FEZZARI WIRE PEAK PRO eMTB Review

By Drew Rohde | Photos by Dusten Ryen
Charged by RISE BREWING

Over the years we’ve had lots of great times riding Fezzari’s affordable direct to consumer mountain bikes. Fezzari have grown drastically in the last couple of years and they have a dedicated following who are never shy about sending us emails or Direct Messages about how we need to test more of their bikes. The time finally came, and we got ourselves a new Fezzari Wire Peak Pro just in time for the 2020 eMTB Roundup. Let’s see what this bike is all about.

THE LAB
Fezzari has a lot of great things for them right now. They’re expanding quickly and selling lots more bikes. We imagine two of the biggest reasons why are the affordable price points and  their 23-point custom set up guide. Fezzari’s set up guide asks you everything from height and weight to your inseam and arm length measurements to ensure you get the right sized bike and cockpit. That’s right, you can choose your ideal stem length, bar width and more. And if you don’t love it, they’ve even got a return policy.

Not an internet guy? No problem, pick up the phone and dial 888 Fezzari and tell them what you want and they’ll build it for you, 29er or 27.5”, no problem. Want to change the suspension spec from the Performance Elite to Fox Factory or have them bolt an X2 shock instead of a DPS damper for your gnarly local terrain? They got that dialed too.

After speaking with Fezzari brand manager, Tyler Cloward, we found that most of their customers have been enjoying the 27.5” spec with the longer 160mm fork. We were also lucky to get an inside scoop on a new upgrade option and took his suggestion to the trail! We opted for the Fox Factory X2 HSC/LSC shock upgrade and 160mm fork since we’ve been known to get a bit reckless.

The upgrade took our $5,599 bike up $350 to $5,949. Fezzari has Wire Peaks starting as low as $3,599 if you’re on a tighter budget. Spec on our Fezzari Wire Peak Pro featured a SRAM GX Eagle 12-speed drivetrain with Shimano cranks, SRAM Code RSC brakes and DT Swiss e-spec H1900 wheels wrapped in Maxxis 2.8” Minion DHFs. Race Face Turbine 780mm handlebars get bolted to a Race Face Ride 35mm stem. Fezzari ships the Wire Peak with an X-Fusion Manic dropper post, however Fox Transfer posts are available as an upgrade.

Like many of the bikes in our ebike shootout, Fezzari uses a Shimano Steps E8000 250w motor. The unit produces 70nm of torque. Range comes from a removable 504Wh battery.

Geometry on the Fezzari Wire Peak is comparable to others in the genre, with no wild measurements standing out. We chose to run 27.5” wheels so we’ll be basing the geo numbers of the size large frame with our 27.5+ tires. The head tube angle is 66 degrees with a 76-degree seat tube angle. The reach sits at 452mm with a 624mm stack height and overall wheelbase of just 1,199mm. The wheelbase on the Fezzari Wire Peak is shorter than several of our bikes which was both good and bad, but we’ll get into that later. The chainstays on our frame are 435mm and the bottom bracket height is 344mm, making it a corner slashing machine.

THE DIRT
Our riders had some mixed opinions when it came to the Wire Peak Pro. Even the same riders had mixed reviews based on different types of terrain. On one day the Wire Peak could have six thumbs up, and the next day’s trails could leave riders unsure if it was a half thumb or full thumb up kinda ride. Overall the Wire Peak is a very capable and good all-around ebike. The spec is competitive, the value and price are certainly highlights and the performance is there. We think the couple of noteworthy factors resulting in the mixed reviews are that it rides heavy, is a bit short, and has a slightly rough off-the-top suspension feel.

The Fezzari’s short chainstays and wheelbase help the bike feel light when transitioning from corner to corner, or when pushing the bike around obstacles on the trails, however trying to pop the bike off the ground was a bit of an effort. It manuals easily, wheelies nicely and these traits make the Fezzari Wire Peak Pro feel lighter than the 53 pounds it is. However if we wanted to do any trail jibs or pre-jump obstacles it definitely required some yanking and that’s when the bike felt heavy.

Climbing on the Fezzari Wire Peak was a lot of fun when we got on tighter and flowier trails. The shorter frame was nimble and well planted, allowing our riders to spin through sections that had longer bikes slowing down or hanging up. We did notice the bike struggled to find traction on steep, loose climbs where our other bikes were able to stick and ascend. The Shimano Steps system, as we’ve said in all our other reviews, is like vanilla ice cream. It tastes good and gets the job done, but it’s nothing like a Bosch sundae with sprinkles on top.

When it came time to let off the brakes and let the Wire Peak descend, our riders started comparing notes a bit more than usual. The shorter wheelbase and rear end worked great on flatter trails and let us slash corners and thread the needle much faster than longer bikes. Generally, we had a lot more fun on flatter trails and those with lots of snappy turns while riding the Fezzari than say the ultra-long Norco Sight. The bike is stiff, and we thoroughly enjoyed drifting that short back end into catch berms or rocks and shooting out the other side.

On higher speed and rowdier descents, our testers felt the shorter bike was a bit less composed than some others in the group. The TetraLink suspension was also not quite as refined and gave the riders a bit more pedal feedback and resistance on square-edge hits. This was also noted when some riders would use a trail obstacle, like a football-sized rock as a lip to gap rougher sections of trail. When the back tire would hit that kicker lip, it would buck the riders forward a bit and resulted in a few less than ideal nose-heavy landings. If this isn’t your riding style or the type of terrain you often encounter, then it probably won’t be an issue that matters much. Outside of these few scenarios, the bike is a pretty fun little machine.