Sonder Bikes

Please be fair and thoughtful in your opinions. No rants please.
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Paradiddle
Posts: 123
Joined: 7 Jul 2020, 10:39am
Location: London

Sonder Bikes

Post by Paradiddle »

I know there's already a thread for Alpkit. However the thread seems to focus on their outdoor products and I'd like to share and hear about experiences with Sonder bikes specifically. Happy for this thread to be deleted or merged if it's not in line with the forum.
viewtopic.php?p=1580124


I received my Sonder Colibri a week ago and I've had a mixed, mainly negative experience purchasing from Alpkit/Sonder.

The summary: Overall good product from what I can tell. Poor communication and build estimate. Understandable considering the bike parts shortage. Seemingly poor quality sundry parts or build, e.g. stem faceplate bolts, inner tubes, etc.


The long story:
I put in the pre-order for the bike back in mid-June for an estimated build date in the beginning of August. There wasn't much communication from them and I've had to chase up for a confirmation when I submitted my Cycle2Work letter.

Due to the bike parts shortage, they sent a note in August saying that the build date was to be pushed back by 7 weeks to mid/late September. They didn't send any update except when I prompted them.

Finally on the week of the build date they sent me an email saying that the bike was finally finished and ready to dispatch. Attached was a photo of the completed bike which was a nice touch.

Fast forward to last Monday, the bike finally arrived and nicely packed. Everything was assembled except for the handlebars. I went to attach the handlebar to the stem and one of the bolts broke off. I think this is a failure with the bolt as I used the recommended tightening method using an Allen key then tightened it using a torque wrench set to 5nm. I ended up using the bolts from my old Evans bike and ordered new bolts to replace.

I sent them a note telling them of my disappointment and the bolt incident and they were apologetic and offered to send replacements or reimburse for the bolts I ordered. However I didn't reply as I didn't really want to deal with Sonder if I didn't have to.

Finally finally tried out the bike yesterday and went to bed in the brakes. The bike felt amazing and nimble and after months I was finally happy with the purchase.

... then 2 hours after I got home the rear inner tube burst by itself while the bike was on the stand. I proceeded to change the tube and found that the tube they provided ripped near the base of the valve. Possibly from overtightened valve nut, pinched tube, or just faulty inner tube.

Really hoping there isn't any other fault with the bike :| I would buy again from Alpkit for their outdoor products but I personally won't buy another bike from them. Anyone else bought a bike from Sonder recently?
IainMcB
Posts: 6
Joined: 12 Sep 2019, 7:14pm

Re: Sonder Bikes

Post by IainMcB »

I have a Sonder Frontier which I bought about 3 years ago. I've been really impressed. It stood up to a heavily loaded month long trip on Iceland's dirt roads, and Alpkit were happy to provide me with a spare hanger and spokes free of charge. I later swapped the fork for a suspension one, and they provided me with a part for the headset which I needed.
My daughter also has a Sonder Camino. She had some damage to the front fork, probably due to a combination of riding through very abrasive mud with very narrow clearances. Sonder replaced it free of charge.
My only criticism is that the WTB tyre/ sonder rim combination is very tight. It's extremely hard to change tyres.
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