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My 2021 radrunner plus has some serious defects. The charging port is prone to weather corrosion. Charging is a risky action that may or may not blow some ver

My 2021 radrunner plus has some serious defects. The charging port is prone to weather corrosion. Charging is a risky action that may or may not blow some very sensitive fuses. The mechanical disc brakes suck and are very hard to balance. The discs were supplied warped. I pretty much had to suck that up because of the misery of returning a faulty machine to an online bike company. The seat is a notorious bum numbing pain. The shifters are plastic crap. It rusts. Fixing a rear puncture was a slow but pleasing experience that seems to be one thing where they’ve optimised for: maintenance. I’m resigned to it hitting the scrap heap after 3000km. It’s only a matter of time. It’s such a shame that at their price points these devices are basically disposable. Spend 2x the money on something not bought online and you’ll probably enjoy 5x the lifetime. Thanks for trying though, Rad. I get your passion. It just didn’t work out but maybe you’ll level out into something cool soon. Maybe this trike is it? Heavier, clunkier, even more fixable, and with more bulletproof electronics on the drivetrain and you could win out against the clones, especially if you had a fully fleshed out service partnership in the EU.

simfree 4y ago
Replacing the discs on each wheel is straightforward, and the warping your noticing might be due to pressure from the mounting screws that tie it to the rim of the bike. Have you tried loosening these, applying the brakes fully, and tightening the screws hand tight to center the brake disc and let it relax to flat? I think the future is dual hub motors with Regen braking. Having tried this on a brakeless bike and a modified scooter, the performance is very good.
- germinalphrase 4y ago
  Brakeless bike? Are you able to emergency stop?
  - jandrese 4y ago
    I assume "brakeless" means it energizes the motors in reverse when you pull the brake lever. Just no friction brakes. Not a system I would personally use, I don't trust electronics that much.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - __MatrixMan__ 4y ago
      Me neither. But I'd be interested in having both such that the caliper is backed off a bit so to engage the traditional break you have to pull harder. Maybe after a few years the "brakeless" system could gain my trust.
- Kalium 4y ago
  Is there a company offering dual hub motors and regenerative braking commercially?
darzu 4y ago
Just to add a different anecdote: I have a 2021 radrunner I use daily in Seattle (hilly & rainy), love it, and I have non of these complaints. I have 4 friends with Rads who love them as well. I don't doubt any of your experiences, but I mention this so readers can get more perspectives. Perhaps one significant difference between us is that Rad has a showroom / repair shop in Seattle, although I haven't needed them for anything other than easier parts pickup (fenders and break pads.)
- entropicgravity 4y ago
  Yes I have a 2021 radrunner as well and it's been fabulous. I tow my daughters trailer with it (had to put in a lock washer to keep it all together - $.35) and it's a blast. I've had one slow leak on the front tire, $20 to repair. Otherwise we're approaching 700km with no problems and lots of fun. Couldn't be happier with the build quality.
jeffbee 4y ago
I usually recommend electric bikes from actual bike companies, like Specialized, because there won't be any weird surprises, you won't have to assemble it yourself, and it will last forever. But everyone I know, other than myself, has gone with a newer electric-only company like Rad or VanMoof. I assume price is the reason.
- mongol 4y ago
  But bikes are not rocket science. They can be advanced and high tech, but they can also just be ordinary, well built bikes if using good parts. If the parts are good then the bike is good, the brand matters less for a bike than say for a car.
  - jeffbee 4y ago
    Well, I just think a real bike company probably has real bike engineers on the staff already and maybe real engineering experience and resources like FEA models and so forth. These new companies make a lot of mistakes, like Yuba with their forks sheering off, and like Rad with their custom, not-available-anywhere tire size. I feel that with a big brand you're going to get a no-surprises bike.
    - justinator 4y ago
      I think what you're going to get from a big brand is a support system for when things go south (ie: a warranty). It used to be that bike shops stocked a few brands of bikes and those brands had a relationship with the shop to provide customer service and a bridge between customer and brand. Less so now after Covid, but it's still a thing. Bikes are one of those things that are sort of figured out how to make (tho eBikes, less so). You can go to a trade show in east Asia, spec out exactly what you want a run of bikes to be, and they'll do all the hard work for you, and ship you a container full of "your" bikes. Many brands use the same bike manufacturer/factory. Shop for some of them on bikesdirect.com. Many of the "brand" names are just stickers - the companies may have existed as something decades ago, but now live as a name only. Even a more established brand will send over the cad files of the frame to be built (usually the only really distinguishing thing in most bikes), then spec out the rest of the parts to be put on it. A few visits to the factory from a brand rep/engineer to get details right (welds, layups), then start pumping out orders.
dylan604 4y ago
