I got my 2 bikes but have been waiting for over 2 months now for Rad to get the rear racks back in. I've about had my fill waiting. Has anyone found better rear racks for their Rovers? I'm not interested in the Topeaks with quick rack . I'm not changing other gear to match their track design.
Although this really doesn't answer your question I'll explain my experience. Just by luck I was checking the website on 9/10 and saw the orange rack was available. I quickly ordered it, checked the website again a few minutes later and saw the black rack was available. Immediately called the company and tried to switch colors and was told that both racks were sold out. I had signed up for email alerts but never received one. My orange rack arrived a few days after I placed my order.
The black is in stock now. With shipping and taxes, they are $100 - OUCH!!! I believe I will go for the Iberia rack on Amazon for less than half that shipped. Reviews say it works well with the Rad Rovers.
https://amzn.to/32WGQmo
I bought this rack and can confirm it works. See here:
https://www.radowners.com/index.php/topic,318.msg1598.html#msg1598
I just ordered 2 of the Radrover racks and it rang up to $201.00. Almost changed my mind, $30.00 for shipping is robbery but I really wanted this rack.
This might help. Ragd now carries the tail light extension kit seperate. so if you go after market, you can move your tail light.
Got a link for that? Not seeing it available on the RAD website.
@CG31,
I emailed Rad and asked if I could get a discount on accessories since I had recently ordered two bikes, they responded and said when the racks get in stock again to purchase what I want and email the guy and he would refund the shipping. That makes a difference - $30 for shipping is a hard pill to swallow; however, free shipping is good!
Don't know how long you have had your bike, but it may be worth a shot to get your $30 back.
Quote from: SoCoRuss on September 21, 2020, 12:52:27 PM
I got my 2 bikes but have been waiting for over 2 months now for Rad to get the rear racks back in. I've about had my fill waiting. Has anyone found better rear racks for their Rovers? I'm not interested in the Topeaks with quick rack . I'm not changing other gear to match their track design.
I just posted this in another thread but thought I would also do it here as I am extremely satisfied with a rear rack I just installed and saw your comments.....
I have a Rover 5 and just got tired of waiting for the rear rack to be available. I bought and just received today a Ibera bike rack from Amazon and am super delighted with it. Easy to install, I really like the looks and how it fits, it's construction and I particularly liked the price, $38.00. You also have to buy an extension for the brake light and then mount the Rad rear light to the rack. Took me all of about fifteen minutes. If you want, I can take some photos of it tomorrow so you can see how it's mounted on the RAD. The links are below.....
Bike rack
https://amzn.to/3j7xvOc
Extension
https://amzn.to/3ia2jfQ
Be sure to order the blue color, (4 pin) with a 60cm/600mm length.... you will have about four inches to play with depending how you route it.
George
@George3
Thank you.!
I would greatly appreciate photos of the install. How long did you have to wait to get the extender cable?
Thanks again. :)
Jr,
I will post some pictures here tomorrow....
Both the extender and the rack arrived at the same time. Took about 8 days but UPS was delayed a bit due to the hurricane between Texas and Louisiana. The items were mailed from Florida.
George
Quote from: Jr Samples on September 23, 2020, 09:16:46 PM
@George3
Thank you.!
I would greatly appreciate photos of the install. How long did you have to wait to get the extender cable?
Thanks again. :)
Jr,
Here are two photos.... George
Quote from: Jr Samples on September 23, 2020, 09:16:46 PM
@George3
Thank you.!
I would greatly appreciate photos of the install. How long did you have to wait to get the extender cable?
Thanks again. :)
Here are two more....
Geroge,
Thank you. That bike looks great! Just ordered two of them.
Quote from: Jr Samples on September 23, 2020, 09:16:46 PM
@George3
Thank you.!
I would greatly appreciate photos of the install. How long did you have to wait to get the extender cable?
Thanks again. :)
I ordered my cable September 18th. Amazon says delivery will be Nov 12th to Dec 2nd.
Jim
Quote from: jbfoster on September 24, 2020, 02:48:17 PM
Quote from: Jr Samples on September 23, 2020, 09:16:46 PM
@George3
Thank you.!
