I like bikes...
The main reason for this post is to warn other NOT to buy a RAWBIKE as they appear to be really badly put together, with feeling of cheap rebranded Chinese parts and their customer service service pretty much was zero help to us.
Back story...
My wife was in the market for an e-bike to commute to work and after checking out various models she like the ride and style of the RAWBIKE 4X. Price tag is 26000sek (£1950/$2600). Technically it is an e-moped rather than a e-bike as it can drive on the electric alone. (max 25 km/h) But regardless...
This was the first electric bike we've owned, but it's a pretty simple concept with the power to the rear hub, a battery behind the seat tube, control box below the bottom bracket and a small led screen and controls on the handle bars. Other than that it's no different to a regular bike.
I followed the instructions and built it up... nothing unusual tighten here, mount this there. To be honest, this is were the initial feeling of a cheap component bike started. Although other parts like the modular baggage system felt great.
The branded Rawbike components are just cheap rebanded parts, I assume to somewhat hide the original manufacturer and component level.
The only major brand parts were the Shimano Rear Derailleur and cassette.
Even thought the parts aren't high quality, the frame felt pretty solid, even though it was a foldable frame and the ride was nice on the huge Kenda Krusade tyres.
It was only after my wide has used the bike not for a few week that the reality of the bike has come forward and the reasons why I would NEVER recommend a RAWBIKE of any type to anyone.
First up, the delivery time... sure that's probably seasonal. But things are in stock on the webpage, is not exactly the truth. In this day and age if it's in stock, then you expect shipping within 1-2 days. Forget it... It will be weeks.
If parts are out of stock, seem like the lead time on simple parts can be 8 months (as we found out) which can mean you're bike will be out of service for a long time.
But back to the user experience, my wife has now done 172 km on the bike and now we hit a few problems.
First issue was the pedals (Wellgo F265)... First your feet do not sit flat on them, but even worse in the wet they are horrible. Very easy to slip off them. Just take a look on Amazon to get a broader review of the pedals, but I'll be changing them out for my wife to something a bit safer.
But the idea of changing them became even more inherent, when one fell off the bike when my wife was cycling home from work. Looking at the crank, the threads got damaged in the process. In all my years of cycling, I've never seen this happen but my wife emailed RAWBIKE support they stated the only way for that to happen was that the pedal was loose, and got quoted the instruction manual and video that the pedal must be tightened when the bike is assembled by the customer. No solution to the problem, but basically a customer fault... thank you an good bye.
To be fair it's a brilliant support business model by Rawbike, when its delivered, you assemble the bike, which gives Rawbike the ability to blame the customer for things like this.
I know I tightened the pedals when assembling, but things happen I guess... Maybe the torque wasn't enough and maybe the vibration with a e-bike is enough to loosen it, but a pedal naturally tightens due to the threads.
But still the no solution attitude of the support is a bit of a slap in the face. First a crank arm for this is cheap as anything... they sell a complete crank retail for 599 sek (approx £45/$59) which I found out is just a rebranded Prowheel Solid 170mm crank which you can get for even less. Oh but wait, even if I accept that it is a customer fault the cranks and pay their retail price the cranks are out of stock till May 2025!! (At the time of writing that is is 8 months away!)
So now I'm a bit frustrated with them to say the least.
I figure after that I would give the bike a bit of a once over. This is when I noticed a few disturbing things with the wheels.
The rear tyre has signs of grease on the side wall... Strange. At first I thought it was just dirt, but it was in fact grease from the chain. This was the when I checked the gears...
When the chain is in first gear it RUBS ON THE TYRE!!!
That's crazy! First there is now grease on the tyre which has a potential of degrading the tyre side wall over time or traction if it contaminates the tread. Plus of course there will be friction wear of the tyre side wall.
There is no adjustment for this, so I checked the rim alignment to the frame. Drive side has a gap of 3.2cm compared to the non-drive side 3.6cm, which explains the chain rub to some extent. Out of curiosity I checked the front wheel and it was even worse, drive side gap between rim and fork 3cm, non-drive side 2.4cm.
