[HN Gopher] RadTrike Electric Tricycle ___________________________________________________________________ RadTrike Electric Tricycle Author : mconbere Score : 42 points Date : 2022-12-06 19:40 UTC (3 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.radpowerbikes.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.radpowerbikes.com) | cialowicz wrote: | I recently learned about The Villages, FL, which is a sprawling | retirement community, and was the fastest growing metro area in | the US over the past decade [0]. This feels like the perfect bike | for an aging demographic living in that sort of community. This | sort of e-bike will be less intimidating to use for older people, | and ultimately it feels like a good move for the company. It's | hard to argue with getting more people outdoors and active on | bicycles. | | [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12/us/the-villages-census- | fl... | blamazon wrote: | Smaller than The Villages, is Peachtree City outside of | Atlanta, which is notable for making off-street micromobility | pathways a priority in city planning: (relative to the rest of | the suburban US) | | https://www.peachtree-city.org/DocumentCenter/View/17110/Pat... | | (If the map looks a little weird, it's because there's a | zillion unofficial paths to connect the dots) | | They've rallied around golf carts historically but it's a great | place to bike. I use an E-bike and see a lot of recumbent | bicycles using the pathways. | throwayyy479087 wrote: | I truly hate these things because I can JUST BARELY convince | myself not to buy one. EBikes are so much fun, and in this format | are so practical.... | | Maybe i'll wait for the second gen | beau_g wrote: | This is the perfect combination we've been waiting for: safety of | a 1980s Honda 3 wheeler ATC, design language of a Rascal Scooter | smileysteve wrote: | I'm looking for a tricycle that has a differential for the rear | wheels. | tgorgolione wrote: | I tried to learn how to drive a 200cc gas scooter so I could save | money versus buying a new car, with disastrous effect (broke my | leg and arm). So now, what I really want is something in tricycle | form, but at a $3k price point. Maybe an electric trike that can | go on a town road lane (maybe with a top speed of 40-50mph), and | has a roof attachment to protect the driver from rain, etc. | Getting the exercise from pedaling would be an added benefit. | throwaway1777 wrote: | At some point the line between electric car and bike gets very | blurry. | CharlesW wrote: | The pre-order price of the e-bike is $2,500. Which electric car | makes that line blurry? | austinbeer wrote: | https://www.wired.com/story/review-wuling-hongguang-mini-ev/ | https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Hot-Sale-2022-New- | Che... | | Like $2-$8k electric car / golf cart-sih cars are already | happening! | cwoolfe wrote: | Whoa! +1 for https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Hot- | Sale-2022-New-Che... Is that legal to drive on US roads?! | sbierwagen wrote: | Depends on the state and municipality. Check your local | laws regarding golf carts. | rmahan wrote: | Definitely not. Electrek bought a LEV (Light Electric | Vehicle) truck like this and it wasn't. They're unsafe | for roads due to lack of many safety features | bityard wrote: | We need AgingWheels to buy one of these | sbierwagen wrote: | https://jalopnik.com/the-worlds-cheapest-ev-is-genuinely- | goo... | | Basically a fully enclosed golf cart, lead acid batteries and | all. Was $1,200 a year ago. | | Can it go on the highway? No. Is it crashworthy? No. But | neither is an ebike, and this at least keeps the rain off | you. | undersuit wrote: | Just like the line between an ICE car and a bike with a two- | stroke strapped on. | gorgoiler wrote: | My 2021 radrunner plus has some serious defects. The charging | port is prone to weather corrosion. Charging is a risky action | that may or may not blow some very sensitive fuses. The | mechanical disc brakes suck and are very hard to balance. The | discs were supplied warped. I pretty much had to suck that up | because of the misery of returning a faulty machine to an online | bike company. The seat is a notorious bum numbing pain. The | shifters are plastic crap. It rusts. | | Fixing a rear puncture was a slow but pleasing experience that | seems to be one thing where they've optimised for: maintenance. | | I'm resigned to it hitting the scrap heap after 3000km. It's only | a matter of time. It's such a shame that at their price points | these devices are basically disposable. Spend 2x the money on | something not bought online and you'll probably enjoy 5x the | lifetime. | | Thanks for trying though, Rad. I get your passion. It just didn't | work out but maybe you'll level out into something cool soon. | Maybe this trike is it? Heavier, clunkier, even more fixable, and | with more bulletproof electronics on the drivetrain and you could | win out against the clones, especially if you had a fully fleshed | out service partnership in the EU. | simfree wrote: | Replacing the discs on each wheel is straightforward, and the | warping your noticing might be due to pressure from the | mounting