Known Issues & Problems with Rize Bikes Products + Help, Solutions, & Fixes

[Barzy]

Starting to get a little nervous with my purchase now after reading this forum lol

I ordered my ebike late June for August pre order. I am a first time ebiker and chose the Rize model based on my research (good bang for the buck). Want to mainly use the bike for work commutes.
For what it's worth, every question I had on my preorder was answered by Peter usually within 24 hours so no problem there. I am really getting anxious now since we are quickly approaching mid August (didn't realize August preorder was an end of August preorder).
I will send him an email today asking about the known issues with the brake pads to see what he says.

 

[Kevin8tor]

Starting to get a little nervous with my purchase now after reading this forum lol

I ordered my ebike late June for August pre order. I am a first time ebiker and chose the Rize model based on my research (good bang for the buck). Want to mainly use the bike for work commutes.
For what it's worth, every question I had on my preorder was answered by Peter usually within 24 hours so no problem there. I am really getting anxious now since we are quickly approaching mid August (didn't realize August preorder was an end of August preorder).
I will send him an email today asking about the known issues with the brake pads to see what he says.

I'm on September pre-order and am having the same mis-givings you are, based on what I've read and heard about issues and poor support. I've thought of contacting RIZE to ask about these issues, also. Not sure what I would expect them to say; words don't mean much, and they cost nothing. I'm just hopeful that you and other August delivery people will have good experiences and post about them. On the flip side, if things go pear-shaped, I hope you share that, too.....but that's not what I'm hoping for!

 

[WildWillie]

Barzy and Kevin8tor - Same here as am I on the September delivery schedule for a Rize RX and I too am/was waffling a bit.

I actually asked a couple more experienced forum members for an opinion and here are the takeaways from those conversations that resonated with me:

Rize - A good price for a great mid-drive and decent components. Every bike has some issues and realize that bad experiences sometimes unequally weight the voices on the forum. Components are not top shelf and will require adjustment or even replacement. But, if your committed to fixing a few things yourself, then Rize makes an overall good choice for the money. If money is not an object, then go with Wattwagons and pay for the upgraded controller for the bafang ultra. If service and support is a primary concern, then your local bike shop (LBS) is the best option.

With that said, I am committed to 'go4it' with Rize. I kept pricing out others like biktrix, and while I like them, the 4k price point for my configuration and wallet was just a bit out of reach.
Now, Frey was my other choice, but the >$500 shipping cost and the 90 day build-ship-deliver period was more than I wanted in those particular numbers.

Cheers to you all, hope to hear more from you in September.

 

[Kevin8tor]

Barzy and Kevin8tor - Same here as am I on the September delivery schedule for a Rize RX and I too am/was waffling a bit.

I actually asked a couple more experienced forum members for an opinion and here are the takeaways from those conversations that resonated with me:

Rize - A good price for a great mid-drive and decent components. Every bike has some issues and realize that bad experiences sometimes unequally weight the voices on the forum. Components are not top shelf and will require adjustment or even replacement. But, if your committed to fixing a few things yourself, then Rize makes an overall good choice for the money. If money is not an object, then go with Wattwagons and pay for the upgraded controller for the bafang ultra. If service and support is a primary concern, then your local bike shop (LBS) is the best option.

With that said, I am committed to 'go4it' with Rize. I kept pricing out others like biktrix, and while I like them, the 4k price point for my configuration and wallet was just a bit out of reach.
Now, Frey was my other choice, but the >$500 shipping cost and the 90 day build-ship-deliver period was more than I wanted in those particular numbers.

Cheers to you all, hope to hear more from you in September.

WildWillie -

Wow, you and I are traveling the same ebike arc of learning. I have come and gone and re-arrived at the exact same conclusion. These bikes take some tooling around and adjusting to get right. I'm resigned to replacing the weak components if necessary, and doing all the work myself.

Today, I wrote to Frey to get pricing and timing on a build for HT1000 with fenders, racks, lights. Doubt I'll go that route, but I'm curious enough to ask. I talked to Rize on Monday to switch to RX from Pro and asked about delivery timing and the guy I spoke with made it clear that best case is end of September. Given that timing, the Frey might not take much longer.

I initially ordered a Bolton Foxbat - 48V 1000w bike, then switched to same bike from Eunorau (better price), but ultimately found Rize and it's mix of battery & components that are superior - on whole for similar $$.

Thanks for your thoughts and input!

 

[wdforty]

Hello everyone , I'm a September Bolt customer , and I see the August people are still waiting , the infamous Mark insured me the beginning of September , anyway all the other issues are overwhelming , getting nervous now hope I'm the lucky one.