It doesn't sound a lot, but bicycle wheels are generally aligned perfectly with the correct offset, this is basic stuff and nothing out of the ordinary to expect.
I know how to build wheels and align them, so I have a truing stand. Which at least let me double check things. I checked the front wheel and strangely it wasn't too bad. A little off, but not as much as on the bike, which means that the forks are not aligned either....
I checked that easily by installing the wheel back to front, and it turns out although there is some minor alignment issues with the rim, the main issue is the front fork not being aligned causing the wheel not to sit straight.
A front wheel can still be mounted straight if it's tightened by positioning the wheel manually and not relying on the dropouts. But that doesn't help the rear wheel unfortunately... the chain will rub on the tyre regardless.
Things can be trimmed somewhat on a bike, but not for the average consumer. I can re-dish the rear wheel so the tyre has the proper clearance, but it should not be like that.
Rawbikes are produced in China with what feels like minimal quality control, cheap parts and quickly put together.
Next issue was the Rawbike app, that didn't work either... The Rawbike 4X has a built in GPS for tracking, but at registration the system first asked for the bike serial number, then the IMEI of the tracker device. That number could not be found anywhere in the documentation or on the bike itself.
The Rawbike Chat bot wasn't much help:
"IMEl-numret för din RAWBIKE, som behövs för att registrera cykeln i
appen, bör du kunna hitta pà cykeln själv. Det är viktigt att notera att endast
modellerna Rawbike 4X & 250E har GPS och därmed ett IMEI-nummer för
registrering i appen. För dessa modeller brukar IMEI-numret vara placerat pà en
etikett nägonstans pà ramen eller under batteriet. Om du har svärigheter med
att hitta IMEl-numret. rekommenderar jag att du kontrollerar i manualen som
följde med din cykel eller direkt pä cykelns ram. Skulle du fortfarande inte
hitta det, tveka inte att kontakta RAWBIKEs support för vidare hjälp: support@rawbike.se. Glöm inte att
inkludera cykelns modell och en beskrivning av ditt ärende när du kontaktar
supporten".
In English:
"The IMEl number for your RAWBIKE, which is needed to register the bike in the app, you should be able to find on the bike itself. It is important to note that only the models Rawbike 4X & 250E have GPS and thus an IMEI number for registration in the app. For these models, the IMEI number is usually located on a label somewhere on the frame or under the battery. If you have trouble finding the IMEI number, I recommend checking in the manual that came with your bike or directly on the bike frame still can't find it, don't hesitate to contact RAWBIKE's support for further help: support@rawbike.se. Don't forget to include the model of the bike and a description of your case when you contact support".
"Kontollera nogrant: ibland kan IMEI-numret vara svårt att se. Kolla under batteri, på cykelram eller någonstans näre bakljuset där tillverkare ofta placera etiketter med teknick information."
In English:
"Check
carefully: sometimes the IMEI number can be hard to see. Check under
the battery, on the bike frame or somewhere near the rear light where
manufacturers often place labels with technical information."
I went over the bike completely... no IMEI = no registration = no GPS tracking.
So now we're stuck with a bike that we can't use and parts to repair it, at our own cost, are not available for 8 months...
The negatives out weight the positives with the RAWBIKE experience, if the support had been somewhat better then I could have accepted things happen. But it just respond that it's not their fault and offer no solution then no.
In the end Rawbike said they could source the parts, but we would have
to pay 100% of the cost which would come to a bit under 900sek
(£65/$90), plus time and effort to leave the bike have it repair and
collect it again.
Bottom line stick with a major manufacturer and avoid Rawbike like the plague.
Plus points:
+ The range seems close to what is advertised.
+ The look of the bike.
Negatives:
- The foldability of pretty pointless.
- The bike is noisy.
- Heavy compared to other e-bikes.
- Chain rubs on the tyre
- Support and any guarantee was useless to none.
- Cheap parts.
- Dropout alignment on the frame and forks is questionable
