Woosh Faro Review

[Atlav4]

Hi bike arrived a full 14 days before scheduled delivery date, much to my delight.Bike was well packed and came with comprehensive assembly instructions attached to the inside of the top flap, enabling you to, and requesting you to read before diving straight in with extraction from box.Assembly was completed without drama by myself with very limited mechanical skills, following the instructions provided. First short ride after fully charging the battery, about 14 miles down to the harbour and back along old colliery railway tracks made into cycling paths. Bike rolls very smooth and freely and is a real joy to pedal, feeling nice and light to handle. Many stops to adjust saddle height and reach, brake levers angle etc, obviously once set up for my preference this will only be done the virgin ride.

This was by no means a range test as had many stops and the weather was very hot. Travelling 14 miles, elevation 640ft, riding time about 70mins, returned with 4 bars still showing after using level 1 2 and very briefly 3.
One concern was the gears began slipping mid range when I rode the bike to the daughters garage where it will be stored, ridden without assistance about half a mile. Have read the instructions again and believe the solution is minor adjustments to the derailleur, will have a go later, fingers crossed.
Think I have made a good choice for my requirements, very light cycle tracks and paths with minor B roads, the rigid forks proving comfortable and the seat post ironed out the worst of the surface imperfections.

Will review again after clocking up some miles, and report on range plus component wear and tear.
My overall view (for what it’s worth) is although not littered with high end components this bike feels light, responsive and runs very smoothly and the components used are tried and tested and in no way look cheap and nasty.
Thanks ps bloody post took longer than the ride.

 

[Atlav4]

Quick update gears working fine after a little adjusting of the cable tension screw. Few additions to how the bike will run, real reason for mudguards is to prevent little stones flicking up onto the nice mat black paintwork

 

[Nealh]

Looking good enjoy tour new ride, Woosh are very good with CS and issues should you be in need of them.

 

[boyabouttown]

Have to agree with comments about unboxing and assembly instructions, excellent customer service from woosh.

 

[Reading newbie]

Hey Atlav

Just seen your post here and great to hear the positive review. I was expecting mine to be built this week although I’ve not heard from them yet, so I’m just hoping it’s because they’re busy and not that the timeframe has slipped

My GP5 bar ends arrived yesterday so they are now sitting on my coffee table reminding me I need to fit them to something

Are the mudguards the standard ones, I was wondering myself wether to fit them or not? Do they make much noise when riding off smooth roads?

many thanks

Matt

 

[Atlav4]

Hi Reading, mudguards are light of good quality and don’t seem to be overly noisy when riding on uneven routes. Tyres need to be deflated in order to fit properly, access for Allen bolts especially the rear.
Did order a bottle of threadlocker meaning to apply where applicable when assembling the bike, this has yet to arrive so will probably apply to fixtures at a future date.
I intended to put slime in inner tubes, but presta valves are not RVC type and the instructions for applying to standard valves required carefully unscrewing a delicate nut with pliers, pushing the needle valve into the tube and then squeezing in 3ml of slime. The needle then relocated through the valve, that delicate nut replaced and hand tightened, bobs your uncle. WHAT me and delicate and pliers don’t go together so ordered 2 spare inner tubes with RVC’s meaning to replace both. Therefore having tubes easily slimmed and 2 spare tubes for emergencys.
All this was before Monday’s ride, when yes you guessed I promptly had not one but two punctures, and the inner tubes have yet to arrive.
Ha yeah yeah very funny so at a very sunny and packed seafront and bike upside down I proceeded to repair with patches I was luckily carrying. Rear first I thought that’d be the most awkward, located the damage quickly 2 mm glass cut, repaired with patch, extracted glass from tyre, all replaced inflated, jobs a good un. Front puncture harder to locate, tiny pin prick, anyway patched replaced and inflated. Right bike righted and off we go. NO tyres had deflated quite a lot and had to pump up both again, all this 2and1/2 hour’s after saying won’t be long to the wife.
Headed home, had lunch, recharged battery and tyres still inflated?... rode the bike back to storage, still inflated?...
Anyway sorry about the long post but might make a few smile PS many cyclists stopped to lend assistance, at least 4 separate guys saying you should fit these, no punctures in ages etc etc Yep marathon plus, so no guessing have ordered 2 new tyres.
Moral is yes would have been better to carry spare tubes, probably would have been saved by slimming inner tubes, marathon plus might be overkill, but none of this has dampened my rekindled love of cycling.

 

[Atlav4]

Hi Reading newbie quick look at how the bike looks with those Marathon Plus fitted. Nice no

 

[Reading newbie]

Does indeed!!!! And actually realising the pedals are the ones you mentioned too and I haven’t bothered with that yet.
Although I have heard mine should be here next week hopefully

 

[Steed]

Does the extra weight of the Marathon Plus tyres have any noticeable effect on the way the bike rides compared to the original tyres? Perhaps Woosh should give the option of quality puncture proof/resistant tyres at order stage?