Thanks

 

[Barzy]

FYI here is the response from Rize for what it's worth:

We have been working closely with Tektro on the brake pad issue and so far it appears to be a very small percentage of riders who have experienced the issue of contaminated pads, of course not many people brag online unprompted about how quiet their brakes are so it appears much worse than it is, but we did ship out over 500 bikes in the June pre-order just for context. The issue was raised with Tektro prior to placing our order for the current batch and they implied there would be no issues so we will see.

 

[wdforty]

FYI here is the response from Rize for what it's worth:

We have been working closely with Tektro on the brake pad issue and so far it appears to be a very small percentage of riders who have experienced the issue of contaminated pads, of course not many people brag online unprompted about how quiet their brakes are so it appears much worse than it is, but we did ship out over 500 bikes in the June pre-order just for context. The issue was raised with Tektro prior to placing our order for the current batch and they implied there would be no issues so we will see.

Hope this true I'm expecting delivery in September we will see

Thanks Bill

 

[WildWillie]

Hey all you 2020 September Rize order folks. Seems there are a few of us in this thread. Your choice, but I started a new thread concerning the September Rize deliveries. Your free to post wherever you wish, but if we want to move our conversations there, check it out. Just go to the root of the Rize bike forum and join in. That way we can keep this thread to, you know, issues and fixes.

Take care!
WildWillie - aka - Bill

 

[Ryan_Peters]

It might be worth mentioning that the company "Rize Bikes" was actually "Spark bikes" just a year ago. If they get enough bad PR it appears they will just change their name to something else and try to skip out on their warranty. Wonder what their name will be next year....

 

[Spatzi]

FYI here is the response from Rize for what it's worth:

We have been working closely with Tektro on the brake pad issue and so far it appears to be a very small percentage of riders who have experienced the issue of contaminated pads, of course not many people brag online unprompted about how quiet their brakes are so it appears much worse than it is, but we did ship out over 500 bikes in the June pre-order just for context. The issue was raised with Tektro prior to placing our order for the current batch and they implied there would be no issues so we will see.

Wow. So now they are admitting the pads are contaminated. Every person, including myself, who has contacted Rize about these noisy pads (Many on my YouTube channel as well as FB owners group) has been met with the answer “The brake noise is completely normal for our bikes. We will not cover replacement.”

Why should they be working closely with Tekro on an ‘issue’ that is completely normal? Shouldn’t they tell Tekro “Keep up the good work! Send us more of those ‘normal‘ pads!”?

 

[hlmax]

Wow. So now they are admitting the pads are contaminated. Every person, including myself, who has contacted Rize about these noisy pads (Many on my YouTube channel as well as FB owners group) has been met with the answer “The brake noise is completely normal for our bikes. We will not cover replacement.”

Why should they be working closely with Tekro on an ‘issue’ that is completely normal? Shouldn’t they tell Tekro “Keep up the good work! Send us more of those ‘normal‘ pads!”?

The irony. If Tekro didn't equip their hydraulic ebike brakes with higher performance metal ceramic brake pads, and just toss in the el cheapo organic one, people will be a lot happier. Rize should just toss in two pair of el cheapo organic pads with every ebike they sell, attaching a disclaimer of installing at your own risk by qualified installer only.

 

[wdforty]

Starting to get a little nervous with my purchase now after reading this forum lol

I ordered my ebike late June for August pre order. I am a first time ebiker and chose the Rize model based on my research (good bang for the buck). Want to mainly use the bike for work commutes.
For what it's worth, every question I had on my preorder was answered by Peter usually within 24 hours so no problem there. I am really getting anxious now since we are quickly approaching mid August (didn't realize August preorder was an end of August preorder).
I will send him an email today asking about the known issues with the brake pads to see what he says.

Hey , it's August 19 u get your bike yet Barzy ????

 

[Barzy]

Hey , it's August 19 u get your bike yet Barzy ????

They said it's supposed to ship out next week - I have no confirmation yet. Fingers crossed. I will definitely keep you guys updated. Such a long wait - almost anticlimactic.

Side story: Was walking the dog last nite and some kid was riding his ebike near us - when he hit the brakes I heard that horrible water flushing sound lol. It really is a horrible sound. Don't recall the name of the ebike but it wasn't Rize.

 

[wdforty]

They said it's supposed to ship out next week - I have no confirmation yet. Fingers crossed. I will definitely keep you guys updated. Such a long wait - almost anticlimactic.

Side story: Was walking the dog last nite and some kid was riding his ebike near us - when he hit the brakes I heard that horrible water flushing sound lol. It really is a horrible sound. Don't recall the name of the ebike but it wasn't Rize.

Ok great thanks Brazy , I'm September , let us know when you get yours , I'll do the same

 

[Barzy]

Ok great thanks Brazy , I'm September , let us know when you get yours , I'll do the same

So it finally arrived yesterday on the last day of August - still qualifies as August delivery lol. After assembly, took me about just over hour solo which also included front brake pad realignment. Would have been much faster if I had help getting it out of the box etc. Pretty straight forward assembly - not much to assemble really. Just handlebar, front tire and fender. Brake pad realignment was easy enough.

