a glance thru the site shows most of what is there appears relevant...but they have a section about chinese wages and hubmotor factories, which is irrelevant to the rest of the page, or else conflicts with talking about other ebikes being better, since most of their motors are also built in the same places. similarly the part about their ebikes being restickered chinese bikes; the same is true of enough other "brands" that i don't see the relevance.
while i've never owned one, i don't recall any particular problems on the radbikes i've worked with for cvin while helping her customize them and whatnot. other than that radbikes had no way to change any settings in the controllers, even though they have a programming plug, and instead she had to get a whole new controller, display, and wiring harness (because connectors were different on the new controller). don't remember which radbike that was, was a few years ago; newer ones might be reprogrammable these days.
the only issue i myself had with the company (indeed my only direct contact) is documented here:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=97849
regarding high torque...none of the rad bikes i've encoutnered have anything near what i would call high torque. they're pretty much average geared hubmotors for their power levels. wouldn't say that has anything to do with safety...and if it does, it doesnt' have anything to do with the bike seller or manufacturer, that is up to the rider to learn how to use and react to.
same thing with rider skill--that's entirely up to the rider to learn. has nothing to do with the bike they're riding.
so if their lack of skill or their inability to deal with what is a moderate-power system at best is going to change your mind on which bike to buy.... then i'm confused.
something to remember about almost any positive or negative review of something is that only a very very tiny percentage (probably less than a thousandth) of those with relevant experiences ever say a word about them good or bad. almost everyone with an experience holds it to themselves, especially if it's a good one--so it's hard to judge how good or bad anywhere is based on taht sort of thing. but at least a collection of potential problems lets anyone checking a place or item out see what *could* go wrong, as they may not even have thought of those things before.
as far as safety of ebiking as transportation goes...that is much more up to the end user--the actual places ridden and riding style and speeds and whatnot have a lot more to do with safety than what is being ridden.
it's always possible to get bad parts or problematic frames or whatever, from anyone--been enough recalls from major "trusted" brands of regular bicycles for pretty severe safety problems (forks that break off, etc) over the decades.
cheaper...is usually cheaper. more expensive doesn't necessarly mean better quality.... so part of that is buyer beware, and check sites like the one this thread is about, and sites like es which have plenty of reviews and posts about all sorts of systems and problems, and decide for themselves what will meet their needs, budget, conditions, etc.
formula101 said:
A pretty thorough critique of radpowerbikes. Apparently lots of customers are receiving shoddy product and are injuring themselves ("rad tattoos") likely because of the combination of high torque and low rider skill. It's making me rethink my decision to buy a lower cost hub motor e-bike.
Are we that far away from e-bikes being a safe, reliable form of transportation?
https://badpowerbikes.com
