Thanks SV, I know; I have one of those, the round style, in my bike's toolkit.  I carry it there because it's small and can handle any size, so might be helpful for somebody else on the trail.

For tuneups at home, it's the right tool for the job whenever possible - the Park Tools are very well made and precisely sized, so I want the one size I need with a buy-once-this-lifetime purchase.  And they're only 10 bucks.

For carrying one bike, this solution works very well for me, includes a ramp and cost about $130 delivered (hunt around for discount coupons, they offer them regularly):  https://www.harborfreight.com/400-lb-receiver-mount-aluminum-motorcycle-carrier-62837.html

Here's a forum post I made about it, with some photos of my MiniST2 loaded up:  https://www.radowners.com/index.php?topic=1079.msg7366#msg7366

It's designed for dirt motorcycles, so handling the weight of an e-bike is no sweat.  Requires a 2" hitch receiver; with the anti-sway bolts locked down tight, it's very rigid.

I added the reflective tape for safety and the trailer-lights.

UPDATE: I remeasured it with a micrometer instead of calipers for better reliability.  Looks like these are 3.95-4.00mm across the flats, which means the SW-3 (blue) tool should be the correct size and that's what I just ordered.  Will update again if it's not correct.


Can anybody please confirm the correct size spoke wrench needed for my MiniST?  I think I've measured 4.36mm across the flats but I'm not positive that's accurate (aging eyes). 

Planning to order a Park Tool u-wrench that fits properly and not sure if it's maybe SW-2 or SW-3.

I've had emails take quite a while for a response last year, but eventually they did respond.

Try giving them a call; I've always gotten through very quickly and in each instance, including fixing a squeak I couldn't find while being walked through diagnosis and repair on the phone, everything was fixed fast and by the first person who answered the phone.  Bonus: in perfect English, too!

Man, that's a lot of kids - when do you find the time to ride?   

Quote from: sc00ter on April 27, 2022, 11:34:25 AMNow reduced to $400 FIRM.

Might be a good idea to update this thread's subject line to reflect the new price.

Quote from: Eric7 on April 27, 2022, 11:11:20 AM
Thank you.  I read it with interest.

So basically it is a direct replacement and everything continues to work.  I mean all the Rad functions are still there like front light, back light etc.  Plug, program, and play?  Just confirming.

How do you plan to permanently mount it to your Mini ST?  I heard that it is does not fit in the controller box (or am I wrong) and you have to fabricate something.  Or does it just drop into the Rad controller box?  Thanks.

You're welcome.  Yes, it IS a direct replacement, plug-and-play, all connectors match and are even colored the same inside - just be careful when plugging back together, some of the molded alignment keys are small and hard to see - a head-mounted flashlight is tremendously helpful here.  The one front wiring-harness connector is inside the downtube; pull the grommet aside from the frame hole (a hairdryer to soften it up helps if it's cold), turn the front wheel all the way to the right for maximum cable pull, push that cable into the downtube up front as far as you can, and then carefully fish it out at the bottom enough to unplug it.  Not hard, but you don't want it disconnecting inside the downtube, so fish it out intact first.  If the new controller's wiring-harness connector was an inch longer, this one would be a lot easier, but it's just barely long enough and the others are no sweat. 

I was NOT able to push the wiring-harness connector back into the downtube because the new controller's wire is a bit too short, but I've moved the handlebars lock-to-lock and it doesn't disturb the connection .... however, I have not tested folding, which might be an issue, but I never fold my bike.  More dextrous people might be able to finagle it. 

If somebody could please identify that wiring-harness cable connection (pic added below) and a source for an extension cable, I'd be much obliged and would probably order/install one, because my slight touch of OCD won't leave me alone about stuff like that.  Update: looking closely at the photos of the connectors on the Bolton website, I think it's the 10-pin cable, which I can't find yet but I've sent an email to Bolton support to see if they can sell me one or point me to a supplier  ..... nope, they replied that they have no source for Rad cabling and that most people cut/splice additional wire to achieve a longer result - not easy to do for this one.

