oh okay I don’t have to shout ha ha
welcome back to our channel
it’s an incredibly windy day
but we’re trying to shoot this video
we’ve been trying to shoot this video for months
everybody’s been asking us about this bicycle
and why we have it.
why we like it, what we don’t like about it so
this is sort of our review of the Rad Power Red Wagon 4
we’ve had this for more than a year now
we’ve got a lot to say
we’ve put 1500 kilometers on it
and we’ve used it probably not in the way you plan on using it
I’ll give you an idea of what we like about this bike
and whether you should maybe consider it
if you don’t know us
we travel full time at the moment
with our motorhome around Europe
and we decided that a bicycle like this
could change the way we explore things
we were considering looking at the option of getting a scooter
but we decided to go for a cargo bike instead
primarily because it can fit on an ordinary bicycle rack
behind the motorhome
and we didn’t need a specialized scooter rack
so this review is not just for people motor homing around Europe
this is also for people considering buying the Rad Wagon
now since we bought our Rad Wagon
a whole bunch of different options became available around Europe
at the time I think the Rad Wagon was very competitively priced
but that’s also something we’ll touch on and why it’s so well priced
we’re going to start off by telling you
why we decided to get this bike particularly
we’re going to talk about the pros the cons of this bike
we’re going to tell you all the accessories that we’ve added
what we think are possible or necessary upgrades
we’re going to talk about how practical it is for two people
as opposed to a person and cargo which is what it’s really made for
we’re going to talk about the battery life
and then end off with a few general aspects
and whether we’re happy with the bike or not
Welcome to our Channel
we’re Andre and Lisa
over the last 20 years
we have travelled together to more than 40 countries
5 years ago we embarked on a long-term sabbatical
and have been nomadic ever since
for most of the past 2 years
we have been exploring Western Europe with our motorhome
this year we plan to make our way through Eastern Europe
towards Denmark for summer
we’ll be heading south for winter and just maybe make it to Morocco
so hit that subscribe button and join our adventure
guys before we start this review
let me just tell you this is the EU spec version of the Rad Wagon
if you’re in North America you get a slightly different specification
I think we’re limited to 250 watt motors
and there’s also no throttle full throttle control so keep that in mind
secondly we’re not sponsored by Rad Wagon
we’re not paid to make this video
we will put a referral code in the description below
which will give you a discount if you do decide to buy
any Rad Power bikes
purely our opinion and not a recommendation per se
now the other thing I want to mention is that
there’s a legal gray area
on whether you’re allowed to transport 2 adults on a single bicycle
the bicycle needs to be designed to carry more than one adult
obviously tandems are designed
but what is a “bakfiets” or cargo bike or tricycle
those are designed to carry cargo
a lot of these long tail cargo bikes
are primarily used for hauling goods and children
the reason why I’m mentioning is keep in mind that
you may or may not find yourself in a place
where someone’s going to ask
I don’t think you’re legally allowed to cycle with two people
it’s a bit of a bizarre concept because it’s not like
we’re going faster it’s not like we’re doing anything different
it’s not like you’re balancing precariously on the handlebars
but just check the regulations in the country
that you plan on using the bike
so the reason we ended up deciding on this bike
like I said a bicycle ended up being more practical than a scooter
considering that we are traveling full-time by motorhome
I wish we could have both
in fact I wish I could say can we press a button
and it turns it into a scooter then into a bicycle
oh that would be amazing
but we can’t alas
and we’ll tell you why
we looked at considerations of a scooter motorized scooter
which meant that we would have to have a special bike rack
built in a scooter rack on the motorhome
we also considered very much more portable electric scooters
the standing riding ones like that
but those you also can’t go as far necessarily
and aren’t as comfortable and you can’t transport goods on
this sort of ticked all the boxes
we can ride on bicycle paths
it’s light enough to put on a bicycle rack
we can both ride on it
and considering that I am no good on two wheels by myself
it makes it a lot easier and more relaxing
for Andre to be able to pedal and I can just sit at the back
navigate, film, take photos and enjoy the ride
keeping in mind that you might use this bicycle
very differently than we are
we use it to explore areas that we don’t want to use public transport
