anyone got a kinesis rise or another bike with a FAZUA motor.
What do you think if them,?
Yeah I've got a Rise hardtail, had it since the summer.
Two things I think stand out:
- It's an alu hardtail. It rides really well and the geometry is great if you like Long/Low/Slack, plenty of clearance for big tyres. But the motor doesn't compensate for any HT traits.
- The Fazua motor I think requires you to buy into their way of thinking. It's a great system, but people who want to ride all day with high assistance (or chip their motors...) would be better served elsewhere.
Apart from those key points, the Rise is a great bike. I spend most of the time in the lowest mode, adapted via the app to give 100w of boost. I can ride max 5 hours / 1200m climbing like that, with careful use (85kg, trails around the South Downs/Surrey Hills). Easy to get a second battery if you want though, they are £400 and the size/weight of a small water bottle. To be clear - that would be essential if you wanted to ride a "big day out" somewhere hilly without running out of charge. The handling and geo is great for me (L4, I'm 6'2").
On the "be aware" side, the XFusion fork is a bit basic in proper rough stuff, takes some tweaking. I think the new ones are coming with Rockshox now though. The Sector wheels are a bit of an unknown and seem to be OE only. My feedback is that the hubs etc have been solid, rear spokes did loosen off after a bit but were easy to re-tension.
So it's great at what it is for - a "hardcore" hardtail with LLS geometry for blasting round the woods on on big rims and grippy tyres, which are brilliantly compensated for having the motor. I think it's at it's best on rolling trails where you are around limiter thresholds or over a lot - for winching up and plunging down steep stuff the bigger bikes would likely make more sense, unless you really love HTs 😉
I really, really wish they did this as frame only 🙁
Owen, thanks
That's is just what I am looking for. Don't really have the time for epic days out, so five hours is enough
No probs - happy to honestly answer any questions on it. In mixed modes and being lazy, the battery will go flat 2-3 hours, so it does need some personal discipline for longer rides. But that helps keep me sweating whilst taking the edge off 😉
The Singletrack review was pretty spot on I reckon. The Guy Kesteven review was a bit gushing, but he definitely captured all the highlights.
The removable motor and battery is cool, but keep that area clean as it is a sealing weakness as a result of being removable. After very wet rides or hosing the bike, take the motor unit off and take the battery out, check it's all dry.
Be aware the new version Kinesis are selling is essentially a "Mark 1.5", branded as the "Pro". Minor spec changes, but the main change is a head angle reduction by one degree. No big deal, it's good they are refining a good bike. Kinesis were great to deal with and couldn't have been more helpful; I bought through a LBS but they couldn't get stock as the L4 Rise had sold out - the dudes at Kinesis stepped in directly to get me a bike.