All Rad functions are retained in this latest version, including the taillight (which still flashes as a brake light and can still be set to flashing mode with the button on the bottom of the lens) and headlight, except that the lights are turned on now with a long-press of the PAS-Up button, instead of a 2-button press, which is nice.

There are new features too, such as battery voltage, ambient air temperture, a trip odometer that doesn't clear to zero if the display times out; the values stick until you clear them manually  ..... AND you get a cruise-control too!  That's nice for tooling along a long straight stretch; just push and hold the down-PAS button until it kicks in (it automatically shuts off with throttle, brake and I think PAS change too).

My mounting is crude, but it works; pics attached below.  I used UV-resistant heavy-duty zipties with self-adhesive heavy-duty velcro between the controller and the frame to keep it from shifting.  The contact patch is narrow on the round tube, about 1/2" x 6", but plenty strong anyway.  The schmutz you see on the controller is Flex Shot sealant I applied to the gasket seams before fastening down.  When it's fully cured in a day or so I'll rub off as much of it as I can.

As you can see, my dashboard is crowded, but everything fits.  The new controller mounts are spread apart a bit more than factory, probably about 1/2" across their full width.  Not much, but enough that I had to slightly bend out the mounts for my accessory bar, which couldn't quite fit on the bar in between the new controller and the handlebar mount.  But, it works!

Let me know if you have any more questions, and I'll update my post at the top if I tweak anything else.

Cheers!

I originally posted this in the original thread over in the RadWagon section, but thought some Mini owners might find it useful and not notice it over there.

Update 25 Apr 2022 - revised a couple of controller settings for mo-better smoothness etc - see below
-------------------

Mine has been sitting in its box since late last year, but I finally got it installed for testing today on my 2021 Mini ST2 (did the Area 13 hydraulic brake calipers this week too; they work great), leaving all the stock equipment in place, but disconnected, just to make sure the new setup works.

And man, does it ever seem to work!  Connecting all the cables under the crank was a little finicky due to the short length of some of the factory cables on the frame and stiffness of some, but it all hooked up with a little patience and a pair of pliers to firmly hold one side of the connector in a couple cases.  All the right cables you'll need on the controller are there and the pinouts correct, so just be careful to align them properly before pushing them together and it should be fine.  The current kit includes a tail/brake light connector that functions just like the factory controller, so everything back there works normally.

I have attached below a screenshot of my initial settings (far right column), derived from the kindly-provided spreadsheet from Ray StDenis here on this forum; I started with these and it works great, but I might tweak things here and there as I gain experience with it.  Note my tire diameter of 23" for the 20"-wheel bikes and the CST Big Boat tires - I still need to compare against my GPS speed to see if this needs tweaking for accuracy within the limits of update rate and data input, this is the correct size; my GPS matches the display, but note that P1 needs to be set to 103 as well for best accuracy.  Both DIM and P1 values will change with different size wheels/tires and motor design, but these work great with the Big Boats on a Mini with the stock Rad motor.

There are several new features included with the new controller, including ambient air temp (which matches my Thermoworks calibrated thermometer), cruise control which I haven't tried yet, trip timer and a GIGANTIC feature that Rad has never yet implemented - the Trip Time and Trip Distance do NOT zero out when the display is turned off!  That was one of the first things I checked because it always pissed me off to have them clear when stopping for lunch on a ride when the display timed out; now they don't zero unless/until done manually and intentionally, although the display still times out and shuts down after 5 minutes of inactivity, which is great.  Even turning on the headlight is easier; long-press the PAS-up button instead of the two buttons needed by the Rad display.  This controller has an option to display motor temperature as well, but the stock Rad motor doesn't provide that data - if you activate the setting, you'll just see a constant 59F reading, so best to just keep this setting at zero.

