Rad Power Bikes 4th of July Sale! (2022)

[Ryan]

For 4th of July 2022 Rad Power Bikes is offering $350 off the RadRover 6 Plus which is a great deal in my opinion. They are also offering $200 off the RadRunner 2. Check out the sale here: https://radpowerbikes.pxf.io/6eJrXG

Using the above link before making your purchase supports the forum (thank you!).

Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday weekend!

Ryan

[JimInPT]

They had that bike on sale for $300 off (plus some accessories thrown in) during June, and now $350 without the extras.  Given that now is the height of the riding season peak demand, I'm starting to think they're having trouble moving that $2k bike out of the warehouses to be forced into deals like this in June/July.  It's certainly a better value at that price.

The Rover's hydraulic brakes are probably a welcome improvement though (haven't heard much feedback about that either way), but with the issues and design glitches (no way to kill the power with the key) in new models, and the downgrade from the Minis to the Contract5 (at a higher price, too), I'd be hard-pressed to choose a Rad to buy right now and would be scrutinizing the competition a little more closely than I did when I bought my MiniST2 15 months ago.  And the semi-integrated battery models will be a bear to mod / hotrod, not just getting to and changing a 25-cent fuse.

I treasure my Mini; it was just the perfect one for me, with original-spec components and a fair price.

[Ddaybc]

JimInPT, I would also be reconsidering purchasing one of the new Rad bikes with integrated batteries. As you pointed out in another thread, the fuses are now a very difficult to change solder type. Not user friendly at all and also NOT environmentally friendly as many batteries that no longer work are simply going to thrown in the garbage instead of being recycled. One doesn't even get an RMA number so one can return the "defective" battery to Rad so they can fix it. It's very rare one of the cells are bad, it's usually something on the BMS. What a waste!!!

[JimInPT]

What a waste!!!

Yes, especially for such an expensive replacement part - something they want to sell for around $600 should have maintainability built in from the start of design.  Maybe their lawyers demanded "don't give the enduser a reason to go poking around that much stored energy".  But that doesn't explain the fairly-simple and safe fuse access on the previous-generations battery design; maybe Rad had little to no input on that from the OEM when they were a smaller company.

I just find it hard to believe they were trying to squeeze out an extra 50 cents in manufacturing cost from a $600 part (in the USA, over $700 after tax and shipping) by making the fuse essentially non-replaceable, especially with the switch to soldered fuses (!), except by those who know their way around circuit boards and high-power battery packs.  I bet the reluctance to issue an RMA is due to the special shipping/handling/marking requirements and expense for transporting these batteries .... all the more reason to make at least fuse replacement easy to try, if not BMS board replacement so that user-repair is feasible.

I have a 1,500 watt UPS backing up my main computer workstation and peripherals - monitoring / testing is built in and automatic, the (sealed lead-acid) battery replacement is simple and safe, if not cheap.  I have to spend around $110 every 3-5 years to install a new battery, but can just drop the old one off at any place that accepts car batteries for recycling.

[Ddaybc]

I agree JimInPT. A $50,000.00 vehicle has DOZENS of fuses that are completely user changeable. They are there to protect the motherboard as well as other electrical components. Why the hell doesn't a simple (relatively speaking) BMS with it's battery pack have an easily checked and replaceable fuse setup?

I suspect the bean counters have taken over and are simply taking as much money as they can while they run the business into the ground. The same thing has happened in many businesses. I definitely hope not but I guess we'll see.