America's #1 selling E-Bike, the RadRover 5!

this is the rad rover 5 from rad power bikes it's promoted as the most popular e-bike ever sold in the us and a quick ride is all you'll probably need to see why it has an adjustable front shock a 7-speed freewheel an electric motor capable of giving you 750 watts of power one of the lightest batteries of its kind delivering 25 to 40 miles of range or more and it's all riding on four inch wide tires sitting in a great looking painted aluminum frame e-bikes used to fall into two categories you had your really expensive high-end e-bikes that could cost as much as five figures in some cases and then you had your less expensive e-bikes that were geared more towards commuting and better left on pavement and sidewalks those days are long gone and people looking into e-bikes have a broad range to choose from in both price and capability the rad rubber 5 is so popular because it offers such a great mix of features at a relatively low price and it's backed by an american company that has a reputation of very good technical and customer support full details about all the products i feature can always be found in the video description and pinned in the comments below and using those links to make your purchases helps out the channel tremendously but keep watching to get a better idea of whether or not the rad river 5 is the right e-bike for you the rad rover 5 is the fifth generation of all terrain electric assist bike from rad power bikes who credibly claims it's the number one selling e-bike in the u.s it's certainly the most common e-bike i see where i walk and ride and its features at its 1599 msrp certainly have a lot to do with it the rad rover 5 is a class 2 e-bike powered by a buffon hub motor tuned to achieve the class's maximum allowable 750 watt output that's equivalent to 1 horsepower with the hub motors gearing turning that into 80 newton meters or 59 foot pounds of torque to help a rider get up hills and accelerate across intersections the rider can choose between five levels of pedal assist activated by a 12 magnet sensor on the crank a twist throttle on the right grip remains always ready should the rider want a boost of power while pedaling or to forgo pedaling altogether power either by pedal assist or by throttle is limited to 20 miles per hour as is required by the rad rover 5's class 2 designation the human power drivetrain is applied via 170 millimeter cranks and a 42 tooth chainring with a double-sided chain guard a kmc z7 chain transfers leg power to a nickel plated dnp 11 to 34 tooth seven speed free freewheel shifting is managed by a shimano tourney thumb shifter mated to a shimano acera derailleur the welgo chromoly pedals have 12 traction pins on each side with integral reflectors facing front and back the 48 volt samsung battery uses lithium nmc cells good for 800 charge cycles its 14 amp hour 672 watt hour capacity will power the rad rover 5 for a minimum of 25 miles but you'll find it very difficult to empty the battery that quickly if you're doing any of the pedaling at all 45 miles of range is more realistic with even more range easily achievable on flatter ground with more human pedaling the included 120 volt 2 amp power supply will charge a fully depleted battery in only five to six hours tektro aries mechanical binders grab 180 millimeter rotors to stop the rad rover 5. power to the hub motor is cut as soon as the brake levers are pulled as each has a built-in motor inhibitor pulling either brake lever activates a brake light whether the running lights are on or off rst supplies a spring or front shock mounted on a 240 millimeter steering tube it's 80 millimeters of travel can be adjusted for rebound and compression with full lockout when you're powering up a tough climb and don't want to lose muscle power to bouncing the rad rover 5 rides on 26 inch double wall rims and 4 inch wide kenda juggernaut puncture resistant tires like many other kenda tires the juggernauts have highly reflective rings under sidewalls for added visibility at night both on and off-road the 12-gauge stainless steel spokes are painted black to keep them from distracting your eye from the overall color scheme speaking of which the 6061 aluminum frame comes standard in a very good looking black finish the rad power bike sent me this limited edition four screen for my evaluation it sold out within two days of the stock being released for sale and that's not surprising to me at all while it's not likely this particular color will be available from rat again the moral of the story is that if they offer a limited edition color that you like buy it immediately or you might miss out the matching black pvc fenders are now standard on the rad rover 5 and their stainless steel brackets will help keep both you and your hardware protected from messy conditions the grips are black synthetic leather with matching black stitching a matching bellow plush saddle sits on a 350 by 27.2 millimeter pro max seat post the saddle's integrated grab handle definitely makes managing the rad rover 5's 69 pound weight a bit easier a very beefy kickstand provides a large pad to support that weight when you're parked even