Rattan Sequoia Review – Fast E-Bike with Dual Battery Option

Updated November 17th, 2024

The Rattan Sequoia is a fat tire ebike that is easy to ride at high speeds and has the potential for very long range with an optional dual battery setup. It is a very fun bike to ride that effortlessly goes over 28mph pedaling and with throttle. The fat tires give it good traction and a smooth ride on and off road. Let’s get into the details of what makes the Sequoia a great ebike.

Rattan Sequoia

What we liked:

The dual battery options gives you a real world range of 100-150 miles.
The bike can easily go over 28mph on both throttle and pedal assist.
The torque sensor is very smooth with good feel and gives almost instant power
The bike is fun to ride on both paved and fast flowy offroad surfaces
Rattan’s customer service took good care of correcting our bike which was shipped with the wrong controller

What we didn’t like:

The bike does not come with a rear light, fenders, or a rack.
The plastic brush guard on the front light covers up too much of the light
Our bike came with the wrong controller which limited PAS power

Specifications

Max Speed – 28 mph
Range – 75 miles, (150 miles dual battery)
Max Rider Weight – 450 lbs
Bike Weight – 75 lbs
Motor Power – 750 watt hub motor
Battery – 48 volt 20 ah (optional second 48 volt 20 ah battery)
Speeds – 8 Speed Shimano
Brakes – Hydraulic disc
Wheel Size – 26 inch x 4 inch tires

Video Review

Rattan Sequoia Review and Test

Me and my riding friend like going on really long rides. We’ve been looking for bikes that can make it to farther away places. Rattan sells several bikes with dual 20 ah battery options meaning they are able to hit the 100 mile mark for long rides.

I really like fat tire ebikes and their versatility. I saw the Sequoia and it’s available dual battery setup and immediately wanted one for longer rides. It also comes in a blue frame and I just like blue colored bikes.

I ordered up a Sequoia so we can go for some epic length ebike riding adventures.

1 – Available dual 48 volt 20 ah batteries

The Rattan has a standard 48 volt 20 ah battery that mounts in the frame down tube. This gives it 50 to 75 miles range. They sell an option to get a second battery that mounts on top of the frame. You get a good discount for ordering the bike with this option over buying it later on.

The second battery comes in a separate shipping box and requires a small bit of installation. You have to mount the holder and install a load balancing module. It’s not too hard and Rattan has a video showing how to install it.

This gives you a potential total 40 ah worth of battery capacity and range. Total range with dual batteries is 100 to 150 miles. Both batteries use Samsung cells and are UL 2849 certified.

Both batteries have power switches on them. You can either ride with both batteries active or just use 1 at a time.

The second battery does not come with a second charger. You either have to buy a second battery charger or wait twice as long while you wait for 2 batteries to charge. They do give you a 5 amp charger which is faster than the typical 3 amp charger most bikes come with. 40 ah is still a lot of battery to charge no matter how you spin it.

1 – 28 mph top speed

The Sequoia has a top speed over 28 mph using throttle or pedal assist. It does not ship with a Class 1, 2, or 3 label because of this. Most other fat tire ebikes in this price range all limit throttle to 28 mph. The Sequoia is one of the few torque sensor fat tire ebikes that is geared high enough so that it very easily pedals at 28mph or a bit above.

This is one area it has a huge advantage over the Aventon Aventure 2 and Mokwheel Obsidian and Basalt which both limit throttle speed to 20 mph and both require you to pedal really hard to get above 25mph.

3 – 750 watt rear hub motor

The bike is powered by a 750 watt geared rear hub motor. It has a max power output of 1000 watts.

4 – Torque sensor and throttle

The Sequoia uses a torque sensor for pedal assist and also has a thumb throttle on the left handlebar. The torque sensor is very smooth and gives you almost instant power with even a slight amount of pedal force. It is as smooth and sensitive as the torque sensor on an Aventon Aventure 2.

The 5 pedal assist levels give a noticeable difference in power assist. You can still get a good workout in level 1. You can blast up hills going 28mph with almost no effort in level 5.

4 – 450 lbs capacity

The bike has a published weight capacity of 450 lbs. It will work well for any heavier size rider. It doesn’t have any rack so the bike doesn’t have much gear carrying capacity outside of the rider wearing a backpack or finding a rack that will fit the bike. Rattan sells an optional front rack for the bike but they do not have a rear rack.

