The Rise and Fall... and Rise Again of Rad Power Bikes 

It seems like the right price point but the wrong bike. Significantly underspeced for where the market is today. If you compare the 7 speeds of Lectric XPress and RadKick. XPress is using a 48v system and a 10.4ah battery compared to the 36v 10ah of the Kick. The wh difference is 499wh on the XPress compared to 360wh on the RadKick. The XPress at $999 has a torque sensor where the Radkick does not at $1199. The XPress has class 3 top speed and 960w peak compared to the 500w peak of RadKick with class 2 performance. So in total it costs 20% more, 28% less battery, 45% less power, and doesn't include a torque sensor. It's good to see them trying to be competitive but this may be the single worst value in the industry when looking at what you get between $1k-$2k. Also their service has been atrocious so hopefully that improves, reddit still plagued with people complaining about their service.

You didn't mention that Mike Radenbaugh has stepped down as CEO and has taken the position of Chairman of the Board. It appears he is intent on improving his e-bike lineup with high caliber designs and components. The five RADs I purchased have always shown excellent reliability and they sold at reasonable pricing. Typically when you buy a RAD you keep on riding it for a long, long time. I'm still riding my first RADRover purchased in 2017 because servicing them is so easy.

I’m glad RAD EBikes are coming back. It’s always a sad day when you see these or any company struggle. Especially when they make great products that help people. I’m definitely looking forward to the review on their new EBike when you get the opportunity to review one. Thanks!

You made a point about the trike for the elderly on a fixed income. I’m leaning towards the Lectric version because of the price. RAD’s trike is way over priced and you don’t even get any baskets like what Lectric offers. Wake up RAD.

eBike products did a video on rad the other day. Basically they have gone from 200,000 bikes a year to now about 40,000. Even after 5 rounds of layoffs they still have about 400 people. Thats about 4x the employees of Aventon or Lectric with a third of the volume of either of them. I think its a high probability they go out of business in the near term.

I try to keep up with what’s going on in the e-bike world! I’m 61 & had the combo pack from RadPower… the Rover 6 & cargo bike! Loved the Rover! Bike commuted for 7 years (with a hub replacement)! I just wish the price would come down to actually be affordable! Thanks for your content! I’ve been watching you over 5 years now! The Bikes For Good program is awesome! Thanks again, man!

That bird in the background lol

It called too big for their britches and almost every single company in the US suffers from the same disease. As profits become more and more important to companies wishing to become stock listed, the only people who usually win are the shareholders and the board and eventually the company will disappear because they price themselves out of the market. I’m kinda waiting for Lectric to raise their prices and take themselves out of the cheap ebike market.

They were so close on the design of the bike. The belt drive is great, the size, step through and cargo capacity. Then they decided to go 15 years back in time and stick a 36v motor on it with one of the smallest batteries you can get these days. Even a still small 500wh battery and a 48v motor would have made this maybe 100$ more and made it an incredible bike. But instead they absolutely blew it

I bought a REI CO-OP Gen 2 bike on sale for $980 a year ago! Great starter bike. I have put over 1,095 miles on it. Whew whew Oh and I turn 64 the end of this month and am up to 65 miles (and counting) a week!

My husband and I are new to your channel. You have been enjoying it. We love how you involve your family in your videos. Your Dad is a keeper!

I love my Rad Rover 5....but rather than buy a "newer" model I found a low-mile, barely-ridden RR5 on FB Marketplace....identical to my bike. For $600 I got a mint condition Fat Tire e-bike along with a completely interchangeable battery. It lets me double my range or have second bike to ride with friends and fam.....perfect .

I work on a bunch of different brands at our community bike shop. I own two Radmissions. They could be more powerful, but other than that, they've been perfect at doing what they do. They zip you around town quickly and effortlessly. Their parts are decent quality. They stay screwed together. They're better built and better engineered than 90% of the bikes out there. Not worth arguing about a couple hundred dollars when you get what you want, and it works day after day.

please rad, develop a mid drive with cheap 3 speed nexus igh. There is such a gap in the market on mid drives with IGH. i feel like they were close with the radkick and belt drive, but honestly a chain + mid drive + nexus 3spd igh in the same radkick frame style (maybe step over and non step over) would sell well if priced well, plus they could probably implement in all the other model revisions. hub drives are great, but just so unfriendly for maintenance, repairs plus any ebike witg derailleur needs more maintenance.

Not everybody can be a high end ebike manufacturer. Most of the market is low to mid tier and that's where Rad should stay and excel at in my opinion.

Excellent video. My mother and I love watching your content. Keep up the good work.

