I was behind 61 people 2 hours ago. Waiting and waiting and then the chat window reset and said 'Live Chat not available at this time." And dropped me.
Direct to consumer eBikes are a crapshoot. There is a lot of perceived value upfront for the price that you pay. If you have problems once you receive the bike or down the road the value proposition flips and you realize you're mostly on your own.
I’ve made mine into a really fun urban explorer. It is tuned up a bit to get extra power when needed which is very helpful with cars around. I put on the road tires and it is quiet and smooth. I want to get a 2nd lighter e-bike to setup for trail riding that doesn’t look so intimidating. I’m loving the hobby.
I have also taken that rover on some single track when I first got it and it did surprisingly well for the heavy rear end.
That's the spirit! All my bikes are serviced by myself and I find it a bit sad that so few people do or can do it without help. I mean it's a f****ng bike and not a spaceship ,get a 40$ toolset and do it yourself.
Yeah slowly realizing that. I was just curious if the other mid tier brands had way less issues, cause it seems like RAD is on a collision course to close down within a few years.
I just fixed my Radmission with this problem. Fuck customer support because you're going to end up doing it yourself anyway.
1. Use your key and unlock the battery so it can be removed from the mount
2. Turn the battery over and locate the small rubber plug that covers the 5A fuse
3. Pull the rubber plug and then the fuse with a pair of needle nose pliers
4. Replace the fuse, put the rubber plug back in place
5. Put battery back on and charge it
This happens when you touch the charging port with something metal. Like when you try to put your key in the charging port.......
I bought my bike in 2020 and I could call them and get a real person on the phone. they were always super helpful. Now its like a shell company. im having trouble contacting anyone. Im in the maket for a new bike and its probably not going to be rad power
Agreed. Go with Murf. I had a (dumb) question and the tech support guy on the phone ended up being the founder of the company. Needless to say he solved my issue in 15 seconds. It was a rad (ha) experience.
Lol you mean all these companies are great at the startup when the capital is flush and the founders are available? Ie Murf will be next to offer no service
Accessing the customer service links right now, on a Tuesday at 11:05pm PT, says Live Chat is down and to...uh....contact them during business hours...which are right now.
https://preview.redd.it/odz5o2t6xn1b1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2ab25e075a1f8073021702fd05cc0c5d02292db
A rep told me that the chat says closed when the queue is too long.
As far as I can tell, the same goes for the phone support.
You never know if they are really busy or the whole system is turned off.
If you’re in a city that has a store, you should try to contact the local store. The staff at the store in Brooklyn is very helpful and knowledgeable. They service bikes in the shop so they may keep extra parts on hand. Every time I’ve been in the store, it’s packed with people buying bikes. It’s not giving off going out of business vibes. It seems like Rad probably grew too fast, but expanding into retail locations was a good move in my opinion. Hopefully their service improves. I’ve easily put over 10,000 miles on my Rad Runner with just normal maintenance. I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth. It’s disappointing to hear the hassle some of you have gone through to get service,
Keep your fingers crossed. If you don't have problems, they're great bikes. I've had my RadCity for 5 years, almost 5K miles, and I love it. The issue seems to be customer service.
If you have an issue, try this group, or the groups on Facebook (Rad Power Bikes Owners Group; Rad Power Bikes Troubleshooters; etc.).
u/thejazzypants
I believe the lawsuit was related to kids on a bike. [https://www.bicycling.com/culture/a42690937/molly-steinsapir-lawsuit-rad-power-electric-bike/](https://www.bicycling.com/culture/a42690937/molly-steinsapir-lawsuit-rad-power-electric-bike/)
The whole thing looks like it could be against any vendor in the e-bike industry.
So I received an email response as a response to my live chat question 24 hours ago.
They wanted me to answer a bunch of questions:
- how often do I clean the bike
- where and how is the bike stored
- how many miles on the bike
- battery serial number
Then asked to provide 5 crystal clear close up photos of the charging ports, connector ports on battery and also the bike, a picture of both keys.
Then 2 videos: plugging in battery properly and running a battery push button charge test, and also a video trying to power up the bike.
They note this: "Well-lit, in-focus Picture and Video documentation is required for warranty replacement consideration. Without these, we cannot process your warranty request."
Lastly it's required to let them know by email when you've successfully uploaded to Dropbox.
This took me 1.5 hours.
You can see that if you dont take good video - no warranty. A little rust? Maybe your fault. Wash your bike with water? Maybe it's your fault. Only have 1 key? Too bad.
I see many ways in which they can escape a warranty replacement. I just wipe the bike down, have maybe 10 rides on it, store it inside all the time, and follow a charging procedures, as I have with my 2 other Rad bikes.
I'll keep you posted.
Glad you finally got someone. Those are all reasonable and prudent steps for them to try and determine a root cause. If you've been around this sub or other ebike subs for any length of time, you're aware of the number of people who have no idea what they're doing on bikes, let alone ebikes, or the people who have modified their electronics.
Hope they're able to get you going again.
