Electric bicycle maker N+ has partnered with Volkswagen to produce the N+ Volkswagen eBike, described in a press email to me as “the world’s safest e-bike.” The claim rests on a collection of tech that includes smart glasses with a heads-up display, a Bluetooth-connected helmet with integrated front and rear lights, a rear-facing camera, and a handlebar-integrated display. I was invited to test ride the bike while in Berlin at IFA 2026.
Set up outside the mobility test track at IFA, N+ had brought the “Sport” model of its new bike. It features a typical-looking frame with a straight top tube, as opposed to the curved-down step-through frame of the “Crossover” the company also offers on its website. The e-bike sits on 27.5-inch wheels and features a middle-tier Shimano U4000 Cues 9-speed derailleur and Tektro brakes.
One N+ representative told me the e-bike and its components are made with corrosion-resistant materials to withstand winters in places like Berlin, where salted roads after snow can easily corrode bicycle parts. You can tell it’s a Volkswagen-licensed bike by the VW badge on the front and back, which light up in white and red, respectively, in addition to a separate brake light and headlight. There’s also a “Crossover” model that wasn’t present, but that is otherwise very similar, just with a step-through frame design.
The e-bike itself uses a compact, 250W mid-drive Yamaha motor, with its battery integrated into the frame. According to the N+ website, it should be good for about 100 miles on a charge. Both e-bikes have built-in Find My support (Apple for now, but the rep I spoke with said N+ will add support for Android’s version of the same feature).
That’s all pretty normal high-end e-bike stuff you might find on one of the nicer Aventon or Lectric bikes. What sets these apart is the tech I mentioned at the top. Unfortunately, when I showed up to test-ride the bike, multiple shipping delays meant N+ didn’t have the e-bikes’ battery packs, which go in the e-bike’s downtube (the slanted tube that connects the front of a bicycle to its bottom bracket).
Despite that, the reps were able to give me a demo of the smart glasses, which it said weren’t yet ready for the test ride either way. The smart glasses feature a color display in the upper right of the glasses, visible when you look directly at it but otherwise very much out of the way. It shows you a small map for GPS navigation, as well as your current speed. The map smoothly animates as you bike, or at least it did in the demo I viewed. The smart glasses themselves are the sporty wraparound variety, and they wouldn’t have comfortably sat over the prescription pair I wear. (Luckily, my vision is worse at a distance, so I could see the HUD clearly.) The below image on a smartphone they had on-hand shows this layout as I saw it:
I could also wear the helmet, which has a red light in the back that, once it’s connected to the bike via Bluetooth, can indicate when you’re braking or turning. And I could ride the e-bike, just without the battery. I was impressed with how much it didn’t feel like riding an e-bike. It was nimble and easy to accelerate. Shifting gears, using the two thumb levers next to the right handlebar grip, was smooth and easy. And the disc brakes were very responsive. It was a nice ride, in other words.
What I didn’t get to test was the “Smart View” screen on the handlebars, which is supposed to show navigation, but also can show you the view from the rear camera if its radar detects a car coming up from behind you. It also displays blind spot alerts—and an LED strip integrated into the top tube does the same, a rep told me, although I don’t know how useful that would be, since it’s out of sight while you’re riding. I’d have liked to try this out, as all of this together sounds great to me, a writer with an aging, aching neck who finds it harder to turn his head to check behind him. Here is an N+ render showing what that should look like:
None of this comes cheap. Without added accessories, the Sport and Crossover cost $4,000 and $4,350, respectively. All in, if you add the helmet, smart glasses, security kit that includes an 85dB alarm and frame lock, and range extender battery pack, the e-bikes can soar in price, with the Sport, for instance, costing a hair under $6,000. That’s a lot, but it’s also far less than the cost of a new car, and it has many of the same safety features of modern-day vehicles. If I wasn’t a parent and my minivan wasn’t a practical necessity, I’d very seriously consider it.
The N+ Volkswagen eBikes will start shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
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