Commuter Ebike for heavy rider (ended up choosing RR(Ride1UP Prodigy ST)

[AHicks]

So I really should be looking for bikes with at least 350 lb limit. Any bikes that still fit my budget?
I am not supper keen on cargo bikes like the radwaggon since they are so long(where would I park it at work?)
I am very worried about safety and reliability, hince will rebudget to 2.5k if needed

I don't mean to totally discount it, but I would keep in mind that's one man's opinion. If I had been using his guidelines when shopping for my first e-bike, I'd still be walking.

I have found that you will clearly working the rear tire and wheel at max capacity, so they need to be right! A loose spoke or 2 will quickly lead to more, then the spoke breakage issues begin. Proper tire inflation same story. Unintentionally dropping into a pot hole with a low tire can destroy the tire, and/or the tube. Ask me how I learned these tidbits....

As long as you plan on riding in a sane manner, and don't have a need to carry a week's worth of groceries on the back, you should be fine on a LOT of bikes that aren't rated 300lb+. I've never had one even rated that high.

 

[TrevorB]

I don't mean to totally discount it, but I would keep in mind that's one man's opinion. If I had been using his guidelines when shopping for my first e-bike, I'd still be walking.

I have found that you will clearly working the rear tire and wheel at max capacity, so they need to be right! A loose spoke or 2 will quickly lead to more, then the spoke breakage issues begin. Proper tire inflation same story. Unintentionally dropping into a pot hole with a low tire can destroy the tire, and/or the tube. Ask me how I learned these tidbits....

As long as you plan on riding in a sane manner, and don't have a need to carry a week's worth of groceries on the back, you should be fine on a LOT of bikes that aren't rated 300lb+. I've never had one even rated that high.

The manufacturer ratings allow for little rough riding in case of MTBs lot of rough riding so 300lb rating will handle lot more if ridden on smooth surfaces.

 

[XPanda]

I don't mean to totally discount it, but I would keep in mind that's one man's opinion. If I had been using his guidelines when shopping for my first e-bike, I'd still be walking.

I have found that you will clearly working the rear tire and wheel at max capacity, so they need to be right! A loose spoke or 2 will quickly lead to more, then the spoke breakage issues begin. Proper tire inflation same story. Unintentionally dropping into a pot hole with a low tire can destroy the tire, and/or the tube. Ask me how I learned these tidbits....

As long as you plan on riding in a sane manner, and don't have a need to carry a week's worth of groceries on the back, you should be fine on a LOT of bikes that aren't rated 300lb+. I've never had one even rated that high.

Would you recommend the Radrunner plus for commuting? I was initially hesitant about its small size (i’m 6ft tall) but after looking at some more video it seems to look bigger than it does on the pictures.

 

[indianajo]

The radrunner plus is rated at 300 lb, but has 20" wheels. Does your city have potholes? I can't always miss them in my city, sometimes it rains or snows. 20" wheels provide a lot more shock in a hole than 26" or bigger. Rad had a lot of complaints about loose spokes 2 or 3 years ago, decreasing somewhat the last year. Read the "known problems and solutions" thread about rad yourself.
Frankly, at this price point you are going to buy a lot of features and glitz, and fake steel spokes or aluminum rims. The cheap bikes like your ancheer save money by buying grey metal wheels spokes that look just like steel & aluminum, but are not. It is possible to buy real steel spokes in *****, my yuba was made there and the back wheel has been zero trouble over 8500 miles. I carry 20 lb tools supplies water and sometimes 80 lb loads back there like a pickup wheel. The front is where I bought cheapo hub motors, and even at my light 160 lb I've had to tighten the spokes a few times. Those were especially fat looking spokes, but thickness is no substitute for real metal. I had a $740 hub motor from luna once, built into a wheel near Los Angeles, and I had no trouble with the wheel or spokes with that. (I wore out the motor clutch). DT Swiss makes real spokes, and some people speak highly of Sapim. Wheels, I don't know the brands, but the dual layer ones that come with most hub motor power wheels are fragile and warp.
If the ancheer ran okay maybe you had best pay a bike shop to build you a set of wheels with some name brand rims and spokes. 12 ga (fat) ****ese spokes are no substitute for 14 ga American electric steel (DT swiss were US made when I built a IGH wheel 3 years ago).
You get up into the $5000 up bikes, Trek, Giant, Yamaha, Kona, Reiss & Mueller, Gazelle, you start buying real parts. Look at their brand forums, pretty low complaints for the huge market share. Pity you have to buy a mid-drive to get that level of quality. Specialized has a lot of fans but they shipped some frames that cracked a couple of years ago and some owners were stuck waiting a year with their bike scrapped by the dealer before they received a replacement.