I really like my RadWagon 4, but several weeks ago, I received a recall notice with their recommendation to stop using the bike until replacements/repairs have been made. I'm really happy they will be making the repairs for me, but since they parts won't even be ready until Feb/Mar 2023 it does me no good since the eBike is my primary mode of transportation. I know eBikes popularity went to the moon during the pandemic, the global shortages, yadda yadda, but my overall experience from RadPowerBikes customer satisfaction isn't the highest. As of now, my recalled parts have not failed, and I continue using it, but it's not a good look. I know they have to make those kind of "don't use until repaired" for liability reasons, but man it's frustrating.
- googlryas 4y ago
  Yup, same. I bought my radwagon 4 in august, and then in early september was told I should not ride it. And maybe they will be ready to fix it in Feb/Mar, or maybe it will be later. If it was just me, I would risk it, but I bought it to ferry my kids on so I'm not going to do that. So we got to ride it for 4 weeks, and have had it sitting in our garage for the past 13 weeks, and it will probably be another 13 weeks until it is fixed again if we are lucky. And basically all we get is the bike fixed to the state it should have been in upon delivery, not any kind of compensation for them giving us an unsafe bike and not being able to ride it for 6+ months. I would not recommend this brand. I guess they decided to do a lot of custom components which is why they have like a 6 month lead time to ship out new non-defective tires (or whatever). You'll find a lot of love for it online, and I think it is genuine, but I suspect the love for the brand is because it is bought by biking neophytes and makes biking accessible to people who don't want to put a lot of effort into it(nothing wrong with that). So it opens up a lot of possibilities for getting outside and getting fresh air without needing strong thighs or aerobic fitness or getting sweaty, and people associate that with their radwagon, not just generally with an ebike. But there is nothing particularly different about this brand compared to other ebike brands. A lot of ebikes look and function exactly the same as the radwagon, and haven't been part of a longstanding recall.
  - qwertox 4y ago
    Hazard: The rim strip on the tires can be misaligned, causing the tube to pop and damage the tire. Additionally, the tires with a ribbed sidewall can unexpectedly go flat, risking serious injuries from loss of control and/or crash. This is something a beginner can repair. This is normal stuff for those who ride bikes and don't go to a shop for little repairs. Replacing a tube (and fixing it with a small vulcanizing kit) is biking 101, and there they're not even expecting you to repair that. Just check how to replace the tube of a wheel in a youtube video and while at it, check if your strip needs alignment. Tyres often go flat but you normally feel that something is off because it feels "smeary". The warning is just for those who are not the slightest bit technically inclined and don't feel like doing any of this. To avoid lawsuits. I bet in the Netherlands any 10 year old kid could check if your wagon is affected and if it is, align the strip.
insane_dreamer 4y ago
I commuted daily to work on a RadCity bike pre-covid (wfh since then) and my experience with it was excellent.
dohdhdaa 4y ago
3000km seems ridiculous as the lifetime for a bicycle, and to make it worse an e-bike will be e-waste. That would mean it was trash in a year for my commute alone, and this is in NYC where commutes are pretty short. That doesn’t even account for recreational riding. That being said a puncture is just a normal bicycle problem. Does Rad offer tubeless compatible components? I’m guessing e-bikers may be less “normal bicycle maintenance” oriented than your average road/gravel/mountain bike owner and tubeless would nearly eliminate punctures.
- gorgoiler 4y ago
  Everything is 2x heavier and so everything needs two hands. Changing a tube on my road bike is like flipping a pancake. Changing a tube on the RadRunner is like flipping a turkey.
rednerrus 4y ago
I'll chime in that my battery died around 500 miles and Rad refused to replace it. Would not recommend.
- 13of40 4y ago
  My only complaint against them is I tried to buy a battery tray from them so I could swap the battery between my Rad City and my 48v homebrew bike, and they refused to sell it to me. (Edit: To be clear I went back a couple of months later, told a different story, and got one.) I also had a battery charging issue after 1000 miles and a winter where it got unplugged from the charger for a couple of months, but I count that as my mistake. I got to take apart the old battery pack though, and one interesting thing I found was that although the power output has half a dozen electrodes on it, only the two big + and - ones were connected to anything.
tppiotrowski 4y ago
I bought a used RadRunner. The disc brakes are prone to warping especially if you transport your bike and lay it on its side. Try not to put excessive weight on the discs. I just fix mine using pliers and manually bending back or forward the warp parts of the disc. It's quite simple and YouTube explains it well. I did replace the front fork because the previous one was bent. I think this happens when you're going 20mph and hit a curb or sharp bump. Replacement part was $60. Kickstand spring broke and Rad gave me another for $1 along with nuts and bolts that were missing from the previous owner. Electric motor and battery is doing fine. I purchased another battery for long rides. Because Rad is so popular there are great/cheap OEM options that other e-bike manufacturers don't have. I think for the price Rad is amazing if you're willing to tinker with it occasionally.