screws that tie it to the rim of the bike. | | Have you tried loosening these, applying the brakes fully, and | tightening the screws hand tight to center the brake disc and | let it relax to flat? | | I think the future is dual hub motors with Regen braking. | Having tried this on a brakeless bike and a modified scooter, | the performance is very good. | germinalphrase wrote: | Brakeless bike? Are you able to emergency stop? | insane_dreamer wrote: | I commuted daily to work on a RadCity bike pre-covid (wfh since | then) and my experience with it was excellent. | dohdhdaa wrote: | 3000km seems ridiculous as the lifetime for a bicycle, and to | make it worse an e-bike will be e-waste. That would mean it was | trash in a year for my commute alone, and this is in NYC where | commutes are pretty short. That doesn't even account for | recreational riding. | | That being said a puncture is just a normal bicycle problem. | Does Rad offer tubeless compatible components? I'm guessing | e-bikers may be less "normal bicycle maintenance" oriented than | your average road/gravel/mountain bike owner and tubeless would | nearly eliminate punctures. | darzu wrote: | Just to add a different anecdote: I have a 2021 radrunner I use | daily in Seattle (hilly & rainy), love it, and I have non of | these complaints. I have 4 friends with Rads who love them as | well. | | I don't doubt any of your experiences, but I mention this so | readers can get more perspectives. | | Perhaps one significant difference between us is that Rad has a | showroom / repair shop in Seattle, although I haven't needed | them for anything other than easier parts pickup (fenders and | break pads.) | jeffbee wrote: | I usually recommend electric bikes from actual bike companies, | like Specialized, because there won't be any weird surprises, | you won't have to assemble it yourself, and it will last | forever. But everyone I know, other than myself, has gone with | a newer electric-only company like Rad or VanMoof. I assume | price is the reason. | mongol wrote: | But bikes are not rocket science. They can be advanced and | high tech, but they can also just be ordinary, well built | bikes if using good parts. If the parts are good then the | bike is good, the brand matters less for a bike than say for | a car. | jeffbee wrote: | Well, I just think a real bike company probably has real | bike engineers on the staff already and maybe real | engineering experience and resources like FEA models and so | forth. These new companies make a lot of mistakes, like | Yuba with their forks sheering off, and like Rad with their | custom, not-available-anywhere tire size. I feel that with | a big brand you're going to get a no-surprises bike. | justinator wrote: | I think what you're going to get from a big brand is a | support system for when things go south (ie: a warranty). | It used to be that bike shops stocked a few brands of | bikes and those brands had a relationship with the shop | to provide customer service and a bridge between customer | and brand. Less so now after Covid, but it's still a | thing. | | Bikes are one of those things that are sort of figured | out how to make (tho eBikes, less so). You can go to a | trade show in east Asia, spec out exactly what you want a | run of bikes to be, and they'll do all the hard work for | you, and ship you a container full of "your" bikes. Many | brands use the same bike manufacturer/factory. Shop for | some of them on bikesdirect.com. Many of the "brand" | names are just stickers - the companies may have existed | as something decades ago, but now live as a name only. | | Even a more established brand will send over the cad | files of the frame to be built (usually the only really | distinguishing thing in most bikes), then spec out the | rest of the parts to be put on it. A few visits to the | factory from a brand rep/engineer to get details right | (welds, layups), then start pumping out orders. | darzu wrote: | I've a friend with an electric Specialized, and while his | bike looks cooler my Rad is faster, half the price, with much | better millage, and I can still hang it from the wall in my | apt. | | One thing I've noticed is that pretty much every established | bike company is placing the motor on the pedal crank, whereas | Rad uses a much bigger (750w in my case) in-wheel hub motor. | The acceleration with a hub motor is so much better and | doesn't depend on what gear I'm in. | enragedcacti wrote: | mid-drives are usually a higher-end option for more serious | recreational riding where predictability and responsiveness | is more important than raw acceleration or long range. | Basically the goal of the mid-drive is to make you feel | like you are riding an analog bike but as a much more fit | rider. Sending the power from the bottom bracket helps to | keep you and the motor in sync, balances the weight | distribution, keep unsprung/rotating weight low, etc. and | the small battery keeps the bike light and maneuverable. | | > The acceleration with a hub motor is so much better and | doesn't depend on what gear I'm in. | | I have a 750 watt radbike and I always find this a little | bit bothersome in that I end up in situations where