And holy crap, this performs as advertised - like a booster rocket's been added under my butt.  As expected without a voltage change, top speed still maxes out at around 25 mph with the motor only (the controller's limit setting is about 42 mph), but that's fine - I wanted acceleration and uphill grunt torque, not more speed.  Have only ridden a couple miles, but ran through all gears and PAS settings, taking it up to a little over 1,500w without any complaints, and it was still climbing when I ran out of road.  Such a great improvement to my bike, just what I was expecting and hoping to see.

A word of caution: this new controller pulls immediately and strongly like a farm tractor with factory parameter settings, so don't blip the throttle unless you're on the bike, the rear wheel's off the ground or you're prepared to let off the gas and hit the brakes immediately - it literally felt like it could pull right out of my hands if I hadn't been prepared to stop it.  It seems that out of the box, the controller disables the throttle in PAS 0, but that may be just when not pedaling for safety, not sure yet, and I need to review the settings to see if this is changeable.  In PAS 1 or above, it leaps instantly when standing alongside the bike at a stop.  Update: I have set C3 (power-up PAS setting) to 0, so that throttle is not available at startup, for safety.

There is a "walking mode" just like Rad's controller, activated by holding the PAS-down button for at least 3 seconds; I tried it with the rear wheel off the ground to confirm it works, but haven't tried it on pavement yet to see if it's faster or slower than Rad's (which everybody seems to think is too fast, including me).

Aside from the display being fairly dim, but still readable in direct sunlight, I have no complaints (although playing with the C6 parameter might help that - UPDATE: it did, although just slightly, and it's now 4 instead of 3) and now have a project to remove the old display and controller from the bike and get the new stuff laced up properly for the long term.  Will probably apply Flex Shot to seal the controller seams just in case, although I avoid riding in wet weather and the Mini ST has a pretty-protected controller mount location.  The box seems to have a gasket in the seam, but Bolton / Area 13 states that it is NOT advertised as waterproof.

Overall, definitely and highly recommended on first impression.

New brakes, new rocket boost, new riding season - good to go!

UPDATE: the chart below is revised - I left my initial settings from 23 April in there, so you can see the few changes I made today.  C5 is confusing, because as near as I can tell it does different things from 0-2 as it does from 3-10.  I changed it from 10 to 0, and this solved the problem I had of the throttle lighting off 100% immediately and a jumpy start; now it ramps up fairly smoothly and works a lot better from a full stop, more like a Rad controller.  It does NOT limit the power to the motor as settings 3 through 10 do - it still ramps up to 100%, just more gradually.  Setting it to 1 or 2 instead of 0 seems to ramp up faster.

I also tried messing with C14 (PAS tuning) which regulates how much "oomph" the motor will provide during pedaling.  Default is 1 (low) and I tried 2 (medium) and 3 (high), ending up leaving it at 1 to let me put some effort into it.  For those with weak legs or other problem who want to rely on the motor more, try increasing it to 2 or 3.

The full manual where I found these extra details can be found here:
https://ebikeescape.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Bolton_Controller_Manual_Rad_Power_Bikes.pdf

This is linked in Part 2 of the controller-upgrade vids from forum owner Ryan and his brother.... worth watching over at https://youtu.be/fsbcY91alf0

Quote from: Ddaybc on April 26, 2022, 09:31:11 AMIf you wish to see what the real world can offer then, on this forum, look up posts by Altema where he tried to burn out a Rad hub drive and was unable to. Unfortunately I don't know how to look up specific posts so I don't have the link for it.

I remember that post, and Altema has confirmed several times that he was unable to burn out the stock Rad motor after trying to do so with up to 1600w for sustained periods of time.  (The motor used was surplus after a motor swap, so he was willing to find its limits to destruction, but never did.)

Here's a link to another one of his posts with a lot of detail about these motors where he reiterates the extra power is no problem: 
https://www.radowners.com/index.php?topic=726.msg3576#msg3576

I'm thinking you misjudged the precise location of the blades when cutting a wiretie? 
Do I win?   

Update 25 Apr 2022 - revised a couple of controller settings for mo-better smoothness etc - see below
-------------------

Mine has been sitting in its box since late last year, but I finally got it installed for testing today on my 2021 Mini ST2 (did the Area 13 hydraulic brake calipers this week too; they work great), leaving all the stock equipment in place, but disconnected, just to make sure the new setup works.