I ordered the bag and bike lock which wasn't included in the box - dammit !! Still no response on that from Rize.

After about an hour or so of riding all I have to say is WOW - love love loving it !! First thing I noticed was the sheer size of the bike compared to my regular mountain bike. My father in law called it a horse ! As a first time ebike rider I had a smile on my face the whole time riding it. I changed the settings from max speed of 32 km/hr to max of 99?? - whatever that means. Looks like I can get up to about 40 km/hr on throttle alone. No issues with the brakes so far, and I am doing my best to break them in as per the instructions I've read online.

So far so good. I will keep you guys updated if things go south and if anything interesting happens.

 

[Scheidty]

Hey everyone,

I have had some minor issues with my Rize bike in the past few days, one of which I'll detail here.

After initial assembly and an extended shakedown ride the day after, I noticed a sound coming from the head tube area. I tried reassembling the fork and stem as the sound appeared to be coming from that general area. However, the sound, which can be described as a rattle, continued and was amplified whenever traversing rough terrain. I had my partner shake the bike with my ear pressed against the frame and the rattle was coming from inside the frame between the head tube and battery.

After removing the battery, fours screws needed to be removed in order to remove the upper and lower battery housing. Two of of the screws were phillips and the other two required a hex key and were machine screws of the battery housing. After removing the upper and lower portions I removed the battery tray by hand as it is simply pressed into place (there are a lot of wires running through the area so take note of which side of the frame the wires are running). I noticed that the controller was stuffed inside the frame between the head tube and battery and I was able to simply pull it out. There wasn't any sort of anchoring system or vibration dampening. I used a combination of furniture floor protector pads and a bicycle inner tube to wrap the controller before shoving it back in there and there is no longer any rattle.

Photos posted from left to right: controller inside the frame, controller removed, controller. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of my "solution" but if you're hearing a rattle it's potentially the controller inside the frame.

 

[gpac7778]

Hey everyone,

I have had some minor issues with my Rize bike in the past few days, one of which I'll detail here.

After initial assembly and an extended shakedown ride the day after, I noticed a sound coming from the head tube area. I tried reassembling the fork and stem as the sound appeared to be coming from that general area. However, the sound, which can be described as a rattle, continued and was amplified whenever traversing rough terrain. I had my partner shake the bike with my ear pressed against the frame and the rattle was coming from inside the frame between the head tube and battery.

After removing the battery, fours screws needed to be removed in order to remove the upper and lower battery housing. Two of of the screws were phillips and the other two required a hex key and were machine screws of the battery housing. After removing the upper and lower portions I removed the battery tray by hand as it is simply pressed into place (there are a lot of wires running through the area so take note of which side of the frame the wires are running). I noticed that the controller was stuffed inside the frame between the head tube and battery and I was able to simply pull it out. There wasn't any sort of anchoring system or vibration dampening. I used a combination of furniture floor protector pads and a bicycle inner tube to wrap the controller before shoving it back in there and there is no longer any rattle.

Photos posted from left to right: controller inside the frame, controller removed, controller. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of my "solution" but if you're hearing a rattle it's potentially the controller inside the frame.

View attachment 64256 View attachment 64257View attachment 64258

 

[WildWillie]

Scheidty - Good find and troubleshooting.

Curious about the fix however, I believe these controllers generate heat. Potentially, what you did by wrapping in furniture pads and rubber could act as insulation keeping the heat local to the controller and perhaps overheating much more easily.

I would LOVE for someone more qualified than me to consider this and offer alternative materials or solutions if indeed this might lead to controller failure due to heat build up. I could also be TOTALLY wrong on this, and wouldn't mind at all someone correcting this concern.

thx

 

[Barzy]

Scheidty - Good find and troubleshooting.

Curious about the fix however, I believe these controllers generate heat. Potentially, what you did by wrapping in furniture pads and rubber could act as insulation keeping the heat local to the controller and perhaps overheating much more easily.

I would LOVE for someone more qualified than me to consider this and offer alternative materials or solutions if indeed this might lead to controller failure due to heat build up. I could also be TOTALLY wrong on this, and wouldn't mind at all someone correcting this concern.

thx

I have the same issue as Sheidty. The rattle is a little annoying and I do plan on opening it up like Scheidty suggested and attempt to hold the controller in place. Excellent question from WildWillie regarding heating up the controller - sounds like a legit concern. I'll be checking back to see if there is an expert opinion on this.

Btw - the lock and bag came were delivered the next day.

 

[somar]

Scheidty
I have the same issue but it wasn't continuously rattling. It was more like on every crack on the street or pothole. I also opened and I noticed the wires weren't attached to any clamps to I put insulation and the noise was gone. It's been more than 1000 km and still not noise. Easy fix. Mine is a Leisure model