or don’t want to go on foot we can cover distance quite quickly
it makes it a lot of convenient to park the van at a campsite
or out in a city you have one bicycle you have to look after
you don’t have to have two people
independently navigating busy streets
it just simplifies getting from A to B faster
it is also a good way to be able to be parked in one place
and use the bike to go and do grocery shopping for instance
you can even go and fetch some water to fill up the van
things like that carry heavy cargo on the bike
let’s talk about build quality
now when we looked around more than a year ago
these bicycles were selling for about 1 800 euros
and we figured it offered fantastic value
now price has gone up and there are a few other options
sort of in the 2000 Euro price range
what we liked about it is the build quality seems pretty good
in that price class now you have to understand
there are some limitations when it comes to that price point
and you have to account for that with this bicycle
I think structurally the bicycle is very very well made
it’s got a solid solid frame
aluminum structure with fantastic weld points
what I liked about it because I’m quite tall
is it’s got a double seat post that goes quite high
so it’s very well adjustable
and also the handlebars are fully adjustable rearwards and forwards
so it can suit almost any body position which I really like
now out of the box it comes with a fairly decent seat
this is not the standard seat this is an aftermarket seat
we’ll come to that
the standard seat’s got a nice little handle at the back
unfortunately this bicycle’s got no suspension
so it can be quite hard
that’s something you have to keep in mind
furthermore it has a centre stand
which makes loading very convenient
but this is not a standard configuration
on the back it has boards for load space
and you have the option of adding runner boards each side
you have the option of adding a caboose for carrying kids
obviously different seat configurations
we’ll get you that in a moment
it comes with standard rear lights, front lights all ready to go
it’s got a little throttle
that’s limited to IÂ think seven kilometers an hour
and then obviously it’s got the pedal assist options as well
where we think they may have taken some shortcuts
and this is understandable
although it has disc brakes it comes with mechanical calipers
which in my opinion is not enough
to stop a 200 kilogram contraption going down a steep hill
so we have opted to change our
mechanical calipers to hydraulic calipers
I’ll show you that in a minute
Rad Power bike has unfortunately run through a lot of trouble
over the last year with the tyres they chose
to put onto these specific models
as there was a massive recall internationally
due to some failures that were rather catastrophic
we were part of the recall
but we opted to go our own route
our rear wheel exploded spectacularly
and because these bikes are so heavy
if the rear wheel is flat
there’s no way you can even push it it just doesn’t roll
and secondly I was just grateful we weren’t going very fast
when it happened we were almost at a complete standstill
I can just imagine if you’re going at high speed what would happen
Rad Wagon has started rolling out new tyres
the sad part is that the rim size is proprietary
so you can’t go into any bicycle shop and buy tyres
that will fit this specific rim
we chose to not look at that as a restriction
and we actually fitted lightweight moped tyres or scooter tyres
and that was actually quite an easy fix and
personally I think it’s a massive upgrade to the bicycle
it makes it a lot more stable
gives you a better grip
and I feel a lot more safe and secure knowing that there’s a solid tyre
which is not going to fail in the worst possible place
now it does have some downsides
unfortunately the tyre itself is a little bit heavier
it helps if you increase your pressure on the tyre a little bit
but you might see that there’s slight deterioration your range
the front is still running the original Rad tyres
but this one’s still looking good
these are hydraulic cable actuated hydraulic calipers for the brakes
it makes quite a big difference to stopping power
you can buy a pair of these for around 40 to 50 dollars
I would say from Amazon and it’s money well spent
continuing on the changes that we’ve made to the standard bike
initially we just got a gel seat cover for the seat
but we then later upgraded to this very fancy squicky seat
which has made a big difference with a little bit more suspension
the original proprietary seat actually has a very nice handle
over here for pillion
but instead I’ve got these little grips which I can hold on to
which work very well
originally we had just put one of the cheap little seats at the back
over here also made for children
but that was not comfortable enough and didn’t last
so we paid for a motorcycle pillion seat
which works very very well
um what is this darling?
