Vaast E/1

[sandwich]

Hi all,
I've been shopping for a new Class 3 ebike during these wonderful black friday sales, and I came across the Vaast E/1 which is on sale at Cambriabike. https://www.vaastbikes.com/e1

It ticks as lot of boxes for me- full suspension, class 3, bosch speed line, upgraded display. On the flip, it's heavy, Vaast appears to be dead (no contact through phone, email, nor facebook), and the fit is pretty weird with a longer reach than my mountain bike. It's also apparently limited to a 500wh battery (ideal would be 625), and there is very limited information out there on these bikes and the brand. People seem to like them via the limited number of reviews, but I'm struggling to find user reviews aside from "The belt comes off".

Any comments, thoughts, or discussions? Would love to hear something before buying a new bike the doesn't really offer more than what I've already got.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I would never buy an e-bike from an unknown brand with no support or market presence. Yet another start-up.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Welcome aboard! An unreachable manufacturer would be a no-go for me by itself, but wondering if you noticed the proprietary suspension? What's your plan for suspension parts?

 

[sandwich]

Vaast has a few other bikes on the market. Or had, whatever. I heard recently about a recall of their magnesium road frames. Between that and the wildly expensive E/1, it doesn’t surprise that they would disappear.

Personally I don’t fear the reaper on manufacturer support. There are a lot of manufacturers that will dodge providing warranty support rather than own up to their mistakes. Even big brands like Yeti will proclaim ignorance in order to avoid a claim. I’ve dealt with used bikes for ages and haven’t had a problem keeping them running. My current FS bike came from China and I expect no support when it eventually dies, but my hope is that it will either be cheap to replace or I’ll be able to buy a replacement part from one of the open mold manufacturers.

Anyways, with the Vaast I’m mostly concerned about the weird seatmast. If that breaks then you’re hosed. The suspension components should be robust enough to last the life of the bike and bearings can be bought anywhere. The bigger concern for me is whether this is a bike that was actually built forward thinking (625wh battery? Smart system?) and that info isn’t readily available. There’s not a lot of discussion out there so I was hoping to start some. With the blowout deals, I imagine we’ll see other folks who are interested or have questions, even if I don’t scoop one up.