It’s not a secret that I like electric bikes. I’ve built my own, because I have no interest in what $4k+ commercial bikes offer, and I haven’t found a cheaper commercial bike that I felt was reasonable for what it cost.
(Comments from Blogger)
2016-03-19 by Unknown
Great article! I am a fan of the 20-inch wheel on the back of a cargo bike, because it allows the cargo weight to be located six inches lower than when you use a 26-inch rear wheel, but…I recognize that a larger wheel (like the 26-inch shown here) has a larger air volume, and that provides a more effective impact smoothing when you hit a pothole. Both are good, and every consumer must decide which feature suits them best. I never saw the seat “handle” before, well done! If you own two cars, and you want to get rid of one of them, this bike should be on your short-list of options…I am spinningmagnets from electricbike.com
2016-03-19 by Russell Graves
Thanks!
There’s certainly something to be said for the 20" wheels, but the 20" rear wheel cargo bikes without anything electric are often as much or more than this bike. I just cannot believe how good this is for $1600.
2016-03-19 by Robert Moser
Man, this does indeed look awesome. Maybe you can come out with a Syonyk Signature Edition, with uprated lighting, slimed tubes and a ZTL-style front brake? 
Ok, maybe skip on the ZTL. But this looks like a great bike. Thanks for reviewing for us.
2016-03-19 by Russell Graves
Nah, I’ll let them consider the upgrades in the future. If I do my own line, though, it’ll look awfully similar. I’ve got plenty of things I want to mess with…
2016-03-20 by Farfromhomeandlost
This might be what it takes for me to sell my current e-bike and my civic. It looks great. Thanks for the review.
2016-03-20 by cornflakes
you know, you should review the Pedego Stretch - in my opinion, superior than this cargo bike. 400 lbs cargo (doesnt include rider, i believe), at just 500W (because that is the max limit before you are required to get a license), plus tons of unique features. And plus, the battery placement is better.
2016-03-20 by Russell Graves
The Stretch may be a somewhat better bike - you’re correct in that I’ve not ridden one. I notice it comes with slimed tires, stock, which is excellent. I’m not sure on 24" vs 26" tires, but it’s likely a wash in terms of riding (slightly lower cargo deck, slightly worse over bumps). It has an aluminum frame, which I don’t think matters on a cargo bike, and the motor is very similar (rated at 500W, ~730W peak output).
But is it more than 2x the bike? It’s more than 2x the cost. I don’t see anything, at least on paper, that would make it worth more than twice the money.
Right now, the Pedego Stretch seems to list for $3500, with a few sites selling it for around $3400.
And, right now, I can buy TWO Rad Wagons for a total of $3023! http://www.radpowerbikes.com/collections/ebike-bundles
What blows me away most with the Rad Wagon is the value it offers. It’s an entirely competent bike, for about half what other companies are asking for similar bikes.
2016-03-20 by Russell Graves
You’re welcome! What’s your current e-bike?
2016-03-23 by Ecat
Hi Russel, that looks like a nice bike, thanks for the review. If you get a chance, check out the Juiced Bikes ODK U500. At 1,999 it is another great value with a 720 watt hour battery. The optional 32 ah battery is an epic 1536 watt hours! This bike appeals to riders who appreciate the low step through, and will fit people from 5’2" to over 6’. Check it out at www.juicedbikes.com. Full disclosure, I am the Canadian distributor for the Juiced Bikes line.
Best,
David Elderton
Hill Eater E-Bikes
2016-03-23 by Russell Graves
David - thanks, that looks like a nice option as well!
I’m glad that there are more and more inexpensive electric cargo bike options showing up. At $8k, they’re not very useful, but at $2k or less, they really are an amazing value!
2016-03-29 by Alicia
Thanks for your review! I’m currently riding an e-assist Japanese mama bike (mamachari) around West Seattle. It has been an awesome bike, but it has a much lower output and on West Seattle hills fully loaded, I only have about a six mile range. The kids are getting bigger, too, and I think we’re outgrowing it. I’m checking out the Radwagon because there’s no way I can afford $3K+ in the next two years. Very helpful review!
2016-04-17 by Unknown
Hi Russell and thanks for both reviews of the Rad e-bikes.My question is have you ever tried touring on your e-bike and is that even possible?I’m thinking about the Rad Wagon and if I do jump into it I will list you as the referrer.Gene
2016-04-17 by Russell Graves
Gene -
I’ve never done touring of any form on any bicycle, so, no, I haven’t.
You most certainly could tour on one - they ride just fine as a regular bike, if a bit heavy. If you’re just using the motor for hills, I expect you could get all-day range, or you could carry an extra battery pack and swap it when needed. I’m not sure it would really offer that many advantages over just touring on a regular bike, though.
2016-04-17 by Russell Graves
Alicia -
I’m really, really excited by the new wave of inexpensive and amazing electric bikes. There’s been a good selection in the $4k+ range, but that’s just not useful to many people.
