Questions around RW4 before purchasing.

[Mario]

Hi,

I am heavily considering purchasing a RW4 for the daily hauling of my kids to school in replacement of my car. My two kids are 4 & 9 and my plan is to install a normal Hamax seat on the front, and a deckpad and a deckhand (or alternatives I can find) on the back seat for the 9 year old.

My problem comes down to until when it is comfortable for the 9 year old this setup. I've not seen any recommendation on age group where this setup is recommended or not, a bit of a shame from RadPower since other competing brands such as Tern have some information.

The fact is that the 9 year old will only travel on the bike for short trip, the distance from the after class to the school to pick up his bike, so fo short trips I am trying to figure out if this would be ok.

I assume, that the Caboose is a no go, from a certain age of around 6-7 onwards, right? Again, a bit of a shock that RadPower does not provide accurate information on sizing of the bars and age groups where this has been checked.

Once I clarify the logistics part, I'll have to dig up on the weather stuff, I live in Luxembourg, which can get pretty cold/rainy/snowy in winter.

Thanks for any suggestion!.

Mario

[MN_Drew]

In what way are you worried that it might be uncomfortable for a 9 year old on the back?

If you are worried about the general fit of the back seat, I would think that a 9yo would fit great. My wife very routinely rides on the back of ours. We have a RW4 set up with the running boards and 1 deckpad on the front half of the rack. No deck hand, she just holds onto the handle that's built into the back of the peddaler's seat. We have the back half of the rack set up with a pair of fold-out baskets on each side and a trunk bag on top.

I don't have experience with the caboose, but I think you are probably on the right track. Even if the 9yo fits in the caboose, they probably want to be able to hop on and off on their own without the caboose getting in the way.

We are in Minneapolis (far north-central US - January avg. high/low -5/-13 C). My biggest complaint about the RW4 is that due to the proprietary tire size, there is not a studded tire on the market that fits. The tires are quite wide and have a decent tread. I am very confident on them in both rain and standing water, and they are OK in patchy, wet snow. I do not, however, trust them on the ice and packed glazed snow that makes up much of the road surface during the depths of winter here. This year I am hoping to push it a bit more, but last year, I took a break with the bike from mid January to late February, and quite frankly last year we had a pretty mild start to the winter. My wife and I are thinking about getting a second ebike (probably another Rad), with one of the big motivating factors being having access to a studded tire option.

[Mario]

Hi,

Thanks for your comments, this really helped me move forward and make the decision to purchase RW4 this morning.

I will let you know how this all works out , but I am really enthusiastic on the idea to take my kids on bike every day, not sure about them .

Mario

[MN_Drew]

Good luck! Glad to be able to help!

[ericwn]

Hey Mario,

Has the bike arrived yet? I second that the caboose won't work in your scenario. I have a three year old in a Yepp seat and have to lift him in every time.

If you make room at the end of the bike for your 9 year old that should work fine and the boards or pegs will provide a good place to put their feet.

[TheGravelGrinder]

Hi !
We have a Radwagon 4 and we use it for short travels (school, sports...) but sometimes for more long rides too (~15km) on paths. We live in Britanny (Fr).
We have 4 deckpads and pegs and 2 deckhands.
My 8 and 12 years sons are very happy to travel with this bike and they never complained about confort (even if they find that a little thicker deckpad would be better)
Enjoy !