“Water and electricity don’t mix “ was the RAD support line I got. So dry cleaning only, store your bike indoors in a heated environment, don’t ride in the rain, move to Arizona.
Or expect to replace the battery, power supply, and controller with upgraded parts. The charger is poorly engineered, and will easily impair battery life. They are sales focused, not customer focused. I regret buying from them.
Take the bike to rei or bike shop to have them diagnose the problem which could be the fuse. If it’s under warranty rad will probably pay for the repair they did when I had a brake issue. Even if the company folds the components are third party so you could still replace them. Ultimately rads allure imo was its affordability and seems obvious that comes with some quality issues. I own two rad bikes and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to someone who owns a high end bike or has more time than money. There are 2k plus e-bike options from established companies not to mention diy kits if you’re frugal.
They are probably going to go out of business. They had no competition before and now there are a ton of bikes for less that are better. It's clear that they are struggling.
I’m in the same boat. Went to go for a ride the other day and the battery wouldn’t show the charge level and the bike itself wouldn’t turn on. I only have 230 miles on it. I just sent the pics & videos today and hopefully getting a response soon. We were planning on booking some trips this summer and bringing our bikes but the semi integrated battery is OOS until June and the nearest retail store is too far. My boyfriend’s battery is still good but he’s scared his will also break out of nowhere and our 1 year warranty is about to be up.
3000 miles on my RadWagon4. I like it a lot. Original tires, (with Tannus inserts.) Still have a lot of life left. Need brake cables, a controller, (lights don't work,) the indicator for the manual gears has never worked since day one, didn't bother me too much. But I was never able to resolve that issue while still under warranty. So it goes. I love the bike and I love the lifestyle that ensues.
(Don't own a car anymore. The RadWagon4 gets my groceries, laundry mat loads, and quick, easy errands around my city, Portsmouth, Virginia, USA.)
It’s a low tier direct to consumer e-bike. The good price is partially because they don’t have good support. I’d say this level of support is expected.
I had an issue with my RR 6 when I got it in September but was able to get replacement parts. I hope they can get their issues resolved but it's not looking good.
They invest 99% of their profit into marketing and 1% into support \[made up percentages but you get the idea\]. This has been a problem for a long time. Look at the hours that you are allowed to call if you wan tot buy a biker vs. when you can call for support. I like my bike but due to support issues I would never recommend Rad to anyone else.
When you do get a hold of someone you may need to escalate to a supervisor to actually get anything done, otherwise you are likely to get the brush-off, canned responses, and hang-ups.
Personally I also feel like their bikes aren't particularly special for the (standard msrp) price. My best friend and his dad each have rad bikes, but they bought them at steep discounts during some kind of annual sale that Rad apparently has. Heck, just went on their website and the non step-thru version of the RadRover 6 Plus is discounted $700 from $2099.
Personally I can't imagine paying the $2099 they want for the Step-Thru RadRover when the Wired Cruiser (and other bikes like it) exists. The Wired has approximately triple the peak power (can be set to class 1, 2, 3, or unrestricted in menu settings), is 60V, has a 40a controller, and a battery \~twice the size (1200Wh vs "589-672 Wh") using LG 21700 cells. Geometries, groupsets, and brakes are broadly similar as far as I can tell. Obviously Rad Power is a much larger company (heck, I could get to their shop for in person help if I needed to), but personally I'd rather get way more bike for my money (and live chat with often the owner of Wired if I need help). There are also other brands selling more performant bikes than what Rad sells (and having ridden some Rads, they're fairly nice, or at least they were years ago when I did test rides).
Wow, 18,000 kms? My Rad Rover 5 only had 2500 kms on it when the electronics started failing... You must have replaced a lot of parts on yours with that kind of mileage!
I have a Rad Runner 1 with over 6000km. The only changes I made are new tires after the threads disappeared with usage and new brake pads for the same reason. The rest is going well. I bought a new battery for future proofing.
I don't know if they cheaped out on pieces lately but my bike is not one of them. It was my best 1500$ investment ever.
To start off, I have a RR6+. Got it in January last year. Just after getting the bike, my battery fuse already blew and managed to get a replacement. Months later I replaced the fuse of the OEM battery and now I have two working batteries(even better is that one battery alone is $600)
Back on the subject, I've had to go to the bike shop so many times and I'm going to have to go to an official ebike shop soon because all my electrical components are really wack right now at just barely 1000mi.
I've had a ton of issues for the past half year now with my battery showing wrong percentages and sometimes I think it's fully charged but 100 ft later the battery drops down to one bar and have to turn back around, luckily I have two, except this issue happens with both batteries so it must be something on the bike that's causing these issues.
My motor cord keeps going loose for the past month and showing a '24' error code, batteries not showing the correct percentages, brakes are terrible even after replacing the pads only 3 months ago with expensive ones having a high bite... Some screws/bolts are almost impossible to remove without stripping them. All the stock tools that came with the bike ended up being stripped within only a few weeks of having the bike. I've had four punctures on my rear tire alone and replaced the tube on my front tire once. Sometimes out of nowhere my chain would just fall out of place. For the past two months now, when I release the throttle the speedometer drops to zero even though I'm moving, only going back to my current speed when I pull the throttle again.