I feel | like I'm being dragged forward when I don't want to be | because my cadence got just a little bit too fast and the | motor starts dumping power. I end up treating the pedal | assist as another set of gearing to manage so it doesn't | start giving me too much power when I am pedalling in a low | gear. Higher end hub drives and pretty much all mid-drives | solve this by using a torque sensor so the motor responds | to the wattage you are putting down rather than the | cadence. | jeffbee wrote: | What do you mean about hanging on the wall? One of the | things you are getting for your $5k from Specialized is | light weight. They have ebikes down to 34 pounds, about | half what a radrunner weighs. | darzu wrote: | Yes, the Specialized is much lighter. I mention still | being able to hang the bike because that's the situation | where I notice the extra weight the most. If I couldn't, | it would have been a deal breaker for me. | dylan604 wrote: | I really like my RadWagon 4, but several weeks ago, I received | a recall notice with their recommendation to stop using the | bike until replacements/repairs have been made. I'm really | happy they will be making the repairs for me, but since they | parts won't even be ready until Feb/Mar 2023 it does me no good | since the eBike is my primary mode of transportation. | | I know eBikes popularity went to the moon during the pandemic, | the global shortages, yadda yadda, but my overall experience | from RadPowerBikes customer satisfaction isn't the highest. | | As of now, my recalled parts have not failed, and I continue | using it, but it's not a good look. I know they have to make | those kind of "don't use until repaired" for liability reasons, | but man it's frustrating. | googlryas wrote: | Yup, same. I bought my radwagon 4 in august, and then in | early september was told I should not ride it. And maybe they | will be ready to fix it in Feb/Mar, or maybe it will be | later. If it was just me, I would risk it, but I bought it to | ferry my kids on so I'm not going to do that. So we got to | ride it for 4 weeks, and have had it sitting in our garage | for the past 13 weeks, and it will probably be another 13 | weeks until it is fixed again if we are lucky. And basically | all we get is the bike fixed to the state it should have been | in upon delivery, not any kind of compensation for them | giving us an unsafe bike and not being able to ride it for 6+ | months. | | I would not recommend this brand. I guess they decided to do | a lot of custom components which is why they have like a 6 | month lead time to ship out new non-defective tires (or | whatever). | | You'll find a lot of love for it online, and I think it is | genuine, but I suspect the love for the brand is because it | is bought by biking neophytes and makes biking accessible to | people who don't want to put a lot of effort into it(nothing | wrong with that). So it opens up a lot of possibilities for | getting outside and getting fresh air without needing strong | thighs or aerobic fitness or getting sweaty, and people | associate that with their radwagon, not just generally with | an ebike. But there is nothing particularly different about | this brand compared to other ebike brands. A lot of ebikes | look and function exactly the same as the radwagon, and | haven't been part of a longstanding recall. | qwertox wrote: | Hazard: The rim strip on the tires can be misaligned, | causing the tube to pop and damage the tire. Additionally, | the tires with a ribbed sidewall can unexpectedly go flat, | risking serious injuries from loss of control and/or crash. | | This is something a beginner can repair. This is normal | stuff for those who ride bikes and don't go to a shop for | little repairs. Replacing a tube (and fixing it with a | small vulcanizing kit) is biking 101, and there they're not | even expecting you to repair that. Just check how to | replace the tube of a wheel in a youtube video and while at | it, check if your strip needs alignment. Tyres often go | flat but you normally feel that something is off because it | feels "smeary". | | The warning is just for those who are not the slightest bit | technically inclined and don't feel like doing any of this. | To avoid lawsuits. | | I bet in the Netherlands any 10 year old kid could check if | your wagon is affected and if it is, align the strip. | stevehawk wrote: | This seems like a horrible idea. Three wheelers were outlawed for | a reason, motorcycle trikes/sidecars aren't super stable either. | I'm surprised someone would opt for this instead of a two wheels | up front design. | pnathan wrote: | Yes, that's an interesting choice. I remember when trikes were | pulled in the late 80s- very risky. Two wheels up front made a | return in the last decade. | | I'm going to be following this. I think a Trike will be | enormously popular because of the stability, but it has to be | _stable_. Rad tends to design for low cost... I hope this wasn | 't a terrible choice..... | paulpauper wrote: | The big advantage of a bike is it's faster and can be used for | sidewalks and roads easier. A trike is too wide and heavy. You | cannot use it for commuting | dylan604 wrote: | I doubt this