I found a couple of other tips. My favorite is to loosen the screws clamping the stem to the steerer tube, rotate the handlebars 90 degrees, and tighten the screws. A thief won't bother to cut the lock unless he has a suitable wrench, and if he is carrying one, he might be too self-conscious to adjust your bars in front of a busy pizza place. If you use security screws, even a well-equipped thief probably won't have the right driver.

I had a hard time adjusting handlebars to be exactly parallel the axle. When I had it right, I put a piece of masking tape across the crack where the stem meets the steering head, then used a box cutter to slit the tape at the crack. Now if I undo the stem, I need only line up the tapes to get it back right.

With mechanical brakes, a quicker tip is to reach through the front spokes with a long Allen wrench to clamp the wheel by tightening the brake adjuster. On my bikes it's less than a quarter turn from properly adjusted to clamped. It won't stop a thief from cutting a lock, but then he'll find he can't ride or push the bike. I imagine he'll quit instead of troubleshooting the problem and buying a tool at the nearest open shop that sells long 5mm Allen wrenches.

I bought a 2020 Radrunner that required a lot more money to be what I find rideable. I bought a 2022 Radmission which I like better but has shortcomings.

I wish the Aventon Abound had been available.

It seems to have at least a 750 watt output, not the 500 mechanical watts that Radpower calls 750.

The seat tube seems to lean back at 63 degrees for less knee bending and more stability.

Close to a 30" reach from the seat post to the handlebars.

50" wheelbase.

Fenders. Chain guard.

440 pounds capacity.

Front suspension.

2.4 x 20 tires, which should handle better than 3.3 x 20, and they're a standard size to give me replacement options.

Butyl tubes.

Torque sensor.

UL approved battery.

Solid axles fastened with nuts.

Hydraulic brakes.

I need to buy some "steal me" signs for my Rad bikes. Then I can cry and cry and buy an Abound.

Quote from: ztglare on November 02, 2023, 03:34:53 PM
Hi - I have a ~3 year old Rad Wagon 4 - it's a GREAT bike - but one recent issue is the pedal/gear slips when I'm in the top gear (7) - this doesn't happen in any of the lower gears (1-6). I recently had the chain replaced hoping this would fix the issue, but alas it still slips. Any advice or guidance on next steps? Thanks!

I owned a derailleur bike just long enough to know it was important to turn it upside down to be sure the derailleur was adjusted to line up the chain just right in all gears, and that everything was clean and lubed. I think it's something else, though.

I once had a bike that started slipping in high. I'd worn down the rear sprocket teeth climbing a 10% grade a quarter mile long in high gear. (It didn't happen to normal people because normal people shifted to low.) If that's the cause of your problem, it makes sense that it would be the sprocket with the fewest teeth (high gear). It may take a careful inspection to see that teeth are misshapen.

Hi John,

Is yours a quick release hub? I bought a 15mm spanner for my cones and, full of confidence, took the wheel off to check my bearings.  Uh-oh, my quick-release hub complicates it because it would be harder to clamp the far end of the axle to keep it from turning when I tightened the lock nut against the cone. Maybe that's why the guy in the other thread used four wrenches.

I put the wheel back on and turned to the internet. I didn't read any tips on holding the axle still, but I'll bet I can drill and tap a block of wood to screw the far end of the axle into. I did read that adjusting bearings in a quick release hub may be frustrating because tightening the quick release compresses the axle enough to make the bearings a little tighter. Now I'm not so confident.

I remember why loose front bearings used to be so common. In the middle of the hub was a springy clip that covered an oil hole. You'd slide he clip aside ad squirt in a few drops of oil. They probably needed oiling pretty often, and most people never did it. Looseness probably meant the dry bearings had worn. I'd oil and tighten, but if I'd known more, I would have replaced the balls.

New balls might get you longer life from your hub and cones. The advice I've seen is that there should be a little space between balls, and one too many is worse than one too few. I want to service mine so I can have the right size on hand. I thought I'd be ordering balls measured in millimeters, but balls measured in fractions of an inch seem to be very common.

Do they say at what distance they measured 113 dB?

I saw a youtube video where a mechanic posed as a thief to show how easily it could be to defeat various motorcycle locks on a busy street. Nobody paid attention to the noise of his angle grinder. A brake disk lock was especially difficult, not because the built-in alarm went off but because it was hard to get to with his grinder.

