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Rad power wagon12/16/2023 The sharp impulse of a high pitched bell, on the other hand, gets their attention.īuilt into the left brake lever is exactly such a bell! It’s a small bell with a little lever, and it’s loud! It’s perfectly positioned, and it works exactly as one would hope. Human voices just don’t punch through whatever it is they’re listening to. To my never ending annoyance, lots of people on trails wear headphones, and I think they keep the volume up pretty high. On your left! ON YOUR LEFT!” *ding ding ding* The Rad Wagon has a handle integrated into the seat to make this much more comfortable for you! It’s thing like this - the little touches - that show me the people who built this really do understand how it’s going to be used. Sometimes, lifting the rear and swinging it around is the easiest way to park it where you want it. There’s no getting around the fact that cargo bikes are long, though the Rad Wagon is shorter than some other cargo bikes on the market. The spring works exactly as advertised, and keeps everything straight as can be! I found a bit of a rise and stuck the bike on it. In addition, it prevents the wheel from turning around 180 degrees and straining the cables for the throttle and console. It doesn’t interfere with riding at all, but it keeps the wheel from turning and the handlebars from smacking you while you’re loading things up. The front wheel has a small centering spring (also known as a “deflopilator”) to keep it lined up when the bike is on the center stand. Not on this bike, because it has a… Centering Spring (Deflopilator) One quirk of center stands is that on many bikes (my commuter included), the front wheel will flop sideways when it’s hanging off the ground. The center stand is well positioned to kick down and support the bike from the seat position. There’s no “landing gear deploy” lever like some of the XtraCycles have, but it really doesn’t seem to be needed. On softer ground, the center stand will dig in slightly, and hold the bike up while the wheels support the bulk of the weight. The center stand is wide, and only barely lifts the front wheel off the ground - so it’s easy to get the bike onto the center stand, and it’s easy to roll the bike forward and off the center stand. This means that the bike is fully upright as you load the bike, and there’s less risk of the bike tipping over as can happen if you load up bags in the wrong order with a kickstand. A center stand keeps the bike standing upright, tripoding on one wheel (usually the rear) and the two center stand points of contact. With the motor, it’s rare that you’ll use anything but the largest front chainring - you only need to drop down when either climbing a very steep hill, or if the battery dies (but with over half a kilowatt hour of capacity, that’s not going to be easy to do).Ĭargo bikes usually come with center stands instead of kick stands. It’s different, but it works really quite well. The rear selection is done by pushing a lever to go to a larger sprocket and pushing a button to go smaller (up a gear). Instead of using twist grip or normal index shifters, the front chainring is shifted by moving a lever (it’s indexed). The Rad Wagon comes with a few items I’ve never seen on other bikes (except the Rad Rover), and some standard gizmos you want on a cargo bike. Instead, it comes with a very well thought out set of features that are actually useful if you want to ride a cargo bike daily. And it doesn’t come with an absurd price tag. It doesn’t have an expensive suspension setup, instead relying on the tires for suspension and the steel for vibration damping. It doesn’t promise insane charging speeds - it just has a huge battery. This bike notably does not have Bluetooth integration with your smartphone (though it does have USB chargers for devices). There’s everything you need, and nothing you don’t. It even comes from the factory with lights and fenders! The bike rolls on 26x2.3 wheels, and has a full range 21 speed drivetrain in addition to the motor. There’s a 550+ watt-hour battery pack mounted on the frame, and a nice LCD dashboard. It’s designed to carry up to 350 lbs including rider, and it has a cargo mount on the rear for your various hauling needs (bags, kids, pizzas, etc). The 2016 Rad Wagon is a steel frame, long tail, 750W electric cargo bike. Keep reading for lots of details, and lots of great lakefront photos of a beautiful bike! The Rad Wagon I took a few hours on a beautiful Thursday to check out Rad Power’s new location in Ballard, and to check out both the Rad Wagon and the Rad Rover. I’ve built my own, because I have no interest in what $4k+ commercial bikes offer, and I haven’t found a cheaper commercial bike that I felt was reasonable for what it cost. It’s not a secret that I like electric bikes.
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