on soft soil its position on the frame means you won't hit it with your heel if you forget to pop it up before you start pedaling once folded however this kickstand will stay closed and quiet even on rough terrain the red rover 5 comes mostly assembled with all the tools necessary to complete the bike i'm showing you all 36 minutes i needed from opening the box to getting ready for a test ride you'll see that much of the video i'm simply reviewing the excellent assembly video rat has on their youtube channel i carefully split the box at all four corners so i don't have to lift anything and the box ends up acting as protection for the bike should it tip over while i'm working on it i'm also wearing knee pads but you can actually use some of the packing foam as a kneeling pad as i did when i assembled our rad mini step through tube assembly is very easy for anyone who has done any assembly whatsoever no special knowledge is needed at all as rad's assembly video not only shows you what to do but also explains the best way to do it if you have any grip or mobility issues a second person can certainly make a difference for some of the steps but you don't have to be physically strong to do this if you still prefer someone else to assemble your ride rover 5 for you several companies contract with rad to provide that service however any competent bike shop will have no problems doing this for you the trick is to find a shop who isn't afraid to work on e-bikes they don't sell though that's getting easier and easier with their exploding popularity i've said it before but my favorite thing about an e-bike for the kind of riding that i do is that i can get some help getting out of my neighborhood this is quite a climb first thing coming out of my driveway and it doesn't matter whether i'm out for a casual ride just to enjoy the park or i want to work out the last thing that i want to be doing as 50 years old with the injuries i've accumulated is to have to hammer up a hill first thing without any kind of warm-up but the pedal assist allows me to keep a good spin keep a good cadence a good turn over my legs to get a warm up and the the motor isn't doing everything i am absolutely working to get up this climb but nowhere near as much as i'd have to without the help of the motor part of what makes a rad rover 5 so versatile is the fact that it's a class two e-bike class one and class two e-bikes are regulated in most places the same exact way that non-electric bikes are regulated that's the way it is with this park class 1 and class 2 e-bikes are welcome to use any trail that a regular bike can use and that's that's a big reason why i have one this is the first big downhill this direction on the trail and this is where i see that the mechanical breaks this has are adequate for this kind of riding but i also see why a lot of people get hydraulic brakes as one of their first upgrades use a little throttle to get over that little hump there and back to zero pedal assist for warming up my legs the round rover five being probably the most popular e-bike on the market means that it's very upgradable you have lots of aftermarket options for doing things like putting on hydraulic brakes but pretty much any aftermarket bike accessory that you could want whether it's racks or a suspension seat post or or camera mount or headlights or those those all are going to be compatible you'll find them in the right size for the red rover 5. and then when you get to e-bike specific upgrades like upgraded battery upgraded controller upgraded lcd get a thumb throttle all those things are available for the rad rover 5 as well if there is a kind of component that you can upgrade on either a conventional mountain bike or an e-bike there's probably somebody making that upgrade for the rad rover 5. these 26 inch wheels with a 4 inch wide fat tires give this a completely different ride than any kind of bike with standard mountain bike tires this is actually my first fat bike of any kind true fat bike and i love it but it is a very different ride the kenda juggernaut tires that were chosen for this bike have good traction good knobs for for trails exactly like this you know this has loose grit this has loose gravel but you're not going to deal with a lot of really slick mud sloppy mud where even more aggressive tires would be beneficial you just don't need that for this kind of riding and so what that means is you get less rolling resistance than if this had more aggressive tires so it's less work for you and you get more range out of the battery i run them at 20 psi for a balance of not having too much rolling resistance but getting good traction in the loose stuff as well as comfort one of the downsides of this frame though is the lack of a good place to put a water bottle cage it has a mount underneath the down tube but it's not really in a practical location either for grabbing while you're riding or dealing with obstacles on the trail it's really low down there and so for now for this test i'm riding with a camelback fanny pack which means i can take a lot of water but there are options for mounting water bottles on this bike that don't put the water bottles at risk when you're