I live in Germany, when i start to work at University in 2003, the salary was 2000 Euro per month (Netto). Now in 2024, after 21 years, my salary increased to 4000 Euro. But ebike cost 2000-2500 Euro. This is superexpensive! I prefer to pay 700-1000 Euro for a good quality bike with good (500 Watt) battery

My brother has been a dedicated Rad user. He has eight of them, and my nephew has three. When I visit my brother, I ride his Rads, but they always compare poorly with what I am used to riding at home. They just seem a little low on power and range if you are used to having good acceleration and hill climbing power. Oddly, they lack having anything available with "Rad Power." This new bike with a 36v 360wh battery and 20mph top speed for $1199 just doesn't seem like the game changer that Rad needs.

I WALK 20 MILES BACK & FORTH TO WORK & I STAY IN THE LOUISIANA HEAT WHERE TEMPERATURES ARE REGULARLY IN THE UPPER 90'S - LOWER 100'S RIGHT NOW. I COULD REALLY USE A RELIABLE EBIKE.

Sounds like it's going to be a great, affordable option. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Micah, I just started watching your videos about 3 months ago and I'm still catching up. Thanks for all that you do in sharing your expertise and also your efforts toward the work of saving the planet. Peace!

I bought a runner in europe, but now they've pulled out of the market 🤷. I do love it, but its not without some flaws, (comfort mainly) I had a controller fail, but rad customer service was excellent for me and sent me out a new one after helping me diagnose the issue. I have also spent a little money upgrading it, especially the brakes. I really do think rad should be selling them with hydraulic brakes as the cable ones are very poor for a heavy bike. But so far ive had 2/3 years use and still going strong so happy.

Love your battery book!❤

Great video. I would love to read one of your books.

I definitely agree with you. It seemed that Rad tried too much to be Volvo when they should have stuck to being Volkswagen and priced themselves out of the market they helped build. I'm hoping that the Kick is the first step in the right direction.

idk ever since rad stop using regenerative breaking motors and internal batteries. new lectric one is looking like a better commuter imo.

You are great at breaking the info down. Keep it up.

Rad had some big investors and I think they overspent too early and then focused on profit, raising prices, instead of market share. They allowed a lot of newer startups to gobble up market share and then we're forced to scale back. That's the opposite of what Lectric did, they went full budget bike and I see their bikes everywhere now. You can sell a few high priced Porches, or a ton of Hondas, but Rad got squeezed in the middle.

Ty😊😊😊😊😊

As always, appreciate every video you share, regardless of the topic. They're all interesting, informative, and entertaining!😉😎 I do have one question, though. If one enters the e-bikes for good drawing, do we have to re-enter each time a video is shared or do the entries move forward and give us that random chance each time? Appreciate the clarification, Micah @EbikeSchool !

Love my Radmission, was a great entry into the Ebike world for me.

Love the videos and indepth commentary. Keep it up!

Love your content Mr. Toll

12:02 I applied for an ebike from Detroit. My names Andrew C. I thought for like 1/2 a second I won. :(

All Ebikes are 250w in Europe and that is more than enough. So I think 500w would be amazing really

Good initiative thanks for the content

Very OT: What happened to Sondors ?

Thanks for the info.

I like my RAD Mission, it's decent for what I like to do at the 1,099 I got it for before it went discontinued, which is just casual paved trail rides. 500W motor is plenty for that. I did have to get a better seat though, the included one was terrible. Probably won't buy another RAD though. I just don't like their marketing (perpetually "on sale" emails every couple days) and the value seems to have gone down compared to the next few popular brands. My mother just got the new Aventon Pace. I like it more than my RAD and the free extra battery promo was nice too. If only it had a belt drive, would rather have that than an extra battery.

Most e-bike companies have terrible customer service and product support. Poor customer service limits their ability to move beyond budget bikes.

I drove by there, Santa Barbara location today and I wish I had the time to visit. I see many people in the Monterey area riding their bikes.

Wishing ebikes forgood was in Canada. My spouse could use one to keep up with the family

Which countries are eligible for the ebikes for good givaway? I'm in Canada, where roads are long and cities are very far from eachother. My girlfriend is a 2.5 hour drive away, and my battery and motor bit the dust after a bad crash last year.

Do they make a cruiser type bike, like the 24" BMX cruisers. Single speed, but with a battery assist. It might be pretty cool to take on the trails

Just bought my first electric car, a Chevy Spark EV and I love that little ride! Ebikes are outta my budget right now but I think I need one.

i m from Morroco and i like your videos

Retitle: The rise, the fall and the demise of Rad Power Bikes.

I own a RadCity 4 plus for the past 4 years great bike and has become my daily driver due to my mid drive ebike needing a new motor controller and I'm waiting till I move to get that fixed and my RadCity 4 has taken a beating and has held up. From what I've been reading is that their integrated battery isn't user friendly if you blow a fuse on the old batteries you could just put in a new no problem now you have to send it to them if it's under warranty if not you have to take the whole thing apart and hope it's not soldered to the board.

Nice hair Micah!