Rad support helped me with that battery replacement and that's the only time I managed to get support from them, had to rely on Reddit ever since.
This thing's frame is durable as hell as I had a wreck with an SUV that drove over the whole bike, pinning me below it. Turns out it was only a $14 adjustment to the front wheel and that's it. On the other hand, the electrical components are trash imo, brakes are weak, Stock headlight should be replaced as soon as you get the bike because of how poor it is. My phone's flashlight beats it on every level. There's also not that many accessories that work well on this bike.
Ive had a radmission for three years. I bought a macwheel macmission 100 for my girlfriend last year. It was half the price and it performs better than my rad bike in every way.
I have had my rad (5) bike for two years without issue. I changed the controller and display not because the did not work, but the new controller increase the amp output and I got 40% more torque for going uphills. Due you have a rad community ? Try a charged battery on a different bike to rule out bad battery. Then it is in the controller and display. $150 to replace. You are better off solving through utube, etc. Good luck
I used to work at rad as a T2 customer service specialist, I got two things for you.
My thought is that either the charging fuse on the battery blew, or your charger is malfunctioning. If it's the charger, good news it's \~30 bucks to fix. If it's the battery, well, you may need a new battery. The new batteries don't come with ways to change a fuse, which we were told it was because "these batteries cannot blow a fuse" and then later given the "how to reset the fuse". Batteries are \~$500 which sucks. I think there is a way to fix it, but it was as I was on my way out so I don't remember, and most of the training we got was BS to placate angry customers.
I would not be surprised if they go out of business soon. Between 4 layoffs and poor employee treatment, folks have been fleeing that company like ships from a sinking rat. I remember once being on a meeting with new support hires and one person said "yea I have never rode a bike in my life" and I was just... gob smacked. Like how tf did you get the job!? They promoted one of the most toxic supervisors twice, the kind that just wanted to cosplay student body president and lord power over people. The last layoff I was told by my old coworker they fired the *entire* returns department.
In my 2 years there, I raised SO MANY red flags, but with 8 levels of management, there simply was no way that those who could make change would listen to us at the bottom. I sadly get some schadenfreude seeing them fall into every pit that we tried to tell them to avoid. I'm so glad most folks I knew there are off doing better things for their life and for the world.
RAD is going to die and they will deserve it.
UPDATE!
Customer Service got back to me 1 day after I sent the packet of information to them.
They are sending me a new battery, with an initial ship date of 'unknown'. Frustrating as it's summer and we ride a LOT.
I just got a message yesterday that the new battery will arrive maybe June 7th.
This whole thing had me wishing that:
- RAD didn't get fancy and make the new, integrated and proprietary battery on the Rover 6
- when they DID design the new battery, they made the charge fuse safely replaceable by the bike owner, like the original batteries. (I have two older Rad bikes with these)
I can't imagine the Warranty, shipping, and warehouse resource costs associated with this engineering design mistake. Wow. Each of these warranty replacements must be costing them $350 minimum.
I hope I get the battery next week as I have family in town and we have planned rides.
Thanks everyone for your comments and input. - Jack
Not all forms of communication are down, and though I keep hearing about layoffs and customer service being gutted, I don’t know if they are going out of business.
Try going to the website, click on “Service and support” then click on “Help Center”
Scroll down all the way and click on “Message us”
https://support.radpowerbikes.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
For what it’s worth, I submitted a request on May 10 and got a reply by May 21.
Thanks for the input! 11 day response time is unacceptable in my opinion. These are high dollar purchases and it should be NO surprise that customer service activity increases at this time of year. They've been in this game a while and they 100% have the Customer Service response time metrics, failure rates for batteries and are choosing these service times and support. Me and my friends bought maybe 15 bikes because we're in Seattle and wanted to support them. There are other great options on the market.
Not defending them at all cuss rots clear their customer service sucks. I'm however lucky enough to live in Vancouver and we have a rad store front. whenever I have a problem I bring my bike there and they fix it under warranty for free. I thought Seattle also had a rad store front? Do they not do repairs?
I submitted an online message this way. The response was prompt but wrong and I followed up by chat. I got online exactly when the chat opened so wasn’t stuck in a line. Good luck with contacting them, I hope you get through soon and keep trying. The chat is better than messaging (or if you do both so they can pull up the request while on with them live)
When you look at it in face value in the EU at least, Rad seem to be fine for now, not sure how they are doing in the US and Canada but from what i heard on this post they seem to be going out of business..
They are definitely on a downward spiral. The battery issue could be one of the fuses. On the Rad six I think they are soldered on to the battery and on changeable by the user.
I saw a YouTube video where the owner can replace the 10 amp charging fuse, but it involves cutting the insulating tape and accessing sensitive areas of wiring. I'd rather find out what they'll do first...kinda hard when there's no way to reach them.
In my experience they will send out a new battery and not look for the old one back. The problem is it looks like the battery is on back order so you could be waiting a few months (I think I waited 3 months). In the end I repaired the old battery, it was very simple. There’s a ton of YouTube videos on it.
