After 350 miles, I happened to exert side pressure on my Radmission before mounting, and the front wobbled. The nut on the front-wheel skewer had worked loose. If I hadn't discovered the wobble, it might have loosened enough for the wheel to drop off past the lawyer lips. That could be deadly.

I removed my skewer so I could order the kind that tightened with a wrench, and it would fit correctly. That's when I noticed something baffling: a washer 4mm thick under the nut. The bike had come that way, with the skewer assembly clamping the forks to the plastic base. The forks fit the base as snugly as they fit the wheel, so there was no need for an extra piece as packing material. Besides, this washer was outside the forks, under the nut. I assumed this was how Radpower intended the assembly to be used.

I would have expected a shipping washer to be plastic or aluminum. This washer is stainless steel that responds strongly to a magnet. I think that means it's hard enough for cutlery. To resist loosening, a skewer nut clamps the fork with a serrated surface. Instead, I'd had a hard, smooth washer.

Why would Radpower assemble their bike with a washer like that?

Yesterday, I was mounting my Radmission when I noticed a wobble on the front end. After 350 miles, my QR had loosened. That was dangerous. I was sure I had mounted it properly, as I had on my Radrunner, which I rode daily for nearly 2 years.

Lots of experienced riders have had front QRs loosen. Some have been badly injured. A helmet didn't keep one rider from being paralyzed when his wheel came off.

A German study published in 1960 showed that the most common cause of unscrewing is back-and-forth transverse sliding. A QR mounts in slots, and the short cam lever may not clamp it tightly enough to insure against a bit of sliding from disk braking or bumps. That seems to be why mine loosened.

The QR was invented in 1927, when a racer had to stop and reverse the back wheel in order to change sprockets for different gearing. Otherwise, the conventional axle, secured by a wrench on each side, is better. QRs took over because they are slightly cheaper to produce.

There are retrofit solid axles, but an upgrade may not fit my hub. There are also bolt-on skewers, using nuts at both ends instead of a cam. They are marketed to prevent the casual theft of wheels but also allow more clamping force, which could prevent loosening.

Has anyone here tried a bolt-on skewer?

My Radrunner battery fits inconveniently tightly. My Radmission was worse. Even getting it seated enough to lock was difficult. To get it loose, I'd use a piece of 2 x 4 with one end cut at 30 degrees to a point. I'd wedge it behind the battery and pry against the seat tube.

The carrier screwed to the bike engages three tabs on each side of the battery case. The two middle tabs had the least clearance. I used playing cards to press a nail file flat against the bottom of each tab. Each card is about 0.3mm thick. Typical paper is about 0.1mm thick. I cut a couple of paper rectangles to supplement by cards in order to shim the file in increments of 0.1mm. I've done all the tabs, and the battery goes in and out much more easily.

I like zip ties on bikes. They stay quiet and tight and won't damage paint. I used two to attach my chain guard. A few days later, I snipped them to modify the shape. I used the same kind of zip ties for reinstallation. The first one broke before I pulled it tight. I tried another. Same problem.

The original installation was at 50 F. The attempted reinstallation was at 30 F. I learned that nylon zip ties typically won't work below 40 F.

They make cold-weather zip ties of a nylon that's useful to -40 C, and they've been tested at -20 C. What's more, the new ones I bought have a tensile strength of 120 pounds. That means I can pull them tighter to prevent slipping. In the photo I've left a little on the ends for a few days in case I decide to pull them tighter.

I have to roll my Radmission 5475 feet for the trip meter to indicate 1.0 mile. It seems it's set for 26" tires, not the 27" tires the bike uses. Does a Radpower LCD upgrade have a setup menu?

I hated having to put a garter around my cuff so it wouldn't get caught in the oily chain. I bought a chain guard months ago but couldn't figure out how to mount it on my Radmission.

Three doors down the street today a beautiful woman said Merry Christmas. I thought she must have been an elf because I'd never seen her before and something popped up in my head. I tried it out in a jiffy, and it worked. No more cuff garter for me!

I've had chronic problems missing downshifts with my LCD upgrade. I've had no trouble with the Bolton display/button pad on my Radrunner.