 

[XPanda]

The radrunner plus is rated at 300 lb, but has 20" wheels. Does your city have potholes? I can't always miss them in my city, sometimes it rains or snows. 20" wheels provide a lot more shock in a hole than 26" or bigger. Rad had a lot of complaints about loose spokes 2 or 3 years ago, decreasing somewhat the last year. Read the "known problems and solutions" thread about rad yourself.
Frankly, at this price point you are going to buy a lot of features and glitz, and fake steel spokes or aluminum rims. The cheap bikes like your ancheer save money by buying grey metal wheels spokes that look just like steel & aluminum, but are not. It is possible to buy real steel spokes in *****, my yuba was made there and the back wheel has been zero trouble over 8500 miles. I carry 20 lb tools supplies water and sometimes 80 lb loads back there like a pickup wheel. The front is where I bought cheapo hub motors, and even at my light 160 lb I've had to tighten the spokes a few times. Those were especially fat looking spokes, but thickness is no substitute for real metal. I had a $740 hub motor from luna once, built into a wheel near Los Angeles, and I had no trouble with the wheel or spokes with that. (I wore out the motor clutch). DT Swiss makes real spokes, and some people speak highly of Sapim. Wheels, I don't know the brands, but the dual layer ones that come with most hub motor power wheels are fragile and warp.
If the ancheer ran okay maybe you had best pay a bike shop to build you a set of wheels with some name brand rims and spokes. 12 ga (fat) ****ese spokes are no substitute for 14 ga American electric steel (DT swiss were US made when I built a IGH wh

The ancheer was really crap, constantly issues here and there. I didn't even think of a complete wheel rebuild. Honestly, not a lot of potholes where I am for my planned commute. I guess my final contenders are the radcity 5 plus, radrover 6 plus, and radrunner plus.

I have a rad partnered bike shop near by (literally on my route to work) so it's probably good to go with them.

 

[AHicks]

Would you recommend the Radrunner plus for commuting? I was initially hesitant about its small size (i’m 6ft tall) but after looking at some more video it seems to look bigger than it does on the pictures.

NOT a fan of 20" wheels.

 

[XPanda]

NOT a fan of 20" wheels.

Same to be honest, would you think the Rover will make for a better commuter if I downsized the wheels? There is a $400 price difference between it and the city right now and I can easily put that to some changes (26x3 wheels for pavement for example).

 

[AHicks]

Same to be honest, would you think the Rover will make for a better commuter if I downsized the wheels? There is a $400 price difference between it and the city right now and I can easily put that to some changes (26x3 wheels for pavement for example).

More easily said than done! The fatty bikes (Rover) use REALLY wide rims, like 80 to 100mm wide rims. More conventional rims (City) are probably going to be in the neighborhood of 30mm. Point being, all 26" tires are not going to be interchangeable.

The City specs say they are set up with 27.5"x 2".

 

[indianajo]

Same to be honest, would you think the Rover will make for a better commuter if I downsized the wheels?

Love how rad website doesn't specify the tires or dimensions. Rad rover does have a 275 lb weight limit.
If those tires are 3", they are low pressure fat tires. Pressure limit 25 psi or so. Much more rolling resistance than 2.1" or 2.4" tires with 55 psi of air. Not suitable for serious commuting.

 

[GenXrider]

Hi everyone,

EDIT FINAL: So I spent the past month flip flopping between brands, models, and price points and ended up settling on the new Rad1up prodigy. I decided to forgo any

I have looked at the Radpower and Rid1up offerings, but which company? I was browsing and saw a lot of new and recent complaints about both companies slipping over customer service.

It's not Rad1up or Rid1up. It's Ride1Up.

 

[XPanda]

It's not Rad1up or Rid1up. It's Ride1Up.

Woops, fixed