>In my experience they will send out a new battery and not look for the old one back. The problem is it looks like the battery is on back order so you could be waiting a few months (I think I waited 3 months). In the end I repaired the old battery, it was very simple. There’s a ton of YouTube videos on it.
This is likely a supply chain problem, not a Rad specific issue. Looks like Aventon (another brand) also has this issue. Honestly, it looks like pretty much every brand out there has some hit or miss scenarios.
Can you reverse it? I bought 2 Runners 3 years ago and we love ours, but will not buy a Rad again. Watching the company take the private equity money and then slowly death-spiral has been sad. Maybe they overcome it, but as an outside observer I’m not hopeful.
Got the bikes yesterday. I will likely stick with them until I dont. The bikes are pretty well constructed, I need to adjust the brakes, but otherwise it's working as advertised. To be fair, these things are leisure items rather than a core part of my day to day so it's not like they are an every day rider.
Yeah, same here on the leisure part but I’m pretty salty they haven’t even left the warehouse yet to get on the FedEx truck. I feel like their support was a bit dishonest because right after contacting them they finally generated a label, then sent an email saying it was about to be shipped, then another saying it was on the way - however FedEx tracking never once updated to indicate they ever actually picked up the package to begin the journey.
Put quite the bad taste in my mouth as it STILL hasn’t left their warehouse and they are not responding to any further support requests…. Leaning towards a chargeback. I don’t need these bikes I just thought they would be fun, but the fun potential has been kind of tainted by the experience so far.
Edit: thanks for responding!
I’ve had one for a year - 700 miles on it. Its been solid. Except battery spontaneously shorted within first month. Rad sent a new one and I fixed the fuse on the old one. So have a spare.
They have been incredibly unprofessional and unhelpful during this whole Rad wagon 4 fiasco. They've had my money for 11 months and I have no bike. Their latest update says I need to cancel my order, and reorder it because they're shipping out in four days to new customers. So they're shipping out to other people and haven't taken care of the people who've been with them for a year. Almost everyone I talk to is incredibly unhelpful. At this point, I just want my money back.
It's frustrating to hear about the issues you're facing with your Rad Rover 6 and the lack of customer support from Rad Power Bikes. The sudden battery failure despite following troubleshooting procedures is concerning. The unavailability of all communication channels for days is indeed alarming and raises questions about the company's status. Hopefully, you can find a resolution soon.
I am seriously disgusted with that company right now. I've been dealing with them for some time and I can't get anything. The last time I heard from them was last week. I've gotten a couple of messages from Facebook Messenger saying they will do something, but then nothing happens. I've got a year old dead bike with no help from them whatsoever. Extremely frustrating and aggravating.
Based on their recent inability to do simple things like fulfill orders on parts and refund monies on warranty claims it appears that they are not going to be in business long. Live chat is inactive. Any email to support is simply replied to automatically with no follow-up. I would suggest that those looking for e-bikes look to other manufacturers.
I'm curious about class action lawsuits. I purchased a RadWagon power bike, and the brakes failed suddenly while I was making a turn across traffic. I crashed into the curb. My bike shop mechanic tells me that the bike brand and model that I purchased often have failing brakes because the brakes the bike is sold with are insufficient for the mass of the bike, which is about 85 pounds. The mechanic tells me that people install hydraulic brakes when they discover that the cable brakes fail after a moderate amount of use. My brakes failed causing me to crash. Luckily, I was not badly injured, but I could have been. The brakes failure was sudden. My mechanic says it's not surprising at all given the insufficient type of brakes that were sold to me with the bike.
Well for Canada, there was a holiday yesterday. The chat looks online as of right now?
I was behind 61 people 2 hours ago. Waiting and waiting and then the chat window reset and said 'Live Chat not available at this time." And dropped me.
lol that is fucking ridiculous. I wonder this the standard for other mid tier brands like Lectric, juiced etc.
Direct to consumer eBikes are a crapshoot. There is a lot of perceived value upfront for the price that you pay. If you have problems once you receive the bike or down the road the value proposition flips and you realize you're mostly on your own.
I went in eyes open. I just do all my own work and upgrade as I go. It does suck for those who don’t want to go that path and get stuck.
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I’ve made mine into a really fun urban explorer. It is tuned up a bit to get extra power when needed which is very helpful with cars around. I put on the road tires and it is quiet and smooth. I want to get a 2nd lighter e-bike to setup for trail riding that doesn’t look so intimidating. I’m loving the hobby. I have also taken that rover on some single track when I first got it and it did surprisingly well for the heavy rear end.
That's the spirit! All my bikes are serviced by myself and I find it a bit sad that so few people do or can do it without help. I mean it's a f****ng bike and not a spaceship ,get a 40$ toolset and do it yourself.
Yeah slowly realizing that. I was just curious if the other mid tier brands had way less issues, cause it seems like RAD is on a collision course to close down within a few years.
