The Badwagon

[massassi]

I'm going to use this as a bit of a build thread, assuming that's ok.

Background: Once upon a time a 2019 Radwagon was stolen by some unsavory types. they stripped all of the useful parts off of it, including all of the electronics. eventually the police located the bike, and returned it to the owner. he had already bought a replacement with insurance money, so he contacted RAD about getting the replacement parts to bring it back up to speed. This price point didn't end up being significantly less than the price of a new Radwagon. disappointing for him to be sure. Said bike, basically a frame at this point was then put up for free on my local craigslist analogue.

The Bike is[was?] a 2019 Radwagon. Included: frame, fenders, forks, handlebars (with nothing attached) cranks & pedals, derailleur (sans hanger), chain, rear light, and the left side running board. Everything else is gone.

what I've ordered:
1500w hub motor kit with sw900 display
Hyperglide hub installed.
20ah lithium "dolphin" battery
SRAM 1x12 Eagle groupset with PG1210 cassette (11-50t)
gripshift shifter
left side half throttle
cable actuated 2 piston hydraulic brakes
Bolany front shocks/forks
right side running board
front rack
deflopilator
"ape hanger" handlebars
motorcycle style 6.5" round LED headlight


Issues I've had so far:
derailleur hanger is missing, rad doesn't have stock, and cant share a part number or supplier. not because they refuse, but because their staff don't know. I'm trying to track one down still
the headtube needs to be extra long. from this its hard to find a set of shocks that will fit. i ordered a set before i was aware of this issue, and I'm process of seeing if I can get the press fit head tube pressed out of mine, and a longer one pressed in. more to follow on that later.
sourcing a pattern for the deck top. it would be way easier to trace one onto materiel in order to cut it out rather than having to transfer measurements, and guessing for cut outs.
battery placement. the new battery is taller than the stock one, and wont fit between the down tube and the top tube. i have a couple of solutions in mind, but haven't made my mind up yet. though i'm leaning towards mounting on top of the top tube, with a set of Rivnuts, then either mounting a water bottle cage or the controller where the stock battery goes

i'll be starting to take things apart and test fit them all while I'm off around Christmas here. if you guys have suggestions or advice I'm open to it. I've never built a bicycle before. hopefully i can figure out how to do pictures small enough for the forum here, so i can add visual aides.

[massassi]

http://imgur.com/gallery/FDDsNSL

[Ryan]

Any update on this build?

[massassi]

i should have one shortly actually. i got held up by a few issues, and a crazy dog. but i should actually be moving forward shortly lol

[massassi]

*I need to find a way to downsize my photos before I can post them here. MTF on that*

so first things first i finished stripping the bike.

[i will put a pic here when i figure that out]

One interesting thing about this version of the radwagon is that the head tube is about 11 3/4" long. this means that almost every example of a set of shocks wont fit, as the steerer tubes you can buy tend to be 230mm, or 255mm. these don't fit at all. i am working on a solution for this, but it may take more effort than i had initially expected. this has been one of my biggest delays.

once i'd stripped the bike i moved on to pull the rear fender... flairs? what do we call these? cowlings? sidewalls?
anyway. i pulled them, and sanded with the palm sander to provide a good surface grip. then i pained them all a couple of times with an epoxi black appliance finish paint. once re-assembled it looks pretty good i think

[pics of strip/sanding/painting/re-assemble]

the bottom bracket once pulled is identified as a 68mm BSA thread square taper. dont order the wrong BB to start with like i did. that will make you sad.
once i had the new BB installed the rest of the acoustic drivetrain installed quite quickly, and easily.

wheels are assembled and ready to go. Schwalbe Big Apple tyres. 180mm discs. next up torque arm install and wheel mounting.
[pic]

[massassi]

the "acoustic" drivetrain is an SRAM SX eagle Groupset Kit from Ali Express.

170mm cranks, 34T chain ring, 6mm offset, PG1210 cassette (11-12-14-16-18-21-24-28-32-36-42-50T) and a DUB trigger shifter.

i ordered a SRAM grip shifter to keep the handlebars clean.

this kit was a pain to get to me. I'd ordered it originally in October and was told 4-6 weeks for delivery. at the 6 week mark i got a delivery notification from ali express, however there was no package waiting for me when i excitedly ran home. after some back and forthwith the company i got a refund on my order. i waited another 2 weeks and re-ordered essentially the same thing from another company. 6 weeks later i received my groupset. 4 weeks later i received the first one. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with a second groupset, but i only ended up having to pay for one, so maybe I can sell it to drop my total cost on the build.

after scouring the internet for Ape hanger handle bars i finally found a set that can be adapted for my use.

again. pics to follow. sorry guys

[massassi]

finally got my derailleur hanger in the mail the other day. this inspired me to start mounting a few things.

SRAM BB cups mounted. installed the cranks. that all seemed well and good. though it did take a bit of playing around to get the right spacer combination it did however take a bit of effort to install the PAS sensor. the stock one was ruined by the chop shop, so I'd ordered a new one from AliExpress. reasonably cheap. however the 28. 99mm spline didn't play nice with the "standard" diameter magnet disk that comes with the PAS. I ended up cutting the teeth off of it with an olfa knife, then using a half-round  file to open it up until I could just barely slide it on to the spline. tightened everything down and we're good to go.

interestingly the chain that came with this 1x12 drivetrain seems WAY too short to reach as far as required. more to follow on that. this is what happens when you do anything custom - everything has to be custom

Orange Raceface Atlas pedals for the win

[bruce.berkman@gmail.com]

Hi. Which brand/model of hydraulic discs did you use? Any problems, such as cable length?

[Monlee]

Any updates? I have a 2019 Radwagon and i think im about to embark on a custom build of my own at this point. Ive been doing peace meal upgrades so far, suspension seat and seatpost, 35A controller with cruise control, witch is the coolest thing ever on a bike imo lol. All was going fine until i got a 52v battery last week, the new controller is not programmed to recognize 52v, it just thinks something is wrong with the battery and wont send power to the motor as far as i can tell, the brake light still works, it still reads the battery voltage but throttle does not work nor does pedal assist.

So ive always wanted to put a big cassette on this thing anyway, its first gear is not low enough for some of the steeper hills where i live, even with full power. As far as i can tell there is no way to do that with the hub motor so i guess its time to get a mid drive. This is by far the most detailed write up of a build on a rad wagon ive found so far, and if you read this thank you for sharing all you have so far.

[tprater21]

Hi. Which brand/model of hydraulic discs did you use? Any problems, such as cable length?

I'm also interested to know how the brake replacement went. What type and did you need an atypical cable length for the rear brake?
I'm 210 lbs (250 with toddler on the back) and live on a steep and long hill. I find myself adjusting my brakes almost weekly but I'm hopeful that hydraulic brakes will prevent this. 

[jbroehl]

The fork looks like the biggest challenge since no steerer tubes come that long. If you find something off-the-shelf, please share

[Soaked]

I too have the same fork hoping to install but realized steerer tube is too short. I found 300mm tube but need 350 to 380mm. Did you have any success finding or building one?