kudos said:
To all the raptor owners, just wondering if there's anything you would change about the frame?
Kudos
Honestly, I do not know anything that would need changing. Surprisingly a lot of thought went into building the raptor and he didn't make many mistakes.
The geometry is exactly how I wanted it with a 26" front tire and 19" dirt bike tire in the rear when using a 10.5" stroke shock. The bike just handles amazing. However, I never drove a stealth or phasor so I can only compare it to my cross country ebike conversion. But like Rix said, it could come down to the quality of the suspension components.
The motorcycle seat is just perfect really, bike is extremely comfortable to sit on and ride. You can ride all day and not fatigue your ass and back. Controller cover fits my Lyen 18fet perfectly. Battery compartment fits my turnigy lipo cells perfectly with just enough room to squish down the wires when putting the side panel on. Battery compartment has plenty of room for a lot more batteries.
Actually there is one thing I would like changed, the head tube is extremely long. So long that when putting the lower crown at the minimum setting, the upper crown hangs over by a few mm on the top of the stations. I don't know how much this matters as it is a very small amount but the head tube should probably be about 3mm to 5 mm shorter. Not sure if the head tube was made longer for single crown fork clearance and for looking more streamlined with the frame.
The turning radius with the dual crown fork is OK, not sure if making the frame skinnier in the front would have been worth it as the frame may not look as streamlined.
The other issues is the seat tube possibly being high for short people. I didn't use the bicycle seat so I can't comment, although if I did use the bicycle seat I prefer having the seat very low as low as the motorcycle seat because I don't pedal and don't like the seat getting in the way when off roading the bike.
I would say if you use the motorcycle seat, which I highly recommend, this alone makes this bike a better option than the stealth or phasor. I can go on and on about how much I hate bicycle seats and how much they ruin the ride. I also doubt that cops will pull you over less on this bike if you are using a bicycle seat. The bike is large and you will get a lot of attention with it. I doubt people would even notice the difference when you're sitting. Pedal efficiency? Why would you want to pedal a 110LBS bike with a hub motor that has resistance when you pedal. If your driving this bike like it was intended, you shouldn't be pedaling anyway as that causes you to lose balance.