I checked this morning, and the Mini ST is no longer available. So my wife and I had a discussion, and she asked what the difference was between the Mini and the Expand. I told her the main things were that the Expand had no suspension and no display (aside from the little LED's), then I suddenly realized I have a new suspension fork in the garage, along with the leftover display from my RadMini 4.

My question is; is the RadMini 4 display the same as the display upgrade Rad sells for the Expand? And is the RadMini front fork compatible with the Expand?

Most of you know I've been running a Phaserunner controller for several months. I made most of the wiring harness from scratch, but there were a few bits of original wiring that remained due to the connectors. I had purchased a device called a Battery Blender (also known as the Dx2 in the UK) last summer, but sent it back because it could only handle 30 amps. The device allows the connection of multiple batteries of different voltages, and when they came out with higher powered units, the company I purchased the device from had offered to send the 90 amp version to me at no extra charge. Installing the Battery Blender the way *I* wanted to meant moving my primary power connections to someplace accessible, so I picked underneath the front of my rear rack.

The last weak link in the electrical system happened to be the most important, and that was the main power feed to the controller itself. This link still had the two pin Rad connector in case I needed to switch out the Phaserunner, but after two thousand miles, I think it's proved it's reliability. I have purposely kept my power levels down because of this connection only having 16 gauge wires, and I pulled the wiring apart, I found the connectors on both ends had overheated.

The new wiring is 12 gauge from the batteries, and the main line to the controller is now 10 gauge instead of 16.

I'm still working out a technical issue with the Battery Blender, but the new wiring alone gave the bike a power boost even without changing the controller settings. After testing, I upped the controller power to 2800 watts and tested some more, and all the wiring stayed cold. Like mentioned earlier, my wiring "hub" is now under the rear luggage rack, and in the photos below the bike is upside-down with the rear fender and wheel removed. The black mount for the loose connectors was custom made out of XT-90 panel mounts, and spark-less XT-90s were used all around.

I've been keeping my eye open for winter traction enhancements, and studded snow tires are not available for 20 x 3.3 tire sizes that Rad uses on some models.
However, I spoke with SlipNot Traction, and they have added this size to their product listing. This size will fit the RadMini, RadMini ST, RadRunner, and Radrunner Plus. They  also appear to have sizes for the Radwagon 4, RadRover, RadCity 5, and RadMission.

The larger sizes have been available before, but this is the first time they have listed the 20 x 3.3 inch size. For those who are not familiar with them, the SlipNot Bicycle Traction System is basically tire chains for bikes, and in the independent reviews I've seen, they are very effective on snow and ice. I'm not affiliated in any way, but and posting this infor because I know others have also been looking for winter traction solutions. Link is below, and I'll do a review once I get mine!

https://www.slipnottraction.com/

I was on a group ride this week that went into the night, and a couple of Onewheel riders had their batteries give up early. I stopped with the first one, and his battery was too low for the computer to balance the device, so I could not tow him behind the bike to recharge his Onewheel. I stayed with him while he walked for a bit, but he said he was fine and his phone was working. The problem at this point is the group was about a half mile away, and I had no idea where they would go if they turned out of sight. So, I switched to mode 3 and cranked it open! I only had one battery this time and wasn't running at full amperage, and the voltage was sagging more because of that, but I was surprised at how well it got going on flat pavement (pic below).

Then the second Onewheeler battery died, and I towed him for a mile and a half with his regen brakes on to charge his unit. It charged his battery back up to 13%, but there was a problem with his board. So I removed my rack bag, and someone else carried his Onewheel while he rode on my rear rack for the 3 mile trip back. So high speed chasing, plus towing with the brakes on, plus carrying two adults, and the Rad took it all in stride.

JoseM beat me to it 😁, but I'm posting this as a conversion because it required some changes to the bike. The setup just before this was a Phaserunner controller, Tesla batteries, and a 750 watt "upgrade" motor. The bike was at the place where I was happy with the performance, control, and range. So what was the problem? The motor was the weak link in the system. The batteries are great, the controller will handle up to 7000 watts, but the motor itself was at it's limit and I had to be careful. The new motor is a Bafang RM C062.1000.D 06, and produces more torque at the same power levels, without stressing itself.