Thanks for sharing your valuable thoughts, looking for your opinion on recumbent trikes and maybe pulling a trailer. Thanks for another great video, looking to your next video.

Hey, the website isn't working for me but need to get something for my dad to ride around, he is turning 68 soon and he doesn't have a car to drive around so the electric trike or bike would workout for him❤

I spent 14 years in the care of the dept of justice due to my involment in a strictly marijuana shipping company. Having lost everything I owned I am now trying to live the best life I can regardless of my 67 years on earth and low income position in society. Thx for the informative videos.e

36V 10Ah bike is supposed to turn the company around? I don't think so. This looks bad for RAD if they think this is going to turn it around.

I'd say build your own, get some marine batteries, an inverter, electric motors are everywhere now

Hey Micah! Any tips on your editing videos? I like your simple recording styles.

If you had to buy a bike in 2024, what would be your best price to product pick?

Can you recommend a Etrike with step thru frame for slightly disabled?

Can you do a review on the wallkee h9 ebike

For the price, too many other ebikes that out perform rad bikes. Many for a lot less money. I equate Rad ebikes as expensive for high end buyers.

Another great video with lots of insight.

Anything you'd like ;)

really liked the video

HI I am only 5ft tall and I don't have a car all the time to go around and I would like a bike to move around the town on a daily basis , and use as a way for be in shape at the same time, what is your recommendations, but I can't afford also very expensive models, I do have up and down hills in my town., thanks

Really like all your videos.

Interesting. I would be interested if it was lighter. Look at Propella they have 2 models that are lighter the 7S V4 XR 7 speed 38lb 48 miles Step Over only $899 and the 9S Pro V2 9 speed 44lb 50 miles step-thru and step-over $1299. None of the Propella bikes have a throttle, which helps with the milage (like all EU bikes). This brand has been around for a long time, but I do not see a lot of reviews on RU-vid.

Have you tried the new XP Lite 2.0 JW Black eBike by Electric? Would like your input if its a good bike

Howdy Brother I might have done something improperly.. But i never received the link to sign in and set my password after purchasing the e course.. Any suggestions Ty

Can we standardize the range expressed for an ebike? If all bikes were tested with a standard rider on level ground on battery-power-only, you can assume any extra range would come from your legs and gears. It seems like the response to range is to express how non-informative and variable it is. Range expressed as 35 miles with a 6-foot 175-pound rider on level ground would be good information that can be extrapolated.

Mate… WHERE IS THE ELECTRIC BOAT 😭

NICE OUTRO!

Take a look at the Bandit X-Trail Pro.

That wrongful death lawsuit in 2022 probably didn't help either. I felt so bad for the parents of the little girl, but how they won with that level of negligence involved is beyond me. I am not necessarily saying I was rooting for RAD, but why would you let a 12 year old double-up on a one-seat power bike without supervision!? All that being said, I love my last year model RAD Expand 5 going from hybrid bicycle to an ebike has changed my life!

Im looking at the Cairn BRAVe 2.0 flatbar gravel bike, would be cool to see you review that one

I wish them luck. It's a good company with good products

Rad bikes have always had a good reputation. This one seems to be in the same category as the Lectric XPress

Its so nice to see the inclusivity by hiring that mockingbird and cicada to translate for all our avian and insect friends

Great bike for a good price👍👍👍

been commenting for years. this time will be the time...lol i cant help it. i really want that book, and im not losing faith one day my comment will be picked... lol. no i am not a bot

I still can’t beat my $398 Hyper 26’ e-tmb plus helmet. It gets me to the donut shop once a week. I’ve had my Hyper for three years with no issues😊. Take care…stay safe.

I just want the Rad Mission high step model back, but with gears. I really dislike the look of these low step frames.

hi! only US citizens can participate in the contest?

enjoy your reviews its nice to see whats out there. what gets on my "gotta" have That list rad ebikes have been behind the others available for awhile - so this version isnt much of a surprise other than it appears to step "back" ? uh?

I prefer a full size frame that allows for more comfortable pedaling…. Rad City but tried the Rad Mini 2 thinking we’d use it’s folding frame - too heavy and crampy riding, so now the Aventon Solera 7 is my ride 👍

Do you think that Radbike trike would give a disabled lady a trike to review?

omg Micah riding the Bruce Jenner line with that hair 🙈🙈🙈🙈 it's comically long now, unless "michelle" bout 2 unveil herself 🙈 wild

Covid checks and PPP loans boosted a lot of companies.

Can you do a review of Kingbull Literider?

I really like e-bikes and e-vehicle but I don't know much about them and am not yet privileged to yes one.

what is that buzzing!!! ouch. Yeah, Rad insight!

So it does cost more money to make bikes that don't catch on fire. Got it.

Cicadas was out that day lol

Great content but maybe slow down your delivery, it’s not a race!