6 – Power (9/10)

I did some standard tests with the Sequoia to test it’s performance and see how it measured up to other ebikes we have tested. I started with max speed.

Top Speed

I found some straight smooth path to test how fast the bike would go in both pedal assist and throttle. I did this on level ground with no hills and a heavier 250 lb rider. I did this with the factory settings. I used the “sport mode” and PAS 5.

For throttle I saw 32.6mph on the display and recorded 29.76mph

For Max Pedal assist on PAS5 and Sport mode I saw 31.9mph on the display and 29.0mph measured on the GPS.

The bike easily goes the published 28mph and a little bit more. The pedal cadence is slow enough and the assist is strong enough that it is easy to go over 28mph while pedaling. On a lot of torque sensor bikes, like the Aventure 2, you have to pedal like a monster to get it to go this fast.

Hill climbing

I took the Sequoia to my standard test hill. This is a 1/2 mile hill with some 10% grades and rough pavement. I use a 250 lb rider. I do the test once with throttle only and once with maximum pedal assist with factory settings.

For throttle only it took 1 minute and 47 seconds to go up the hill. This was 6 seconds faster than an Aventure 2 and 10 seconds faster than a Himiway Zebra

• Rattan Sequoia – 1 minute 47 seconds
• Aventon Aventure 2 – 1 minute 53 seconds
• Himiway Zebra – 1 minute 57 seconds

I repeated the climb using maximum pedal assist. The Sequoia took 1 minute and 38 seconds. This was 12 seconds faster than an Aventon Aventure 2 and 14 seconds faster than a Himiway Zebra

• Rattan Sequoia – 1 minute 38 seconds
• Aventon Aventure 2 – 1 minute 50 seconds
• Himiway Zebra – 1 minute 52 seconds

The Sequoia has good climbing ability whether you use throttle or pedal assist.

7 – Range (10/10)

I did 2 rides to find out how far the Sequoia would go on a full charge. My standard range test involves riding the bike 15mph on a medium pedal assist setting or throttle only going about 15mph. I use a 250 lb rider. There are a lot of hills along the loop. This gives a more real world look at what the average user of this bike might get.

I did this with the main battery under the frame. Both batteries use the same cells so will perform about the same. Range with dual batteries will be about double what it was with 1 battery.

For pedal assist the bike went 50.5 miles. This is about average for what I have gotten with other 20 ah battery fat tire bikes. This means that I should be able to easily get 100 miles out of the bike with 2 batteries running.

• Rattan Sequoia – 50.5 miles
• Aventon Aventure 2 – 44 miles
• Gotrax Tundra – 55 miles
• Himiway Zebra – 63.2 miles

I repeated the test using just throttle and no pedalling. The bike went 41.3 miles on the same route with just throttle. This is right about average for a 20 ah battery powered bike. 80 mile rides will be possible using dual batteries.

8 – Ride and Handling (9.5/10)

The Sequoia handles very well at higher speeds. It is a comfortable and very controlled feeling bike at 28mph. The front suspension fork does an okay job at absorbing potholes and cracks in the road. The bike feels smooth going around corners at high speeds. The geometry is slack enough that the bike does not feel twitchy at all.

9 – Off roading with the Sequoia

I took the Sequoia to some dirt roads and jeep trails to try out. It is a fast and flowy feeling bike that likes going fast. It loves blasting down double track at higher speeds. The bike feels comfortable and in control on this kind of surface.

I tried some actual mountain bike trail with this bike. It works very well for flow trails that are smooth and fast. The bike is nimble enough to handle tight corners okay when you do need to slow down. The bike is very controllable on PAS 2 or 3 where you get just about the right amount of motor acceleration when you hit the pedals after a corner.

The place the Sequoia does not excel at is steep technical climbs. The gearing on the pedal driveline is not that low. You can really feel the motor work hard when trying to crawl up slow steep climbs. This is an area where a true Class 1 e-mtb with mid-drive has a huge advantage. When the terrain opens up a little and you can get some speed the bike is a lot of fun.

10 – Braking (9/10)

The hydraulic brakes provide adequate stopping power. My rear brake squealed out of the box and needed some adjustment of the caliper. The brakes are strong enough to stop the bike from high speed with a heavier rider. They don’t wow you with stopping power but they don’t leave you wishing for more.

