Can’t decide- Rad City or Surface 604 Rook

[DragNLady]

I am going crazy trying to decide which bike to buy! I just want to make a decision and go ride! I have spent over 30 hours and printed off over 40 pages of info., googling and reading everything I can, but still don’t know which one to get. I am thinking maybe the Rad City 750w, 48v, 14Ah, or the Rook at 500w, (peaks at 750) 48 v, 10.4 Ah. The Rook has torq and cadence, and hydraulic brakes, which the Rad does not. Am worried about the 10.4 Ah, though, really want 14. Would prefer 500 to 750, because I spend 6 months in Canada every year, 750 is illegal, although when I phoned the police, they said they would not give me a ticket unless I ran into someone and injured them. But they might be able to sue me for riding an illegal bike? Is The 10.4Ah something to be worried about? The site says it will go 50 miles. Both cost about the same. Am leaning towards the Rook, if it had 14Ah, I would buy it. But may anyway. Advice greatly appreciated!

 

[Feliz]

I'm in Canada and I've never heard of anyone getting stopped and checked, I wouldn't let than influence your decision. If it were me I would go with the Rook, I prefer a geared motor ( I have an Elby DD ) and you might prefer the adjustable stem, hydraulic brakes are a positive. I think the Rook is a nine speed versus 7 gears on the Radcity. 7 speed is a freehub.

 

[DragNLady]

Thanks Feliz. I just worry about a potential lawsuit if I ever injure anyone, they could sue me for riding an illegal bike.

 

[Feliz]

Whatever you feel comfortable with I guess, the Rook is legal here in any case.

 

[steve mercier]

I am going crazy trying to decide which bike to buy! I just want to make a decision and go ride! I have spent over 30 hours and printed off over 40 pages of info., googling and reading everything I can, but still don’t know which one to get. I am thinking maybe the Rad City 750w, 48v, 14Ah, or the Rook at 500w, (peaks at 750) 48 v, 10.4 Ah. The Rook has torq and cadence, and hydraulic brakes, which the Rad does not. Am worried about the 10.4 Ah, though, really want 14. Would prefer 500 to 750, because I spend 6 months in Canada every year, 750 is illegal, although when I phoned the police, they said they would not give me a ticket unless I ran into someone and injured them. But they might be able to sue me for riding an illegal bike? Is The 10.4Ah something to be worried about? The site says it will go 50 miles. Both cost about the same. Am leaning towards the Rook, if it had 14Ah, I would buy it. But may anyway. Advice greatly appreciated!

Hi for me the hydraulic brakes are the tie-breaker. We have 4 ebikes in our family . One is a Motorino with non-hydraulic discs and cadence sensor and I dont like either of those components very much

 

[DragNLady]

Hi for me the hydraulic brakes are the tie-breaker. We have 4 ebikes in our family . One is a Motorino with non-hydraulic discs and cadence sensor and I dont like either of those components very much

Thanks for that informative input, Steve.

 

[steve mercier]

Thanks for that informative input, Steve.

Let us know what you settle on and how you like it

 

[Hoppy]

The hydraulic disc brakes and the torque sensor are the positive factors for the Rook.

 

[mrgold35]

Rad made some updates for 2019 at $0 cost like:
- RadCity Step-Thru in black
- Kenda 26X2.3 puncture resistant liners
- Integrated brake light
- 7 speed 11-34 freewheel

My wife loves her 18 RadCity Step-Thru. She doesn't need to use the full 750w of power except when using the throttle to accelerate faster to get across intersections or extra boost on short inclines. She is usually in PAS 2 or 3 (175w-350w) to maintain 20 mph. Having the extra 250w is nice to have on the RadCity when you need it and the full 750w of power is available at any PAS level (0-5).

The Rad Power Bikes also makes it easy to adjust the motor cutoff from 7 mph and up to 25 mph in the LCD menu. I have my Rovers set to 22 mph to help me get to work just a little bit faster when biking. You can set your motor cut-off to 15-18 mph in Canada if there is worry of riding too fast on the bike only trails.

The good thing about the RadCity 14ah battery is the longer range AND less charging cycles. It could mean a longer life battery pack if you cut your charge cycles by 25%-30%. You can add hydraulic brakes to the RadCity if you don't like the cable 180mm brakes at a cheaper price compared to a $500 battery pack.

You can change almost everything on both ebikes; except, range.