riding or you at risk trying to grab them now we're on the paved greenway and this is where again i think the juggernauts are a very good choice of tire because they give you the flexibility to go on trails without so much aggressive knobs that it makes a ton of noise or gives you a lot of rolling resistance or causes you to squirrel around trying to stay in a straight line now when i get up to around 20 miles an hour pedestrians kind of wonder what the heck is coming their way because it does sound motorized at that point even though like right now i've got no motor going on at all if anybody wonders whether or not you can get a workout with an electric bike it's 69 pounds i can turn the pedal assist to zero if you can't get a workout on an electric bike that is operator error because you absolutely can get exactly the same workout you could get on any bike it's just you're going to have to play around with what pedal assist level is ready is right for you to manage the rolling resistance of the four inch fat tires and the fact that you're sitting upright when you're rolling on something flat and then the 69 pounds of it when you're at an incline we're gonna go out on the road here instead of riding on the sidewalk there's actually a bike lane and we're going to take this up to 20. the way class 2 e-bikes work is they have to stop giving you power above 20 miles an hour and the controller and the rad rover 5 is programmed so it eases off the assist whether it's just the throttle or with pedal assist like i have right now as you approach 20 miles an hour like once it gets above 19 and a half miles an hour it slowly pulls off the power until you're at zero power at about 20 miles an hour but conversely when you're slowing down like climbing up this hill it eases the power back on so you don't end up with this kick in the pants of the motor turning on 750 watts and that is what i'm getting 745 i'm getting 746 747 748 legitimate 750 watts i know that's a question because this is a motor that is tuned to get 750 watts there are more powerful motors that are called 750 watt motors but it is what it is this is this is a motor that gives you 750 watts on demand and not just for a short little bit we're going to use the throttle to get through this intersection we'll see if this car in front of me tries to cut across no thankfully no yay that was good and safe and that's a great use of throttle i had pedal assist at zero so even though i was pedaling my pedaling was additive to the power that i was delivering with the throttle itself we're going to come up on some speed bumps here and one of the ways to take these is to lift yourself a little bit off the saddle and squeeze the saddle between the muscles of your thigh you don't want to just have your feet flat on the pedals it's bending my my camera mount a little bit but i have my rear foot this way and pushing back and my front foot is this way and pushing forward and that helps the tread on the bottom of my stiff sole shoes to grab into the pins of the pedals and it's almost like i'm locked in with cleats but the difference is as soon as i relax that muscular compression that cross compression my feet come right off the pedals the other thing i like about the twist throttle on rad bikes is that it has play built into it so that you're not just going to bump it and then it'll apply power to the motor that's not to say that you can't accidentally twist the throttle of course you can but you're gonna have to twist it and hold it twisted before that motor kicks in there's a little bit of a lag and that's a safety feature that's that's not that's not a flaw that's on purpose so no throttle throttle motor just like that so that makes it much less likely that you're gonna get yourself in trouble by accidentally hitting the throttle so coming up here used to be a really eroded trail that was wide just like this but very recently the park came in and cut this really awesome switchback narrow trail it's it's basically single track but it's still a multi-use trail that's open to bikes and horses in addition to pedestrians and uh i would not have seen it if i didn't have this bike this bike is what encouraged me to come back here and check it out this section however is very loose very low me in sections and so it's still a good test of the tire choice and again 20 psi i have all the control that i want i don't i don't feel myself lacking for traction as i go from what is almost concrete like hard pack and and this dry weather we have right now to a very loose sandy surface and back that definitely can give smoother tires a problem but not these juggernauts here's where the new trail splits off the old trail went down that way look at this this is fantastic and a turn off pedal assist entirely not going to need it here and i'm i'm not going to bomb around these turns because this is a two-way trail and it's pretty skinny to just come flying around not knowing who's coming the other way whether it's a cyclist or a jogger or even a horse oh this is so fun now this is not technical a single track by any stretch but none of that is available to bikes out here in this park all the technical single track