2022 Freesky Rocky Review

Video Review

Written Review

The Freesky Rocky Step-Thru is an approachable, easy-to-ride, fat-tire Ebike with high-quality components and a surprisingly capable trail-ready design. This full-suspension chariot is ready to tear into the treeline and come out stronger on the other side. 

The Rocky Step-Thru has a starting price of $1,699 USD and comes in four different colors — black, green, blue, and red. Freesky also offers a 15-day money-back guarantee on this ride as well as a 1-year comprehensive warranty and free shipping.

The Rocky Step-Thru has a 750 nominal-watt brushless geared hub motor in the rear wheel that can crank out 80 Newton meters of torque. This is great for accelerating from a dead stop, and of course, also helps add to its ability for climbing hills with ease. And since the Rocky Step-Through is rocking smaller 20 inch tires, we also get an extra torque boost, which you can really feel when you grip it and rip it. 

This motor will bring the Rocky Step-Thru up to a top speed of 20 mph out of the box, which makes this a class 2 Ebike. So, it’s legal to ride just about everywhere. And you can reach that top speed using the thumb throttle or the cadence-sensing pedal assist. But if 20 mph isn’t fast enough for you, don’t worry, the Rocky Step-Through’s top speed can be unlocked to hit a breakneck 28 mph. Nice.

The 48 volt, 15 amp hour locking, removable battery is located inside the Rocky Step-Thru’s main tube, keeping this frame looking clean, and also keeping the battery clean too. 15 amp hours of juice gives the Rocky Step-Thru a max estimated range of 80 miles according to Freesky, which sounds great, but given real-world testing and riding conditions, we’re guessing it will likely be closer to 50 miles, even in ideal conditions. 

The battery utilizes Samsung cells, which are starting to become the standard, as the Samsung and LG Cells are built better, last longer, and are overall just higher quality cells, and we’re super stoked to see them here in the Rocky. 

The Rocky Step-Thru is not exactly light, with a curb weight of nearly 75 pounds, but it is still very manageable and on par with other Ebikes in its class. It has an impressive payload capacity of 300 pounds, meaning you could load this bad boy to the gills, and keep on trucking. That’s impressive for a single-tube step-through, and it’s an important stat too because it means you can safely load up the rear rack without overstressing the frame. Sure, you may be able to transport more gear with a pickup truck, but with an e-bike, you won’t be getting a call from your friends to come and help move in exchange for pizza and beer. And for that, we’re giving 10 points to Ebikes in general! 

My favorite aspect of this frame is just how easy it is to get into the saddle. The standover height is about 21 inches, and although we’re reaching mid-step territory, it still sits low enough and has the geometry for us to call this monster a step-through. And that’s important if you’re like me and have back issues and knee issues. When I go out for a ride on an Ebike, I’m looking for something that doesn't make me feel like a cowboy, swinging my legs all over the place, just to mount my trusty steed. 

At the rear of the Rocky Step-Thru, we’ve got a Shimano derailleur, which is controlled by our Shimano SIS Index shifter up in the front. This is a proven pair, and although I have my reservations sometimes about thumb shifters in general, it seems like a well-thought-out shifting system here on the Rocky. 

To bring the Rocky Step-Thru to a stop, we’ve got hydraulic disc brakes,  motor inhibitors, and 160mm rotors on the front and rear wheels. All of this combined means the Rocky Step-Thru will stop on a dime, every time. Still, we would like to see 180mm rotors added to future versions of the bike. It is a bit heavier and in the unlocked configuration it can hit some pretty high top speeds, so having the added stopping power could help further improve safety.

The Rocky Step-Thru is equipped with integrated lighting and the headlight is fairly bright, but the beam pattern isn’t particularly effective, so it’s still not quite bright enough to safely ride at that 28 mph top speed at night unless you’re in a well-lit area. It also has the added safety bonus of a fairly bright tail light. It would be cool to see some reflective stripes on those fat CST tires, but the lighting does a great job of increasing your visibility to other riders, pedestrians, and cars. 

Speaking of those fat tires, we've got these CST BFT 20” x 4” tires which help cushion the ride, on top of the already cush front and rear suspension. They come complete with puncture protection and some nice knobbies that grip and rip on any terrain we took it on. 

The wire management on the Rocky Step-Thru is pretty sleek. Freesky did an amazing job here. They’re bundled together quite nicely, and they’re internally routed, which is pretty difficult to do well, but they pulled it off! 10 Wire-Management points for Freesky! 

The handlebars have a BMX style about them, which we’ve seen from a few of the big players in the space like Rad Power Bikes. Personally, I’m a big fan of the vibe and the added handling. If you’ve ridden a regular straight bar that is very common in the industry, and you swap them out for the right-sized BMX-style bars, you’ll immediately notice a handling difference. I think they added a little flair to the Rocky Step-Thru here with that handlebar choice as well.

In the middle, we’ve got a slick full-color display. It’s going to show us all the usual suspects, while also giving us a USB plug for charging a phone or GPS unit. A cool little plus from the Rocky! 

On the left side of the handlebars, we’ve got the independent button pad and the thumb throttle. The thumb throttle on the left side usually throws me off, as I’m so used to seeing it integrated on the right side, but you get used to it pretty quickly. There is also quite a bit of cable provided, so you might be able to swap it to the right side if that’s more your jam. 

At the end of the day, the Freesky Rocky Step-Thru is an absolute bargain buy… no doubt about it. The components are industry standard, the design is well thought out, it’s clean, it’s versatile, it’s approachable, it’s adjustable, and it comes in different colors… honestly, I don’t even know what else I can say about this thing except that if you’re in the market for an Ebike you can take down the street, or take to the trails, or take to the woods, or the ocean...I mean not in the ocean, but like…just to the edge of the ocean, in the beach area…then this is a pretty good contender, and we're excited to see what else Freesky continues to roll out as they grow their lineup!