There were two major things to overcome. One is that the motor casing was different, which required the wheel be disassembled and re-laced. The second is that, in my case, the connector was different. They do have the Julet connector available (same as Rad uses), but mine has the L1019 connector which screws together. I could have cut up my custom harness, but decided to just order the part which made it ALMOST plug and play 😂

The bigger deal was getting the new motor casing laced into the wheel, and after having some difficulty fitting it into my schedule, I decided to do it myself.

I took measurements after the tire was off, and recorded the spacing of the brake rotor on one side, and the inside of the spoke flange on the other. I loosened the spokes in steps to prevent the rim from being pulled out of round, then removed the spoke in pairs (photo 1) and my assistant put them on the new motor. Then came putting the spokes back onto the rim, and once I recognized the over/under pattern, it was pretty easy. I installed the spoke nipples with two threads showing on each spoke, then systematically began tightening them up. After that I put the brake rotor back on (photo 2), then mounted the wheel on the upside-down bike to "true" the wheel. With a cable tie on the fender brace, I cut the cable tie so it was almost touching the rim (photo 3). First came centering the wheel vertically in relationship to the axle centerline (I don't want to be bouncing up and down!), then making sure the rim is "round". The last step is adjusting for any left to right variations, and once that was done, I re-installed the rim liner, tire, Tannus Armour liner, and the tube. When I mounted the wheel on the bike for the final time, I used an additional torque washer on the outside of the left, and gently applied rotational pressure to the axle when tightening the nuts, in the direction the axle would naturally go when the motor torque is applied. If anyone would like a more detailed description of why I did this, let me know.

For the electrical side (and this is different because of the Phaserunner), I took off the old motor connections, and installed the new section between the controller and motor which consists of the three phase wires, the hall sensor wires, and connections for speed and motor temperature. The motor cable comes out of the left side instead of the right, and goes between the frame and the brake rotor (photo 4), so you'll need a cable tie to keep the rotor from damaging it. My cable had a big unprotected section where the wires go to the three different connectors, so I had to be creative with the shrink tubing to protect it. With the wiring done, you have to program the Phaserunner for the new motor. This motor is oriented the opposite way from the Rad and Bolton motors (to allow the cable on the other side), but there's a setting to handle that. I loaded the parameters for the "Bafang G60 Fat" motor into the Phaserunner setup program on my laptop, then ran "Autotune" before making any other adjustments.

On the first test ride with the same power levels as the old motor, the extra torque was obvious. Even in class 2 economy mode, the bike felt perky and satisfying. I could feel it in class 3 and unlimited modes as well. So, I'm a happy camper, and I don't have to worry about pushing the motor too hard to get the results. Again, let me know if you have any questions!

Below is a photo of two motors, and I want you to vote for the one I should use in my RadMini.

Left motor or right motor?

I found that there are weekly PEV group rides in Detroit every Thursday evening. I went this past week, and most of the riders were on Onewheels, but there were also five e-bikes and one monowheel. The pace was nice and comfortable, about 10 to 12mph most of the time, and the lead riders were on Tern cargo bikes (GSD S10, I believe).

The ride itself was good, and it was surprising how many people on the streets cheered and waved as we passed. I was also surprised at how much bike infrastructure has been expanded, and how "chill" drivers were with our presence.  We looped through the heart of downtown, went through Corktown and Mexican Village, then stopping at a taco stand for a quick bite. The ride was about 15 miles, so the range is fine for most e-bikes, though some of the Onewheelers were getting a bit low 😉. It was fun and I'll be back, and I may even come downtown on my own just to explore and ride the Dequindre Cut and Riverwalk.

I was on the lookout for a bigger battery to go in the RadMini stock location, and contacted Unit Pack Power. They had an "off the menu" version and made it available, so I placed the order. The battery is a 52v 19.2aH unit, with Tesla 2170 cells instead of the usual 18650. The battery worked out great, allowing me to have range to spare on most trips, without needing to carry my heavy rack battery. This battery is thicker (front to back when mounted) at 137mm, so II had to put a spacer on the forward mount of the rear fender.