their foot paths only you can't take horses you can't take bikes on them so this is as much a bike trail that they've ever had out here and the 25 years that i've been coming out to this park yeah cornering through gravel no problem little whoop action here whoo wow i think you could catch air off of that if you did that fast enough okay gonna use a little throttle to help get up that part of the the trail because i have pedal assist at zero but that was gonna be pretty tricky dragging the 69 pounds up i'm going to slow down because i cannot see who's coming around this corner okay get the pedaling back on it's all me this is all me more whoops that is fun got a little berm that people are probably gonna kick up on wow and then right here it's where the new section of the trail ends and then we're back on the old section we're gonna come up to a creek crossing here so i'm just gonna turn around but i want to because now i want to do that new trail the other way so the standover height for a guy with a 30 inch inseam is is right there where i can do it standing straight up and down um but things do kind of have to split east and west so to speak i'm not smashing anything but if i were to bend my knees as i landed that could be a problem okay so use a little throttle to help get started and that's that's what i'm going to do i'm just going to keep pedal assist at zero and crack the throttle on as i need it full throttle get me up over this climb didn't need to get out of the saddle there only have like 200 watts helping me up that's somewhere between like a pedal assist two or three oh here are the whoops from the other direction get a little speed going here no throttle just me loose stuff get the throttle back on again this is this is not cheating i'm working really hard along with the motor to make those climbs i have no problems using this twist throttle just the way it is i actually really like it and i realize my opinion is not shared by all in that regard hey and that's the end of that oh that is so fun and i would not know that even exists if it weren't for this bike right here this rad rover five because i can't get out here and i wouldn't be challenging myself on climbs like that with my cannondale lefty or my specialized or any of my mountain bikes because i just i've reached a point where all my injuries that i've accumulated over my 50 years of existence i i get into kind of more more elite shape and then something blows up again and it just keeps happening and it's just been so discouraging and finally i realized an e-bike is what i need because i can get a really hard workout in when i want to uh this is more like a casual one because i need to be talking about what i'm doing but right now i've i've still been zero assists ever since cresting that last hill i'm i'm i'm riding this i'm providing all the power right now it's not doing anything and uh and so unlike a conventional bike i can make this as difficult to ride cardiovascularly muscularly as a conventional mountain bike but i can make it much easier to ride than a conventional mountain bike for sections of a trail where i just i just need that now i just frankly i just need it to be able to do some of the the tougher climbs or when i just want to this is a state park this isn't a mountain bike race track there are times where i come out here walking just to be in the park and i can do the same thing on this bike and get to places that are just too far for me to walk places like that trail the rad rover 5 is a bike that gives you access and at a price that's really reasonable given what the market has set how you doing yeah more smiles more smiles see the bike and they know what it is that's a that's a nice reaction to get another bit of the access is actually the usb port in the lcd screen i've got it running my gopro the battery in the gopro is only good for about 45 minutes but i'm already about an hour into this ride maybe a little more and so the battery would have long died but it'll keep my gopro going as long as i've got memory card i can get footage of my ride if i were somewhere more remote using my phone as a gps one of the things that can happen if you don't have good cell services the your phone will really crank up the the antenna power and you'll go through your phone's battery pretty quickly unfortunately i don't get to hunt as much now as i as i used to because speaking of access i've lost access to a lot of the properties that i used to hunt but a fair number of them it was quite a hike from where you could park a car to where i'd have my stand and i would have loved to have one of these to be able to get back and forth rad power bikes makes a number of models that are maybe more specifically geared to being a grocery getter or a a city commuter my wife has their many steps through two which is a folding bike this is a lot more like the swiss army knife in their line the rad rover 5 has a very broad range of uses as a bike and it just it makes total sense to me for this to be the bike that you get if you can handle the standover height if you have any kind of variability and what you're gonna want of a bike and that is the end of this trail ride oh so