I would greatly appreciate photos of the install. How long did you have to wait to get the extender cable?
Thanks again. :)
I ordered my cable September 18th. Amazon says delivery will be Nov 12th to Dec 2nd.
Jim
WoW..... that is awhile. Try Bolton bikes, they have one for the Rad at $ 15.00 just remember to order the blue, 4-pin one for the Rad....
https://boltonebikes.com/collections/electrical-accessories/products/sondors-lcd-extension-cable
George
Bolton cable is 15" and is currently out of stock. The one I got off Amazon is 23".
Jim
Jb,
The 23 (60cm) is the way to go. I guess you could use the 15, using the existing Rad cable plus the 15 from Bolton but it seems to me that would be a tight fit. I guess that might depend on what rack you get and what size it is.
On Amazon iI see its 18 Nov-10 Dec delivery with a 2–5 Nov "Fastest Delivery." That still is a long wait. I guess I must have just gotten lucky not that that happens often.....
George
I ordered the Ibera rack from Amazon. Will be here October 1st.
Jim
Wow my rack showed up today From Amazon.
Don't you wish your Rad had been delivered that quick.... did you get the break extension?
George
Quote from: George3 on September 25, 2020, 06:31:18 PM
Don't you wish your Rad had been delivered that quick.... did you get the break extension?
George
No not yet. I'm looking at another month or two
Those of you that have this rack and installed it on a Rad Rover, did you use the spacer on the lower mounting bolt? I read on Amazon reviews that the bolts break there. My guess it's because the bolt is cheap and or because of the spacer. I bet being the screw sticks out and the weight of the rack is on the end of the screw it puts more stress on the screw than if you didn't use the spacer. I really don't understand why the spacer is used. Any reason I can't install the rack without the spacers? I will be going to the hardware store to purchase some screws just in case.
Jim
Jb,
I did not use the spacer. I believe the bolts provided with the rack are of good quality although I have no intention of loading this rack down with any serious weight. It's just there to carry a pump, tube, my binoculars and a few tools in a bag. The screws do not stick out to any significant degree at all. I think the Topeka rack got ripped on Amazon for cheap screws but I was happy to use just two screws that Ibera provided. On the arms from the brake housing I just reused the RAD screws.
A couple of threads back you can view the photos I posted and that should give you an idea of what I am talking about.
George
Quote from: jbfoster on September 25, 2020, 08:07:36 PM...I really don't understand why the spacer is used. Any reason I can't install the rack without the spacers?...
This is just a guess, but they may have included longer bolts and spacers to address possible clearance issues with the frames on some other brands of bikes, where the rack support arms didn't have a straight shot down to the mounting points on or near the dropouts, or maybe to allow the rack to also be used on not so fat/wide rear ends.
If it mounts solidly without the spacers and without having to bend anything excessively, that would seem to be the preferred mounting method in my way of thinking.
Rack installed fine on my Rover fine without the spacers. I think using the spacers put to much stress on the bolts.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
As I mentioned, there is no need to use the spacer on a Rover. You are only using four screws to bolt to the bike, two of which come from the brake bracket, two from Ibera. I used lock-tight sparingly just because I have it in my tool box.
Quote from: George3 on September 24, 2020, 08:32:23 PM
Jb,
The 23 (60cm) is the way to go. I guess you could use the 15, using the existing Rad cable plus the 15 from Bolton but it seems to me that would be a tight fit. I guess that might depend on what rack you get and what size it is.
On Amazon iI see its 18 Nov-10 Dec delivery with a 2–5 Nov "Fastest Delivery." That still is a long wait. I guess I must have just gotten lucky not that that happens often.....
George
Got the cable today. It came sooner than expected. I'm glad I got this 23" one. I don't see how the 15" from Bolton would be long enough for my RadRover 5.
Jim
Happy it arrived early....as I mentioned the 23" gives you a bit extra in length just in case a rack is a bit long...
For my Ibera rack it was perfect. Now, I would like to get the optional front bike light but that puppy has been out of stock since July and I check twice a day and either I missed an opportunity or they are just not available.
George
Quote from: George3 on October 03, 2020, 07:46:34 PM
Happy it arrived early....as I mentioned the 23" gives you a bit extra in length just in case a rack is a bit long...