On my Radmission two days ago, I noticed that if I held the down button 1/2 second or longer, it would fail to downshift. If I held it 1 second, the motor would start in walk mode. I tried it several times. That's much quicker than my Bolton unit, which requires 3 seconds for walk mode.

Yesterday I tried it again. This time it took approximately two seconds to enter walk mode, and now I had approximately a second, not half a second, to let the button up if I wanted to shift down. I tried it several times with the same results.

How long does yours take to enter walk mode?

When I started riding my Radrunner, a helmet seemed vital. With the seat up in pedaling position, the angles from my hips down to the pedals and from my shoulders down to the handlebars were so steep that I could be thrown headlong. That changed after two months when I bought a layback seat post. Now my hands and feet braced me. Dutch bikes have a similar seating position. Two thirds of their trips are by bicycle. They don't wear helmets on that style of bike because they don't get thrown headlong.

I wore a helmet ten more months, but on freezing days I'd wear a knit cap, instead. With a year of experience, I felt qualified to say my risk of head injury was almost as small as it would be on foot. I quit wearing a helmet.

Usually I ride bareheaded, but if it's rainy or cold or the sun is low, I wear this.
https://amzn.to/3EbpLqd

After 30 years of wearing straw hats in summer and a Stetson in winter, I bought a cowboy hard hat in 2018 because it was heavy enough not to blow off, and it didn't need a rain cover. I don't ride over 25 mph, and that much wind won't knock this hat off.

It's better than a knit cap in cold weather because it keeps wind off my head, face, and neck.

Rain falls faster than I ride, so the brim protects not only my eyes but my face and neck, and that keeps water from passig under the collar of my waterproof jacket.

If the sun is low i grab my hat because the brim is an effective visor that can be precisely adjusted by tipping my head.

Pressure loss in my Radrunner tires disgusted me. I finally installed a different brand of inner tube. They hold pressure much better.

Ten days ago I set the pressure in my Radmission tires at 45. Today it was down to 40 and 35. Where do they get these porous tubes?

Butyl inner tubes appeared in WWII because rubber plantations were in Japanese hands. Butyl tubes became standard because they weren't porous like natural rubber tubes. I used to ride English bikes year round, with 1-3/8 x 26" tires at 60 psi. A bicycle had a pump to repair punctures. Otherwise, pressure never got low.

I want to replace my OEM tubes. Are there any these days that don't leak?

I installed the Radpower LCD display on my Radmission about 10 days ago. I began having trouble immediately, and it got worse. I thought maybe I didn't always have my thumb squarely on the right button.

Today I used contact cement to stick little rectangles of inner-tube rubber on the key caps so that I can tell by feel that my thumb is squarely on the correct button and that I'm depressing it fully.

All work fine when I'm stationary. When I'm rolling, the up button is erratic. Perhaps half the time, it will fail to shift or double shift. It seems like it could simply be dirt on the contacts, but I don't know how to open the button enclosure to check.

Has anybody serviced the button unit?

I got the Bolton upgrade for my Radrunner 20 months ago and never had any trouble with the switch pad. I got the Radpower display upgrade for my Radmission a couple of weeks ago. I've had lots of trouble. I've failed to shift several times in a row and sometimes failed to shut the unit off.

The buttons are as wide as Bolton's, but they aren't as tall and they're closer together. In view of the size of a man's thumb pad, depressing two instead of one might sometimes be the problem.

I think a bigger problem is that while the Bolton buttons stand out from the plastic face, the Radpower buttons seem to be flush with their borders. I think if my thumb isn't quite centered, when I think I'm depressing the button, I'm just squishing my thumb against the rigid border.

I had a watch like that. The tiny stopwatch buttons were flush with the case. I'd have to look to get my thumb on a button. Then, when I pushed, I might or might not depress it far enough to start or stop the stopwatch. I fixed that by using a toothpick to apply a drop of J B Weld to the button. After that, I could feel where the button was, and it worked every time I pushed it.

I think it's time for J B Weld. I'd like to remove the buttons so that creeping epoxy won't get into the works. It seems to be held together by three crosshead screws, but two are inaccessible. How did they do it that way? Why? Have you taken one apart?

On PAS 2, the Radpower panel on my Radmission reads about 150-190 watts, like PAS 1 on the Bolton upgrade on my Radrunner.