11 – Controls (9/10)

The Sequoia has a color LCD display and a 5 button controller on the right handlebar. It has an up and down button, power button, dedicated light button, and info button. The only thing missing would be a horn or bell which the bike does not come with.

The LCD display is very easy to read and shows your speed, % battery remaining, and power output. It also has a few optional items you can cycle through with the “i” button.

You can access the settings by holding down the up and down button. You can adjust the top speed and a few other options in the menu. There is also an available phone app you can download. I didn’t find the phone app could adjust anything that couldn’t be adjusted from the settings menu on the bike itself.

The bike has 3 ride modes; ECO, NORMAL, and SPORT. The bike has a steeper power ramp up on sport compared to normal. Eco has a more suppressed power ramp up than normal. The modes are noticeably different when riding on PAS 2 or 3. The difference is less noticeable on PAS 5.

13 – Accessories

The bike does not include any fenders, any racks, or a rear light. It does include a front light but that is it. For the price it really should include these items and a rear rack. Most of the other big players at this price point all have them. The Aventon Aventure 2, Himiway Zebra, Mokwheel Basalt all include fenders and a rear rack.

The front light on the Sequoia is large and has a lot of light power to it. It’s very bright. It has a plastic decorative brush guard on it. This extra plastic part blocks the periphery and the ground right in front of the bike. The light would work much better without this appearance part blocking part of the lens.

The bike does not come with a rear light. There is wiring for a rear light on the controller. You could add one buy getting a light off Amazon and mounting it to the seat post or rear frame.

14 – Size and Fit

Rattan recommends a height range of 5’5″ to 6’6″ for the Sequoia. This is a good guideline for the standard bike. The dual battery option takes up a lot of space on the step thru part of the frame. I’m just under 6′ and the battery is right between my legs when I stand with the bike. The dual battery option is better for riders closer to 6′. It will make standing with the bike uncomfortable for someone at the shorter end of the height range.

The below images show the Sequoia with a 5’6″ person and a 6′ person.

12 – Assembly Ease (8/10)

The Sequoia doesn’t have any fenders or rack which limits how much you need to do for assembly. The only thing left is attaching the handlebars, front light, and pedals. They give you enough tools to complete the job without needing anything. This took me about 45 minutes to go from box to ready to charge and ride.

The dual battery option comes shipped in a separate box. It needs some additional assembly. This took longer to install than the rest of the bike to assemble. Here is a link for the assembly instruction video.

The hardest part of the second battery install is fishing the wire down the frame tube. You have to reach up in from the bottom and find the connector and pull it out an opening inside the frame. That took a bit of trial and error to get it and figure out how to grab it and get it out the bottom.

12 – Very Weak Pedal Assist and Rattan Customer Service

My Sequoia was built with the wrong controller inside. When I took it for the first ride, it would not give above 350 watts for pedal assist on any level or mode. It was very weak on climbs and hard to pedal fast. It had 1000 watts of power output using throttle but when pedaling it gave you almost nothing for assist.

I have seen at least one other review mention that their Sequoia had a similar power restriction on pedal assist. If your bike isn’t giving you 1000 watts for pedal assist, your bike may need a different controller.

I contacted Rattan customer service to find out what was going on. This just was not a fun bike to ride with that kind of power handicapping. After a few exchanges with customer service they determined my bike had an incorrect controller in it. They shipped me a new controller. It took about 20 minutes to replace the controller which is located in the compartment by the pedal crank.

After replacing the controller my Sequoia was a completely different bike with lots of power on both pedal assist and throttle. It easily powered up climbs and pedaled at high speeds. Below are images of the label on the 2 controllers so you can check yours if your bike has a similar issue.

Below is the wrong controller that came installed in the bike.

Below is the correct controller before installing it. It has a different part number.

Rattan Discount Code

You can use code LD100 to get $100 off Quercos, Pinus, and Sequoia

Recommendation – Buy or No Buy?

The Sequoia is a lot of fun to ride and is able to go over 28mph on throttle or pedal assist. It has an available second battery that will give it over 100 miles of real world range. It’s a fun bike to ride fast on both pavement and offroad. It is missing some features like a rear light, and fenders, it makes up for it with easier high speed riding.

If you want a fast fat tire ebike that can go really far, check out the Rattan Sequoia.