this is added suspension but this is twofold
It’s both for the added suspension
and also just to raise the seat ever so slightly
because what you’ll notice is if I get on
and I put my foot pegs down
it’s all about the knee it’s all about the angle of the knee
now if you’ve got very long legs
I can imagine that this would be much more of a problem
for myself who’s very short
this makes it so much more comfortable
to have a good knee position
we also had small children foot pegs on initially
which we’ve upgraded to the Rad Wagon foot pegs
and I can say that this is a huge improvement
they just flick out of the way and they’re very very comfortable
they give a nice little grip section here and they’re very light
we also just added these little baskets which we just strapped on with cable ties
to be able to put goodies phone camera things like that
as we travel
and then from a rider’s perspective
we added a rearview mirror in fact we’ve got two of these
I would love to put another one but I can’t find
a space to actually accommodate another mirror
and we’ve got a little tank bag over here so that
if Andre is alone he can also navigate
one other thing we added was a bicycle alarm
yes which is quite nice
so we can arm it uh
this gives you a little bit more security
one thing we’re still working on is extra security for battery
it is a bit of a concern but I think we’re just gonna
Casey Neistat it and make it really ugly
For my size person I find it very comfortable as a pillion to be able
to sit here to be able to hold on with one hand
and still film and look past the rider to be able
to get a point of view
yeah I’ll show you what it looks like if I’m
on the bicycle as well in a minute
if you’ve got kids you can probably keep it on the center stand I’ll get on and then Lisa will hop on
it’s very nice and easy to just swing your leg around the back and get on
as you can see Lisa’s view is a little bit obstructed but
the giant rider
I have offered she can do the cycling and I’ll sit in the back very happily
or she can turn around.. at the end of this video Lisa
is going to sit backwards we’re going to film ourselves riding around
another few practicalities of this bicycle being for two people
is that its maximum payload is 158 kilograms
as well as the rear rack capacity is only designed for 54 kilograms
so we are absolutely just within those limits
my recommendation is that unless you comfortably
fall within that 150 ish range together
don’t consider this as an option for two people
you have to understand that there’s a massive cost to your range
if you use the the battery for assistance
and to be perfectly honest this is stock standard EU spec bike
it doesn’t like hills
as a rider you have to gear down all the way
slow going on really steep ones we have to get off
I have to get off
some people are concerned that this bike is a little bit unwieldy
maybe a little bit heavy now the bicycle weighs about 30 kilograms
the wheelbase is quite long I don’t find it uncomfortable at all
it’s got this little spring here which is called the defloppelater or something like that to help you don’t get tank slappy type activities
but I think once you’re used to the assist function
it’s a very comfortable bike to ride
and actually feels very planted and solid
but I’m just using a throttle to show you how tightly you can turn
yeah it’s actually quite comfortable
to really really really go tight
yep okay let’s talk about range now when we got
the bicycle it was all a bit of an experiment
because we’re using it differently we’re always
almost always fully loaded the terrain is a bit
of an uncertainty the stock batteries are like 48
volts and what is it 672 amp Watt hours now depending
on your weight how much assist you use will
give you a range anything from 30 kilometers
to 130 kilometers the very first time we went on a
long distance was entirely at sea level mostly on
flat bicycle routes pavement and we made it more
than 65 kilometers with the two of us on a single
battery now this was on the original tires so we
didn’t yet have an idea of how the new tire would
impact us since then we’ve changed the tires and
we’ve pushed it on rocky terrain on dirt roads
and at one point we got less than 30 kilometers
we don’t bargain on going anywhere further than 40
kilometers per battery but what we have done is
I don’t know if you want to bring that camera closer
so as you can see the standard battery sits
here but I’ve opted to cut this connection
and fit xt90 connectors on here and the whole purpose
of that was to take a second battery with us
