You can find a lot of good information on battery cycles.

A few things you can do for more cycles is not fully charge the battery when you don't need it. Say you only need 50% of the battery charge on a trip. Charging the battery to 80% and running it down to 30% will put less wear on the battery than charging it to 100% and then running it to 50%. If you need a full charge, ideally the less time the battery spends at 100% charge the better. So I will charge it to 100% just before I go on a long trip.

If you aren't going to ride the bicycle for a while, it is best to store it when it has a charge between 50-75%. Probably worth the effort to run it down from full charge if you know you're going to be storing it.

Hope that helps.

Wow, that's wild. Does anyone know what's going on at Rad?

A year ago, I had a screen fail which then shut down my bicycle. I had to go back and forth with Rad support even though a cheap multimeter allowed me to eliminate the battery/battery connector and cables as not being the issue. I would have been very angry if email support had just ignored me.   

The barn door has been open for a long time in the United States and the horse already left for greener pastures. Perhaps a majority of the ebikes sold these days are skirting regulations, not to mention the scofflaws riding electric motorcycles like the Surron around doing wheelies at 40mph on the public streets.

Rather than focusing on "upgrades," I think it is more important to be a good citizen on whatever you ride. Give pedestrians a wide berth. Mostly follow the laws, and be a good rider on the road. When you can, get over to allow cars to pass you. Don't cut people off. Don't ride the wrong way at high speed. If you're going to ride the sidewalks for safety give way to pedestrians. Always assume that people in cars don't see you. And lastly, just be friendly and helpful to others. The spandex crowd has gotten a bad reputation due to videos of some fighting with car drivers.

I'm lucky that I live in a beach town where all sorts of bicycles are heavily used. Most drivers are cool and I try to give them a thankful wave when they make room for me.

Yes, I think it is definitely worth checking out 35psi. I haven't heard of people getting pinch flats at that pressure, but then they weren't carrying a heavy passenger with them. The RW4 3" tires aren't true fat tires, not unusual to see people running those below 20 psi.

In my case, I think if I were really trying to smooth out the harsh ride, I'd look at the ebike escape video on adding a suspension seat post.  I know some people have tried to fit a front suspension, but in my case it is the hit from the seat rather than the handle bars that I'd like to soften out. 

These days I've been tending to keep my tires at about 45 psi. I ran them higher than that originally(50psi), just to try to get better efficiency on roads. Even at 45 psi, the ride is harsh when roads are rough, and I'll definitely stand up over sections or road with potholes and ditches.

I know some people run their tires at 30-35 psi, to get more comfort, but I'd suggest checking the pressure more often if you do that and monitoring the tires if you're carrying passengers.

Some people are putting on suspension seat posts, but there are some videos on how to fit them if you have a RW 4 because of the dual segment seat post.

The bots pushing locksmiths aren't at all helpful. No evidence there was a human behind those posts at all.

It's a pain, but I normally take my battery with me into the store when I go shopping.

The Hyperscorpion looks like a lot of fun, and notice it has hydraulic brakes for considerably less, but the RR would still be more useful for me if I had to have one bike. I like the ability to haul a bunch of stuff without wearing a backpack, whether I'm going to the park to play sports, or to the beach, or just making a grocery run. Also, the RR has an adjustable seat so I can efficiently pedal it on the flat even if the battery runs out. I use my RW4 to workout all the time and my endurance has really improved.

Searching, I also found the Fucare Libra. It is heavier, but seems to be similar in spirit to the RR, sort of a utility/cargo frame. Can't say anything about the quality, and it doesn't come with hydraulics, but it is definitely more powerful for hill climbing or carrying a passenger and is a thousand less.

At least where I live, no one is enforcing the law with respect to powerful ebikes and licensing. I see kids and sometimes adults zipping by on the public streets on Surrons, which are basically electric dirt bikes, they don't even have the pretense of pedals. Most people ride in a respectful manner, even if their bikes are illegal. I think it is wise for Rad to sell bicycles that are set to be legal in most places in the US. What would be nice is for models like the RR and RW4 to have enough power and torque to keep chugging up steep hills when carrying multiple people or heavily loaded.

I'm a cargo bike type of guy. I currently ride a RW4, but I like the looks of the RadRunners and they're very popular in my city. However, I think this bike is still overpriced.

I'm a big fan of the hydraulic brakes, as I've quickly become sick of having to adjust my mechanical brakes every month or so. The rear rack has the pannier bars which is something I think the RW4 should have had. It is pain I've had to make a work around so that I can mount side bags and a top basket at the same time on my huge RW4 rack. But I don't think that alone is enough to justify the price.