2016-04-27 by thatgirlkelly
I own this bike. My first cargo, my first ebike. I know little to nothing about either, just that I’ve always wanted one and couldn’t afford it. I freaking LOVE this bike. I commute to and from work (about 5 miles each way) in my hilly rainy city (Seattle) and I do it everyday because of how much fun and how easy it is. Wind storm? No problem! Hills? No problem? Rain. No problem! Windy, rainy, hilly, cold…not my favorite, but not a problem.
We are a one car family. Since I sit in the office most of the day, the car stays with the husband and the kids. When I come home, I grab a kids put them on the deck and off we go to softball, soccer, whatever. they hold onto the seat and away we go. They fight over who gets to ride on the bike verses the minivan.
It is not a full tail, but a half tails, accessories are hard to find if you want slings (though Carsick did make my slings custom). I find the components are entry level but decent. I had an issue with my spokes being loose and one of the cranks got bent and sloppy right after I purchased, but the folks and Rad Power Bikes fixed everything right up and have only been a delight to work with.
If it’s not clear, i love this bike. LOVE LOVE LOVE this bike.
2016-04-27 by Russell Graves
Kelly -
That’s great to hear! You’re definitely proving it’s a car replacement quality bike!
2016-04-28 by SLCUrban
I bought one of these and it arrived yesterday! I love it already. Used your name, but not sure it stuck as I left my cart sitting for a bit and I haven’t received an email or anything. Thanks for the review though. It went a long way toward convincing me this was the right thing to do.
2016-04-28 by Russell Graves
Excellent! I’d love to hear how it works for you after a month or two!
I’m tempted to buy one just so I can get the actual referrer perks. 
2016-05-05 by Daniel
Russell, thanks for a great review. I have been looking for an electric bike and wanted someone to walk me through a commuter/car-killer at my price point and this review did exactly that. You eliminated my last excuse for not getting an eBike, so I went ahead and purchased this one. I used your name as described in the link from your review. Many thanks for getting me off the fence. I will update my comments once I get the bike and a few miles under my butt.
2016-05-11 by Nick Adams
Hey thatgirlkelly, my wife is considering this bike. Do you mind sharing your height? My wife is pretty short (5’3") and concerned that this frame will be too big for her to use comfortably.
2016-05-15 by Unknown
Google maps estimated 30 min for your test drive circuit (i.e., assumed average speed of around 10mph). How long did it actually take you to that circuit? Assuming your average speed was probably over 10mph.
2016-05-15 by Russell Graves
More than an hour. But I was stopping to take pictures, double back, try side trails, and generally get to known the bike. It should be doable in under 20m with the assist.
2016-05-15 by Unknown
I have a friend, Shawn McCarty, who rode his homemade electric cargo bike around ( close to all the borders ) the USA–9,000 miles I think in 3 or 4 months. He posted a almost daily web log with photos of the trip.
2016-06-11 by Unknown
Shawn McCarthy is awsome, he built my battery for my simular looking cargo bike called yuba mundo(need to review). By no means does this bike have a huge battery capacity at 550wh, or have long range like me, with a 7kwh (7,000wh Li-ion battery!, with 300+ miles range!, all mounted on platforms. But this rad wagon bike is very sweet looking setup to start with & modify. But is to slow for me for my off road use of usiing up to 8,000 to 10,000 watts power mid drive! So far when it was 80lbs/ no battery and I peddled it 43 miles, so it to can go long distance with fat highee pressure tires.
2016-06-15 by George
I’m thinking of purchasing this bike, any more reviews? How is it holding up? Thanks.
2016-06-17 by Russell Graves
I didn’t actually purchase one, just reviewed one. I expect they’ll hold up fine, but I don’t have any first hand knowledge on this.
2016-08-05 by David Chen
Great review! Your write up help me decide to get one. I got mine a few days ago and it has been great. I took it to work and with mostly pedal assist 1 level, I was able to get about 23 miles and had about 1.5 bar left.
One thing that would make it even better is if there is a lower gear because once you get to around 19-20, you just can’t pedal anymore.
2016-08-17 by Unknown
My wife and I are short (5’4" and 5’3") we test rode the bike and the frame didn’t feel large. It was a comfortable ride.
2016-09-12 by thatgirlkelly
sorry for the late reply. I’m 5’5 and I fit fine.
2016-09-12 by thatgirlkelly
I just want to put this out there…after about 1000 miles on the bike, I have had multiple failures with the rear wheel spokes. I’ve had two replaced so far and another just broke.
I should back up and say that a couple/few weeks after I bought the bike in February/March of this year I was noticing some weird creaking and it turned out that spokes were all really loose. I’ve had tons of trouble with the rear wheel. I should also say the folks at Rad Power Bikes have been nothing but helpful and have repaired, tightened and replaced things. But it seems like every two months, riding about 200 miles a month something goes wrong with the real wheel spokes. Not sure if this is just mine or a design concern.
When it’s running it’s the best, but i’ve not had a bike ever this prone to issues. This is my first ebike.
2016-09-12 by thatgirlkelly
I just want to put this out there…after about 1000 miles on the bike, I have had multiple failures with the rear wheel spokes. I’ve had two replaced so far and another just broke.
