This review is about Ridden E-bikes, not about the 9 miles to Frisco. If you have the proper equipment, the ride to Frisco and back is glorious. In our case, we didn't get the right equipment.
We we arrived at our appointed time, there was no one in the office. After waiting a couple moments, a guy name Chris came running in. My wife, noting her small stature, asked for a smaller bike than the ones on display in front of their storefront. Chris obliged her, showed her the controls and that was it. Unlike my wife, I had ridden an e-bike owned by a friend so I was comfortable with the bike Chris selected for me and off we went.
My wife commented almost immediately that the rear disc brake hardly slowed her down. Then she mentioned that to compensate, she had to really grip down on the front brake. By the end of our day, her hands hurt from the necessity to constantly over grip when slowing or stopping at stop signs.
The issue with my bike had to do with gearing. While my wife could stay in pedal assist 1 the entire time, I had to move up to 3 in some instances just to keep up. And when I did that to, for example, to get up a hill, as soon as I stopped pedaling I got resistance like a governor on a rental truck, essentially slowing me down until I started pedaling again.
We used these bikes on August 20th. Were these late season problems? Were these failure to tune the bikes after each ride? After returning the bikes, and with my wife mentioning to the employee (not Chris) that there was a braking issue on her bike, we had the sense of the young man thinking, "Whatever!"
Buyer beware, or rather, renter beware. Customer service is lacking. Make sure you get a good bike, maybe even test drive it before you launch on your trip to Frisco. Once you are "on the road" as it were, there is no turning back.
Response from Host
Sep 2024
Hello and thank you for coming out to Ridden for your bike rentals. We have had a great summer and I am sorry Chris was with another customer
upon for your arrival. He told me he gave your wife a great size bike for her and her ability. As for your bike, you have to pedal on uphills and in general to activate the pedal assist, it does not do that on its own, More than happy to give a refund if needed for your wife or come on by and grab a few bikes on me if your in town. Also our number is on the bikes, you could have called us as well with any issues and we could have had it resolved. Thanks again for coming out,, feel free to stop by again, Brad