I placed this question on an earlier video. Will you please address the issue of exploding bike batteries? RU-vid generates related videos to watched videos. So when I watch your videos, I always get several exploding ebike videos suggested. I gotta tell you, they're scary. They have made us think twice about using battery operated yard equipment and battery operated equipment in general. We have a wheel chair and now we're abit scared to even charge it. With electric cars and bikes exploding, does it scare you?

I'm not on the same page about how much e-bikes should cost. When you review dozens or eventually hundreds of sub $2000 e-bikes, you lose perspective of what the parts, materials, tooling, labor costs to actually build sustainable, long lasting, interchangble component bikes should cost. This is like walking through Walmart, and normalizing their pricing as what things actually should cost. Much of the race to the bottom of unsustainable consumerism came from offshoring and building all goods to China, which shifted the excessive emissions and resource acquisition responsibility to that country. In the bike world, Taiwan is that center of the manufacturing universe. Lectric and Rad dumped their inexpensive bikes on the market, and it worked for them to build their brand. But was it sustainable? Probably not. It's still a race to the bottom. If e-bikes were made of bamboo and were expertly recycled, you could say there is no problem with lower quality non-standardized parts that won't last the test of time. If that were so, you could argue that low income folks need these cheap e-bikes, despite the fact that they represent an artificial pressure on all bike manufacturers to also sell e-bikes for less than what they cost to make. (BTW, the car industry is also suffering from a similar issue of "dumping" and artificial pricing where expensive products are selling at or below what they cost to build) But e-bikes should not be treated like use it for two years and shove it in a corner of the garage because you don't have support for it with a local bike mechanic, and the bike company is gone or no longer supplies a bespoke part. We should be aspiring to build and buy and sell bikes that last a long time, are infinitely repairable. Yes, if you can replace a frame or fork by moving over all the costly components, and each component can be replaced with another brand's component, it's infinitely repairable until parts standaridization is broken. That's how we should be basing our minimum standard for an e-bike. If a local shop refuses to fix your Lectric or Rad, because they can't get parts or diagrams to service your bike, that's not a sustainable bike. It's a disposable bike. Maybe Lectric, Rad, and Adventon all just raced to the bottom by eliminating bike shops from their sales model, but that in itself is a problem, as without bike shops, these bikes soon become disposable crap, as new owners fail to learn how to service their own bikes, or cannot find parts or know how to navigate a fix. DTC is crushing the bike industry, not unlike Tesla's move to eliminate dealerships, which resulted in substandard servicing access for them and all the DTC car companies copying that model, like Polestar, Rivian, Fisker, Lucid. I wish we would all be more clear eyed about how that is affecting the longevity and sustainability of e-bikes for the worse.

Rad Power Bikes stopped in Europe by the end of 2023. Why? This is strange! Europe is a place where people usually buy e-bikes like crazy. Rad has to have too much issues and a bad customer service. Rad Wagon 4: Bad are the 22" x wide tires, that dealers down the road not carry. Micah, you are making a lot of advertisement for brand that is actually not so good and not reliable. It might be alright to ride to the bakery on a sunny Sunday, but not for really using and riding a lot of miles.

CORRECT $ 2400 WE NEED TO SEE MOTOR QUALITY AND NOT WIMPY 750

Rad just rebrands everything they sell. Thanks for the video.

Sorry, but Rad was just trying to sell cheap shit for high prices. They might design the bikes, but the parts where always the same. Always the same low groupsets, but now for 1000$ more. The same with the batteries. They’re getting greedy and now they’re back to the ground.

I'm a big guy and won't buy a bike with a battery smaller than 17 amp hrs my last two e bikes have a 60 volt 20 amp hr or a 52 volt 19.2 amp hr. So i won't buy another Rad they aren't in the game anymore

Sorry, but $1200 is more than I, or anybody I know, can afford. It's also far more than it would cost to buy equivalent components and build it myself. Which means it's ridiculously overpriced, since economies of scale and the fact they're buying or making parts at FAR below the retail I'm paying means they can sell it for less than I can build it and still be making more profit than I'm paying the various parts suppliers. I'm sick and tired of artificially high prices and people who should know better saying how "affordable" things are when they absolutely are NOT. The world has gone completely insane, and if economic theory was ever truly applicable (which I tend to doubt), it isn't any more. Prices have nothing whatsoever to do with supply or demand, and apparently people don't care about value for money anymore either because they keep paying ridiculous prices for things they don't need, which encourages corporations to keep raising prices far beyond what the people who really need the products can afford. If it's over $1000 I won't give it a second look, and it has to be well below that before I can give it serious consideration. And the specs had better be WAY better than this bike to get my attention. Like my next EV, my next bike is going to be a DIY conversion because it's the only way I can get all the features I want and none of the ones I don't want at a far better price.