Radcity 5 Plus - DOA out of the Box (No support to be found)

[chrisgray]

Recently purchased a RadCity 5 Plus e-bike and the unit was DOA upon assembly.  Unable to get support for the unit and concerned that I made a mistake purchasing from the company.  Hearing from other forum members that the company may be in trouble.  My impression of the product is that the hardware seems reasonably well made, but the Electronics (controller and motors) may be poor quality and not properly QA'd from factory.  Very disappointed at this point with the experience and the fact that I now have to spend time advocating from myself to get support and spend more time and money on repairing a bike that was purchased new.  At this point I would caution people on purchasing a Rad Power Bike.  My adventure has not gone well so far.

[lagerloef]

They seem disorganized and this may be the reason for their financial issues. Certain departments are the darlings while others like customer support are now being neglected. This points to lack of direction and focus at the top. May not be a solvable problem. I like the bike I bought for my wife and some aspects of the purchase and the product were/are great but others are rookie. Hope they straighten out. They have employees depending on their jobs and customers depending on their bikes.

[suspci]

Return it and get something better

[MCT]

Do not buy from this company!  They are currently unable to support all the problems they are having with the bikes.  I too purchased a Rad City 5 and it was DOA.  No support is available.  Support lines are closed, text lines are closed.  This is a sure sign that they are in trouble.

[Adams]

Sorry to hear about your issues. 

Former Rad employee on Reddit had a good suggestion.  Said contacting CEO through LinkedIn or commenting on social media about the problem are pretty reliable ways of getting a quicker response. 

[tomkal]

I purchased a RadCity 5 last year and it was also DOA. Was able to connect with tech support (on the Weekend) and we determined that it was the controller. They placed the order and it took a couple of frustrating months to arrive. I installed the new controller and the bike has been a pleasure to ride ever since. To my Suprise a few weeks later another controller showed up so I now (hopefully) have a spare...

• The current working controller is manufactured in China.
  Original controller and spare are from Vietnam.

My suggestion is to enjoy the bike while waiting for the replacement controller...(builds muscles and eases stress...)

[Mr.Bill]

I?m super-glad this forum exists!  I too recently bought a Radcity 5 Plus and although it initially worked, it would randomly stop working.

We have a Rad Bike retail outlet about 40 minutes away, so after a dozen unsuccessful attempts to connect with their central support staff, I loaded up the bike and drove it to where I bought it a week ago.  I was there for about an hour and in that time had 1-1 conversations with two different service guys.  What I learned is that [1] this is a known issue with a specific component set; [2] it?s an EMI (electro-magnetic interference) problem between the brake sensor and the throttle on the right side; [3] the throttle should work if you disconnect the right brake cable.  The problem with #3 here is that the right brake is the back brake and you can send yourself over the handlebars if you lock up the front brake with the left one.  The good news, though, is that if this is the issue, you could limp yourself home.

On another thread from a couple of years ago here I saw that someone was saying that if you ?pump? the right brake (or the left brake, according to their post) once or twice, releasing it quickly rather than gradually, that resolved the issue.  I haven?t had the opportunity to try it yet, but Speaking as an engineer that knows a bit about EMI, that makes sense to me!

[suspci]

I'm on my second dead controller. Initially Rad support said the replacement controller was not under warranty, it's less than 6 months old. I reported them to the BBB and within 48 hrs I got an email confirming they would cover replacement if it was proven to be at fault

[oldtexasdog]

I just got my City 5 plus 5 days ago and on day 2 it died of #21. Been trying to get hold of Rad and just now found this site and I guess it explains why. So I may have a rolling brick? There is a factory auth bike shop maybe 60 miles from me and I guess I will give them a call. Whish I had found this site a couple of weeks ago before I bought it.

[cssshb]

I thought I'd add my misery to the thread ? I purchased two RadCity 5+ Step-Thru bikes. They delivered quickly and set up on June 9. I had Velofix assemble the bikes. They seemed to be working normally as he tested them.

On June 10, one worked as expected, and one is stuck in an Error 21.

I have done all the troubleshooting.

The Velofix technician says it needs a new controller and "good luck getting a hold of Rad".

The Velofix tech clearly knew something was to be expected with the bikes and he said several times to keep all the packaging for the bikes. He knew we'd have trouble.

Since Rad's customer service has now vanished, I have put in a request to return the bike. I am now thinking I'll contact my credit card company to open a dispute and get my money back on the dead bike.

This is so disappointing.