It's funny. The new help topic from Rad shows them installing the springs rotated exactly 180 degrees out from where they are installed from the factory.

For example, here is a picture that goPam posted showing her failed spring, which is exactly how I discovered mine failing. Notice how the spring ends are installed as to come up from the bottom through the holes:



But if you look at the help topic from Rad, they show them installed in a rotated orientation with the ends of the springs inserted into the top of the holes instead of the bottom:



I'm not sure this will make much difference, but I might give it a shot to see what happens. It seems to me that the way the springs are extended and bent when the stand is down will lead them to fail not matter what orientation they are installed, but I'll give it a try.

They sent me two extra pairs of springs, which I find interesting. Maybe the factory installed the springs backwards from spec?

I contacted Rad when my springs failed, and they simply sent me a new set of springs. I haven't put them on because I assume they will likely fail in the exact same way. It will be interesting to see how many other RadWagon owners will experience the same issue.

It seems the only "real" fix would be a redesign of the failed geometry, but this would be pretty costly for Rad to implement. We will see.

Hey GoPam,

It looks like your seat post might be damaged. Here is a picture of mine:



It looks like yours might be either assembled incorrectly or perhaps the bolt is bent:



You should be able to completely remove the bolt on the right side of the seat post which will free up the saddle allowing you to completely remove it from the bike.

Cheers,

Jason

Hi Kevin,

I was a little confused about how to install my front rack too until I came across this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ETWKB4-vJ8

I hope this helps.

Jason

Hey GoPam,

I just measured my seat post with a set of calipers, and it looks like it is exactly 34.9mm, so your new seat post should work. The only downside is that you will lose quite a bit of height since the seat post tube is so low on the RadWagon.

Here is the bolt that needs to be removed to get the stock seat off:



Mine was pretty tight from the factory, but I was able to use the included hex wrench to get it loose.

By the way, it looks like you still have the stock seat. Here is mine sitting on the bench:

Hey GoPam,

You'll need an M8 Nyloc nut and M8 washer to replace the missing parts.

Cheers,

Jason

Another option to consider is a standard milk crate. I ordered these from Amazon and they are working out great:

https://amzn.to/3k2lzOd

They are sturdy, fold down flat, and don't weigh nearly as much as the steel/aluminum baskets sold by Rad.

Here is my current setup:



I can fit 2-3 bags of groceries in either side pannier, and another 1-2 bags in the milk crate, all while my kiddo rides on back with her own handlebars. So far it is working out great.

Here are the panniers I bought. I highly recommend them:

https://amzn.to/3jZRaQH

Hey GoPam,

For what it's worth, the Cloud 9 saddle is a perfect replacement for the stock seat on the RadWagon 4 and thus there is no need to replace the seat post.



You just need to completely disassemble the seat mount and replace the saddle portion.

Keeping the stock seat post allows the stock seat-adjustment range to be maintained, which is important to me as I am quite tall and my wife is on the shorter side.

You may not get as much shock absorption as a suspension seat post, but I find that the Cloud 9 is leaps and bounds better than the stock seat. I live in a small town with lots of brick-paved streets and the ride (while not perfect) is acceptable with this seat.

Here is the one that I purchased:

https://amzn.to/2TgAad6

GoPam,

I was looking at your image, and it looks like your kickstand is also missing a washer and locknut on the left side:



You should definitely get this fixed too as the kickstand will bind up if the bolt falls out.

Jason

Hey Gopam. I still haven't made any permanent fixes to the kickstand springs. I don't have access to a machine shop right now, but I'm hoping that I can machine up some more permanent "clamps" to take the place of the temporary wire holds I fashioned. The geometry of the springs in this orientation seems to have solved the over-extension/over-bending problem with the stock location.

If you do try to duplicate my fix, please make sure to get stainless steel wire, otherwise it will quickly become a rusty mess. Also, be sure to make plenty of wraps around the support tubes. I think I made ~ 6-7 wraps on each side and then twisted the two ends tightly together and folded them flat. The more wraps you make, the stronger the hold.

I think I'll try crimping the ends over too to see if that helps. I considered doing this last night, but we just moved and my bench vise is buried somewhere in a mountain of boxes in the garage. I figured that Rad would just offer to send out new springs, but I don't see how this is ever going to fix the problem. I can only assume that any new springs they send will fail in the same way.

Let me preface this by saying that I really like the new RadWagon 4. I received my bike on September 24 and since then I have put just over 50 miles on it.

Yesterday while riding to the post office, I heard a small pop and then a loud scraping sound. I quickly realized that the kickstand was dragging freely on the ground. I hopped off to see what happened and saw that the remaining kickstand spring had deformed so badly that it slipped out of its hole and there was no longer anything holding the kickstand up. Earlier in the week, I had found a deformed spring on the floor of my garage, but I couldn't place where it might have come from, so I threw it on the workbench and didn't think much more about it. Now I realize that the first spring had failed earlier in the week and the second spring finally gave way yesterday. Luckily, I was close to a store so I pushed the bike over and bought some zip-ties so I could at least make it home.

Here is what the springs looked like after failing:



Initially, I thought that maybe the failure could be due to poor quality springs, so I made a trip to Lowe's to see if I could find some replacements. I ended up picking up a pair of these:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Hillman-2-Pack-3-1-8-in-Zinc-Gate-Extension-Spring/3120573

When I got home, I put the new springs on and everything seemed to work fine, so I assumed that the problem had been fixed. Yesterday evening, I rode the bike with my daughter to the park, and before we made it a few blocks, one of the new springs failed. Luckily, we were able to make it home with the remaining spring, but it likely wouldn't have survived much longer.

Here are the new springs after failing:



I took a closer look at how the springs attached to the kickstand, and I realized that this isn't a materials failure, but rather an engineering failure. The kickstand is designed in such a way that the springs are over-extended and bent at an extreme angle when the kickstand is down. This leads to the spring ends deforming and eventually pulling out of their mounting holes:



Since the closest Lowe's to me is ten miles away, I picked up an extra set of springs on my earlier trip. Knowing that the springs would likely just fail again if I put them back on the same way, I decided to mount them differently. I ended up wrapping some stainless-steel mechanic's wire around the frame of the bike to create some temporary spring mounts. This allows the springs to hold the kickstand up while riding, and avoids the extreme bent spring angle when the kickstand is in the down position:



I will try this solution for a while, and if it ends up working well I will machine up some stays to take place of the wire.

I opened a ticket with Rad tech support, but I haven't received any response.

Hopefully this will help others. I'm looking forward to seeing if this is an issue that others experience.

I am really enjoying this bike, but it is essentially useless without a kickstand, especially since I am using it mainly to haul my five year old daughter to school, the park, the grocery store, etc... Without a kickstand, it seems pretty dangerous for a kiddo to try and climb aboard.

Has anyone else had this issue with their new RadWagon?