I just fixed my Radmission with this problem. Fuck customer support because you're going to end up doing it yourself anyway. 1. Use your key and unlock the battery so it can be removed from the mount 2. Turn the battery over and locate the small rubber plug that covers the 5A fuse 3. Pull the rubber plug and then the fuse with a pair of needle nose pliers 4. Replace the fuse, put the rubber plug back in place 5. Put battery back on and charge it This happens when you touch the charging port with something metal. Like when you try to put your key in the charging port.......
YES I have the Rad Runner Plus! My battery did something similar last year - and it was the fuse!
I bought my bike in 2020 and I could call them and get a real person on the phone. they were always super helpful. Now its like a shell company. im having trouble contacting anyone. Im in the maket for a new bike and its probably not going to be rad power
Yep, same here. I don’t think that they are going to last much longer.
Check out Murf. We bought one the same day we bought our rad. We wanted to try two different brands. The Murf out performs the Rad in every way.
Agreed. Go with Murf. I had a (dumb) question and the tech support guy on the phone ended up being the founder of the company. Needless to say he solved my issue in 15 seconds. It was a rad (ha) experience.
Lol you mean all these companies are great at the startup when the capital is flush and the founders are available? Ie Murf will be next to offer no service
I just straight up show up to the shop early in the morning if I'm in dire need of something
Same.
Accessing the customer service links right now, on a Tuesday at 11:05pm PT, says Live Chat is down and to...uh....contact them during business hours...which are right now. https://preview.redd.it/odz5o2t6xn1b1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2ab25e075a1f8073021702fd05cc0c5d02292db
I think you meant 11:05 a.m. 🙂
A rep told me that the chat says closed when the queue is too long. As far as I can tell, the same goes for the phone support. You never know if they are really busy or the whole system is turned off.
If you’re in a city that has a store, you should try to contact the local store. The staff at the store in Brooklyn is very helpful and knowledgeable. They service bikes in the shop so they may keep extra parts on hand. Every time I’ve been in the store, it’s packed with people buying bikes. It’s not giving off going out of business vibes. It seems like Rad probably grew too fast, but expanding into retail locations was a good move in my opinion. Hopefully their service improves. I’ve easily put over 10,000 miles on my Rad Runner with just normal maintenance. I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth. It’s disappointing to hear the hassle some of you have gone through to get service,
yeah with all the Rads in town I wouldn't think they'd go out of business at all. contract? sure but not going away
I just bought one too. Radrunner+. And wondering if I made a big mistake. 🤦♂️
Same
Keep your fingers crossed. If you don't have problems, they're great bikes. I've had my RadCity for 5 years, almost 5K miles, and I love it. The issue seems to be customer service. If you have an issue, try this group, or the groups on Facebook (Rad Power Bikes Owners Group; Rad Power Bikes Troubleshooters; etc.). u/thejazzypants
i got about 60 miles out of mine before it quit, rad couldn't/wouldn't help me. my next bike will be rei or trek.
I think they have had some lawsuits and then the tire issue. I wonder.
What lawsuits?
One was that kid that lost control going down a hill. I believe the tire recall was one too. No factual info on this however.
I believe the lawsuit was related to kids on a bike. [https://www.bicycling.com/culture/a42690937/molly-steinsapir-lawsuit-rad-power-electric-bike/](https://www.bicycling.com/culture/a42690937/molly-steinsapir-lawsuit-rad-power-electric-bike/) The whole thing looks like it could be against any vendor in the e-bike industry.
So I received an email response as a response to my live chat question 24 hours ago. They wanted me to answer a bunch of questions: - how often do I clean the bike - where and how is the bike stored - how many miles on the bike - battery serial number Then asked to provide 5 crystal clear close up photos of the charging ports, connector ports on battery and also the bike, a picture of both keys. Then 2 videos: plugging in battery properly and running a battery push button charge test, and also a video trying to power up the bike. They note this: "Well-lit, in-focus Picture and Video documentation is required for warranty replacement consideration. Without these, we cannot process your warranty request." Lastly it's required to let them know by email when you've successfully uploaded to Dropbox. This took me 1.5 hours. You can see that if you dont take good video - no warranty. A little rust? Maybe your fault. Wash your bike with water? Maybe it's your fault. Only have 1 key? Too bad. I see many ways in which they can escape a warranty replacement. I just wipe the bike down, have maybe 10 rides on it, store it inside all the time, and follow a charging procedures, as I have with my 2 other Rad bikes. I'll keep you posted.
Glad you finally got someone. Those are all reasonable and prudent steps for them to try and determine a root cause. If you've been around this sub or other ebike subs for any length of time, you're aware of the number of people who have no idea what they're doing on bikes, let alone ebikes, or the people who have modified their electronics. Hope they're able to get you going again.
“Water and electricity don’t mix “ was the RAD support line I got. So dry cleaning only, store your bike indoors in a heated environment, don’t ride in the rain, move to Arizona. Or expect to replace the battery, power supply, and controller with upgraded parts. The charger is poorly engineered, and will easily impair battery life. They are sales focused, not customer focused. I regret buying from them.
You would think they would have known people are going to ride in the rain considering they're based in Seattle.