now this is just a second battery same voltage
that I got of Amazon the idea is that I can
take an extra battery now the extra battery does
weigh a few more kilograms but uh I just screw
the bracket onto this pipe and then using the
xt90 connectors I just switched to the second
battery once the first one is depleted
so we pretty much built a double decker battery bank to give us
effectively double the range
now the battery weighs a couple of kilograms so just keeps that in mind
we haven’t really pushed the limit
we did do a trip once around the island of Fehmarn in the north of Germany
with both these batteries
and I want to say that day
we probably easy that 80 kilometers at
high assist levels because it was a very windy  dayt
and it was a long day of cycling
okay let’s wrap this up
some of the pro’s for us is that especialy at the
price point that we got it we think
it’s excellent value for money yes it’s
not the best e-bike or best cargo bike but
for us it works really well we were quite
happy to spend a little bit extra on doing
some upgrades on it
I think you got to see this as sort of a good base to start with
you should probably expect to make some changes
improve it eventually maybe upgrade your
controller
I would love a mid-drive motor but I think this is a brilliant bicycle out
of the box off the shelf
it gets delivered to your door and it’s a really really good way to
get started with a cargo bike
and for us with a camper it’s a
very good way to be able to get around together and
not have to worry about me being on my own bicycle
not have to worry about the complications of a
scooter being able to explore using cycle lanes
exactly and also it’s it’s relatively light
I mean I can pick it up quite easily so it’s
easy for me to load it on the back of a standard
Fiamma bicycle rack and take it down easy to keep
covered easy to lock now in terms of locking what we’ve
opted to do for security was to get two
of these Kryptonite locks now they not cheap and
we’ve also opted to put a motorcycle ground anchor
on the back of our motorhome so we can lock this
bicycle to it
the truth is the odds that is going to get stolen is probably higher
when you’re out and about
this bike has got some limitations
you know you got limited range you got limited carrying capacity
we can’t go fast and quickly go do things
inclines, hilly terrain it’s all a bit of a price for us
it strikes sort of this sweet spot that I think works for
80 percent of our requirements
it’s really fun cycling around on it or
in my case just being cycled around on it
you get some interesting looks from people in certain countries
other countries nobody blinks an eye
I would say that the biggest cons for this bike are really the brakes and the tires
and the suspension what you can do is if you have a heavy duty tire
you can run it slightly lower pressure and it’ll give you a bit more comfortable ride
however that affects your range once again
cons it doesn’t fit inside the van which would be nice
because of its lengths it’s two meters long so it
has to go outside
so even if we had a big enough garage for it to go into it wouldn’t fit
so that’s a bit of a downside to me
considering that there was an issue with these tires
in the time that we had our bike RAD did give us very good customer support
from our perspective we had a pretty fairly positive experience
I know not everybody which I’ve had contact with
had the same experience
we were also proactive we decided to change the tire
regardless of what the outcome was at the time
we showed you a little bit about it now we’ve got plenty of videos
where we use this bike I’ll link below maybe
the trip we did in Fehmarn where you can see where
we use the double battery
we did a nice trip in Ghent
uh yeah there’s not a lot of footage there but
they we did a trip in Mon Island in Denmark where
we did some aerial footage we cycled in Sagres all
the way to the point in Portugal there’s also some
drone footage of that and we also did a long cycle
all the way to Malaga on the Spanish Coast so
there’s there’s a couple of nice videos you can go
watch so if you liked to perhaps follow us along
the rest of our journey making our way to Denmark
and then western Europe making our way all the
way to Morocco consider clicking that subscribe
button and if you enjoyed this video don’t forget
to give it a thumbs up
and we’ll will see you guys on the road
happy cycling happy cycling
are you ready we’re gonna pick up speed!
this was okay but backwards is totally
different oh this is quite comfy
