Electric bike that FOLDS?
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,437 words · ~7 min read
0:00
The Rad Mini is a sturdy fat tire folding ebike from Rad Power Bikes.
0:05
That's a fairly unique combination. This bike is popular among people who don't
0:09
have a lot of space to store a bike. It can fit in a boat, an RV, or just a
0:13
normal size car. And the fat tires and geared hub motor mean you can take it on
0:18
rough and steep terrain. So, I like to think of it as an adventurer's bike.
0:23
Let's check it out.
0:34
be quiet!'s Silent Wings 3 uses a smooth running six-pole motor to remain silent
0:39
and cool your PC better. Check them out at the link below. The Rad Mini arrives
0:44
in a small bike box. Interestingly, not already folded, and it requires a bit of
0:49
assembly. You have to put on the front wheel, the handlebars, pedals, and the
0:53
optional front rack. I had a bit of trouble with it, but if you attach these
0:57
two arms first, you'll be fine. Now that it's assembled, let's try folding it.
1:02
Each of the folding joints features several points of redundancy to prevent
1:06
the bike from accidentally folding mid ride. So, if this lever is loosened,
1:11
you'll be fine. If the whole assembly rotates away, you're still fine. You
1:15
have to pull this whole contraption up before the bike will be able to fold in
1:19
half. And it's the same story with the handlebars. to fold. This plastic holder
1:24
needs to be rotated. This handle needs to be pulled down, and the spring-loaded
1:27
part needs to be moved. Now that it's folded, you might notice that the gears
1:32
are exposed. This guard around the derailure prevents them from being
1:35
damaged in transit. But it should be noted that there's nothing to prevent
1:39
the bike from scratching its own paint. So, I juryrigged a solution out of some
1:44
old bicycle tubes. Handy things, by the way. I keep them in my car next to the
1:48
duct tape and WD40. At 60 lb, the bike
1:51
is heavier than most folding ebikes, but that contributes to its sturdy feel, and
1:56
I was able to carry it comfortably, especially when compared to the 75lb Rad
2:00
Wagon. The rear rack can even be extended, but if your bike bags aren't
2:04
very rigid, they'll rub up against the back wheel, unless you bought the
2:08
optional fenders. And I like how it looks, but I found no real use for the
2:13
front rack. It's a weird hybrid between a rack and a basket. with the front
2:18
open, I guess, to accommodate larger items, but I also would have gotten rid
2:23
of these extra railings on the sides so I could carry a more diverse range of
2:27
objects. It's also worth noting that it kind of prevents you from parking inside
2:31
most bike racks. Well, time to start it up. The
2:36
key needs to stay inserted for the bike to run. I wish this wasn't the case
2:40
since they ended up hitting my foot while I'm riding. Separating the bike
2:44
key from the rest of my keys solves this problem, but it makes it easy to forget
2:48
the key in the ignition, which would allow someone to steal the expensive
2:52
battery. Now, let's talk about the riding experience. The bike has only one
2:57
derailure with seven speeds. That's usually fine, but I wish the highest
3:01
gear was a little higher. There's a back lit LCD display, which shows everything
3:05
you could ever want, except for estimated remaining range. The wimpy
3:09
front light runs off the main battery and the backlight uses double's. There's
3:14
no suspension on the Rad Mini. Combined with the smaller diameter tires, bumps
3:18
will feel harder than usual. The fat tires definitely soak up all the little
3:23
bumps, but not the big ones. On the subject of soaking, you can take the Rad
3:28
Mini out in the rain as long as you don't stay out for too long. But my Rad
3:32
Mini did not come with fenders. Pretty surprising since the company is located
3:37
in Seattle where it rains all winter long. I folded my bike bags over the top
3:42
of the rack to keep the water off my back, but the bike has still gotten
3:46
absolutely filthy. Apparently, there were no pre-existing fenders available
3:51
for a 20-in fat tire bicycle. So, Rad Power Bikes had to specially design and
3:56
manufacture them. As of December 2016, the fenders have finally become
4:00
available, and they're great. They work just as fenders should. But at 159 USD,
4:06
they're definitely priced like custom parts. Yikes. The Rad Mini has a 556Wh
4:12
battery and a powerful 750W planetary
4:16
geared hub motor, but because of the geared motor, the Rad Mini does not have
4:21
regenerative braking. Though, it makes up for this with better acceleration
4:24
than the Rad Wagon up to its governor limited top speed of 20 mph. However, it
4:30
takes almost a second for the motor to engage after you twist the throttle. The
4:35
bike has a throttle and five modes of pedal assist based on the cadence
4:39
sensor, but the pedal assist is absolutely awful, or at least it was out
4:44
of the box. Basically, the problem was
4:47
that they added speed limits on top of the usual watt limits for all of the
4:53
five pedal assist modes. This resulted
4:56
in most of the load being taken by either the rider or the motor instead of
5:01
being equally distributed. After I and
5:04
some other users sent Rad Power Bikes some feedback, they reworked their
5:09
firmware for the motor controller and sent me a new one in the mail. It was a
5:13
pain in the ass to install, but now the motor controller works just the way it
5:17
should, and that's great. But what's not great is that my first motor controller
5:22
on the Rad Wagon was also buggy and
5:25
needed to be replaced. So, it's become a pattern for me. And looking through
5:30
online forums, I'm not the only one. This is something I feel Rad Power Bikes
5:35
could address with more stringent pre-release testing and quality control.
5:39
But let's not dwell on that. What can you expect from the Rad Mini with the
5:44
updated motor controller that they're shipping now? good things. It turns out
5:48
due to its superior acceleration and possibly even higher top speed when
5:53
pedaling, the Rad Mini was able to beat all the other electric vehicles in my
5:57
office to Costco benchmark. As for range, the website claims 20 to 40 m and
6:03
the furthest I've ever gotten was 30. Which leads us to price. At 1,500 USD,
6:09
there is quite a lot of competition from other folding ebikes, such as the Enzo
6:14
or the Volt Bike, which both come with fenders included, by the way. But
6:18
despite that and any negative things that I've said about the Rad Mini, I
6:23
still really like it. And because of its superior acceleration and top speed,
6:28
more upright sitting position, wider tires, and reduced size and weight, for
6:33
most of my adventures, I prefer the Rad Mini over the Rad Wagon. And the
6:38
foldability means you can take it pretty much anywhere. Just make sure to bring a
6:43
tarp so you don't get your buddy's Lamborghini dirty.
6:49
Yeah, Ting is the mobile carrier that is
6:53
focused on customer service and satisfaction first. You can call them
6:57
and speak directly to a real living person. And with Ting, you only pay for
7:01
what you use. The average TING bill is only $23 per month per device. If you're
7:06
currently stuck in a contract, you can switch to TING and they will cover 25%
7:10
of your cancellation fee up to $75. Head
7:13
over to Linus.ing.com ting.com today and try out their savings calculator to find
7:17
out what you could save. Thanks for watching, guys. Give it
7:21
a like or a dislike. Get subscribed and get bled as well cuz that's a new thing
7:27
you can do. I'm not sure what it is. Uh check out our link to Amazon to buy
7:33
stuff. We've also got a merch store where you can buy a t-shirt. You can't
7:37
buy this jacket. Uh check out the Rad
7:40
Wagon video. I talked about that in this
7:44
video. So, if you haven't seen that, you're going to be kind of confused. So,
7:47
goodbye.