic, more stable in the rough and happily leaned into corners with perhaps a little too much wild abandon. The suspension at the front made for less of a bone-shaking trek, and the 9-speed gearset proved very useful indeed, as did Tektro levers for coming to a halt.
The finely tuned hub motor and torque sensor joined forces for effective pedal-assist on all-but the most demanding inclines, with tapping up a level resulting in subtle but noticeable boosts in power at the pedal. I rode the UK model for this review, but the only appreciable difference between this one and its US cousin is a retuned motor for up to 20 mph of PAS.
Paul Ridden/New Atlas
The claimed per-charge endurance is the same for both versions, which could be as much as 147.9 miles in the triple-battery configuration – though that will very much depend on variables such as rider weight and style, the terrain encountered and whether the rear rack is overflowing with bikepacking gear. Even so, I reckon that more than 100 miles away from a wall outlet earns this ebike its tourer stripes.
The Nomads feels and looks very much like a premium ride, but is listed at US$1,399 for the single-battery model – and can currently be had for $1,299. The bike plus the dual-battery extender package has a list price of $1,999, but again is available for a hundred bucks off at the time of writing. Accessories like panniers, a trailer, a phone holder, and rear-view mirrors are also available as optional extras.
Recent multi-terrain models we’ve covered – for comparison – include the Aventure M for just shy of $2,900, which has a more powerful hub motor but can be had with a single 85-mile battery only. There’s the one-PowerTube Bosch-mid-drive Orbea Muga that starts at €4,999 (about US$5,800), and the Nomad 2X that rolls for around $2,500 and sports a 750-W motor/70-mile endurance combination.
Fiido operates a direct-to-consumer sales model, but does have a network of authorized dealers in key regions should you wish to try before you buy. Highly recommended.
Product page: Fiido Nomads
Note: New Atlas may receive a commission from purchases made via links; this does not influence our review. Our reviews are impartial and our opinions are our own.
