As Mike said, he's seen both products and they are identical. The point is that the design is generic, or as Mike says, "white label". There is no value added in the design from Rad Power, which I have to say was both a revelation and disappointment to me. They could be sourced from 2 sources, I don't know. Certainly there could be manufacturing variations from batch to bach or year to year, but the design itself is generic and identical.
Rad, has added value through their marketing and support, not in the design. They imply that they are the designers and they are not. Also, the lawsuit, which has been dismissed, was never about the bicycle design, but about Bam's copying RAd's website. That was a real clue that this was never about the design, as there would be no basis for Rad to sue for a white label design, readily available to anyone.
For me, I'm now looking at the
Aventon Pace 500 that Mike mentioned in his post. Why, because they design and manufacture their bikes in California, they are lighter and also offer great support through their dealer network. That's pretty impressive when you consider their bike is competitively priced with the Chinese productions. I would guess that 95% of all bicycles are actually manufactured in China or Taiwan. Trek gets their frames from Giant, all of which are produced in Asia. The difference however, is that Trek, Giant,
Specialized, and Cannondale actually design their own products and then procure them from Asia. Rad does not design their products, they just order generic bikes from Asia, market them and support them. I actually like their bikes, and no doubt they are perhaps the most successful DTC company in the U.S.