Things were looking good, and then I got a message from a guy who wanted to give me a 52v 20Ah battery from Brick Lithium, also made of Tesla cells. The plan is to make a shell for the battery and mount it where my normal rack battery usually goes, but as a temporary measure, I put in in my rack bag. For wiring, I made an 8 inch extension with XT-60 connectors on both ends, then got rid of the huge Anderson connector that was the input from my rack battery, and replaced that with an XT-60 as well.

So now I'm running both batteries in parallel for a total of 39.2aH, and the bike feels downright happy. I should note that the new Tesla battery weighs 5 pound less than the Joyisi rack battery, and affects the bike handling far less. Pics are below as usual, and let me know if you have any questions!

   

The Phaserunner on my bike is setup with a three position switch, and the controller is configured use the three positions as different configurations or modes.
For a while I've had modes configured as follows:
Mode 1 = Class 2
Mode 2 = Class 3
Mode 3 = Unrestricted

It worked out well, but I found that I had no use for Class 3. The only difference between Class 2 and 3 is that Class 3 allows the pedal assist to work up to 28mph, and the RadMini gearing for the pedals is designed for a comfortable pace at 20mph.
What I decided to do is get rid of the class 3 settings and reconfigure modes 1 and 2, and create an economy mode.  As it stands right now, the modes are configured as follows:
Mode 1 = Eco mode (20mph max, class 2 compliant)
Mode 2 = Limited to 28mph, but optimized specifically for cruise control.
Mode 3 = Unrestricted, but power limited to 1800 watts.

This has been working out very well, and on the last group ride, I had plenty of battery AND performance. The really nice thing about the Phaserunner is that you can be in economy mode, using the throttle and pedal assist at the same time, and just flip the mode switch. It transitions smoothly to whatever the new power, PAS, and speed limit setting are, and you don't have to pause or stop pedaling.

Pedal assist is working smoothly, and the only recent adjustment was making power engagement for pedal assist more gradual so it didn't "jump back on the power" too suddenly. 


Waterproofing

Well, water resistance, actually. The Phaserunner controller is itself submersible, but those connector sure are not! I went through and did triple sealing of those bulky JST connectors, with shrink wrap tubing on the cable and connector shell, then I made the connection and slid a large piece of tubing to close it up. There are some un-used connectors, and I covered those and sealed the ends. A huge help in this process is a heat gun for the tubing... SO much easier and more effective. Afterwards I got caught in a storm, and rode fast for ten miles in pouring rain. The mode switch on the handlebars got wet and the modes got weird, and I had to hold my hand over the headlight switch which has ZERO water resistance, but the wiring itself handled the storm with flying colors.

Let me know if you have any questions!

I had such a great time that I went back for for more riding in Delaware this past weekend. The event did not get rained out this time, and Spark Cycleworks was there with their e-mopeds. We had a dozen riders this time, with several Super73's and bikes from Spark, Juiced, Ariel Rider, and a couple of custom bikes built by e-bike genius Bomber Marv. I was not the only Rad bike this time, as RadAlec was there with his modified RadRunner. What was cool is both bikes were black and we were both wearing blue polo shirts, so we matched pretty well, lol.

Two people had to get flat tires fixed before the ride even started, then we started from the Lewes Cycle bike shop, and rode the roads to the trails. The great thing about Lewes is there are bike lanes everywhere, and the main street itself the car lane is also the bike lane with a 25mph speed limit for cars and bikes alike. The bike paths were a mix of paved and crushed stone, and dirt in a few places. The trail through Henlopen campgrounds had lots of sand dunes, and we found out that the Ariel Rider Grizzly with all wheel drive was best in the deep sand. Bomber Marv's Black Lightning was great too, but I think that's because he's so skilled. The Spark Bandits were heavy and had no traction, and you would think the Super73's would do well in sand, but they just didn't have the power. Even though the RadMini was not AWD, it had the advantage of having lighter weight and tons of torque, so it plowed though the sand well enough for Shreddie to say it was "crushing it".