I should back up and say that a couple/few weeks after I bought the bike in February/March of this year I was noticing some weird creaking and it turned out that spokes were all really loose. I’ve had tons of trouble with the rear wheel. I should also say the folks at Rad Power Bikes have been nothing but helpful and have repaired, tightened and replaced things. But it seems like every two months, riding about 200 miles a month something goes wrong with the real wheel spokes. Not sure if this is just mine or a design concern.
When it’s running it’s the best, but i’ve not had a bike ever this prone to issues. This is my first ebike.
2016-09-14 by Unknown
I’m thinking of getting a bike like this to ease myself back into shape I got diabetes a few years ago and gained a ton of weight. I’ve lose a good chunk of it. It have plateaued around 390-400 pounds. I’m also 6’5.
The max weight is listed as 350 but I saw a video of two people on this bike that equaled over 500 pounds and they rode it ok. Would I be able to make this bike work? Or is there a better option for me.
I think once I got a bike like this and used it to be more active I could lose 20 to 30 pounds really quickly.
2016-09-15 by Russell Graves
You’d be exceeding the weight limit by a bit, but I think it would be fine for you. It’s a roomy enough bike.
2016-09-15 by Unknown
yeah its the only one ive seen with a weight limit even close to high enough for me. i was just wondering how bad it would be for the bike. im hoping i could get back down under 350 within the next year or so. i had gotten all the way up to 500 at one point 
i think a bike like this would help since i could ease my self up to harder and harder levels while still saving some battery power so i could motor it home when ive worse myself out.
2016-09-15 by Russell Graves
At your weight, you basically need to be looking at cargo bikes, and this is certainly a cheaper option than many other electric cargo bikes.
I’d try to keep the speeds down on rough terrain and maybe not go off roading, but if you keep to smoother surfaces, it should be fine. Don’t throw another 100 lbs of groceries on it, though.
2016-09-15 by Unknown
no it would just be me and maybe a backpack with some water and stuff. and i would stick to streets and sidewalks. no curb hopping or anything like that. i think ill order one by the end of the year then. its to bad i dont live in Seattle Anymore cuz i could just go down to their store front but i live down in Florida now…
2017-02-19 by ToddG
Have you thought of evaluating the new Rad City Bike? It looks very similar to this bike, tho with a shorter wheel base, and 7 speed instead of 21. My thought is that if one removed the battery from the Rad City Bike, you’d be under the Seattle Metro Bus Bike rack limit of 50lbs… making this an ideal commuting option.
As a second question, I’ve seen some screaming deals on used Nissan Leafs (~$7k). Do you have any ideas/suggestions for evaluating one of these?
2017-02-19 by Russell Graves
I’d love to, but I’m no longer in the Seattle metro area, so it’s a bit of a trek. If I find myself back out there at some point, I’ll certainly try for a review. However, I don’t really see the point of a combined bus/ebike commute except in very esoteric cases.
For a Leaf, get yourself a copy of Leaf Spy and a compatible OBD-II dongle, read out the data from the pack.
2017-02-25 by Unknown
I just ordered one , found your review after the fact ,but it was excellent. The main change I would make to the bike is making it possible to move the running boards up to mount on either side of the rack for cargo hauling since you couldn’t use the running boards anyway if you purchased the aluminum rack plate & caboose to haul cargo. I also agree that I wish they would offer a accessory front cargo rack like Pedego has on their cargo bike . IT IS A EXCELLENT CARGO BIKE .
2017-08-16 by Unknown
Actually, I downloaded the Manual for the Wagon. It says to turn on the battery, but the Throttle-(tiny red button on the right handle-grip) turns the bike into “pedal only”.
Thank you anyway, great review. One thing about the Radwagon… No bad reviews. 
2017-08-28 by Unknown
where can i find front rack for radwagon?
2017-12-02 by Unknown
Fantastic review. I lived in Capitol Hill in Seattle for 5 years and I know how punishing those hills are. If this bike can make it up those hills than I like. I ordered the radwagon today for $1349.00 plus $99.00 for delivery build and tuning. I am really excited to take this bike around Portland. Thank You for your thorough review, it made my day.
2018-03-23 by 'Leonie ’
Thank you for the great review. This made me buy a Radwagon secondhand today and the add said it is a 2017 model. It turned out that the seller bought it from someone else and now I would like to check myselve what model it is. Where can I look this up?
Thank you so much,
Leo
2020-01-01 by ZehHa
Just got a RadWagon in 12/2019. Since 2018, it has an aluminium alloy frame instead of a steel one. But there are massive tubes, and many struts in the back frame. Looks and feels strong and sturdy, but is still pretty heavy. 33 kg or 73 lb. In Europe, Rad Power Bikes are shipped from a distribution centre in the Netherlands, and the bike came without any transportation damage. Assembling was quite easy, and after a 5 km test ride, I’d like using it for the next grocery shopping runs, replacing the car at least occasionally. In our small village this means 11 km distance, which should be fun with the 750W motor.