PADS 1 on my Radmission typically has a constant reading of 33, 34, or 35 watts, however fast I go. I'm surprised that I can feel it, but I can.

Sometimes it will say PAS 1 and I can feel the help, but it reads zero no matter how long I pedal. It's more likely to happen with with the headlight on, but with the light on it may say 53 watts. With the light off, I have seen it go to 67 watts on PAS 1 after I've come down from PAS 2.

Wattage on my Bolton panel is harder to read because the digits are smaller and change faster, but they seem reasonable. The wattage readings on my Radpower panel on PAS 1 aren't reliable. Are they all like that?

Has anyone put a chain guard on a Radpower bike?

Wind conditions seemed to determine whether I'd have trouble on my Radrunner. Contacting the chain would leave stains that were hard to remove. I didn't know of a chain guard that would fit. I bought a larger chain ring, covered the teeth with split vinyl tubing, and fastened it outside the drive sprocket as if I had a derailleur. I think I my cuff no longer momentarily caught between the chain and sprocket, but cuffs still got stained.

I bought a pack of elastic velcro straps made for the purpose. It was an added chore each time I went for a ride. If after half a block I noticed my cuff flapping, I'd have to go home to get my strap.

I had to raise my leg higher to mount and dismount my Radmission. That often pulled my cuff out of the strap. I realized that my cuff didn't need to be held against my leg as long as it couldn't reach the chain. I used a plastic kitchen clip to grab some of the fabric on the side away from the chain. The fourth time I mounted, the clip hit the bike and broke.

I ordered a chain guard designed to clamp to most 700mm single-speed bikes. I'm paying about $10, which includes handling my order, packing, and shipping. The unit cost to a bicycle manufacturer must be small, but Radpower doestn't offer them even as accessories. Why n ot? In fact, I don't see why they aren't on multi-gear bikes. A guard would have to be wide back near the cassette, but I think it's not necessary to cover a chain back there.

My father used to say the roughest riding vehicle on the road was an unloaded truck. Radpower says  that with a Radrunner, you should use the pressure on the sidewalls, which is 30 psi. I used that pressure because there was less rolling resistance than at 25 or lower. It rode like an unloaded truck.

I bought a Radmission partly for the 27.5 x 2" tires, which would give a smoother ride and lower rolling resistance. The sidewalls specified 40-65 psi. i tried 60.

The Radrunner is geared to be equivalent to a 76" wheel (before bicycles had chains). The Radmission has 86 gear inches, but I found it easier than the Radrunner to pedal without motor assistance. 

To compare, I coasted down a hill that drops about 16 feet in 100 yards. The Radrunner was faster. I recall reading that road cyclists often pump their tires too hard. That would minimize resistance on a perfectly smooth surface, but pavement has bumps. On a freshly paved and rolled surface, bumps will be small. Around here, where pavement has sat in the sun and frost more than 50 years, bumps are likely to be higher than an inch. Hitting the upside of a bump slows you down.

Dunlop devised pneumatic tires for his mother's wheelchair. He discovered that they would roll faster down a slope. Tire rubber isn't bouncy, but air is. By pressing a bump on the downside, air pressure can return some of the energy you lost pressing against the upside. Raising it can make the tire too stiff to apply much pressure on the downside of a bump, so you regain less energy.

On fairly smooth pavement at 30 psi, the Radrunner has a fairly narrow contact patch, somewhat like the Radmission. With half the pressure, the Radrunner was obviously regaining more energy on bumps. If I'd found the Radmission easier to pedal, perhaps it's because I was pedaling without assistance on smoother surfaces and at lower speeds, where there was less energy to regain from bumps and resistance was mostly from flexing rubber.

Radmission tires recommend 40 to 65 psi. When I lowered the pressure to 50, it was as fast as the Radrunner on the hill, and I didn't notice an increase in resistance where I pedal without assistance. The most efficient pressure depends on how bumpy the surface is. I may try 45 or 40, but first I need to refine my coasting test.

In my first four days, I have several times ridden off with my kickstand down. That was impossible with my Radrunner, and my Radmission has panniers, which block my view of the kickstand.

I don't know it's down until I turn left. So far, it has bounced along the pavement. Has this happened to other riders? If it hits the pavement hard enough to damage it, will it instead retract?