Unfortunately, the Ariel Rider ran into problems in the sand. First the front motor stopped working, then it quit with burning smells coming from the controllers. Shreddie had to pedal the 100+ pound bike back, so I went with him, regretting that I didn't bring the bicycle tow cable with me this time. The Spark Cycleworks crew met us at the Delaware ferry with their truck, and they GAVE him a Bandit moped! We went for dinner at the DogFish Head Brewings and Eats and unfortunately they seated us in the outside dining area in near 90 degree heat.

A super73 had a flat tire on the trail, and it turned out that it was the same tire the bike shop had repaired. Despite the tube having Slime in it, they had used a patch, and she only made it 10 miles before the patch failed. We put a new tube in and she was good to go, and the couple bout the "pit crew" drinks at dinner 😊
After the pit stop I sped up to catch the other's and the RadMini caught some big air going over the bridge. I was not expecting to remain in the air that long, and I had the throttle on, and the controller didn't like the free spinning motor suddenly landing like that (my bad). It cut power thinking there was a problem, but it was fine after I turned the bike off and back on.

I'm happy to report that I had no battery issues this time. The 20 mile ride turned into 30 plus miles, and the sand sucks a lot of power, but I was fine with the 20AH rack battery and a 13AH Unit Pack Power battery running in parallel. Five of the bikes needed recharging while we ate, but mine was fine and I didn't bother. The batteries were around 48% when we ended the ride, so they worked as expected.

We got on a crushed rock trail and three of us guys decided to speed up, and we left everyone behind. Marv was in front on the 50mph Black Lightning as usual, with the RadMini and a Juiced Hyperscrambler 2 not far behind. I stayed side by side with the Hyperscrambler, and intentionally let him go ahead on the turns, but it was clear I was holding back. I kinda wanted to see if I could catch up with the Black Lightning, but I didn't want to leave one friend behind trying to catch another.

Then after all that chasing each other through the twists and turns, we go to shoot the music video that Shreddie usually does, then I do a flyby and a skid, and crash. It was pretty dramatic, with the bike flipping one way then the other, and I almost saved it, until the wheels went off the trail into leaves and pine needles, and it was lay it down or hit the trees. The front wheel was turned sideways when it hit a tree, but that was better than my body hitting the tree. I think? Anyway, I got up and the handlebars were pointing left and the wheel pointing right, so I had to twist them back into position. I though the handlebar stem was bent, but it turns out the bottom and top twisted differently, so loosening the bolts top and bottom and lining it up properly took care of it. The front fork did get tweaked, but it rides fine. I'll try and straighten it later, but you have to look hard to notice.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, and we returned to the bike shop where we started. Shreddie wanted to ride some more, so RadAlec and I went to a lot near Shreddie's house so the truck could drop off the dead Ariel Rider. The Spark crew tried out a Huck Cycles Stinger and an Onyx RCR. Both bikes are fast, 50 to 60mph, but the Onyx was hopped up further by Bomber Marv, and seems like it could hit 70mph. Crazy stuff. The three of us said goodbye to the Spark gang, then the three of us rode to the campgrounds in the dark to meet with one of the riders who had his camper there. We relaxed and snacked on smore's, then headed back. It was then that I discovered my car alternator was acting up, but it made it back to my hotel ok. The next day was Sunday and Shreddie wanted to ride some more, so I booked another night at a hotel, and they let me check in early. I took advantage of that, and since the car was acting up, I took the Rad to three different stores looking for an automotive battery charger. The third stop was an auto parts store, and I bought a charger then headed back.

Then Shreddie sent me a text, we met up, and just the two of us rode exploring for about 30 miles, catching the sunset and everything. It was a great weekend, and I left in the morning because I wanted to leave on that note. By the way, the car alternator began working again, made it all the way home through a big storm with tornados, then quit when I was halfway up my driveway! Definitely some divine intervention going on there! I picked up a new alternator the next day and put it in, and all is good now.

