Experiences with Raven2 - anyone?

[MadWes]

Some idiot - may he be gifted with ugly and stupid kids and a lifelong diarrhea - have stolen my beloved Bold2, so I have to find a replacement.

Raven2 seems to be the obvious choice if I want a hardtail again.

I am however slightly concerned about the battery/motor setup on the Raven2 compared to a traditional Shimano or Bosch setup.

Does it work well, and how will it feel to drive compared to a traditional setup?

What kind of range can I expect. Will I need an extra battery in the backpack as I did on the Bold2, when I wanted to go longer than 35 kilometers?

And while I am at it: What other bikes should I consider as replacement for my beloved Bold2?

Tnx. in advance

 

[stiv674]

The Fazua system is quite a bit different to the normal Shimano or Bosch systems, more natural but a lot less power. My E8000 is set to 50Nm on trail so roughly the same torque as the Fazua, however it still feels more powerful, you don't get the same type of assistance on the Fazua.

My Fazua is in a gravel bike though, it feels great in that, not sure if I'd want it for off road use, I was considering a Lapierre e-zesty but not sure it would be enough. I got 46 miles and 3600 ft of ascent (75km and 1000m?) out of one battery the other day, 16% battery remaining. That was on mostly tarmac roads though and being a road style bike a lot of that was above the assist limit.

It depends on where and how you ride, the Raven is quite light though which would help. You can also remove the drive unit completely and have a 'normal' hard tail bike, weighing about 14kg.

The Jariffa is the new version of the Bold I guess... Cube also have some good value hard tails.

 

[rjohna]

I have a Wilier 101FX as my bike. I also have a new Focus Raven2 I took out for a few dry test rides while my Wilier was out of action. Both have Fazua. I really like the Fazua system for dirt riding but it won't suit everyone - the main reason being you can have range or oomph, but not both. I use assist in Breeze (eco) mode mostly on uphills and switch it off on the flat/downhill. As such, I get similar range to stiv674 but offroad. It's mainly for keeping up with fitter mates uphill. If I put it in River mode (middle setting) and leave it on for the whole ride, the range drops to, say, 25 miles and 600-700m climb, or about 3 hrs offroad, but I never normally use it like that as it wastes oomph on the flat. If I go on a really long ride, I take a spare battery (1.4 kg) which fits in a modified bottle cage with strap - but I've never needed it so far.

The great thing about Fazua is it is relatively light and the assist feels natural.

I do worry about grime getting in the system - the drivepack (motor+battery) drops down out from the downtube meaning there are areas where muck could (potentially) get in. Having said that, I haven't had a problem with it so far and it appears to be engineered to protect the system from grime.

My Wilier is a full sus and weighs about 18.25kg, but the Raven2 is only 16.5 kg and on the two short rides I've done so far feels really planted, has quick steering and is great on single track - I like that stuff. If weight is not an issue but power/capacity is, then go with something else.

It might all be academic as the Raven2 is as rare as a very rare thing.

Other lightweight hardtail ebikes to consider: look at the Wilier 101X - similar to the Raven2 - but not if you are over 6ft as they don't do a Large size.