fun so i just want you to give you an idea of the range that i used i did almost 19 miles and i only used one bar it was fully charged but i've got tons of range and that was a very hilly ride it's not mountainous the the hills are not long but they are steep but the idea was that i was getting a workout in the whole time this wasn't doing all of the work itself and so the kind of writing that i just did i could easily do 80 miles of that wait a second let me rephrase that the bike could easily do 80 miles of that but i would not be able to and so i am not going to run into range issues with this bike with the kinds of riding that i intend for it it'll be interesting to see how this comes out with it being so dark but this is the light that comes straight from the factory and it's not really adequate for trail riding it is a spot with a bit of a throw on the ground right in front of you so it could be worse as long as you're going slow this would be okay to be on trails in the dark but you can't do any kind of speed whatsoever because you can't plan ahead that's why i recommend keeping this light and then also getting something like this knight rider this is my favorite aftermarket light and i have this mounted on an accessory bar that's on the handlebars and look at the difference that's the factory light and that's with the knight rider this is their 900 lumen light and it was about 75 bucks ship free from amazon i'll put a link in the video description but if you're going to be doing riding at night on trails on places where you really need to be able to see everything the factory light isn't going to be enough if you're going to be on city streets that already have street lights any place where there's going to be some secondary source of light for you then that's going to be decent enough to show vehicles and pedestrians where you are and that you're on your way in fact if you're going to be riding for a long time you can connect this light to the usb port and it will keep you in action for as long as you're going to be riding that's a another big plus of that usb port on the lcd panel i actually did a bunch of real deal single track with this bike but i'm going to save it for a separate video for two reasons number one this video has already gotten long enough number two i'm worried that i'm already over emphasizing off-road riding with the rad rover 5 when it truly is a good bike to get if you're going to stick mostly to pavement i think most people who already own rad rovers use them like most people use their suvs they might not take them on challenging trails but the capabilities are always there giving them the peace of mind that their e-bike is capable of doing whatever they need it to do on a flip side of that i think more people need to know that the rad rover 5 comes from the factory ready to tackle any trails that you'd be able to tackle with a conventional fat tire mountain bike it's not a dedicated downhill racer it's not a lightweight carbon fiber nimble mountain bike for highly technical trails however it's capable of doing a whole lot more than greenways and fire roads the battery is capable of a couple hours of the riding that i like to do which is a whole lot more than i'm probably willing to do and most people are probably willing to do even if you're going to mainly use the throttle you can get about 25 miles of range out of this and if you're using it as a commuter keep it charging during your work day it'll be ready to take you home at the end of the day as capable as this is straight from the factory it's also a bike that's easily upgraded and customized as is your preference you probably notice that over the course of my evaluation i added some accessories of my own i added this accessory bar to help stabilize my gopro while filming i put my knight rider 900 lumen light on top of that this bag is one of the most popular rad rover accessories and i love it i have it filled with tube repair and replacement stuff and i can see alerts on my phone without having to pull it out of my pocket my daughter is type 1 diabetes so fully unplugging just isn't an option but with this i can see the alerts and text messages that i do need to read while not being interrupted by the ones that i don't i'm going to leave the motor and electronics the way they are but even if you're the kind of person that likes to upgrade those things you're probably going to be out a lot less cash having started with a rad rover 5. if you want to learn more about the rad rover 5 or to purchase one yourself be sure to check out the links in the video description and pinned in the comments using those links really helps out the channel be sure to subscribe for future videos on ebikes including this rad rover 5. i really appreciate you watching the tech of tech and hope to see you next time [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: The Tech of Tech

Views: 390,087

Keywords: radrover, rad power bikes, ebike, e-bike, electric bike, electric mountain bike, emtb, best ebike, radrover review, niterider, kenda juggernaut, umstead park

Id: dQhxd7IQcwo

Length: 35min 7sec (2107 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 10 2020