For my Ibera rack it was perfect. Now, I would like to get the optional front bike light but that puppy has been out of stock since July and I check twice a day and either I missed an opportunity or they are just not available.
George
I got a Ibera rack also. I just looked, didn't know RAD had a premium light. You think 500 Lumens will be bright enough?
I have bought 3 lights from Amazon. I have returned the first two. Just got the third. It says it's 2400 lumens but no way it's that bright. I wonder how many lumens the RadRover 5 stock light is.
Jim
Doing some simple math, Rad says the optional light at 500 lumens, is "more" than twice as bright as the stock headlight. I would be getting it just to be seen better rather than a light for night riding. It's probably a silly upgrade I know.
Did the lights you got on Amazon plug into the Rad battery or were they self powered? Are you doing night riding with it? 2,400 lumens should light up a football field.....
George
Quote from: George3 on October 03, 2020, 08:34:16 PM
Doing some simple math, Rad says the optional light at 500 lumens, is "more" than twice as bright as the stock headlight. I would be getting it just to be seen better rather than a light for night riding. It's probably a silly upgrade I know.
Did the lights you got on Amazon plug into the Rad battery or were they self powered? Are you doing night riding with it? 2,400 lumens should light up a football field.....
George
It's a self powered light. The light is ok. It's know where near 2400 lumens. I ride my Rover to work so it's dark when I leave at 6:30am. It's a 15 minute ride. I think I want the RAD Premium light. Do you think the light will use much of the battery?
Jim
Thanks for the photo of the light.... I am not an electrical engineer but I would say it should have a minuscule affect on the battery, certainly not much more than the stock light, thanks to LED's.
I like to keep my handle bar as clutter free as possible so a light mounted on it is out of the question. I do have a mirror mounted on it but that already has saved me twice so I will not complain about having that.
George
I have that 2400 lumen light too. It lights up a much larger area than the stock Radrunner light on my bike and is decently bright, though probably not 2400 lumens as mentioned.
If you're looking at the Premium headlight check out my video on it. Good comparison to aftermarket options: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up_J5PmKHbU
Quote from: Ryan on October 05, 2020, 11:09:16 AM
If you're looking at the Premium headlight check out my video on it. Good comparison to aftermarket options: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up_J5PmKHbU
I decided to get the Planet Bike Blaze 800 instead of the Premium Light from RAD. Looks like it throws the light in a bigger area so hopefully I can adjust it so I don't blind on coming cars. If not it will go back to Amazon and I will get the Premium light.
Jim
Quote from: George3 on September 23, 2020, 08:58:49 PM
Quote from: SoCoRuss on September 21, 2020, 12:52:27 PM
I got my 2 bikes but have been waiting for over 2 months now for Rad to get the rear racks back in. I've about had my fill waiting. Has anyone found better rear racks for their Rovers? I'm not interested in the Topeaks with quick rack . I'm not changing other gear to match their track design.
I just posted this in another thread but thought I would also do it here as I am extremely satisfied with a rear rack I just installed and saw your comments.....
I have a Rover 5 and just got tired of waiting for the rear rack to be available. I bought and just received today a Ibera bike rack from Amazon and am super delighted with it. Easy to install, I really like the looks and how it fits, it's construction and I particularly liked the price, $38.00. You also have to buy an extension for the brake light and then mount the Rad rear light to the rack. Took me all of about fifteen minutes. If you want, I can take some photos of it tomorrow so you can see how it's mounted on the RAD. The links are below.....
Bike rack
https://amzn.to/3j7xvOc
Extension
https://amzn.to/3ia2jfQ
Be sure to order the blue color, (4 pin) with a 60cm/600mm length.... you will have about four inches to play with depending how you route it.
George
Your setup looks great. I'm afraid to order that extension (4 pin) because if I order it today, it might come while I am away from home, and it would almost certainly get stolen. What kind of stores do you think might sell this kind of thing?
Quote from: jbfoster on September 26, 2020, 01:05:22 PM
I think using the spacers put to much stress on the bolts.
I agree. Having the support bolted directly to the dropout mounts is stronger.