trike is any wider than some of the big ass baby | strollers out and about | UncleOxidant wrote: | My dad is 82. He can't ride a 2 wheel bike anymore as he's a | bit shaky, but he can ride a trike. | kasey_junk wrote: | Very few jurisdictions in the US allow you to ride bikes on | sidewalks as an adult. | sf4lifer wrote: | Why hasn't anyone slapped on a gyroscope and just made an | electric bike self balancing? | dylan604 wrote: | Are you just too embarrassed to use training wheels? | stingrae wrote: | https://weel.bike/ It's complicated and expensive for something | that most people don't want. | topkai22 wrote: | In this case, it looks like the 3rd wheel also substantially | increases payload capacity- 415 lbs versus 350 on a radwagon, | plus a slightly better cargo set up and substantially better | load, unload experience. | kennywinker wrote: | Exactly! Easier to get on/off. Easier to load up with cargo. | Stopped a light? No need to put a foot down. Super accessible | for people with reduced mobility, yes, but also super useful | for people getting around the city and moving stuff with | them. | | Canada Post is currently testing electric cargo trikes for | delivery in my city. They're beefier than this, but the same | idea. I live near the postal depo, and I love seeing them zip | around - feels like the future. | [deleted] | Gys wrote: | https://www.designboom.com/technology/self-driving-bicycle-h... | dmix wrote: | That's amazing, I never thought of self-driving ebikes. This | has to be the future in urban cities right? Especially in | Asia... | | Assuming LIDAR eventually becomes cheap enough or cameras | become sufficient for the job. | kennywinker wrote: | In order for it to self-balance, it'd need full control of the | front wheel position. Source: I can almost do a track stand. | FpUser wrote: | Would be fun on sharp turns. | flatiron wrote: | I'm unsure why nobody releases a compact electric 4 seater car | with a 60 mile range for running the kids to school and grabbing | some random groceries. Basically a beefed up golf cart. That's | all I need to drop my kids off at school each day which is 95% of | my weekday driving. | justinator wrote: | Plenty of Moms moving around town with a few kiddos in the back | of their long trail eBikes. They seem to fit two rugrats on | those things. | bagels wrote: | Nissan leaf? BMW i3? | zemvpferreira wrote: | Because people won't buy it. This is just like the "smaller | iPhone" conversation. Even in Europe compacts are disappearing | because everyone would rather buy 100% more car for 50% more | money. | | It's that simple. | | EDIT: that said we now have the Dacia Spring which is | approximately what you're asking for. Even that is on the | chopping block two years after being introduced and selling | like hotcakes. | stillbourne wrote: | I've got a recumbent bike that I added electric to. I had to redo | the setup though because I initially built it with a hub motor | which made hill climbing still be a bit of a bitch so I rebuilt | it with a middrive motor. | UI_at_80x24 wrote: | I ride a LongBikes SlipStream and have been considering getting | a mid-drive myself. Are you on a LWB or a SWB bike? Any | tips/suggestions? | | As a nice bonus, the wheelbase of my bike gives me a TONNE of | space under the frame and within the frame for battery packs. | So it's a whole project that I'm going to get started on after | I move. | newaccount2021 wrote: | loufe wrote: | If anyone here is from RadPower, please fix the Canadian site | redirect. It's SO frustrating having sites recommend we use their | Canadian version, only to get redirected to the Canadian home | page or be told that that product doesn't exist (yet in Canada, I | presume). | mgrthrow wrote: | Electric bikes are an order of magnitude more efficient than cars | and several times more efficient than bikes. (Measured as | calories/electrical power). | | People who ride electric bikes still get the benefits of exercise | (elevated heart rate, muscle use) though obviously less than | regular biking. | | I ride mine year round in Seattle, it's incredible. I deliver | cargo, go grocery shopping, visit the library. This should be the | default mode. | dohdhdaa wrote: | I am a decently experienced NYC cyclist. Not Terry Barentsen or | anything, but pretty decent at biking both in fitness terms and | in practical urban NYC riding. | | The biggest problem with e-bikers, and general e-thing riders, as | a population, is that they haven't built the bike skills | equivalent to the speed that they can go at. I can ride 20mph if | I want to, but it took a long time for me to be able to do that. | I had to ride a lot. In doing so, I got a lot of practice. | | E-bikes allow you to do that with basically no practice. The | resulting behavior is not good. They ride erratically. They ride | with AirPods. They salmon. They salmon at night with no lights. | They salmon on roads that aren't even one way! They shoal at | every intersection. | | So this thing will make them double wide as they salmon... I | don't want to be opposed to e-bikes but the practical effects on | cycling, for those of us that were already doing it, since the | pandemic explosion, haven't