That video may not have been on the level. There must have been a second person with the camera, so passersby knew it was okay.

Taking the seat with you seems like a good tip. I think most bike thieves make their getaway by riding.

I wonder if loosening valve cores a turn or two would be effective. Deflated tires might not be obvious before a thief cut the lock, but when he tried to ride he might have to choose between abandoning it or walking it, which would be slow and draw attention. There seem to be rechargeable pumps that are small and will quickly bring a tire to a set pressure.

Quote from: Dr.JB on October 29, 2023, 03:36:53 PM
Handlebar, I?ve had my RR5 for three seasons, now and this is the first I?ve noticed how sloppy the front bearings are; whatever the reason, it?s not from an initial poor setup, as it was not sloppy before. I will have to take it apart and see, but, if the race is as damaged as pictured in the other thread (for this problem to exist, the race must be very soft), I may replace the hub with one having cartridge bearings, especially considering how bad the roads are around here and how much of a pounding I tend to give it.

I see you're right. If they often came from the factory loose, I would have seen it on somebody's new bike. I've seen it only on bikes that were three or more years old. As the axles all turned smoothly with my fingers after adjustment, it looks as if the problem was wear on the balls without pitting of cups or cones.

The bike I put the most miles on was 15 years old when I bought it, paying twice what it had cost new. I can see why I never had trouble with its bearings or those on any other bike I owned. Like the guy in the video said, I'd clean and grease them.

I must be getting negligent. I've had my Radrunner nearly 3 years without checking wheel bearings. My Radmission is only a year old, and it concerns me more because lately it has been oily on both sides of the front hub. It's as if the lube on the bearings has turned runny. In the morning I'll check to see if I have a wrench for the cones. If I do, cleaning, measuring to buy replacement balls, and lubing should be a snap. I think I can have the wheel back in service in an hour. If I procrastinate, the bearings might run dry. I could get squeaks and play and if I put it off longer, pitting of the cups and cones.

Have you ever seen oil on your hub? Maybe runny lube is the underlying cause of problems with RadRover 5 bearings.

Quote from: John Rose on October 13, 2023, 05:27:25 PM

I give my fingers a wiggle then point steadily.
If I ever do install some turn signals I'll still be wearing these for protection.

About the right-turn hand signal made with the left arm - I'm pretty sure that originated in the very early days of automobiles when they didn't have blinky lights (or flags that flip out = "Trafficators"). Either the cab or a passenger on the right would obscure one made with the right arm.

I imagine they are still legit to use in a car temporarily if you discover that you have a faulty signal lamp.

Last year I bought ski gloves that weren't reflective. I cut the end of the left thumb off because the push buttons on the handlebar control often didn't work right. Then I found out the Radpower controller was flaky and the gloves hadn't caused that. My thumb got pretty cold because I didn't know how to tape the end back on the glove. Reflective insulated gloves would be great.

Turn signals became standard in the 1960s. Before that, they were an option but I think not a factory-installed option. I can imagine why manufacturers were slow to adopt them. First, you might confuse everyone by leaving them on. Second, you might be relying on a bulb that was burnt out. The thermal flasher helped. It would make a noise to tell you the flasher was on even if you didn't see the indicator in daylight, and a slow rate would tell you if a bulb was out.

My uncle had aftermarket flashers on his F-250 and his flatbed truck. Behind a loaded truck, a driver might not see a hand signal. The control boxes were mounted high, where the driver would see and hear them. They weren't self-canceling.

A hundred yards up the 20mph street from my house is a T intersection where another 20 mph street comes in  from the right. In 2010, a neighbor lived across from the stop sign. One day she stopped, then turned left to to go to her driveway a few yards up the street. The new local cop ticketed her for failure to signal.

I thought the law required signaling only when failure to do so could cause an accident. (It's funny, because I think if leaving a signal on causes an accident, the misled driver could still be blamed.)

I checked the latest state manual and I was right. In this case, nobody has a right of way to pass at a T intersection, so the burden would have been on the cop to provide an audible warning if he did so.

The manual said hand signals are still preferred; flashers are  for night and bad weather.

https://bikeindex.org

Police find lots of bikes at homeless camps in San Diego and end up crushing them in trash trucks because they don't know who the owners are. In some jurisdictions, police check the bike index online.

