Urtopia Carbon Classic Review | The Best Carbon Ebike Under $2,000?
This is the Carbon Classic from Urtopia.
It’s their 38-pound commuter model. Now, if you’ve been looking at Urtopia’s lineup, you’ll
notice that it looks a lot like the Carbon 1 Pro. Even on the frame, it sports the Carbon 1 Pro
graphics, which means they use the same frame. But what Urtopia has done here is they’ve taken
all the great things about the Carbon 1 Pro and dialed back the tech a little bit to have a
more straightforward experience. But to say it’s a stripped-down version of the Carbon 1 Pro
isn’t exactly accurate because it does have some slightly different features as well. It comes with an adjustable stem. I have it dialed into 30°, but
you can go all the way up to 90°. Instead of the dot matrix display, you have a color LCD display
and a right-hand thumb throttle for easy power. But then it doesn’t compromise on things I really
enjoyed, like the 8-speed Shimano drivetrain with the Acera derailleur, and then the zero-latency
torque sensor that gives you instant natural power that integrates really nicely with your pedaling.
In this video, I’ll walk around the bike with you to give you an up-close look at all the components.
And we’ll put it on our scale so you can see the actual weight with the accessories and with and
without the battery. We’ll take it to the road to test the performance. And we’ll finish things up
with some pros and cons and my overall thoughts. But before all that, let’s take a closer look.
This is the fifth model I’ve reviewed from Urtopia. They have folding models, utility models. You can tell they’re actively
taking feedback and honing in on what people really want.
Urtopia is a pretty new brand and their lineup has just exploded over the last year. What’s really impressive is the rate they’re able
to innovate on their models. Now, as a new brand, we are still gathering information on their
customer support, but it is nice to see them expanding their service center network.
So, if you do need a place for in-person service, there are over 1,000 bike shops across the US.
Their bikes also come with a 2-year warranty on the components and a 14-day return window.
Right now, the Carbon Classic is $1999 and currently comes with the fenders included.
Things can change, so if you want to check current information or pricing, you can scan the QR code on your screen or find our
affiliate links down in the description. Just a reminder, if you do end up purchasing from Urtopia
and you use our link, it does support our content at no extra cost to you.
Thank you so much for that support. There are two color options for the Carbon Classic: cream or matte black, which you
see here. Now, for the Carbon Classic Step-Over,
there are three different frame sizes you can choose from: small, medium, and large.
Now, this is the medium frame that fits riders from 5’7″ up to 6’1″. It has a 32-inch standover height.
I am a 6’1″ rider with a 33-inch inseam. The seat is at its minimum insertion point, and I’m really close
to full leg extension. If you do look on their website, they do recommend people with a 33-inch
inseam to go with the large frame. Urtopia also offers the Carbon Classic ST as an easy-to-mount
option, which takes a one-size-fits-all approach and fits riders from 5’1″ up to 6’1″.
Now, this has the advertised weight of 38 lbs. Let’s hang it from our scale with everything on it, including the
optional rack, just to see where it weighs in. So, coming in at just under 42 lbs with the rack, with
the battery and fenders, coming in just under 37 lbs with the extra accessories on there.
Now, let’s walk around the bike and take an up-close look at the components.
Starting with the brakes, Tektro hydraulic disc brakes with 160mm rotors. The front tire attaches with a thru-axle.
It has a rigid carbon front fork, but Urtopia also has accessories like bags you can mount to these
mounting points here. It’s rolling on 700x40c Kenda tires. It has a street tread cable routing
that goes through the head tube and the frame. The currently included front fender with full coverage
in the back. It has integrated lighting with a small front headlight reflector on top and that
fender-integrated tail light that does work as a brake light as well.
On the handlebars, we have Tektro hydraulic brake levers with motor cut-off, lock-on ergonomic rubber grips, an under-bar bell,
Shimano’s 8-speed rapid-fire trigger shifter, that right-hand thumb throttle.
Then on the left side, it has a five-button control panel: power up top, up and down for pedal assist,
your light button and menu button on the bottom. And then if you look under here,
it does have a USB-C port for charging a phone on the go.
Let’s walk through the display. Up top we have time in military time. Front and center we have speed.
Underneath that you have a pedal cadence symbol and you can see your RPMs on the right.
