A Quick Ride On One Of The Most Unique E-Bikes You Can Buy For Under $3,500

It has to be said that the Infinite Machine Olto e-bike gives off Cybertruck vibes, though it’s small and kinda cute. The under-$3,500 “Class 2” contender, designed to conquer urban bike lanes at 20 mph and to be released in October, is the second product from the Queens-based Infinite Machine, following a similarly styled but much bigger $10,000 P1 scooter first shown last year. Here’s a quick look at what it was like riding the Olto.

Scooters aren’t allowed in New York’s bike lanes, so the brothers designed a bike with regular assisted pedals, but those pedals can also be locked in place as footpegs for a scooter-type ride. Top speed in the lanes is a governed 20 mph, but via its two-kilowatt rear hub motor the Olto can be liberated to do 33 mph off road. Range is 40 miles from a removable 20-pound, 48-volt 1.2-kilowatt-hour pack that charges in six hours, or goes from 10 to 80 percent in an hour with the optional Supercharger. Also optional is a home dock so you don’t have to plug in.

The company was founded by two brothers, Joe and Eddie Cohen, initially in Brooklyn. Innovative industrial design is their thing. Both Cohens studied product design at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and are obsessed with building better transportation vehicles. (That’s what they call them, “vehicles.”)

“Most e-bikes are based on regular bicycles, and that’s limiting,” said Eddie Cohen, the spokesman. “They have bicycle-type gearshifts, when you don’t really need that when your power is coming from electric motors.” 

The Olto is definitely based on out-of-the-box thinking. It has a non-adjustable bench seat that taller people can adapt to by sliding their butts rearward, and a second person can potentially ride, too. The Olto is built of industrial-grade extruded aluminum with all wiring encased. It has reverse, and the headlight has a “bright” feature. GPS is built-in, as is a camera that can take video and still pictures. The seat lifts up for storage, and putting the kickstand down triggers “park.” The driver can’t take off with the stand down. 

The Cohens claim that the Olto can be stored outside and is virtually theftproof. “The handlebars can’t be turned when Olto is off, and if you try to roll it away it goes into reverse and the wheels lock up,” Eddie said. If the bike is somehow moved, GPS will track its location and an alert goes to the owner’s phone. An included bike lock threads through a loop in the kickstand. There’s also a special compartment for Apple AirTags. The security works even if the main battery is out for charging (there’s an auxiliary). 

Turn signals sound through the hidden speaker, as does the loud horn (no kids-bike-type bell here), and there’s also a backup warning sound when in reverse. There’s a USB port for charging, a phone attachment point, and an optional Bluetooth-enabled speaker can be strapped on. Bluetooth can also unlock the bike via your phone when you walk up to it. 

It’s fair to say that the average e-bike doesn’t have all these features. But how is it on the road as an actual bike? The prototype Olto didn’t have pedal assist fully worked out, so I rode it in scooter mode. I was able to get comfortable on the bench seat, and rested my feet on the pedals. Instead of a gear shift, there’s regular driving and a temporary “boost” mode. 

The 176 pound bike has a motorcycle-type twist handlebar accelerator (sometimes it’s a peg) that’s easy to use, hydraulic disc brakes and both front and rear suspension. The ride remained well-damped on Long Island City’s cobblestones. I was confident in using the bike within 10 minutes, though not enough to try out boost mode. 

I brought along my cousin Ben, who is 6’8”, to see how he’d fare on the Olto. He could ride it fine, but reported that the stoplight resting position was a bit awkward. “I thought it was a little small, but I don’t represent most people in that regard,” Ben said. “A slight lean when moving at street speed became precarious when slowing down to near-zero, magnified by my altitude. Gravity was not to be outdone. It’s not really a critique of the bike, though—it’s an issue for me on any two-wheeled vehicle.”

The Cohens traded a small office in Brooklyn for a large warehouse with a back door that opens onto the Anable Basin, an inlet of the East River. The company now has 13 employees, and two of them were fiddling with a bike on a stand during my visit. There’s a 3D printing room, a workroom with a plasma cutter, a CNC machine, a sandblaster and metal-bending tools. A cool and tiny Japanese-market Subaru 500-cc Sambar truck stands ready to move stuff around. The team makes small parts (“anything low volume”) such as kickstands in-house, as well as the occasional whole vehicle and prototype accessories—a child carrier, and various add-on storage racks. 

The Olto is made in China, so I asked if the tariffs were an issue. He nodded. “We’re moving production to Malaysia, which also has tariffs but not as big,” he said. I asked for his opinion about the rapidly changing tariff picture. “We don’t do politics,” he said. 

Standing by the churning basin, I suddenly thought of the Amphicar, that oddball German 1960s contraption that was half-car, half boat. “What about a scooter that can swim?” I said. “We’re working on that,” Joe said. I think he was serious.