Did you ask if the pizza place has a security camera? Maybe the cops know of other security cameras. I think they're under increasing pressure to do something about bike theft.

Here's the link I posted a minute ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozAQxbd1euU

As a teen, I put thousands of miles on a bike with no suspension and 60 psi in the tires, much of it on gravel roads. As the guy in the video says, you should adjust bearings properly and regrease when necessary. I never had any trouble.

He had another tip. Measure your bearings with a caliper and buy a jar of balls that size so you can put in new ones when you regrease. He also said that if  your races or hub needs replacement, you can tell by turning the axle.

Quote from: Dr.JB on October 28, 2023, 12:27:05 PM
Hi, Chris and I also have a RR5 and in upgrading the front brakes, was shocked to discover the level of play in the front wheel bearings; I can?t imagine that they?re not completely shot, given the amount of movement and am already researching hub replacements, with sealed cartridge bearings. In my research, however, I discovered the following thread, which should answer your question:

https://www.radowners.com/index.php/topic,1522.msg7611.html#msg7611

Hope this helps,

John

It takes me back to my teens. This refreshed my memory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozAQxbd1euU

I used to take my hubs apart to clean and grease the bearings. I don't understand why the guy in your link said a sheet-metal wrench wouldn't work or why he needed four wrenches.

I never found loose bearings on my bikes, but I often found and fixed them on other people's bikes. I think maybe they come from the factory that way, just as a new wheel may need some spokes tightened. I think when they adjust bearings on a new wheel, they may overlook a little play because they're in a hurry.

I don't know about the RadRover 5 in particular, but there should be a wire running to the controller from the cadence sensor on the bottom bracket. Maybe it got disconnected.

Quote from: mrgold35 on October 26, 2023, 05:16:46 AM
I ended up going with the Sunlite Cloud-9 Cruiser Saddle, 12.5" X 11.5" X 8, Amazon, $37. 

I bought a similar saddle for my Radrunner, 12-1/2 inches wide and on springs. It's bowl-shaped. Almost two years later, I bought a narrow one, as pictured, for my Radmission. I find it just as comfortable.

When you sit, your glutes move out of the way and your sit bones (ischial tuberosity) take the pressure. That's where you need padding. You can find out where yours are by putting cardboard on a toilet seat lid, sitting on it, rocking forward, back, left, and right, then getting up and feeling for the dimples. Mine are 102mm apart, center to center. The saddle is 140mm wide. It's like the original saddle, but the padding is better.

I used to wonder why I never saw turkeys pedaling bicycles. I think it's because birds don't have sit bones.

Quote from: Hayreddinli on October 24, 2023, 03:04:30 AM
Front tire is now about 6 months old.

So far I am satisfied with the motorcycle tire on the rear wheel.

My Radrunner tires are nearly 3 years old. After a year, I thought my rear tire had cracking. I thought it might have come from the day I reduced pressure to .7 bar to ride on snow, or the time I rode a few feet before seeing that the back tire was flat. Yesterday, I examined it closely. The tire isn't cracked. It's a transparent sticker with white lettering. The sticker is cracked, and the transparent part looks like the sidewall.

I hope Radpower gives you a good answer.

Quote from: inoxa on October 23, 2023, 09:05:52 AM
Have you tried to adjust the derailleur?  Sounds like it may be out of sync.  The mission bike doesn't have a derailleur.

The Radrunner is single-speed, so we call it a tensioner. (See  what I've learned?) 

The original tensioner was out of line, which I determined with a laser level. A couple of flat washers moved it into line, and that reduced the noise.

Then I bought Radpower's upgraded tensioner. It appeared to be out of line, but this one was slightly different so that the chain kept me from checking it with a level. The other day, when I got a master link so I could break the chain, I was able to measure the tensioner with a laser and align it.

It didn't quiet the chain, and it finally dawned on me that the chain wasn't going smoothly onto the sprocket wheel. I took the wheel off to see what kid of removal too I'd need: 8 splines with a 40mm diameter. I found a tool at Amazon, and it came with a 16-tooth sprocket. I ordered it. Then I looked at user reviews. They say the sprockets are poorly made, and it's the same brand as my troublesome freewheel. I canceled the order and ordered an ACS.

How old is your front tire?

A motorcycle tire might be a solution for my Radrunner. The ISO size is 84-406 (16 x 3.3 ), and there aren't many options in bicycle tires.