I am also late to this particular party, but am a Rize RX Pro owner (as well a City MD owner) and thought it might be useful to others with a couple of thoughts on the subject of the Rize bikes in general, and what my experiences and wish lists are after spending several months and many miles with it (about 1500 so far). For those asking about size, I am 6'3" 210ish.
Comparing the Rize RX Pro to the Frey on the surface and some specs, both bikes seem similar and they very well might be. Both bikes offer the same power and gears and size etc, however for me I think the answer is in what you want suspension-wise. For fit, the RX Pro is plenty large for me even though the frame is technically undersized (according to the processionals), but when I want to have it more as a cruiser it is nice to be able to drop the seat and get on and off easier than a super XL frame. It came mostly assembled but recommend you go over every bolt and check the derailleur before you get out there. The brakes are strong, fit and finish was ok but not perfect. I got mine in black which has helped with touch-ups from trail accidents. Mentioning trails, the RX Pro is a frikking billy goat when you want to scoot up embankments and very very steep hills. It will pull a wheelie in 1st gear, so be ready for it if you hit the button from a stop. I usually leave the bike in 3rd for getting going on the street.
Wishes:
1. Better front fork. I find myself wanting to go off-road more and more with the fat tires (beyond my initial intentions), and having a nice front fork is worth paying more for it already on the bike. I have been looking at replacing my forks, or just maybe getting a different bike in a couple years once I can afford it. The seat post suspension is also nice, but nothing compared to a full rear setup. Adding a proper $600-800 air/oil front fork to this bike would still put it ahead of the Frey on a buy for those of us who are happy enough with a seat post suspension on the butt feel for the price difference. I will never really ever use a rear suspension for its intended purposes, and can lift up my butt for the bigger hits for the price difference.
2. Synthetic Gears. The noise is awful on the M620 (for me) if you want a quiet ride with power on. If they would make a solution that held for 6 months at a time to handle just the stock power, I would be all over that cash in hand whatever the cost. This affects the Frey as well.
3. Tuning Ability. My RX Pro is the CANBUS model, so I am stuck with what I have for now, or sell it and put in a UART version for tuning control. I am not too picky for now, so leaving it alone.
My Opinion of Rize RX Pro vs Frey:
If you just want a simple bike with very very decent capabilities but lacks some finesse with the larger trail bumps and roots, save your money and go with the Rize. If you want a bike to have a better ride offroad, maybe get one with a proper suspension setup like the Frey since the added bits costs are in line with upgrading your Rize if you choose that route, but the Rize will never get the full rear suspension of the Frey or other full sus bikes.
Rize City MD Opinion
This is my wife's bike, but being the person who maintains it I have had the chance to ride it quite a bit.
Very nice bike, plenty of power, front fork suspension feels smoother than the RX Pro, and does not make springing noises when hitting bumps. The stock Bafang programming really does suck on the BBS02 compared to the RX Pro m620, but for now leaving it alone until it is out of warranty. I have trained my wife to keep her hands on the brakes when she wants to ensure control of the bike. The mappings of power to assist levels are quite wonky, but I understand it can be smoothed out once the warranty period ends.
First off, it has the BBS02 motor, and that thing is quiet quiet quiet compared to the M620 in my RX Pro. If I ever kill the nylon gears, I will upgrade to the new synthetic. Second, I will say that motor might not have the power of the M620 stock for stock, but it has no issues moving me around at top speeds and quite well I might add while sipping power (as compared to the m620 full throttle riding). Climbing steep road hills is also comparable to the RX Pro (just not as fast) provided you are in a low enough gear and appropriate power level, but even so if you are not doing extreme hills all the time or looking to have a 1000w+ base to start modding, then you might want to consider holding off on the M620 platform for a while since the 750w platforms really do have plenty of power for the everyday bike users, light/moderate trails, and are very quiet. I really do not like the metal gears in the M620, but the noise does wake some people up on the trail before I even have to ring my bell.
Rize Opinion
Rize consistently seems to put out good bang-for-the-buck products, but could even go a slight step further in price and features by giving you better front suspension options, as well as expanded second batter mount options by putting out an extension cord for their new three-pronged power plugs. Mounting the second battery to the top of the integrated battery tube makes the bottle holder area at the bottom of the seatpost worthless. Maybe make things like upgraded fork or extension cord an add-on, but some solution through them would be very nice and still very competitive. I would gladly pay up front not to deal with it afterwards for the same if not more cost.
Would I recommend them? Best answer is it depends. Obviously I was happy enough to buy a second, but I would only recommend them to people who are not high-strung and stressed out over everything in life. So, recommend to my boss who fits that description? Heck no. Her boss who is very chill and takes a big picture to life approach, then I would recommend them in a heartbeat with the caveats above about suspension needs of the individual rider.
Rize response times might be slow for some, and a little bit of a pain, but so far they have made me happy in the end. I am currently in the process of getting some replacement parts for my wife's City MD that occurred during shipping, but nothing more painful than dealing with any 3rd party reseller getting parts from China. If you are patient with claims and prompt with your build and testing, then there should be no issues. If you cannot wait for their turnaround times, keep in mind that everything mechanical on the bikes are easily sourced online, and more than likely whatever is broken can be replaced in a few days and will probably break again eventually through use. Boom, you have a spare on hand already through the warranty.
Future Decisions
Sell the RX Pro for a full suspension m620/BBS02/HD, or just upgrade the front fork.
I hope this helps those out there searching around for information