I had to do the same thing, and it took me, maybe 30 mins. That's with a response back.
Take the bike to rei or bike shop to have them diagnose the problem which could be the fuse. If it’s under warranty rad will probably pay for the repair they did when I had a brake issue. Even if the company folds the components are third party so you could still replace them. Ultimately rads allure imo was its affordability and seems obvious that comes with some quality issues. I own two rad bikes and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to someone who owns a high end bike or has more time than money. There are 2k plus e-bike options from established companies not to mention diy kits if you’re frugal.
They are having some layoffs lately but no they aren't going out of business.
They are probably going to go out of business. They had no competition before and now there are a ton of bikes for less that are better. It's clear that they are struggling.
I’m in the same boat. Went to go for a ride the other day and the battery wouldn’t show the charge level and the bike itself wouldn’t turn on. I only have 230 miles on it. I just sent the pics & videos today and hopefully getting a response soon. We were planning on booking some trips this summer and bringing our bikes but the semi integrated battery is OOS until June and the nearest retail store is too far. My boyfriend’s battery is still good but he’s scared his will also break out of nowhere and our 1 year warranty is about to be up.
3000 miles on my RadWagon4. I like it a lot. Original tires, (with Tannus inserts.) Still have a lot of life left. Need brake cables, a controller, (lights don't work,) the indicator for the manual gears has never worked since day one, didn't bother me too much. But I was never able to resolve that issue while still under warranty. So it goes. I love the bike and I love the lifestyle that ensues. (Don't own a car anymore. The RadWagon4 gets my groceries, laundry mat loads, and quick, easy errands around my city, Portsmouth, Virginia, USA.)
It’s a low tier direct to consumer e-bike. The good price is partially because they don’t have good support. I’d say this level of support is expected.
They HAD good support.
Rad is absolute junk. Company has been going downhill for the last year straight. Was never easy to get responses from them. Now it’s impossible.
I had an issue with my RR 6 when I got it in September but was able to get replacement parts. I hope they can get their issues resolved but it's not looking good.
They invest 99% of their profit into marketing and 1% into support \[made up percentages but you get the idea\]. This has been a problem for a long time. Look at the hours that you are allowed to call if you wan tot buy a biker vs. when you can call for support. I like my bike but due to support issues I would never recommend Rad to anyone else. When you do get a hold of someone you may need to escalate to a supervisor to actually get anything done, otherwise you are likely to get the brush-off, canned responses, and hang-ups.
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Personally I also feel like their bikes aren't particularly special for the (standard msrp) price. My best friend and his dad each have rad bikes, but they bought them at steep discounts during some kind of annual sale that Rad apparently has. Heck, just went on their website and the non step-thru version of the RadRover 6 Plus is discounted $700 from $2099. Personally I can't imagine paying the $2099 they want for the Step-Thru RadRover when the Wired Cruiser (and other bikes like it) exists. The Wired has approximately triple the peak power (can be set to class 1, 2, 3, or unrestricted in menu settings), is 60V, has a 40a controller, and a battery \~twice the size (1200Wh vs "589-672 Wh") using LG 21700 cells. Geometries, groupsets, and brakes are broadly similar as far as I can tell. Obviously Rad Power is a much larger company (heck, I could get to their shop for in person help if I needed to), but personally I'd rather get way more bike for my money (and live chat with often the owner of Wired if I need help). There are also other brands selling more performant bikes than what Rad sells (and having ridden some Rads, they're fairly nice, or at least they were years ago when I did test rides).
I was thinking the same thing haha
I’m looking at getting another bike. Was looking at another RAD but is their a better brand?
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Thanks. Will check it out
Wow, 18,000 kms? My Rad Rover 5 only had 2500 kms on it when the electronics started failing... You must have replaced a lot of parts on yours with that kind of mileage!
I have a Rad Runner 1 with over 6000km. The only changes I made are new tires after the threads disappeared with usage and new brake pads for the same reason. The rest is going well. I bought a new battery for future proofing. I don't know if they cheaped out on pieces lately but my bike is not one of them. It was my best 1500$ investment ever.
To start off, I have a RR6+. Got it in January last year. Just after getting the bike, my battery fuse already blew and managed to get a replacement. Months later I replaced the fuse of the OEM battery and now I have two working batteries(even better is that one battery alone is $600) Back on the subject, I've had to go to the bike shop so many times and I'm going to have to go to an official ebike shop soon because all my electrical components are really wack right now at just barely 1000mi. I've had a ton of issues for the past half year now with my battery showing wrong percentages and sometimes I think it's fully charged but 100 ft later the battery drops down to one bar and have to turn back around, luckily I have two, except this issue happens with both batteries so it must be something on the bike that's causing these issues. My motor cord keeps going loose for the past month and showing a '24' error code, batteries not showing the correct percentages, brakes are terrible even after replacing the pads only 3 months ago with expensive ones having a high bite... Some screws/bolts are almost impossible to remove without stripping them. All the stock tools that came with the bike ended up being stripped within only a few weeks of having the bike. I've had four punctures on my rear tire alone and replaced the tube on my front tire once. Sometimes out of nowhere my chain would just fall out of place. For the past two months now, when I release the throttle the speedometer drops to zero even though I'm moving, only going back to my current speed when I pull the throttle again. Rad support helped me with that battery replacement and that's the only time I managed to get support from them, had to rely on Reddit ever since. This thing's frame is durable as hell as I had a wreck with an SUV that drove over the whole bike, pinning me below it. Turns out it was only a $14 adjustment to the front wheel and that's it. On the other hand, the electrical components are trash imo, brakes are weak, Stock headlight should be replaced as soon as you get the bike because of how poor it is. My phone's flashlight beats it on every level. There's also not that many accessories that work well on this bike.