been great. | UncleOxidant wrote: | What does 'salmon' mean here? The first time I read it above, I | thought you meant 'slalom' but then you repeated 'salmon' | several times so it seems deliberate. | BoorishBears wrote: | Go the wrong way up a one way street. Dangerous because | people are generally not expecting things to come from the | wrong way. | | (Technically going on the wrong side of the road is also | salmoning, but in NYC it was almost always wrong way on a | one-way | bityard wrote: | I want to know what it means to "shoal" on a bike. There are | just too many marine references here. | fudged71 wrote: | Boomers popularized the e-bike and now they're getting one | designed for their needs | kennywinker wrote: | Can you imagine how many fewer car crash injuries/fatalities | we'll have if boomers turn to these kinds of vehicles as they | age instead of driving long past their ability to do it safely? | Your reaction time to safely drive one of these can be so much | slower, and the damage you do when you mess up is going to be | much much smaller. I really hope this catches on. | CharlesW wrote: | Seems great! E-trikes are also more accessible for those with | special needs, and are great for hauling stuff. | dang wrote: | No generational flamewar on HN, please. | | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html | jeffbee wrote: | What? Ebike owners by age: 18-29: 46%; 30-44: 38%; 45-64: 14%; | 65+: 3%. Boomers are 58-76 years old. | https://business.yougov.com/content/44110-tracing-demographi... | endisneigh wrote: | Trikes are dangerous at high speed. Anyone seriously considering | this should understand how to properly turn with this style of | trike. I'm surprised they didn't do the inverted triangle style. | | I understand the market for not DIY, but someone considering this | should also consider buying a Schwinn Meridian and a conversion | kit (front wheel hub) and saving $1500. | | Speaking of which, it would be interesting to see someone bend | some copper to use as a frame and use some plexiglass to create a | roof to keep rain off you. | bityard wrote: | Some years ago, I followed a YouTuber who did exactly this and | it turned out he had no end of reliability issues with the | bearings, wheels, and frame because it turns out pedal-powered | trikes just aren't built for the significantly higher speeds | and weight of a motor-powered trike, especially when used for | multi-mile trips as a daily commuter. | | Range was not great either, due to the extra weight of the | wooden box he made to hold everything but the rest probably | applies to many lower-end two-wheeled bikes too. | | I suspect this is the reason that most higher-end electric | bikes more closely resemble electric motorcycles than bikes, in | terms of wheel size and frame build. | bryanlarsen wrote: | This is in response to the troll who you can see with showdead. | | The average electric bike owner gets more exercise than the | average cyclist or the average driver: | | https://electrek.co/2019/08/11/electric-bike-riders-more-exe... | | In retrospect it's not that surprising since the average cyclist | doesn't use their bike... | scythe wrote: | I wonder if you could call this an example of Jevons' Paradox. | Ebikes get you more distance per calorie, so you spend more | calories, because more destinations are within reach. | | (Refresher: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_Paradox ) | mattwest wrote: | Yea but you don't become a cyclist until you start pedaling. | TaylorAlexander wrote: | I have always been a cyclist. Heck I even competed in the Sea | Otter Classic mountain bike race when I was 15, where I got | to ride my bike on Laguna Seca racetrack, which I think is | neat. I am a cyclist even when I am not on my bike. | | In recent years I haven't been riding much. A couple months | ago I put an electric motor on my bike, and now I am riding | it all the time. And I am still a cyclist! | beebmam wrote: | My best friend was just hit by a car on a 40mph road and had | to be hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury and seizures | that he's still not recovered from (and maybe never will). | | I'm not cycling again in my city until we start protecting | cyclists here. The roads where I live are absurdly unsafe for | cyclists to be on. It's a fucking joke to put a bike lane | without a physical divider a few inches next to cars on a | 40mph road. | bluGill wrote: | I'll bet your city has a bike advocacy group. Find them and | get involved. Even if it just write letters, they need | people to put pressure on to get things to happen. They | also need people to vote against someone who doesn't help | their goals. | labrador wrote: | Ageist comments always make me laugh. I'm old and let me tell | you it's a horror movie to have your body slowly decay and stop | working with no hope of repair. If they only knew the shock of | a doctor telling you that it's "not worth repairing that" in | reference to some important body part, such as a knee or hip. I | wished electric bikes fixed this but no, they only make the | inevitable easier to take. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-12-06 23:00 UTC)