And then right under that we have our riding mode. We have five modes to work with. You can turn it off of course, but then you have Eco,
Tour, Smart, Boost, and Turbo. Then wrapping up the screen we have a couple meters. On the left
we have rider power. On the right we have motor power. So you can see in the moment how much power
you’re putting in versus the bike. And then on the right here we have battery readout with percentage
above. On the bottom we have some trip details. So trip mileage, trip time, and then the estimated
range. That will change depending on the assist level that you’re in. And then there are a few
screens you can cycle through. Just short press on the menu button to get to the next page. So first
up you have trip details again. So trip mileage, your odometer, average speed, max speed. Next
page is a power breakdown. Motor power, you can see your average and max watts. Power analysis,
you see a total breakdown or an overall look at the rider support versus motor power.
Short press the menu button again. So, this is going to give you a breakdown of how much time you’re spending
in each riding mode. Hit the menu button one more time. We’re back home. To turn on your lights,
you have a dedicated light button here. But this actually has automatic lighting. So,
the sensor is on the bottom of the display. I’ll cover that up.
So, the bike will turn on its own lights, but you can always manually override hitting the light button.
But you can also turn off automatic lighting altogether in the settings, which we’ll go over in a second.
So, if you long hold on pedal assist down, that will pull open walk mode.
There is a safety menu that you have to go past. Just long hold that minus button one more time, and then the motor will
give you some assistance up hills. And then to activate the throttle, you actually have to hit
the throttle twice because you’ll get a warning first and then you hit it that second time to
confirm and you’ll get full motor power regardless of the pedal assist level that you’re in. Now,
let’s get into some of the advanced settings. Hold the menu button for 2 seconds. That will pull up
the settings menu. First option is to reset your trip.
Then you can change the speed limit with the second option here. Anywhere from 25 mph down to 15. We’ll keep it at 25 for our riding footage.
Long press to confirm. You can set a four-digit pin to lock people out of the bike. You can set
your time here. Change your unit. You have three different levels of screen brightness to work
with. Auto sleep or the timeout of the bike. You can turn it off or go up to 30 minutes. And then
Assist Tune. This is a really cool feature to have right on board on the bike.
This is where you can actually change how much power you’re getting in each riding mode.
Now, Smart is an adaptive mode, so you don’t have an option for that. But I just have everything set in 25% increments, 25% in
Eco. Short press on the menu button to get to the next option, 50% in Tour, 75% in Boost, and 100%
in Turbo. This way, we can see the full spectrum of the bike’s power during our riding portion.
You can change the walk assist speed here. Light sensitivity is actually the automatic lighting.
You can turn that on and off here. And then you can find a lot of information about your bike.
And at the very bottom, you can reset to factory settings. Now, to exit the menu, you can just wait until it exits itself, or you can hold on the
menu button for a couple seconds, then you’re back home.
All right, let’s take a look at the battery. So, it’s sporting a 36V 9.8 amp-hour battery. It does have an LED up top, so you can take a quick
look at that battery’s charge. Charging port right on the battery, so you can charge this off the
bike. But let’s pop this battery back on. There is a charging port right here on the frame as well,
so you can charge it on or off the bike. And it’s paired with a 4-amp charger, so from empty, you
should have pretty quick charging times. The bike has been tested to UL 2849 standards, and it has
an IP65 rating for water and dust resistance. For graphics, you have Urtopia on the top tube. Even
though this is the Carbon Classic, it says Carbon 1 Pro on the down tube.
It has a Urtopia branded saddle. You actually adjust the saddle height with an Allen key.
You have two mounting points on the down tube for accessories. Perhaps for the best water bottle cage on the market that we sell at
shop.ebikeescape.com. Here’s that optional 33lb capable rear rack.
Then powering this bike, we have a 36V 350W motor that peaks at 750W. It offers an advertised 60 Nm of torque and that
is paired with a zero-latency torque sensor. On the cassette, we have 11 to 40 teeth, and this is a 44-tooth chainring.
That’s going to do it for all the components. Let’s see how the Carbon Classic performs on the road. All right, we’re going to start things off with a throttle-only acceleration test to the max 20 mph throttle
speed. It is a colder day. It’s 30° outside. I’m a 200lb rider.
I do have a full charge on the battery and the tires are pumped up.
Now, I forgot my phone holder today, but I only need one hand for this throttle-only acceleration test.
