Bikes
IF YOU’RE CONSIDERING the Rad Power Bikes Rad-
Wagon against traditional e-cargo options from
Tern, Yuba, Xtracycle, Riese & Müller, and others,
ask yourself whether you’d rather have a little more
torque and refinement or $3,000. That’s the price
differential between the RadWagon and its direct
e-cargo competitors. After a couple months of riding
the big, bright-orange thing, I can report that I’d buy
one and keep my $3,000.
Despite its high value, the RadWagon is a fully
loaded e-cargo bike. Its long, trestle-shaped frame
features a spacious rear cargo deck and accompanying
skids, giving you room to carry massive panniers, a
child seat, or a trusting adult passenger. (Clear plastic
rear-wheel covers prevent kids’ dangling feet fromentering the spokes, a thoughtful touch.)
Front and rear lights, wired to the battery,
ensure that you’re always visible on the
road, and full fenders, a kickstand, and a
bell come standard, too.
But the most impressive part about the
RadWagon is how smoothly the power-
assist works. The hub-drive system is quiet
and ably pushes you along. The drivetrain
shifts easily; the hub motor is isolated from
the transmission, so you don’t experience
the choppy, high-torque gear changes found
on mid-drive e-cargo bikes. And once you
turn the cranks a few times to get the bike
going, you can use the twist-grip throttle to
keep it moving. With an adjustable comfort
handlebar and a balanced ride (impressive,
considering the bike weighs 73 pounds), the
RadWagon doesn’t require expert handling
skills to maneuver. And if you want to
cheat, you can hack the wheel size on the
handlebar-mounted control unit and the
750-watt Shengyi direct-drive hub motor
will propel you up to 24 mph, higher than
the stock 20 mph limit.
Not all cost-saving measures go unno-
ticed. The jumps between cogs of the
seven-speed cassette are vast compared
to higher-end 10-speed drivetrains, which
makes power delivery harder to control,
especially on a cadence-sensing system
(as compared to torque-based sensors
on mid-drive systems). You find more
exposed cables: Rather than being inte-
grated into the battery, the entire motor
controller is out in the open. And the
frame comes in only one size; at 6-foot-2,
I maxed out the seatpost, which doesn’t
bode well for taller riders.
But the RadWagon is a utilitarian bike,
and I barely cared about most of these
complaints while using it on a daily basis.
For the purpose of loading up the panniers
(and racks, if you mount them) and riding
from point to point, the RadWagon is no
less capable than any other ($4,000 to
$6,800) e-cargo bike I’ve ridden.—D.R.RAD POWER BIKES RADWAGON
PRICE: $1,499 / WEIGHT: 73 LB (CLAIMED)
Watt Meter
Most e-bike displays tell you the basics:
speed, assist mode, and battery level. The
RadWagon’s shows the motor’s assist in real
time, so you know exactly how much assist
you’re getting—low watts means longer
battery life, ideal for squeezing out the last
bits of juice for the ride home.ISSUE 1 | 2020 • BICYCLING.COM 91