Upgrade Rise or Buy Kenevo SL or buy Transition Relay

[michael_bc]

Can you tell us a bit more about why you are interested in a slacker and longer travel bike? This is important information to answer the question.

At first sight, you could squeeze quite a lot more out of your bike by replacing the fork with a Fox 36. Burlier tires also make a huge impact. Neither of these upgrades should void your warranty?

The other bikes seem like a side-grade at best considering battery and motors.

 

[squeegee]

Can you tell us a bit more about why you are interested in a slacker and longer travel bike? This is important information to answer the question.

At first sight, you could squeeze quite a lot more out of your bike by replacing the fork with a Fox 36. Burlier tires also make a huge impact. Neither of these upgrades should void your warranty?

The other bikes seem like a side-grade at best considering battery and motors.

I agree about the motor and battery, 540W + EP8 is the better of the options you mention, more power and torque and more juice on hand than others. On my Rise I have 160 fork, Cascade link + the 160 mullet rear travel mod with 8.5x2.5 shock. Set up like this is very noticeable in terms of rear wheel travel and feel of slacker head angle, the extra travel makes a huge difference, Cascade link really stiffens the rear end a lot (you could go Cascade + 210x55 stock shock=150mm rear travel and 160mm fork). Makes the Rise an Enduro capable trail bike, a whole lot more than stock but not in the realm of a Kenevo SL. Asking yourself what you're going to do most with the bike as previous post suggests is the real question you need to answer. If you ride trail more than park for example, or doing shuttle runs and park every weekend etc. And as a 2022 model, your warranty is probably about up, I have 1.5 yrs running my Rise like I mention without incident, riding 3-4 times a week, 3K miles and lots of abuse. Mine is 2022 M model size medium just as an FYI. I use the KSL for park and burly stuff but only represents about 20% of my total riding. I want to ride the KSL more but it's just not as good for trails and jumps I ride weekdays on the Rise.

 

[Bbmtb]

I currently have the 2022 Orbea Rise H30. I'm interested in a slacker and longer travel bike. What's best:

1. On the Rise, upgrade brakes, put airshaft in fork and increase shock length. This is the cheapest option but would void the warranty and put the bike outside of its intended use
2. Sell the Rise and buy a Kenevo SL. The main cons are the price and small battery. This is probably my dream bike though.
3. Sell the Rise and buy a Transition Relay PNW. The main con seems to be the Fazua motor. I've heard they aren't super reliable.
4. Wait a year or two for more long travel SL ebikes to come out. Would it be worth it to upgrade the Rise in the meantime?

I rode the Rise and Trek ExE SL at Downieville and I really exposed the way builders are making SL eMTBs right now to be lighter for marketing but not beefy enough to handle to power and speed put down on these bikes. I went for the Relay and feel Transition has done a better job especially with the PNW build that has 38 forks, TRP (oversized) brakes and 170 160 travel. It feels right and the FAZUA motor is amazing, I think the best out there. No problems so far but only 25 hour of riding so far. But the bike is solid and dialed for handling whatever you point it add with added speed and the weight of an SL. I vote go to a Relay you won’t regret it.

 

[Cell4soul]

No consideration for the new Rise LT if you want light weight? Up to 85 nm and 630 wh battery. I recently weighed a large LT M10 with 630 wh battery and it was 44.5 lbs with pedals. Pretty impressive.

 

[Desert_Turtle]

Oops. Already posted about this a month ago. My opinion hasn’t changed. If your riding steep and chunky stuff the Relay is the best choice. A Rise cannot do what a Relay can (without pushing the rise well past its limits).

 

[Type1]

As others have said, the Rise is a trail bike.

 

[Bbmtb]

No consideration for the new Rise LT if you want light weight? Up to 85 nm and 630 wh battery. I recently weighed a large LT M10 with 630 wh battery and it was 44.5 lbs with pedals. Pretty impressive.

I have to say that is impressive. At 43 lbs an 85nm motor would be a lot of power. I would have to overcome my impression that the Rise (previous version) is not built to handle chunkier stuff. I’m the post above re testing it (previous version) at Downieville. How are they getting to that weight with that motor and battery size? Are they skimping on the brake size, forks (I think you want 38), other components? I’d also want to be convinced about the noise and ride experience and durability of the 85nm motor as compared to the Fazua 60nm. I don’t know, maybe I’m unfairly biased against Orbea because in my mind they are a triathlon bike company.