So, we’re just going to check the accuracy of the display here. With that, let’s get into it.
3 2 1 throttle only and a gentle introduction to power. It seems like once the motor can take advantage of the momentum, we’re ramping up a little bit here.
There’s 15 mph. 16 17 18 19 20 on the GPS. So, it looks like we’re reading out accurately here.
Now, if I hold down on the throttle here, it looks like we’re actually going beyond 20 miles per hour.
There’s 21 and a half. And I’m going up a small hill right now. And I’m just going to see how the throttle does. How does just motor power
do getting us up little hills? It feels like it wants me to pedal a little bit.
Now, this was a pretty moderate hill, so it does have enough power to help you up some inclines.
So, let’s get into the pedaling here. And I just want to remind you where I left things off in Assist Tune.
So if you didn’t see the display walkthrough, this is where you can actually change the level of power in four of the five pedal assist modes.
We’ll talk about Smart mode later. And right now I have it set to 25% power in our first level, Eco.
And we just move up by 25% increments. So 50%, 75%, and 100% power once we get to Turbo.
Let’s get started here. I immediately feel that motor power kick in and you can actually see it on the display and maybe 25% might be a little
much. We’re uh barely pedaling and going about 10 11 mph. So, it’s nice that you can dial it
back. Actually, I had it at 10% earlier and that felt like the perfect first level of assist.
But what I like about Urtopia bikes is the introduction to power is instantaneous with the torque sensor and it feels natural.
And if you’re not familiar with the torque sensor, it actually measures how hard you’re pushing into the pedals.
And then the motor responds to how much effort you’re pushing in. So if you push harder, the motor’s going to
work harder and vice versa. But easily holding at about 10 mph, even with a slight incline.
And with that torque sensor, if I push in a little harder, see the motor support going up.
And pretty easy to hold around 15 miles per hour. Let’s move up to Tour. This is 50% power.
I definitely felt that boost. Now it’s easy to hold around 13 to 15 mph.
And if we push in a little harder, almost maxing out motor support here. And can hold around 16 17. All right.
Boost 75% power. It’s pretty zippy. Easy for me to get up to about 20 mph with easy effort.
Now, if I really push in, there is that 25 mph max. I could pedal like this for a long time.
So, pretty good support on flat ground. All right, let’s boost up into Turbo and
do a 0 to 25 mph acceleration test while pedaling.
Starting in fourth gear. Let’s see how we do. 3 2 1 pedal. Already shifting up. There’s 10 15 20 eighth gear.
It’s 23 24. There’s 25. This is the steepest hill in the park. So, I’m going to go down into Eco.
Let’s shift down and just see what the hill climbing support’s like. So, with that 25% power,
I’m definitely feeling support. Third gear. All right, my legs are starting to burn. Let’s move up into Tour.
Can definitely tell I got that 25% more power, but I don’t want to shift up yet. So, let’s go into Boost.
75% power. Now, I can let off the pedals a little bit. Holding at 10 miles per hour.
And this is the steepest stretch. Moving into Turbo. I can hear the motor barely, but it’s working pretty hard.
So, the assistance felt pretty much on par with the Carbon 1 ST that I reviewed not too long ago.
And if you’d like to see how it performed on our standard test hill, you can check out our full review on the Carbon
1 ST. And my conclusion is a 350W motor does have power to help you up hills, but it’s going to
want some help from you pedaling. This bike does struggle a bit with throttle power alone up more moderate to steep hills.
But what I really like here is the gearing is well suited for the speeds that this bike can go.
I mean, I’m holding right around 23 mph right now. And if you look at my legs, nice easy pedal cadence.
But you’re still able to shift way down when you’re going up hills.
Now, I’ve tried pedal assist Smart on another Urtopia model. It was the Carbon Fold 1, and I actually really enjoyed riding around in that mode
once you get north of 10 miles per hour and you’re not going those really slow speeds.
Smart mode does a good job of adapting to your leg power. But I’ll just show you here. I am barely pushing on the pedals. It is wanting to take me up past 10
miles per hour. But now this is where it’s like really comfortable. I’m just spinning my legs and
very easy to hold just south of 15 miles per hour. So what’s nice is if you’re just cruising around, you can keep it in Smart.
But let’s say a big hill comes up like right up here where you maybe start shifting up through your pedal assist levels,
you can just leave it in Smart and actually get access to full power.