I was supposed to go on a group ride memorial day weekend, but it got postponed, and it was too late to cancel the hotel. So I went anyway, and when the weather cleared on Monday, I had a group ride with Shreddie and some friends. The RadMini did very well, and actually turned out to be the second fastest bike there, beating the Super73's in drag racing and top speed. I was able to do 36mph on level ground, and on the Indian River Inlet bridge in Delaware, the RadMini hit 41 mph. The YouTube video on this ride should be coming out soon, and the long overdue video from Rusty Roads should be out soon as well.

It was a blast and we all had fun, only problem is my new battery gave up early, dying after 64 miles. I'm contacting the company to see about replacing that battery, after I do more testing on it. I had gotten 73 miles of throttle only from the old battery, so only 64 miles on pedal assist indicates something is wrong. I'll post some pictures later on.

Sorry I haven't been as active lately. My sister passed away, my brother just got out of the hospital, my wife is caring for a friend, and we had an unexpected houseguest when her mother dropped her off and went out of town!

But all is well, and I've been doing LOTS of Rad riding! Many of you know I've been working on upgrades, and the Phaserunner has been working well. It's almost the perfect controller for me, gliding silently through the woods at low speed like an original Rad, AND having a little extra power. It comes in handy though, and I had a situation this week where a paved bike path ended abruptly, and I had to use the road which had no bike lane or shoulder. I tried waiting until traffic cleared, but it didn't, so I found a large gap and "took the lane". It worked out well, and when the light changed at the next intersection, I stayed in traffic until a convenient left turn came up 
Today I'll be replacing some temporary wiring I had installed because it's solid core (all I could find in stores at the time), and solid core wire does not last long with flexing.

I haven't had a flat bicycle tire for decades, despite rolling right over broken glass a few times with the Kenda tires. Then I install the Tannus Armour liners and tubes, and get a flat! It happened when the bike was just sitting there, so that was fortunate. There was no tire damage, and no liner damage. I took out the tube, and found a knife-like cut on the inside surface of the tube, in addition to a stem which was not glued properly, and a molding defect in the tube.

What I think happened, is a quality inspector found the defects, and slashed the tube as a way of marking it and making sure it was pulled off the production line. However, the slash did not go all the way through, so the tube held air, and it held air for me... for about six weeks! I contacted the company, and they suggested I damaged the tube and asked for photos (I did not expect that!), so we shall see. I've lost count of the tires I've installed and repaired for other people (I was the neighborhood bike mechanic and builder). I install my tires and tubes by hand, without tools, so it's not likely my fingers made that cut!

I took the liners out and re-installed my original Rad tubes, but even though the tires are lighter and the "feel" of the bike is livelier this way, I bought another tube locally to put the liners back in. The ride with the liners is less jarring over small bumps and cracks, and the tires seem to have better contact with the road, so I think it's worth the slight loss in efficiency.

I went out to one of the local Metroparks for a ride, and was stopped by a chap who builds e-bikes. He's build about 15 of them so far, all of them with mid drive BBSHD motors. We ended up talking and riding with his wife and another couple, and had a mini group ride! Turns out they have local group rides, and they took my number so I could be invited to upcoming events. They had heard of Rad Power bikes before, but had not ridden with them before apparently, and they were impressed with the torque. We rode for about five miles before one of them said "Wait, does that FOLD?!". Why yes... yes it does 😁

I had a situation where a sharp edge of my battery mounting plate decided to take advantage of the wires pressed against it. The result was a short which only made itself known when I plugged a cable into the display USB port, sending 52 volts back through the controller the wrong way. Sparks were made, but all the safeties worked, and the only damage was the controller itself losing it's mind. I carved out the wiring passage to make it bigger, removed all the edges, repaired the wiring, and added multiple layers of tough insulation. I installed a 35 amp controller replacement, but have a 100 amp Phaserunner controller on the way.

The 35 amp will remain on the bike for a while as I build out the wiring harness for the Phaserunner. This controller does not have inputs for brakes or pedal assist, as those go through the Cycle Analyst display. It's quite a bit different, and I want to sort everything out before installing it on the bike. The power will be turned down to the same levels I have now, or even a bit less. This will solve my noise and glitch problems with the 35 amp controller, but will also enable full computer programming and field weakening.

