Fazua continues to offer a unique system with its drive system for e-bikes — previously known as Evation: we are dealing here with a mid-mounted motor, which is, however, not permanently installed in the bike. Instead, the motor, together with a 250 Wh battery, sits in the so-called DrivePack. This can be completely removed from the bike, only a compact bottom bracket is then permanently installed in the bike. This unusual design makes it possible to offer a very light and yet sufficiently powerful system. Ideal for agile and rather light bikes for active riders.
After the Fazua system has already been well received by mountain bikes and road bikes, some urban bikes are now also available with this drive — including the Canyon Commuter:ON tested here.
Now Fazua has improved the system in detail and offers two variants of the drive with the Ride 50 Trail and Ride 50 Street — with the hardware differing mainly in the design of the cooling fins on the underside of the DrivePack.
The Trail model has fewer ribs, which means less dirt can collect. The focus here is on good heat dissipation, even on slow (uphill) passages. The Street model, on the other hand, focuses more on good cooling performance through airflow at higher speeds.
The motor, battery and bottom bracket are identical in both models, but have also been improved: the drive now offers approx. 10% more power, the torque has increased minimally from 55 Nm to now 58 Nm. In addition, the motor is said to work more efficiently and the total weight has been reduced by 200g and is now 4.4 kg (the DrivePack now weighs 1.8 kg, the bottom bracket 1.2 kg and the battery 1.4 kg).
The new RIDE 50 system is also controlled by the familiar Remote FX buttons (mostly integrated in the frame) and the optional Remote BX and Remote RX for the handlebars.
An interesting aspect of the update is that the new models can also be used in previous bikes. Admittedly, the innovations are probably too few to reach for the new system just for that reason. And yet it is a positive message that Fazua has the issue of backwards compatibility in mind and wants to offer a product that is as durable and sustainable as possible. This is also shown by the constant software improvements that have continuously improved the drive so far.
Critically, however, there is still no possibility to charge the battery directly in the bike. This means that you are still forced to remove the DrivePack from the bike for each charging process.