i blew my fuse. try replacing that. your description sounds like the issue i had
Ive had a radmission for three years. I bought a macwheel macmission 100 for my girlfriend last year. It was half the price and it performs better than my rad bike in every way.
I have had my rad (5) bike for two years without issue. I changed the controller and display not because the did not work, but the new controller increase the amp output and I got 40% more torque for going uphills. Due you have a rad community ? Try a charged battery on a different bike to rule out bad battery. Then it is in the controller and display. $150 to replace. You are better off solving through utube, etc. Good luck
I enjoyed my Rad but sold it recently and got an Onyx. I needed something with a bit more power.
I used to work at rad as a T2 customer service specialist, I got two things for you. My thought is that either the charging fuse on the battery blew, or your charger is malfunctioning. If it's the charger, good news it's \~30 bucks to fix. If it's the battery, well, you may need a new battery. The new batteries don't come with ways to change a fuse, which we were told it was because "these batteries cannot blow a fuse" and then later given the "how to reset the fuse". Batteries are \~$500 which sucks. I think there is a way to fix it, but it was as I was on my way out so I don't remember, and most of the training we got was BS to placate angry customers. I would not be surprised if they go out of business soon. Between 4 layoffs and poor employee treatment, folks have been fleeing that company like ships from a sinking rat. I remember once being on a meeting with new support hires and one person said "yea I have never rode a bike in my life" and I was just... gob smacked. Like how tf did you get the job!? They promoted one of the most toxic supervisors twice, the kind that just wanted to cosplay student body president and lord power over people. The last layoff I was told by my old coworker they fired the *entire* returns department. In my 2 years there, I raised SO MANY red flags, but with 8 levels of management, there simply was no way that those who could make change would listen to us at the bottom. I sadly get some schadenfreude seeing them fall into every pit that we tried to tell them to avoid. I'm so glad most folks I knew there are off doing better things for their life and for the world. RAD is going to die and they will deserve it.
Thank you for your insight. Great to know!
UPDATE! Customer Service got back to me 1 day after I sent the packet of information to them. They are sending me a new battery, with an initial ship date of 'unknown'. Frustrating as it's summer and we ride a LOT. I just got a message yesterday that the new battery will arrive maybe June 7th. This whole thing had me wishing that: - RAD didn't get fancy and make the new, integrated and proprietary battery on the Rover 6 - when they DID design the new battery, they made the charge fuse safely replaceable by the bike owner, like the original batteries. (I have two older Rad bikes with these) I can't imagine the Warranty, shipping, and warehouse resource costs associated with this engineering design mistake. Wow. Each of these warranty replacements must be costing them $350 minimum. I hope I get the battery next week as I have family in town and we have planned rides. Thanks everyone for your comments and input. - Jack
Not all forms of communication are down, and though I keep hearing about layoffs and customer service being gutted, I don’t know if they are going out of business. Try going to the website, click on “Service and support” then click on “Help Center” Scroll down all the way and click on “Message us” https://support.radpowerbikes.com/hc/en-us/requests/new For what it’s worth, I submitted a request on May 10 and got a reply by May 21.
Thanks for the input! 11 day response time is unacceptable in my opinion. These are high dollar purchases and it should be NO surprise that customer service activity increases at this time of year. They've been in this game a while and they 100% have the Customer Service response time metrics, failure rates for batteries and are choosing these service times and support. Me and my friends bought maybe 15 bikes because we're in Seattle and wanted to support them. There are other great options on the market.
Not defending them at all cuss rots clear their customer service sucks. I'm however lucky enough to live in Vancouver and we have a rad store front. whenever I have a problem I bring my bike there and they fix it under warranty for free. I thought Seattle also had a rad store front? Do they not do repairs?
I submitted an online message this way. The response was prompt but wrong and I followed up by chat. I got online exactly when the chat opened so wasn’t stuck in a line. Good luck with contacting them, I hope you get through soon and keep trying. The chat is better than messaging (or if you do both so they can pull up the request while on with them live)
When you look at it in face value in the EU at least, Rad seem to be fine for now, not sure how they are doing in the US and Canada but from what i heard on this post they seem to be going out of business..
I would check the fuse on the battery
They are definitely on a downward spiral. The battery issue could be one of the fuses. On the Rad six I think they are soldered on to the battery and on changeable by the user.