I was invited to a group ride in York Pennsylvania last weekend, and it was an absolute blast. There were six of us, and the collection of e-bikes was two X-Class Ariel Riders, a Juiced Scorpion, a Juiced Hyper Scrambler 2, a custom bike built by Bomber Marv, and of course one RadMini. We rode through the upper portion of the Heritage Rail Trail, then headed downtown to have lunch before heading back. We were going to complete the whole trail, but the Juiced Scorpion had unexpected battery issues. The trail gets interrupted by the city itself, and that was my first time group riding in traffic using the whole lane.

The Ariel Riders are a class act and very nice. The Hyper Scrambler 2 has a very beefy frame that looks like it will last forever, and dual batteries. The Juiced Scorpion was ok, but not my style. The battery issue was likely from a cell going bad, or from a cell or two being out of balance because the battery pack had not been used in a while. Bomber Marv's custom bike was probably the fastest, but most of the time we were doing about 12 to 18 mph. We did have a couple of breakaway speed runs, with the two Ariel Riders taking off, and I decided to join in the fun for the heck of it. Then the custom bike and the Hyper Scrambler did a breakaway, I took off after them to see where they were going, then one of the Ariel Riders joined the pursuit. The RadMini did well and had no issues, aside from a touchy throttle, but the best part of the ride was the people. A great bunch and all of them was like a friend, including their dogs!

The ride was filmed and will be on YouTube in a week or so, but I'll let you know. A few frames from my own camera (on the front of the Mini) are below.

I've been busy with lots of things going on, so I have not been posting as much, but I have been doing upgrades and accessories!

Media
After being disappointed multiple times, I upgraded my camera game and went with a GoPro Hero 8 Black, an official GoPro mic adapter, and a Rode professional grade lav mic. Accompanying the camera was a 64 GB memory card and an extra battery. Oddly, no charger for the two batteries, so I ordered an Artman storage container that holds and charges three batteries.

Storage
For the bike itself I ordered a new rack bag because the Sahoo 8 liter bag I adore got a rip. The exact bag no longer available, so I had to settle for a similar replacement. I also picked up some panniers which look good, but I have not decided if I like the clean but tall look of the rack bag, or the lower but larger panniers which also hide my rack battery.

Utility
I lost my Stanley mini multitool, which had all the basics, a knife sharp enough to do surgery with, and a secret phone stand. I replaced it with one from an auto parts store which turned out to be junk, so I'm taking it back. My tire pressure game was upgraded by a Topeak smartgauge, which has an air release button. This is important for me because I change my tire pressure almost daily depending on riding conditions and location. I also picked up a Tow-Whee bicycle tow strap. This is made for bike and I got the adult version. I did have an opportunity to use it last week. A friend on a Juiced Scorpion ran out of juice (bad battery cell), and I offered to tow her back, but she was uncomfortable with that.

Parts
My stock pedals are completely shot. The bearings are gone and the pedals wobble and squeak, so I replaced them with MZYRH mountain bike pedals which have wider platforms, better pins, and excellent bearings. I also ordered a new 52 volt battery because the prices are bout to go up, and my current 52 volt fame battery has a 30 amp BMS and I need a 40!

Let me know if you need any pictures!

Several have asked for a range test on my Rad mini with the new 52 volt dual batteries. I decided to test the range on each battery separately, simply because it would take about 5 hours of riding to deplete them both. For part one, I tested the Joyisi 52 volt, 20 aH battery which mounts to a plate in my rear rack. This was a near-worst case scenario on purpose. Throttle only with the pedal assist turned off, speeds between 15 and 20 mph, wind so strong that I wore the motorcycle helmet just to protect against flying debris and windburn, tire pressure set to a squishy 19 PSI, and climbing steep hills at 20mph. I also used cruise control a lot, which hurts battery life because it is always feeding some power to the system to keep the speedometer accurate, and it will crank up the power maintaining speed on every hill. I rode every last foot of paved bike trail in three interconnected Metroparks, and spent most of my time in the one with the most hills. Oh, and I used my display USB port to charge my rearview camera display, and it drew enough power to make the USB cable warm.

The results of this throttle only test was 44.56 miles.