simfree 4y ago

Replacing the discs on each wheel is straightforward, and the warping your noticing might be due to pressure from the mounting screws that tie it to the rim of the bike. Have you tried loosening these, applying the brakes fully, and tightening the screws hand tight to center the brake disc and let it relax to flat? I think the future is dual hub motors with Regen braking. Having tried this on a brakeless bike and a modified scooter, the performance is very good.

germinalphrase 4y ago
Brakeless bike? Are you able to emergency stop?
- jandrese 4y ago
  I assume "brakeless" means it energizes the motors in reverse when you pull the brake lever. Just no friction brakes. Not a system I would personally use, I don't trust electronics that much.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - __MatrixMan__ 4y ago
    Me neither. But I'd be interested in having both such that the caliper is backed off a bit so to engage the traditional break you have to pull harder. Maybe after a few years the "brakeless" system could gain my trust.
Kalium 4y ago
Is there a company offering dual hub motors and regenerative braking commercially?

darzu 4y ago

Just to add a different anecdote: I have a 2021 radrunner I use daily in Seattle (hilly & rainy), love it, and I have non of these complaints. I have 4 friends with Rads who love them as well. I don't doubt any of your experiences, but I mention this so readers can get more perspectives. Perhaps one significant difference between us is that Rad has a showroom / repair shop in Seattle, although I haven't needed them for anything other than easier parts pickup (fenders and break pads.)

entropicgravity 4y ago
Yes I have a 2021 radrunner as well and it's been fabulous. I tow my daughters trailer with it (had to put in a lock washer to keep it all together - $.35) and it's a blast. I've had one slow leak on the front tire, $20 to repair. Otherwise we're approaching 700km with no problems and lots of fun. Couldn't be happier with the build quality.

jeffbee 4y ago

I usually recommend electric bikes from actual bike companies, like Specialized, because there won't be any weird surprises, you won't have to assemble it yourself, and it will last forever. But everyone I know, other than myself, has gone with a newer electric-only company like Rad or VanMoof. I assume price is the reason.

mongol 4y ago
But bikes are not rocket science. They can be advanced and high tech, but they can also just be ordinary, well built bikes if using good parts. If the parts are good then the bike is good, the brand matters less for a bike than say for a car.
- jeffbee 4y ago
  Well, I just think a real bike company probably has real bike engineers on the staff already and maybe real engineering experience and resources like FEA models and so forth. These new companies make a lot of mistakes, like Yuba with their forks sheering off, and like Rad with their custom, not-available-anywhere tire size. I feel that with a big brand you're going to get a no-surprises bike.
  - justinator 4y ago
    I think what you're going to get from a big brand is a support system for when things go south (ie: a warranty). It used to be that bike shops stocked a few brands of bikes and those brands had a relationship with the shop to provide customer service and a bridge between customer and brand. Less so now after Covid, but it's still a thing. Bikes are one of those things that are sort of figured out how to make (tho eBikes, less so). You can go to a trade show in east Asia, spec out exactly what you want a run of bikes to be, and they'll do all the hard work for you, and ship you a container full of "your" bikes. Many brands use the same bike manufacturer/factory. Shop for some of them on bikesdirect.com. Many of the "brand" names are just stickers - the companies may have existed as something decades ago, but now live as a name only. Even a more established brand will send over the cad files of the frame to be built (usually the only really distinguishing thing in most bikes), then spec out the rest of the parts to be put on it. A few visits to the factory from a brand rep/engineer to get details right (welds, layups), then start pumping out orders.

dylan604 4y ago

I really like my RadWagon 4, but several weeks ago, I received a recall notice with their recommendation to stop using the bike until replacements/repairs have been made. I'm really happy they will be making the repairs for me, but since they parts won't even be ready until Feb/Mar 2023 it does me no good since the eBike is my primary mode of transportation. I know eBikes popularity went to the moon during the pandemic, the global shortages, yadda yadda, but my overall experience from RadPowerBikes customer satisfaction isn't the highest. As of now, my recalled parts have not failed, and I continue using it, but it's not a good look. I know they have to make those kind of "don't use until repaired" for liability reasons, but man it's frustrating.