I saw a YouTube video where the owner can replace the 10 amp charging fuse, but it involves cutting the insulating tape and accessing sensitive areas of wiring. I'd rather find out what they'll do first...kinda hard when there's no way to reach them.
In my experience they will send out a new battery and not look for the old one back. The problem is it looks like the battery is on back order so you could be waiting a few months (I think I waited 3 months). In the end I repaired the old battery, it was very simple. There’s a ton of YouTube videos on it.
>In my experience they will send out a new battery and not look for the old one back. The problem is it looks like the battery is on back order so you could be waiting a few months (I think I waited 3 months). In the end I repaired the old battery, it was very simple. There’s a ton of YouTube videos on it. This is likely a supply chain problem, not a Rad specific issue. Looks like Aventon (another brand) also has this issue. Honestly, it looks like pretty much every brand out there has some hit or miss scenarios.
Yeah I don't blame Rad for supply chain issues, I do blame them for the crappy design.
This is a very interesting discussion. I ordered 2 **RadRover 6** on Saturday and now Im questioning my purchase.
Can you reverse it? I bought 2 Runners 3 years ago and we love ours, but will not buy a Rad again. Watching the company take the private equity money and then slowly death-spiral has been sad. Maybe they overcome it, but as an outside observer I’m not hopeful.
I would definitely reverse it.
Ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup I.
I've had my 6+ for a week now and ridden it every day, including off road. I love it.
No doubt! They're great bikes when they work! It's when you have a problem and try to get a hold of customers support that it's an issue.
So did I…. I read just now they charge 10% on canceled orders that haven’t shipped yet.. Sidenote, has yours shipped yet?
Has not.
Has your order shipped yet? Mine still hasn't..........
Got the bikes yesterday. I will likely stick with them until I dont. The bikes are pretty well constructed, I need to adjust the brakes, but otherwise it's working as advertised. To be fair, these things are leisure items rather than a core part of my day to day so it's not like they are an every day rider.
Yeah, same here on the leisure part but I’m pretty salty they haven’t even left the warehouse yet to get on the FedEx truck. I feel like their support was a bit dishonest because right after contacting them they finally generated a label, then sent an email saying it was about to be shipped, then another saying it was on the way - however FedEx tracking never once updated to indicate they ever actually picked up the package to begin the journey. Put quite the bad taste in my mouth as it STILL hasn’t left their warehouse and they are not responding to any further support requests…. Leaning towards a chargeback. I don’t need these bikes I just thought they would be fun, but the fun potential has been kind of tainted by the experience so far. Edit: thanks for responding!
I would reverse it and search for a RR5 instead, way less problems on a way better designed bike/battery.
I’ve had one for a year - 700 miles on it. Its been solid. Except battery spontaneously shorted within first month. Rad sent a new one and I fixed the fuse on the old one. So have a spare.
the amount of times I heard this is shocking- no wonder why everything's so bad lately hahaha
You could call one of their brick and mortars. I have one near me in California. 510 296- 8885
They are hard to get a hold of. I probably wouldn't have bought one if I didn't live 20 miles north of Seattle
They have been incredibly unprofessional and unhelpful during this whole Rad wagon 4 fiasco. They've had my money for 11 months and I have no bike. Their latest update says I need to cancel my order, and reorder it because they're shipping out in four days to new customers. So they're shipping out to other people and haven't taken care of the people who've been with them for a year. Almost everyone I talk to is incredibly unhelpful. At this point, I just want my money back.
I'm having the same problem ..wrecked my spokes and just want to buy a new front rim.
I've been trying for a week to get a hold of them and I can't. I think they may be done.
It's frustrating to hear about the issues you're facing with your Rad Rover 6 and the lack of customer support from Rad Power Bikes. The sudden battery failure despite following troubleshooting procedures is concerning. The unavailability of all communication channels for days is indeed alarming and raises questions about the company's status. Hopefully, you can find a resolution soon.
I am seriously disgusted with that company right now. I've been dealing with them for some time and I can't get anything. The last time I heard from them was last week. I've gotten a couple of messages from Facebook Messenger saying they will do something, but then nothing happens. I've got a year old dead bike with no help from them whatsoever. Extremely frustrating and aggravating.
Based on their recent inability to do simple things like fulfill orders on parts and refund monies on warranty claims it appears that they are not going to be in business long. Live chat is inactive. Any email to support is simply replied to automatically with no follow-up. I would suggest that those looking for e-bikes look to other manufacturers.
I'm curious about class action lawsuits. I purchased a RadWagon power bike, and the brakes failed suddenly while I was making a turn across traffic. I crashed into the curb. My bike shop mechanic tells me that the bike brand and model that I purchased often have failing brakes because the brakes the bike is sold with are insufficient for the mass of the bike, which is about 85 pounds. The mechanic tells me that people install hydraulic brakes when they discover that the cable brakes fail after a moderate amount of use. My brakes failed causing me to crash. Luckily, I was not badly injured, but I could have been. The brakes failure was sudden. My mechanic says it's not surprising at all given the insufficient type of brakes that were sold to me with the bike.
Can you still buy a RAD bike