Just ordered a Rad Rover e-bike which gets great reviews and looks like a ton O fun. Will do a short review once I get to try it out. E bikes in general are becoming very popular for easy to see reasons. My Trek bicycle cost more than this thing, so if it’s all it appears to be and the rave reviews true, it’s a bargain I’d say.
I have seen these. I think that this has a lot of benefit of utilization in many utility and recreational roles.
I had seen a company like Rad still on Kickstarter years back, but the concept was epic.
Then one of my favorite youtubers got an electric bike, as sponsership of course, and the thing just looks epic to cruise offroad with, and even smoother just motorcycling your way around town.
As you said, there’s a lot of potential benefits to these dedicated e bikes, from allowing people with shot knees to enjoy biking again, to short commutes where you don’t wanna be sweaty when you arrive, to off road stuff (gotta try it on the beach!), to recreational stuff one used to kneed a dirt bike for, etc. Im not an early adopter of tech/beta tester type as rule, and watched Sonders from it’s first launch. Have now spoken to people with many miles on their Sonders and or Rad, and all report being very happy with them and no major issues of note. The Rad is a tad more $, but looks like a lot more bike, so I went that route.
There’s a comparable bike that’s been around Sportsman’s Warehouse locally. I think it is marketed as a back country person mover capable of carrying some gear. I ride a Surly fatbike which can be fitted with racks, panniers, etc, and it can be loaded with a weekend’s worth of camping gear no problem. I know people are attaching electric motors to them. A local guy started a custom e bike company that seems to be gaining some traction. An e bike would be a cool city scooter for commuting that can serve double duty off road for trail cycling. Much better IMO than the noisy gas powered hipster movers that pollute the air.
There is a few out west that are using them for hunting, helps to cover a lot of ground and is able to carry some gear. Neat idea if you have a lot of miles to cover when scouting and super quiet.
Especially once you got that Elk Quartered and need to haul off some sets of meat. So long as it has a good range, and can carry well, more power to them.
Thanks for your response, Will. I cringed when I realized I used the “e-word” twice though.
I am way to much of a millennial for my own comfort.
Sounds like this will make a lot of sense for you, plus be just plain ol’ fun getting back onto a bike
I’ve been thinking about getting an electric skate board … my balance is still great, but too much wear & tear on my hips make walking distances uncomfortable/pain
Wow, I really like the sleekness of that one. Really trims down the board and makes it look like something that would actually fit the description of a normal-ish skateboard.
Really enjoy the layout of the controls and the extra accessories options like headlights, spare wheels, extra decks, etc.
Certainly interesting, thanks for sharing, will have to check these out more.
When I realized it just stands for electric bike it didn’t bother me. When it’s used as a catch phrase for everything to sell to millennials by putting an “e” in front of it, I want to strangle kittens.
Like everything a trade off. As a quick around town thing that’s easy to transport and store, probably works well, but would let you down for much of anything else I’m told.
The video was interesting when they started riding. He says 20 a few times. Is that 20mph? That guy seems to be flying for the type of ruts on the road. It looks like a blast though. I could definitely see some serious wipe outs in the sand with the way the front tire was pushing. David
They are limited to top speed of 20, so that’s probably what he means yes. By all accounts, they are a lot of fun and competent on a variety of surfaces. I thought it was interesting they had to deflate the tires a bit to really get the sand traction they wanted.
There’s a huge debate raging in the MTB community right now about whether these should be allowed on traditional MTB trails or treated as motorized vehicles and relegated to orv parks and similarly designated areas.
Not surprising, but this seems pretty silly. These bikes are similar in size and speed to more traditional bicycles. Why on earth would anyone want to make them ride on motorcycle trails? Can you imagine rounding a corner in 4th gear on a CRF450 and finding one of these 20MPH bicycles right in front of you? I don’t see a logical debate here.
Will, Thanks for posting this. I’ve been interested in these for a while, but I don’t know anyone with any experience with them. Looking forward to hearing your impressions.
Absolutely. Those guys at MTB are having a hissy fit over E-bikes, both on the trails and in general. It kind of reminds me of the whole skiers vs snowboarders that raged for so long. The self-righteousness just oozes out of that debate. I am totally ambivalent to the whole problem that those folks are shrieking about. I just finished up a nice 12 mile afternoon at our MTB rec area and ran into a couple of E-bikers on the lower trails as I was heading for the parking lot. Nice people. I think the things are kind of intriguing, but mountain and road biking is my primary fitness outlet so I won’t be getting one anytime soon.
BTW on the fitness aspect I may have invented, peddle on zero assist and a low gear hard as possible for 30 seconds, then on full assist for 1 min and repeat for 10 cycles. Could be an excellent HIIT session I’m thinking and plan to try it.