While the bicycles are not completely comparable, I'd definitely go with the Lectric Expedition over the RR3P. I wonder what other step-thru adjustable seat almost moped style bicycles are out there? For almost a thousand less, you can get new-brand type bicycles that will smoke the RR in a hill climb, even if the overall package isn't so well thought out. 

Among a small circle of friends and family, I've been an ebike influencer. Despite having a generally positive experience with my RW4, I haven't pushed other people to buy Rad.

IMO, Rad has fallen behind some of their competitors. For example, just looking at specs for those in the budget cargo bike market I'd recommend Lectric over Rad. The Lectric Xpedition offers hydraulic brakes (requiring less adjustment), a motor with more peak power, and dual batteries for less money than a RW4. What is the value proposition in getting a RW4? Obviously the tire debacle didn't help.

If Rad can't scramble and produce more compelling products for the price, I think that many of their offerings are going to need a price drop. 

The two things I'd look into would be an upgraded controller to increase the peak power output of the motor and hydraulic brakes. I'd look into a suspension seat post before I'd consider running a cargo bike with a suspension fork.

It also might make sense to sell the RW4 and buy the Lectric XPedition. Read the article on this site. It appears that it has more power and torque for hill climbing than the RW4, even though both are nominally 750W motors. I look forward to ebike Escape running a hill climb on the XPedition.

I plan on getting a few more years out of my RW4 before looking to update to a better cargo ebike.

Quote from: Harhir on February 27, 2023, 07:36:25 AM
The 450 lbs payload capacity is impressive. This is a 100 lbs more than Rad is rated for. But I wonder what the quality would be at a price that low. I have a RW3 and the quality is ok but not that great. But I can't complain for what I paid for.

What I find interesting in general: You have quite a few electric cargo bikes in the $1500-$2,000 range like The Radwagon, Lextric XPedition, Blix Packa, Flyer L885  ... and then have bikes in the $4,000 to $6,000 range like the Tern HSD, Trek Fetch+ 2, Xtracycle, .... Bu there seem to be hardly any bikes in the $2K to $4K range.

That is interesting. What do you think would sell people on the upgraded price range? I see this site has an Aventon Abound cargo bike review that's in this "mid" range.

With the high end stuff, I know what I'd be looking for, though such a bicycle doesn't make sense for me now. I'd want a mid-drive bicycle with a belt drive, geared rear hub, and four-piston hydraulics. Also, I'd expect the lights and accessories to be very high quality. I'd want something that has a powerful motor and good size battery.

Quote from: JimInPT on February 23, 2023, 01:24:21 PM

One other nice feature is that the new caliper squeezes both pads to the disc from both sides, unlike stock which only moves one side, slightly warping the disc with each brake application.  So just squeeze the brake handle before doing final tightening and it should self-align easily.

I was a bit disconcerted when I first adjusted the brakes and realized that they are single piston disc brakes! It would be more expensive, but possible, to make mechanical cable brakes that were at least two piston so that the rotor wasn't being warped each time you brake.

I don't think the instructions I saw made clear that you want to adjust the inside pad as close as possible to the rotor, without rubbing, on the stock RW4 Tektro brakes to increase power and reduce rotor warping when the outside pad squeezes the rotor.

I can imagine that one of the things people are paying for when buying higher end cargo bicycles is quad piston hydraulic brakes that self-adjust.

I can imagine in the future, Rad is going to need to update the Radwagon to having hydraulic brakes as standard. I'd advise anyone looking to buy a cargo ebike to seek out hydraulic brakes with the cutoff switch built in when buying new.

Thank you for the suggestion, JimInPT.

I'm going to look into the hydraulic brake update.

Yeah, I'd probably get a Xpedition today if I hadn't bought a RW4 during the great ebike boom during the shutdowns. The RW4 was the best option for me at the time, I think. I've gotten a huge amount of use out of it, but I'd like something with better brakes and more power. 

I'd like to try hydraulic brakes as I find I have to adjust my mechanical disk brakes about every 250 miles.

Lectric has just come out with a cargo bicycle, the Xpedition and it has many upgrades compared to the RW4.

From what I've seen, it is lighter, more powerful, comes with hydraulic disk brakes, has 20x3" tires, and is available as a one or two battery model for hundreds less than a RW4. Also, the rear rack accessories seem better thought out than Rads.

Seems that Rad is going to need to make an updated Radwagon to be able to compete.