I bought the display upgrade with my new Radmission. It didn't come with operating instructions. The Radpower has operating instructions that don't even say how to reset the trip meter. They would be much more convenient printed on a paper enclosed with the display.

I can't find anything about programming it or even resetting the trip meter. How do you do it?

Almost 2 years ago I bought a Radrunner 1. With modifications, it's not so horrid as it was, but after 3,000 miles it's still horrid.

Today my Radmission arrived. What an improvement! The big problem is handlebar height. I lean forward to get my weight over the pedals for power and a smooth ride. If the bars are too low, that can put too much weight on my hands. This is my second Radpower bike whose seat can be raised or lowered, but not the handlebars.  What were they thinking?

I'd like to give the Radpower CEO a piece of my mind. Meanwhile, I need a riser. How far will the OEM cables allow the handlebar to be raised? If I want to raise it more, are longer cables available?

My OEM tubes lost air. Months ago, I I bought a pair of tubes the same size. When I mounted one on the back, I got a pair of pinch holes on one side. I thought I'd pinched it with a pry bar. I'd changed a lot of bicycle and motorcycle tires and never done that before. To avoid doing that again, I've been mounting tires without tools. These Radrunner tires fit loosely enough to do that.

I left the OEM tube in the front and continued to add air. When it began losing air faster, I found that the valve core was loose. I know I'd torqued it. I mounted the tire with an aftermarket tube to get a better valve. At 5 psi, I saw that the bead wasn't quite seated at one spot. I deflated the tire and pumped it slightly. I bounced it around.  Finally, I had to use pry bars to get the tube out from under the bead.

One reason for the problem is that the rim is undersized: that is, a 4.00 tube is the nearest size that's big enough. Now it also seems that the tire bead doesn't fit the rim very well; otherwise, with two  layers of tube between the bead and the rim, it would have been much more obvious that the bead wasn't seated.

Lately, I've ridden a bike with 2 x 26" tires at 50 psi. I was amazed at how much more comfortable they were on the rough pavement around here and how quiet they were. They were also easier to pedal at 15 mph, for example.

I think the efficiency difference may be aerodynamic, like the hydrodynamic comparison between a wide ship and a narrow one. The wide ship has to fight high pressure in front and low pressure in back. With a narrow ship, these areas won't be as wide, and the water can more easily move aside in front and close in behind. Similarly, as a wheel speeds up, it may be fighting more pressure as it squishes air in front and more vacuum as it rises behind. A narrower tire may have an advantage.

In inches, bicycle tires are measured by the outside diameter, which makes my Radrunner tires 23". I've got more than an inch of clearance. A 2x24" tire would be half an inch closer to the fenders. I can get a rim for $25 and a set of spokes for about the same. Why not go for it? In that size, I'd have a choice of tires and tubes.

On a routine check at 2500 miles, all my rear spokes sounded a little loose, and two had come out. That's the least common kind of failure, and it often results from a defective spoke. Checking the hub, I've found several that are sinking. The photo shows what I mean. The top spoke looks good. The second and fourth are gone. The third looks like it's about to go.

Will lubing the holes and tensioning the spokes help? Do yours show signs of wear?

I don't expect the replacements to arrive for several weeks. That bike is my only transportation. Is a new bike my best bet?

About dusk I took a screwdriver and spoke wrench out to the garage in case my spokes needed tuning. The front ones sounded fine, but the back ones sounded a little loose. One sounded especially dull, and it curved where it crossed another spoke. Another spoke was the same way. Tightening the nipple didn't increase tension, and I saw the problem.

At the J end, the flare had worn or broken off, allowing it the slip through the hole in the hub. It was getting dark, so I didn't check them all. There may be more than two that have popped through. The sound of the others makes me wonder if they're all on their way to popping out.

Metal fatigue makes spokes fail, but I've ridden bicycles and motorcycles for decades without a spoke failure. I keep most of my weight on the pedals most of the time, which means the front wheel is loaded almost as heavily as the rear. Maybe the front has stood up better because the spokes are longer.

I seem to need 130mm 12 gauge J spokes. The ones I've seen are shipped from China. Not knowing how soon I could have a catastrophic failure, I'd like to replace bad spokes in the coming week. Where can I get replacements?