Rover 5 assembly woes

[pjmeyer4]

I offer a few observations about Rad Rover 5 assembly.  Mine arrived 2 weeks ago and I assembled it using (a) the enclosed written instructions and (b) having the video going on my laptop at the same time.  I only stumbled across this Owners Forum after I had already purchased my bike.

All went very well, I must say, but there were 2 things that would have been helpful to know that did not get covered in the instructions.  Granted, the instruction materials were published some time ago and these latest issues may not have been thought up when the video was done.

First, Rad appears to tighten the brake calipers all the way shut on both the front and the back of the bike prior to shipping.  I couldn't get the front wheel on as the calipers were too tight to allow the disc through the brake slot.  I did find a reference somewhere that suggested opening up the caliper 2 clicks, so I was good to go once I did that.  Then, when fully assembled, I couldn't get the rear wheel to spin.  There wasn't any notation that, again, the rear caliper was firm and tight around the rear disc.  So, after puzzling on this a bit, I thought it could be the same issue that I had on the front.  I loosened the rear caliper 2 clicks.  All went well after that.  But needless to say I was a little confused why my new bike didn't have a spinning rear wheel.  I'm no bike expert.  I think wheels are supposed to spin freely.

Second, and this is probably a small thing, but in the unpackaging I was not aware that the cloth / velcro strip that protects a cable to the very rear of the right pedal is supposed to stay on, presumably, to protect the cable from dirt etc.  Not only did I not know it was intended to stay on, I didn't know there was a velcro strip to secure it.  Ok - I'm a fool.  And there was nothing referencing that particular piece of stuff.  It got destroyed during assembly.  OOPs.  I note, too, that that was the only piece of "packaging" that didn't appear to be styrofoam or other cushioning material.  Yes, I should have left it on, but I didn't know any better and I never saw any pictures that had the protective piece on, so naturally I thought it was superfluous.  So I have asked the nice people at Rad to send me a replacement piece.  But the Product Support function is lame and slow, I doubt I'll ever hear from them on this.  I've described the matter fully for them but the response is basically "I don't know what you are talking about."  I would have thought someone in the company would know how they ship their bikes, but I could be mistaken.

So far it has been a good bike.  Hope to put more miles on it this week.

[sc00ter]

After you purchase another Rad ebike you'll be a pro at assembling them! My 'Runner has some surprises but I got thru it okay. The 'Mini ST had the brakes crazy tight (not as bad as yours!) and when I later removed the rear wheel to install Tannus liners the wheel was insane tight! But you survived the assembly process with all your fingers you passed the test! I pinched mine in the handle hinge but its still attached, so I passed as well! Welcome to Rad ownership!

[pjmeyer4]

To be fair - I did finally hear from the good folks at Rad yesterday and they confirmed the velcro / cloth piece was not mission-critical.  So ... no harm, no foul.  And they said they will take my feedback on the tightened calipers and perhaps incorporate that in future instructions.

It's all good.

I'll say this much for the Rad.  Where I ride, we can have 15+ MPH headwinds during the day.  I set the Rover to Pedal Assist 1 and the wind is not a factor.  THAT makes a huge difference vs. my regular Trek.

[RobtRoma]

Some good tips there.  Thanks for sharing!

I received my RadRover a month after you got yours.  I did not have the same issue with the brakes.  My front wheel slid right on and the brakes worked perfectly out of the box.  I wonder if they listened to you or if it's just random factory variables.

Another hint I'd like to add is the keys were tied to the back of the seat.  I wish they had something printed on a box flap or the seat covering to let us know this.  Below is the story why this mattered to me:

I received my bike on a very windy and cold afternoon while I was at work (a day earlier than UPS said it would arrive).  It was supposed to get below freezing that night so, when I got home from work, all I wanted to do was get the battery off the bike and into the house.  I couldn't find the damn keys. 

I initially looked in the box with the included accessories.  To do that, I needed to clip some zip ties and take the front tire out.  They weren't in there.  The assembly video shows them (very quickly) zip tied to the cables on the front of the bike.  I didn't see them there so I thought maybe I clipped the tie while taking out the front tire or maybe it just loosened and fell to the bottom of the box.  Using a flashlight I looked around the box.  Couldn't see them. 

At this point I decided I needed to take the bike out of the box so I did.  I turned the box upside down and looked on every zip tie I had cut up until then.  No keys.  Since everything was already out of the box, I just decided to put the bike together so I could get it into my storage shed.  It wasn't going back into the box.  I don't have an indoor space to assemble something this large so I did it out in the cold and wind and into the night.  It took me about 2 hours with all the looking for the keys, Googling 'Rad Keys' and looking at the assembly videos... but I got it done. 

It was at that point that I took the foam covering off the seat and saw the keys hanging there.  I had kept the covering on because I flipped the bike over for assembly reasons. I didn't hear any keys jingle when moving the bike so I didn't think to look there.  In the end I was cold and annoyed but also happy that most of the work was done and I could get the battery into the warm house. Oh... and the keys are now safely stashed in the family key box