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The Rad Mini is a sturdy fat tire folding ebike from Rad Power Bikes.

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That's a fairly unique combination. This bike is popular among people who don't

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have a lot of space to store a bike. It can fit in a boat, an RV, or just a

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normal size car. And the fat tires and geared hub motor mean you can take it on

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rough and steep terrain. So, I like to think of it as an adventurer's bike.

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Let's check it out.

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be quiet!'s Silent Wings 3 uses a smooth running six-pole motor to remain silent

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and cool your PC better. Check them out at the link below. The Rad Mini arrives

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in a small bike box. Interestingly, not already folded, and it requires a bit of

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assembly. You have to put on the front wheel, the handlebars, pedals, and the

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optional front rack. I had a bit of trouble with it, but if you attach these

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two arms first, you'll be fine. Now that it's assembled, let's try folding it.

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Each of the folding joints features several points of redundancy to prevent

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the bike from accidentally folding mid ride. So, if this lever is loosened,

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you'll be fine. If the whole assembly rotates away, you're still fine. You

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have to pull this whole contraption up before the bike will be able to fold in

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half. And it's the same story with the handlebars. to fold. This plastic holder

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needs to be rotated. This handle needs to be pulled down, and the spring-loaded

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part needs to be moved. Now that it's folded, you might notice that the gears

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are exposed. This guard around the derailure prevents them from being

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damaged in transit. But it should be noted that there's nothing to prevent

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the bike from scratching its own paint. So, I juryrigged a solution out of some

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old bicycle tubes. Handy things, by the way. I keep them in my car next to the

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duct tape and WD40. At 60 lb, the bike

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is heavier than most folding ebikes, but that contributes to its sturdy feel, and

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I was able to carry it comfortably, especially when compared to the 75lb Rad

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Wagon. The rear rack can even be extended, but if your bike bags aren't

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very rigid, they'll rub up against the back wheel, unless you bought the

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optional fenders. And I like how it looks, but I found no real use for the

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front rack. It's a weird hybrid between a rack and a basket. with the front

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open, I guess, to accommodate larger items, but I also would have gotten rid

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of these extra railings on the sides so I could carry a more diverse range of

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objects. It's also worth noting that it kind of prevents you from parking inside

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most bike racks. Well, time to start it up. The

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key needs to stay inserted for the bike to run. I wish this wasn't the case

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since they ended up hitting my foot while I'm riding. Separating the bike

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key from the rest of my keys solves this problem, but it makes it easy to forget

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the key in the ignition, which would allow someone to steal the expensive

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battery. Now, let's talk about the riding experience. The bike has only one

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derailure with seven speeds. That's usually fine, but I wish the highest

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gear was a little higher. There's a back lit LCD display, which shows everything

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you could ever want, except for estimated remaining range. The wimpy

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front light runs off the main battery and the backlight uses double's. There's

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no suspension on the Rad Mini. Combined with the smaller diameter tires, bumps

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will feel harder than usual. The fat tires definitely soak up all the little

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bumps, but not the big ones. On the subject of soaking, you can take the Rad

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Mini out in the rain as long as you don't stay out for too long. But my Rad

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Mini did not come with fenders. Pretty surprising since the company is located

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in Seattle where it rains all winter long. I folded my bike bags over the top

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of the rack to keep the water off my back, but the bike has still gotten

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absolutely filthy. Apparently, there were no pre-existing fenders available

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for a 20-in fat tire bicycle. So, Rad Power Bikes had to specially design and

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manufacture them. As of December 2016, the fenders have finally become

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available, and they're great. They work just as fenders should. But at 159 USD,

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they're definitely priced like custom parts. Yikes. The Rad Mini has a 556Wh

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battery and a powerful 750W planetary

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geared hub motor, but because of the geared motor, the Rad Mini does not have

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regenerative braking. Though, it makes up for this with better acceleration

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than the Rad Wagon up to its governor limited top speed of 20 mph. However, it

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takes almost a second for the motor to engage after you twist the throttle. The

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bike has a throttle and five modes of pedal assist based on the cadence

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sensor, but the pedal assist is absolutely awful, or at least it was out

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of the box. Basically, the problem was

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that they added speed limits on top of the usual watt limits for all of the

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five pedal assist modes. This resulted

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in most of the load being taken by either the rider or the motor instead of

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being equally distributed. After I and

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some other users sent Rad Power Bikes some feedback, they reworked their

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firmware for the motor controller and sent me a new one in the mail. It was a

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pain in the ass to install, but now the motor controller works just the way it

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should, and that's great. But what's not great is that my first motor controller

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on the Rad Wagon was also buggy and

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needed to be replaced. So, it's become a pattern for me. And looking through

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online forums, I'm not the only one. This is something I feel Rad Power Bikes

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could address with more stringent pre-release testing and quality control.

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But let's not dwell on that. What can you expect from the Rad Mini with the

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updated motor controller that they're shipping now? good things. It turns out

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due to its superior acceleration and possibly even higher top speed when

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pedaling, the Rad Mini was able to beat all the other electric vehicles in my

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office to Costco benchmark. As for range, the website claims 20 to 40 m and

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the furthest I've ever gotten was 30. Which leads us to price. At 1,500 USD,

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there is quite a lot of competition from other folding ebikes, such as the Enzo

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or the Volt Bike, which both come with fenders included, by the way. But

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despite that and any negative things that I've said about the Rad Mini, I

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still really like it. And because of its superior acceleration and top speed,

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more upright sitting position, wider tires, and reduced size and weight, for

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most of my adventures, I prefer the Rad Mini over the Rad Wagon. And the

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foldability means you can take it pretty much anywhere. Just make sure to bring a

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tarp so you don't get your buddy's Lamborghini dirty.

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Yeah, Ting is the mobile carrier that is

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focused on customer service and satisfaction first. You can call them

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and speak directly to a real living person. And with Ting, you only pay for

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what you use. The average TING bill is only $23 per month per device. If you're

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currently stuck in a contract, you can switch to TING and they will cover 25%

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of your cancellation fee up to $75. Head

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over to Linus.ing.com ting.com today and try out their savings calculator to find

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out what you could save. Thanks for watching, guys. Give it

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a like or a dislike. Get subscribed and get bled as well cuz that's a new thing

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you can do. I'm not sure what it is. Uh check out our link to Amazon to buy

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stuff. We've also got a merch store where you can buy a t-shirt. You can't

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buy this jacket. Uh check out the Rad

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Wagon video. I talked about that in this

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video. So, if you haven't seen that, you're going to be kind of confused. So,

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goodbye.