And man, does it ever seem to work!  Connecting all the cables under the crank was a little finicky due to the short length of some of the factory cables on the frame and stiffness of some, but it all hooked up with a little patience and a pair of pliers to firmly hold one side of the connector in a couple cases.  All the right cables you'll need on the controller are there and the pinouts correct, so just be careful to align them properly before pushing them together and it should be fine.  The current kit includes a tail/brake light connector that functions just like the factory controller, so everything back there works normally.

I have attached below a screenshot of my initial settings (far right column), derived from the kindly-provided spreadsheet from Ray StDenis here on this forum; I started with these and it works great, but I might tweak things here and there as I gain experience with it.  Note my tire diameter of 23" for the 20"-wheel bikes and the CST Big Boat tires - I still need to compare against my GPS speed to see if this needs tweaking for accuracy within the limits of update rate and data input, this is the correct size; my GPS matches the display, but note that P1 needs to be set to 103 as well for best accuracy.  Both DIM and P1 values will change with different size wheels/tires and motor design, but these work great with the Big Boats on a Mini with the stock Rad motor.

There are several new features included with the new controller, including ambient air temp (which matches my Thermoworks calibrated thermometer), cruise control which I haven't tried yet, trip timer and a GIGANTIC feature that Rad has never yet implemented - the Trip Time and Trip Distance do NOT zero out when the display is turned off!  That was one of the first things I checked because it always pissed me off to have them clear when stopping for lunch on a ride when the display timed out; now they don't zero unless/until done manually and intentionally, although the display still times out and shuts down after 5 minutes of inactivity, which is great.  Even turning on the headlight is easier; long-press the PAS-up button instead of the two buttons needed by the Rad display.  This controller has an option to display motor temperature as well, but the stock Rad motor doesn't provide that data - if you activate the setting, you'll just see a constant 59F reading, so best to just keep this setting at zero.

And holy crap, this performs as advertised - like a booster rocket's been added under my butt.  As expected without a voltage change, top speed still maxes out at around 25 mph with the motor only (the controller's limit setting is about 42 mph), but that's fine - I wanted acceleration and uphill grunt torque, not more speed.  Have only ridden a couple miles, but ran through all gears and PAS settings, taking it up to a little over 1,500w without any complaints, and it was still climbing when I ran out of road.  Such a great improvement to my bike, just what I was expecting and hoping to see.

A word of caution: this new controller pulls immediately and strongly like a farm tractor with factory parameter settings, so don't blip the throttle unless you're on the bike, the rear wheel's off the ground or you're prepared to let off the gas and hit the brakes immediately - it literally felt like it could pull right out of my hands if I hadn't been prepared to stop it.  It seems that out of the box, the controller disables the throttle in PAS 0, but that may be just when not pedaling for safety, not sure yet, and I need to review the settings to see if this is changeable.  In PAS 1 or above, it leaps instantly when standing alongside the bike at a stop.  Update: I have set C3 (power-up PAS setting) to 0, so that throttle is not available at startup, for safety.

There is a "walking mode" just like Rad's controller, activated by holding the PAS-down button for at least 3 seconds; I tried it with the rear wheel off the ground to confirm it works, but haven't tried it on pavement yet to see if it's faster or slower than Rad's (which everybody seems to think is too fast, including me).

Aside from the display being fairly dim, but still readable in direct sunlight, I have no complaints (although playing with the C6 parameter might help that - UPDATE: it did, although just slightly, and it's now 4 instead of 3) and now have a project to remove the old display and controller from the bike and get the new stuff laced up properly for the long term.  Will probably apply Flex Shot to seal the controller seams just in case, although I avoid riding in wet weather and the Mini ST has a pretty-protected controller mount location.  The box seems to have a gasket in the seam, but Bolton / Area 13 states that it is NOT advertised as waterproof.

Overall, definitely and highly recommended on first impression.