 

[steve mercier]

Rad made some updates for 2019 at $0 cost like:
- RadCity Step-Thru in black
- Kenda 26X2.3 puncture resistant liners
- Integrated brake light
- 7 speed 11-34 freewheel

My wife loves her 18 RadCity Step-Thru. She doesn't need to use the full 750w of power except when using the throttle to accelerate faster to get across intersections or extra boost on short inclines. She is usually in PAS 2 or 3 (175w-350w) to maintain 20 mph. Having the extra 250w is nice to have on the RadCity when you need it and the full 750w of power is available at any PAS level (0-5).

The Rad Power Bikes also makes it easy to adjust the motor cutoff from 7 mph and up to 25 mph in the LCD menu. I have my Rovers set to 22 mph to help me get to work just a little bit faster when biking. You can set your motor cut-off to 15-18 mph in Canada if there is worry of riding too fast on the bike only trails.

The good thing about the RadCity 14ah battery is the longer range AND less charging cycles. It could mean a longer life battery pack if you cut your charge cycles by 25%-30%. You can add hydraulic brakes to the RadCity if you don't like the cable 180mm brakes at a cheaper price compared to a $500 battery pack.

You can change almost everything on both ebikes; except, range.

I dont agree with that because you can simply buy a spare battery if you are sure you need it . I know I dont. But changing the brakes and the sensor, no I would have to be in a deep love affair with the rest of the bike to upgrade it, which this is why we now have 4 ebikes between the 2 of us. My take on it is you should buy the best bike you can afford to right from the start.

 

[bob armani]

The Rook gets my vote for obvious reasons. ie: h-brakes, adjustable stem etc. Seems like a good company that stands behind their products IMO.

 

[mrgold35]

Some folks are happy with the standard cable brakes on the Rad Power Bikes. I upgraded my brakes on my Radrover to TRP Sykes for $100 after about a year of ownership. TRP brakes are plug-n-play cable brake calipers and they improved stopping distance, emergency stops, and zero noise (70lbs ebike+270lbs me+20 lbs tools/rack bag/work cloths/lunch). Other folks upgraded to TRP HY/RD hybrid hydraulic brake calipers for $200 on Rad ebikes. Both TRP upgrades use the existing ebike cables/motor cut-off hardware. The TRP HY/RD are also plug-n-play with much improved braking like the TRP Sykes.

I have an extra 11.6ah battery for my Radrover. Spending an extra $500 spare battery might be too much money for others on a tight budget and having to store when riding might be a PITA.

 

[larry-new]

Being on the Niagara Frontier, keep in mind that colder temperatures reduce battery output. My Rad City, which I'm turning into a road rider, will get an easy 45 miles in the summer, with me pedalling while using Pas 2/3 and for $2k, I went for an extra battery, making century rides a possibility.

Stopping quickly is more practiced technique than brakes, and my mechanical discs are so much better than any rim brake I ever rode, that I can't imagine needing more.

I easily spent over forty hours on this wonderful site before deciding, and I'm all kinds of happy.

 

[AZOldTech]

@DragNLady The Rook/Colt are the better ebikes in every way than the radcity/radcity step thru. They even sexier looking. Even for the battery. The Rook/Colt use a newer integrated into the frame Reention Dorado open standard low profile battery (Juiced bikes uses the same exact battery on all their new ebikes up to 21Ah) that you can upgrade down the line to 21Ah or 17.5Ah for $400 or 16Ah for $300, from many different vendors. Or you can get a 2nd one 7.8Ah for just $200 and carry it with you on the rack in case you want even longer range (it's like having a 18Ah ebike for just $200 more). (Link Removed - No Longer Exists)
https://electricbikereview.com/foru...ty-battery-that-will-fit-the-rook-colt.25536/

In addition it is more stealth looking than the loud radcity with all the orange decals (they are too loud IMO and Rad I hope tones down all that screaming with the 2019 version), has integrated tail light with ebrake support (meaning has a 2 mode running tail light that lights brighter when you hit the brakes that is powered by the on-board battery), better drive train, better gearing, better hydraulic brakes (and that's a big one IMO, cause I've tried both and there is no comparison), torque sensor, and better step-thru selection with 2 colors and 2 sizing models small/medium and medium/large where the radcity step-thru only has one. On top of all that, the rook is legal in Canada with 500w motor and the radcity is not, having a 750w motor. If it wasn't for the black Monday sale I would say the selection is night and day between the 2. But the sale brings just a 1 day pause on black Monday. But even with that, for Canada being legal should be your #1 priority. BTW, Suface604 is a Canadian company and Rad a US one, but I'm 100% certain that all their ebikes are made in China for both of them.

BTW, Surface 604 is currently running a checkout coupon code BLACKFRIDAY for -$250 off any of their ebikes. That puts the Rook at $1549. And you don't have to wait just for only Monday as it works right now.