WAU Bike Review – High Tech Commuter

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This isn’t going to be a normal video for me, I’m normally reviewing PC hardware, but as an avid mountain biker in my spare time when WAU reached out to ask if I wanted to review their 6th generation bike I couldn’t say no. This video isn’t sponsored by them, although in the interest of transparency they did provide the bike for a week and if you use the discount code in the description to buy one I believe I get a commission from that. Now get into it.

This is a bit of an odd one. It’s meant to be a “hybrid” style bike, meaning it’s not quite a road bike, and not quite a mountain bike. It’s got fairly skinny low profile tires, but a front suspension fork. It’s got hydraulic disk brakes, but more importantly, it’s got a 250W motor on the back and an 886Whr battery in the middle. What makes the bike unique from the sort of ebike you can buy at Halfords is that it uses a hub motor, instead of a bottom bracket motor, and with this model, has up to 100 miles of range.

Now I say up to there, because I rode it for around 22 miles, from fully charged, and it said there was 60% charge left. I quick sum later, and you work out that the actual range you would get is more like 55 miles. That’s still a lot, more than I would need or really want, but it’s almost half the quoted range. I think the difference is because my model has been derestricted, allowing it to “support” up to 20MPH, rather than the default 15MPH. In that lower setting, it might get a bit closer.

I said “support” in quotes there because it isn’t really pedal assistance, as much as you pedal to activate the motor to run at whatever speed you set it to with the buttons on the handlebars, modes 0 through 5. It kind of has a mind of its own, and more importantly has a 1-2 second delay before it starts assisting, and keeps on powering for another 1-2 seconds after you stop pedalling. That makes riding it more difficult than it should be.

You can purchase a throttle separately, which I think would help make the bike make more sense, being able to manually control speed and power, especially being able to assist you in moving off from a standstill which it doesn’t do at all by default.

One of the other unique features on the bike is it’s rear lights. It’s got rear tail lights, which double as brake lights – which also take 1-2 seconds to register and turn on – and indicators thanks to a small switch on the handlebars. But on the front, which I would argue especially if you are riding in an urban environment is probably more important, all they’ve included is an aftermarket, addon, clip on light. It’s also pretty terrible, it does a better job at blinding you than it does showing anything in front, and is only set to a flash mode which means that you are only annoying the oncoming traffic and constantly blinding yourself too. I’d much prefer a better throw of light out of it, and realistically why couldn’t they have done something like they did with the rear lights, integrating a light into the steerer tube instead.

Riding it felt fairly good. The frame is plenty stiff and the geometry meant it was fairly easy to ride. Thanks to the fairly slim tyres, there wasn’t much in the way of suspension from the rear. The front does fine thanks to the suntour fork, but since a lot of the weight is over the back wheel and it’s a hardtail it felt pretty rough even on the road. The tyres also didn’t inspire all that much confidence, especially when riding on a gravel path I didn’t feel comfortable cornering on them very well and I’d probably avoid riding in the rain with it.

And I think that brings me nicely onto parts selection. WAU manufactures the frame, the battery, the battery casing and the controllers. The motor, display, and the rest of the normal bike parts are bought in. That’s not a bad thing, if they pick good parts. For the £2,800 or so this is currently listed for, you’d damn well hope they are quality components, but unfortunately they aren’t quite there.

They do use hydraulic brakes, but they are “TEKTRO” brand, rather than Shimano or SRAM, it’s not the end of the world and they perform plenty fine, but they aren’t perfect. The groupset and drivetrain is probably the most lacking though, as they’ve used what I can only assume is one of the cheapest 8 speed derailleurs around, which combined with the chain that on my bike is 2-3 links too long, slaps like crazy every time you go over any bumps.

There is a big catch to all of this though. WAU seem to be phenomenal at listening to feedback and making changes. It’s a small team, who are planning on moving their entire production (of the parts they make anyway) to Nottingham here in the UK, so they are quick to act. The derailleur is something they said they are looking to swap to a clutched model instead, helping eliminate any chain slap, and help the chain not fall off as much. They are potentially going to be shortening the chain of every existing unit based on my feedback.

The delay in the brake lights and motor is something they can program out, and depending on feedback from you guys, may do it. And the front light, they want to replace the one I had with a more integrated one attached to the front fork that will use the bike’s battery rather than a separate one.

All of that may be coming, either to the current model, or a 7th generation revised version. Oh, and while they are at it, they are offering a 30% discount right now for the next 20 or so bikes to sell, and are looking to reduce the price properly for the next wave to just under £2,000, possibly with all the changes I’ve spoken about, which would make it a legitimately incredible value for money.

As it stands, with the 30% discount it’s already a compelling option. The battery level seems a little overkill as none of my friends who do commute on bikes said they’d commute more than about 30 miles a day anyway, but still. For £2,800 it’s a very different question, and I’m not sure I could really recommend it at that price, maybe with all the changes I could but as-is probably not. But, if they keep their word, and keep the price low enough, this seems like a fantastic and unique design that is worth checking out.

Check them out at https://waubike.com and use promo code “TECHGB” for 30% off their current stock. Please note, that’s an affiliate code so I get a commision for you using my code.