New brakes, new rocket boost, new riding season - good to go!

UPDATE: the chart below is revised - I left my initial settings from 23 April in there, so you can see the few changes I made today.  C5 is confusing, because as near as I can tell it does different things from 0-2 as it does from 3-10.  I changed it from 10 to 0, and this solved the problem I had of the throttle lighting off 100% immediately and a jumpy start; now it ramps up fairly smoothly and works a lot better from a full stop, more like a Rad controller.  It does NOT limit the power to the motor as settings 3 through 10 do - it still ramps up to 100%, just more gradually.  Setting it to 1 or 2 instead of 0 seems to ramp up faster.

I also tried messing with C14 (PAS tuning) which regulates how much "oomph" the motor will provide during pedaling.  Default is 1 (low) and I tried 2 (medium) and 3 (high), ending up leaving it at 1 to let me put some effort into it.  For those with weak legs or other problem who want to rely on the motor more, try increasing it to 2 or 3.

The full manual where I found these extra details can be found here:
https://ebikeescape.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Bolton_Controller_Manual_Rad_Power_Bikes.pdf

This is linked in Part 2 of the controller-upgrade vids from forum owner Ryan and his brother.... worth watching over at https://youtu.be/fsbcY91alf0

Quote from: Altema on April 22, 2022, 08:27:40 PMI may try that. I contacted Bolton and they said they would do an exchange for their full hydraulic system, so that offer is on the table. Thanks for the info!

I saw that Bolton has a full-hydraulic system with motor cutout switch etc, but in the event I ever want/need to fold my MiniST2, I don't think running a hydraulic line inside the frame would be a good idea.

That being said, have you seen the new Lectric bike?  Similar in concept to their previous small folders, it has mid-drive, two batteries, front suspension, beefy rear rack and hydraulic brakes (with all lines including electric run outside the frame) and it's also a folder.  Still only 500w nominal, but with two 10Ah batteries in parallel it'll have great range.  $1799 pre-order intro price seems pretty good unless the components are junk - might give the Rad product managers a few sleepless nights if it's a good bike. 

Ryan just uploaded a YT vid on it.

Quote from: Altema on April 13, 2022, 01:07:17 PM
I installed my Juintech brakes this week. Maybe it's because I kept the Tectro brakes finely adjusted, but the Juintech brakes did not give me any more braking power. I contacted Area 13 about the issue, but they have not responded.

Altema, see my post just above this one; my new Juintechs from Bolton seem to have noticeably improved my stopping power on a MiniST2, but the rear brake was a little weak until I tightened the adjustment screw on the caliper about 2 turns to engage the brakes up on the grip a bit sooner.  That really improved the stopping power, so perhaps you might give that a try before removing them if you haven't already.

Front brake stopped like a brick wall right off the bat; I think I'd set the cable in the clamp mechanism just right and got lucky with that one.  It's only been a couple miles but so far I like 'em.

Quote from: NaturallyBikes on April 22, 2022, 09:11:23 AMLove it. Touch wood, but I have never once encountered a Canada Customs officer who was a dick. They're just like the rest of us.

Perhaps so, but that time was US Customs, returning home.  On a different trip up to Canada, the Canada Customs officers did happen to be dicks, taking almost an hour disassembling the back end of my SUV and finally satisfying their "needs" by slapping me with a $50 cash-grab on two bottles of wine, then leaving me with another half-hour of work repacking everything.  "Welcome to Canada"  I remember that ever since, when considering another trip up.  Maybe I'll go again someday.  Maybe not.  It's already been quite a few years.

Quote from: Radicali on April 22, 2022, 08:10:13 AMI called Rad on my own to get a jump on this and a message said they are all off today to celebrate Earth Day.  Laudable but I wish they were more down to earth with their support.     

Not exactly laudable - more like pandering to fashionable fantasies instead of tending to their customers on a normal workday, especially when customers (and potential customers) need information and assistance now more than ever.  I regard Rad's support as good-to-excellent in the past, but stuff like arbitrary closings makes me wonder.