 

[Atlav4]

Hope your bike arrives soon Reading, toe cages for me work well, positioning feet correctly on pedals, any footwear. Hi Steed no notable difference with weight or rolling resistance with Marathon Plus, maybe overkill for puncture protection, time will tell. Perhaps your right Woosh maybe missing a marketing strategy and could promote the Faro as a light road and multi surface, fast rolling , good looking, easy to pedal bike, with these or similar fitted. But then I’m biased as I kinda like mine a lot.

 

[egroover]

Shame to put heavy Marathon plus tyres on that lightweight steed, wouldn't something like Conti Gatorskins 700 x 28 be better ? Keep the speed and offer more puncture protection

By the way, have always really liked the look of this bike, I think Woosh are on to a winner here

 

[Atlav4]

Hi Egroover went for the marathon after 4 separate recommendations, had a short ride with only small hand pump pressures in, which felt heavy. Schwalbe recommended 1psi per 1kg body weight plus any luggage, used a gauge for correct pressure and they roll much much better. The steed is once again zipping along at a fair clip.

 

[Blaster Bates]

Hi Atlav
I too changed the tyres on my recently purchased faro to schwalbe road cruiser and have noticed the improvement in grip that I wanted, also deals with the canal and gravel better. Quick question what bar ends have you got on there ?
I have quite bad pain in hands and thumb joints after half hour on any bike, I have got seat height on minimum and bars on maximum but still find I am leaning forward putting pressure onto my hands. I could change the handlebars I guess so they are not so straight (something suggested to me that may be the answer). Is there an easy way to raise the bar height beyond the current maximum, perhaps by adding an easy part ?
Thanks in advance for anyone giving advice

 

[Atlav4]

Hi Blaster , i too suffer from pain in left thumb when on any bike. Over the last couple of months have ridden Gtech MTB, Trek 29r, Boardman road bike and my Faro. The trek had these cheap bar ends and switching hand positions regularly really helped, son-in-law donated them so they went straight on the Faro.
The riser bar on the Gtech didn’t help much with pain, switching hand positions on the drops, helped the hands but not the back, to some degree. I would say unless either braking or anticipating braking, i favour the bar ends for comfort, but do switch quite regularly.
Hope this helps relieve your predicament, also consider the grips Reading newbie has purchased, look good for variety of hand positions. Cheers.

 

[egroover]

Although the bike has that cool quick city commuter/fixie look with the straight bars, I suspect that most riders will be comfier with a bar with some rise and sweep, especially if they are taller and the saddle is high. Easily fixed with a high rise stem and/or new riser bars

 

[Atlav4]

Hi egroover agree with the seat being high, throws weight forward and riser bar swept back could help. To be fair the Gtech only had straight low riser bar so have never ridden on a bike with high riser or swept bars. Love the look and lines of the bike so feel the appeal may be compromised by the addition of stated alternatives.
PS always thought slightly upturned drop bars would look really well on the Faro.

 

[joelectric]

Was looking at this bike as well, is there an option for a dual battery? that would definitely be of interest to me,

 

[Reading newbie]

I hopefully get mine early this week so I should feedback on the GP5’s later in the week all things going as planned. I’m still torn with the idea of putting wider rubber on as I do think I’d prefer the softer rider, assuming it is a little softer Atlav?
I was planning on adding all the “bells and whistles” so to speak but I’m realising I’m spending loads already on a lock, lights, helmet (and more) so I was wondering do the new tyres (apart from puncture resistance) improve this from a comfort perspective noticeably?

@joeelectric I think the only two battery option is probably bigger battery x 2. I tried for 1 plus 1 and it’s not possible right now. I bought myself a spare as I want that real emergency back up but estimation from Woosh is it’ll take between 30-60 mins to change an internal battery so if it’s a thing for you go for the big one.

 

[Atlav4]

Sorry Reading can’t comment on 32c as I fitted 28c due to price etc will have to do more miles to assess ride and durability qualities. Should have slimed detonators they were comfy enough just overreacting after double puncture, possibly.
Woosh commented he can do the double battery option by fitting a spur on future builds, cost inclusive obviously, but that would be serious range capability.

 

[Reading newbie]

Ah right understood Atlav my mistake I thought you changed profile too but that makes sense now.

Regarding the spur/battery I asked Woosh (I think it’s Tony) if it was currently possible and although in theory it is its not something they can do right now. it’s in another thread but I think the answer was it’ll be a future bike and not available on the fato right now.

If it ever becomes retro-fitable then I’d be totally up for that!