So, I’m actually shifting down here for the hill. All right, let’s see how it does on this steep part here.
And there we go. Made it up in Smart with no problem. With that though, let’s get into some pros and cons and I’ll give you my overall
thoughts. My time with the Carbon Classic has left me with some clear thoughts on where this
bike fits. And it really starts with the physical experience of the bike. The headline feature
is undeniably the weight. At less than 40 lbs, even with the fenders and rack installed,
it completely changes your relationship with the bike.
You aren’t just a passenger. You can actually pedal without motor power, and it feels great.
That lightness makes it incredibly easy to handle, whether you’re throwing it on a bike rack or carrying it up a flight of stairs.
That natural feel extends to the electronics. The motor is virtually silent and the torque sensor is tuned to make it feel like you have stronger legs rather
than being pushed by a machine. The gearing is also perfectly suited for the speed this bike can go.
And it features a Shimano Acera derailleur that provides smooth shifting whether you’re cruising or climbing hills.
While the upgraded models, the Carbon 1 Pro and Carbon 1 ST lean heavily into tech features with Urtopia’s IoT service, bringing things like GPS tracking and movement alarms.
The Carbon Classic keeps the distractions to a minimum. It skips the smart features to keep the focus strictly on the ride.
The color LCD display plays into that perfectly. It provides really useful, detailed information, but it doesn’t get
in the way. I also appreciate that Urtopia gives you the tools to make the ride your own.
The Assist Tune feature lets you dial in performance exactly how you want it, and the adjustable stem and throttle are welcome additions.
It’s also great to see they offer the high-step frame in three sizes, plus a step-through
version that takes a one-size-fits-all approach, so almost anyone can find a comfortable fit.
Now, prioritizing a lightweight, responsive ride does come with trade-offs. The total payload capacity is 240 lbs, which may be a limiting factor for
some riders. And while that rear rack looks sleek, it’s rated for about 33 lbs, so think light
commuter duty. You should also know that while the motor is advertised at 750 watts peak, my
display never showed it pushing past 500 watts. Another consideration is the motor and battery are smaller, which helped keep the weight low.
I think they did strike a good power-to-weight ratio, but frankly, numbers on a page don’t tell the full story.
The performance is perfectly matched for the bike’s purpose. It shines on flats and moderate hills, even if it isn’t a mountain
climber. Ultimately, Urtopia has honed in on a quality experience for people who actually love
to pedal. If you’ve been hunting for that perfect balance of lightweight design, natural power,
and traditional bike feel, the Carbon Classic delivers.
If you want to check out current pricing, you can scan the QR code on screen or find our affiliate link down in the description.
Also, if you use our affiliate link when you go to make a purchase, you are supporting our channel at no extra cost to you.
Thank you so much for your support. Let me know down in the comments.
Does a lightweight rider-focused ebike like this appeal to you or do you prefer raw power?
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Don’t forget to hit that like button and subscribe if you want to stay up-to-date on our content.
With that, I’m Myles with Ebike Escape. Thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.
Urtopia Carbon Classic (Affiliate Link) 👉 https://alnk.to/44Y2jea
Is lighter actually better? The Urtopia Carbon Classic tips the scales at just 38 lbs, drastically changing how the bike handles and rides compared to heavy commuters. By ditching the complex IoT features of the Carbon 1 Pro, Urtopia aims to deliver a focused, high-quality riding experience for under $2,000.
In this review, I test the real-world performance of the 350W motor and torque sensor to see if this lightweight setup has enough power for hills. We’ll cover the pros and cons, the actual weight on our scale, and help you decide if you should choose this over the “smarter” models.
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0:00 Urtopia Carbon Classic Review Intro
1:30 Price, Warranty & Service
2:34 Sizing & Rider Height
3:10 Real World Weight Test
3:33 Brakes, Tires & Fork Specs
3:56 Integrated Lights & Fenders
4:06 Handlebars & Cockpit Setup
4:36 Display, Settings & Speed Limit
8:01 Battery Specs & Charging
8:31 Frame, Saddle & Rack
9:01 350W Motor & Drivetrain
9:19 Throttle Acceleration & Top Speed
10:29 Pedal Assist Speed Test
12:59 Hill Climb Performance
14:18 Smart Mode Test
15:42 Pros, Cons & Verdict