googlryas 4y ago
Yup, same. I bought my radwagon 4 in august, and then in early september was told I should not ride it. And maybe they will be ready to fix it in Feb/Mar, or maybe it will be later. If it was just me, I would risk it, but I bought it to ferry my kids on so I'm not going to do that. So we got to ride it for 4 weeks, and have had it sitting in our garage for the past 13 weeks, and it will probably be another 13 weeks until it is fixed again if we are lucky. And basically all we get is the bike fixed to the state it should have been in upon delivery, not any kind of compensation for them giving us an unsafe bike and not being able to ride it for 6+ months. I would not recommend this brand. I guess they decided to do a lot of custom components which is why they have like a 6 month lead time to ship out new non-defective tires (or whatever). You'll find a lot of love for it online, and I think it is genuine, but I suspect the love for the brand is because it is bought by biking neophytes and makes biking accessible to people who don't want to put a lot of effort into it(nothing wrong with that). So it opens up a lot of possibilities for getting outside and getting fresh air without needing strong thighs or aerobic fitness or getting sweaty, and people associate that with their radwagon, not just generally with an ebike. But there is nothing particularly different about this brand compared to other ebike brands. A lot of ebikes look and function exactly the same as the radwagon, and haven't been part of a longstanding recall.
- qwertox 4y ago
  Hazard: The rim strip on the tires can be misaligned, causing the tube to pop and damage the tire. Additionally, the tires with a ribbed sidewall can unexpectedly go flat, risking serious injuries from loss of control and/or crash. This is something a beginner can repair. This is normal stuff for those who ride bikes and don't go to a shop for little repairs. Replacing a tube (and fixing it with a small vulcanizing kit) is biking 101, and there they're not even expecting you to repair that. Just check how to replace the tube of a wheel in a youtube video and while at it, check if your strip needs alignment. Tyres often go flat but you normally feel that something is off because it feels "smeary". The warning is just for those who are not the slightest bit technically inclined and don't feel like doing any of this. To avoid lawsuits. I bet in the Netherlands any 10 year old kid could check if your wagon is affected and if it is, align the strip.

insane_dreamer 4y ago

I commuted daily to work on a RadCity bike pre-covid (wfh since then) and my experience with it was excellent.

dohdhdaa 4y ago

3000km seems ridiculous as the lifetime for a bicycle, and to make it worse an e-bike will be e-waste. That would mean it was trash in a year for my commute alone, and this is in NYC where commutes are pretty short. That doesn’t even account for recreational riding. That being said a puncture is just a normal bicycle problem. Does Rad offer tubeless compatible components? I’m guessing e-bikers may be less “normal bicycle maintenance” oriented than your average road/gravel/mountain bike owner and tubeless would nearly eliminate punctures.

gorgoiler 4y ago
Everything is 2x heavier and so everything needs two hands. Changing a tube on my road bike is like flipping a pancake. Changing a tube on the RadRunner is like flipping a turkey.

rednerrus 4y ago

I'll chime in that my battery died around 500 miles and Rad refused to replace it. Would not recommend.

13of40 4y ago
My only complaint against them is I tried to buy a battery tray from them so I could swap the battery between my Rad City and my 48v homebrew bike, and they refused to sell it to me. (Edit: To be clear I went back a couple of months later, told a different story, and got one.) I also had a battery charging issue after 1000 miles and a winter where it got unplugged from the charger for a couple of months, but I count that as my mistake. I got to take apart the old battery pack though, and one interesting thing I found was that although the power output has half a dozen electrodes on it, only the two big + and - ones were connected to anything.

tppiotrowski 4y ago

I bought a used RadRunner. The disc brakes are prone to warping especially if you transport your bike and lay it on its side. Try not to put excessive weight on the discs. I just fix mine using pliers and manually bending back or forward the warp parts of the disc. It's quite simple and YouTube explains it well. I did replace the front fork because the previous one was bent. I think this happens when you're going 20mph and hit a curb or sharp bump. Replacement part was $60. Kickstand spring broke and Rad gave me another for $1 along with nuts and bolts that were missing from the previous owner. Electric motor and battery is doing fine. I purchased another battery for long rides. Because Rad is so popular there are great/cheap OEM options that other e-bike manufacturers don't have. I think for the price Rad is amazing if you're willing to tinker with it occasionally.