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Since its inception, Rad Power Bikes has been introducing customers around the world to the possibility and potential of electric bikes. The last few years have been rough on the entire industry, with COVID slamming supply chains, spurring demand, and injecting inflation into the entire business at every level. Rad Power Bikes was also hit with a number of lawsuits, and was forced to execute several rounds of layoffs in response to the chaos of COVID-19.
In the middle of that chaos, Rad Power Bikes brought in Phil Molyneux as CEO to replace long-time CEO and founder of Rad Power Bikes, Mike Radenbaugh. It was a tall order, but with his years of experience leading established consumer brands Dyson and Sony, Molyneux was well equipped to take on the challenges facing the brand head on.
Today, Rad Power Bikes introduced a host of foundational upgrades that improve the safety and quality of its bikes, including a new UL-certified Safe Shield battery, hydraulic brakes, turn signals, and brighter headlights. The new upgrades will be rolled out to the full Rad Power Bikes lineup over time starting today with a brand new RadWagon, an upgraded RadExpand Plus, and a completely new model in two different flavors, the Radster Road and Radster Trail.
CleanTechnica sat down with Rad Power Bikes CEO Phil Molyneux to talk through the significant wave of updates the brand rolled out today, and of course, the new bikes.
Right out of the gate, Molyneux shared how the brand had been hard at work recovering from the unprecedented supply chain variability and demand shifts. From the start, safety was a key focus as they worked to lay a new foundation for Rad Power Bikes’ lineup. “We set out to make the safest e-bikes on the market,” Molyneux said.
The new Safe Shield battery was a complete redesign from the ground up, as was the entire powertrain. A new motor, controller, and color display round out the kit, with the new motor packing a whopping 100nM of torque. That amounts to a 54% increase over the previous motors and sets the Rad Power Bikes lineup in a class of its own relative to the competition. That motor was dropped into the refreshed RadWagon 5 and both Radster variants, ensuring owners can do just about anything they can dream up on either platform.
Rad Power Bikes plans to roll out the new Safe Shield battery to all of its bikes over the next few months, and Molyneux said he expects the transition to be complete by the middle of 2024. Safe Shield batteries are also backwards compatible with the existing lineup, so customers can ask for it as an upgrade or replacement for their existing bikes. The new external and semi-integrated Safe Shield batteries are rated at 15Ah, a nice upgrade over the 14Ah standard packs in the legacy lineup.
The Radster
The all-new Radster was designed as a mid-fat tire bike with one variant intent on accelerating your weekend adventures on the trail. The Radster Trail is a mid-step e-bike with a solid frame and oversized tires that promise to add surface area and increase traction to your ride regardless of what terrain you’re on.
On the other hand, the new Radster Road is optimized to accelerate your commute. It utilizes the same frame as the Radster Trail, but with thinner tires that make for a more efficient commute.
Both variants of the Radster feature a hydraulic fork up front to take the edge off of any bumps or ruts that might otherwise stand in your way.
The All New RadWagon 5
The RadWagon has long been one of Rad Power Bikes’ core offerings, enabling parents to haul kids around town, DIYers to carry more cargo to wherever their latest project is, and enabling more people to do more things on two wheels.
It’s an absolute workhorse of a bike and we loved the previous generation when we reviewed it a few years back. Now in its 5th generation, this new RadWagon features a more compact frame with a lower center of gravity. That’s something Rad Power Bikes has continued to improve with each iteration of the bike, and it’s exciting to see them continuing with that in the RadWagon 5.
The new hydraulic brakes will be especially welcome on the RadWagon 5, which is designed to haul tons of weight, whether it be bags of mulch, the week’s groceries, or a couple of kids on the back. Once you get all of that mass moving, it’s great to know that the brakes are up to the task of bringing everything to a stop when needed.
We’re excited to get behind the wheel of one of these for a full review, so stay tuned for that in the coming weeks.
A Refreshed RadExpand
The RadExpand is Rad Power Bikes’ primary folding e-bike offering and they have tuned it up with the aforementioned platform upgrades, including the safe Shield battery. As a folding bike, the RadExpand is ideal for weekend adventures for folks looking for something that can fit into their daily lives instead of needing its own external bike rack to haul it around.
Rad Power Bikes has been listening to customers and has integrated a number of customer-requested upgrades to the RadExpand, including a hydraulic fork. That makes it an even better option to take off-road or on rougher routes.
In addition, they increased its carrying capacity, making it easier to haul even more cargo around on one of the many accessories that can transform it into a compact utility bike, an urban delivery vehicle, or just let riders throw their backpack on a rack and head out on a cruise through campus.
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Overall
It’s great to see Rad Power Bikes reinforcing the technological foundations of its e-bikes with upgrades that make riding safer, enabling more use cases at the same time. The new battery and motor tuning translate to roughly 10% more range for the bikes using them, which will be a welcome upgrade for customers.
The new upgrades and powertrain bring a roughly 10% increase in range to Rad Power Bikes’ lineup at the same time as a significant uptick in torque. Collectively, these upgrades take Rad Power Bikes to a new level and set the new bar for the industry. “This is ushering in a new era for Rad,” CEO Phil Molyneux told us. With its new 2 year warranty, Rad Power Bikes isn’t just talking the talk, it is leading the charge into a new era for the e-bike industry.
- Radster Trail: Priced at US $1,999 and CA $2,699, is available for pre-order and expected to ship to customers this spring.
- Radster Road: Priced at US $1,999 and CA $2,699, is available for pre-order and expected to ship to customers this spring.
- RadWagon 5: Priced at US $2,199 and CA $2,949, is available for pre-order and expected to ship to customers this spring.
- RadExpand 5 Plus: Priced at US $1,899 and CA $2,499, is available for pre-order and expected to ship to customers this spring.
For more information about all of these new and refreshed offerings from Rad Power Bikes, head over to the website.
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