Rode dirt and street motorcycles for over 50 years and now I have a RadCity 5 stepthru and I'm a big guy 270 lbs. I have had mine up to 25 a couple of times downhill pedaling hard. Is the speedometer on this bike considered accurate? I live in north Atlanta. Very hilly and wish many times I had more power for hills. But I don't think I would feel comfortable going much faster on this platform. For more speed with my weight ideally I would want to explore dual disc in front. But right now I'm ok with the speed just want more torque for steeper hills. Anything reliable under $2k like this out there? Thanks
I weighed 255 when I got my Radrunner. Performance was disappointing. It was advertised at 750 watts, but mine put only 500 on the tire. It was advertised at 80 newton meters but would slow almost to a stop on a grade requiring 52.
I went back to check the Ebike Review video, featuring the Radpower founder and two of the staff, that had sold me on the bike. Calculations showed that their demo bikes were putting more than 2,000 watts on the wheel, 4 times more than mine.
A 35-amp controller from Bolton fixed me up. There's plenty of torque, and power is more than twice stock.
My Radmission, advertised at 500 watts, put only 350 on the wheel. I would have accepted that, but the control buttons were unreliable. I put on a 25-amp controller and display from Electro Bike World. Now I'm getting 750 watts on the wheel. I don't often use much power, but it's pretty brisk when I do. On both bikes, the motors stay pretty cool.
I'm sure the Radmission motor would have handled a 35-amp controller, but I wasn't sure it would fit the space between the seat tube and the fender. To prevent slipping, I applied RTV to the tube and let it cure. Then I secured the controller with 120-lb, -40 F zip ties.
On both bikes, the odometers are accurate unless the terrain is very bumpy. That leads me to believe the speedometers are also accurate.