It could have been longer, but blasting up steep hills draws a lot of power. The controller finally cut power to the conroller before I made it back to my car, but since I had the other battery with me, I just turned off the low battery and turned on the other battery. Overall I'm pretty happy with the results, and am looking forward to testing the other battery as well for part 2. Stay tuned!

"Hi. My name is Steve, and it has been two weeks since my last e-bike charge"

Ok, ok... I know that was corny, but I actually am charging my RadMini batteries for the first time in 17 days. I wasn't trying to do a range test, but rather I was trying to verify settings for my display with the 52 volt batteries. That bit worked and the battery meter on the bike display is accurate now (setting P5=25), or at least as accurate as you can get with four measly bars. But in the process of doing that, I also had data logs from the rides and could add the mileage up.

Since the weather has been bad, I was forced to do multiple short rides. With the main purpose being to drain the batteries, about half of the riding was throttle only or using cruise control. The weather was cold of course, and three of the rides were done in single digit temperatures (°F).

After 8 rides, I managed to get the battery level down to 25% after 70.19 miles.

Keep in mind that this percentage is "at rest" with the bike just sitting there. When riding around with the throttle, the percentage drops to 18% or lower depending on how hard you use the throttle. It felt like I could have gone another five miles, but decided to call it quits because I could force the low battery cutoff by going top speed at full throttle and holding it there. I'm happy to report that this controller only cuts power to the motor for a few seconds, then you can continue using light throttle or pedal assist. Top speed with the battery this low is 22 mph, and it cut off after going a quarter mile in this state. After 15 seconds, the controller turned the motor back on by itself, and I was able to ride back using moderate throttle at about 15mph. I'll be doing a "real" range test when the weather warms up, and will report back when I do. I will probably not being doing a "PAS 1 only" range test because I don't have that much patience, and I don't feel like sweating that much! Let me know if you have any questions!

The original Rad battery display had 5 'bars' or segments in the battery icon, and it was pretty accurate. The KT-LC3 display that I'm using now only has 4 bars, and leaves me guessing more than I like. When I converted to 52 volts, the battery icon became useless despite the battery monitoring mode selected. So I shopped around, and found an independent display that is programmable and removes the guesswork. The battery icon has 7 segments, and the unit displays this, plus the battery voltage and exact percent, all at the same time. And if you do drain your battery all the way, a red lightning bolt flashes on the screen, and you can program it to actually sound an alert at a voltage you choose. This would come in handy of you are cruising along and enjoying the view, and would give you an audible beep at 20% as a reminder.

The most difficult part of installation was mounting, and I settled on an unused handlebar clamp I had cut off another device. The only open spaces on my handlebars were curved, so I chose the left side, affixed an angled plastic support to level the display, then affixed the display to the new mounting pad. I normally don't use hot melt glue in cases like this, but I needed something that would also act as a filler, and I used the higher temperature version. I had difficulty finding suitable wire (didn't want speaker wire or lamp cord), so I used a thin headphone extension cable and cut off the ends. The cable was routed along with the other wires from the handlebars, through the frame loops, and down under the crank, then it was run back up to the main Anderson connector for the rear battery. I disassembled the Anderson connectors and soldered the wires to the terminals, and the wires are so thin that they act as a fusible link in the event of a short.

Connected at this point on my particular bike, the battery meter will display the voltage of whatever battery or batteries happen to be live at the moment. As a bonus, I can check individual battery voltages by turning on one battery at a time. This is a big deal for me, as it means I don't need a voltmeter anymore. The meter is programmable, and I have mine set to L-14 for Lithium Ion battery, 14 cells. The cell are referred to as "strings" in the instructions, and it can be a bit confusing the way it is worded. The simple way to determine the correct number is to take the voltage of your battery pack, for example 52 volts in my case, and divide it by 3.7 which is the nominal voltage for an individual lithium ion cell. 52/3.7=14.05, so I rounded off to the nearest whole number and set mine to 14. The normal Rad battery pack is 48 volts, working out to 48/3.7=12.97, so you would use 13 as your setting.

A link to the meter is below, and even if you choose a different meter, some of these installation tips may be helpful.
https://amzn.to/3cRArN4