Beardystarstuff
Member
I bought a Lectric XP back in December and love it but after 6 weeks riding I realized I wanted more range and front shocks. I ended up buying a Rover and have been riding it now for just under 3 weeks. As of this morning I’ve got 394 miles on it and after today’s ride I’ll be up around 424. Perusing this forum I didn’t see any recent ride journals for the Rover though I’d guess there are some older postings. I thought I’d post something. I’m keeping a journal of rides on my blog at https://beardystarstuff.net/tag/rad-rover/ for anyone interested.
All in all, a fantastic bike. I’m finding it more comfortable than the Lectric XP and the increased range is exactly what I was looking for. Rather than the 22 to 25 miles I was getting with the XP I’m getting 35 miles with the Rover and have 40% battery left after those longer rides. One of my favorite rides is a quiet county road that turns from blacktop to gravel to packed dirt and on this ride I drop down to PAS 1 and a very slow pace to enjoy the scenery. Saw both a groundhog and a fox on my ride yesterday. No traffic. No sounds but the birds, the wind and me on the bike. I didn’t drop below 80% on the battery indicator until about 18 miles on yesterday’s ride. No doubt my slow pace and use of PAS 1 for much of the ride helps extend the battery. Light to moderate rolling hills on the ride. A couple of steep hills but only about a quarter mile long.
The only issue I’ve had with the bike is the cable connecting the LCD to the battery came loose one day causing the bike to shut down and momentary panic. I quickly noticed the disconnected cable and screwed it back together, no problems since. Will keep an eye on that!
I’m really liking the upright riding position on the Rover and finding it fairly comfortable on the 30 mile rides. Looking forward to pushing it to 40 or 45 miles to this spring. I‘m thinking I could get a 50 mile ride from the battery if I’m careful and hoping that I’ll still be comfortable at 50 miles. I work from home so no commute except to occasional meetings in town 8 miles away. I’ll be using the bike for grocery getting too, working on getting some bike racks put up around town for folks to lock lock up to which will make bikes more useful for other people too.
I’ve got both front and back racks from RAD, have the usual small-medium trunk pack on the back rack with tools, tube, pump, patch kit, etc. On the front rack I‘ve got two small plastic crates from Walmart (Sterilite brand). I’ve got them zip tied together and to the rack. The two together fit the rack pretty well and are perfect for taking along extra stuff like locks, snacks, water, hat, gloves, air horn, dog spray (Lots of loose dogs in this area that like to chase. Hope I don’t have to use the spray but I’ve got it if I need it.), iPad Mini, etc. I’ve got the bigger version of this crate for carrying groceries or other bigger items, it’s easily attached to the back rack when I need it. Thought about the basket/crates that RAD sells but they’re a bit pricey. I think, for the money, these plastic crates actually look good on the bike, they’re light weight, sturdy and sized so that they’re useful without being too large for daily rides.
Once I start shopping I’ll get a couple of panniers for each side. In anticipation of the occasional night commute I’ve got a couple extra lights too.
All in all a fantastic bike. Comfortable, great range, and with enough rack space/weight capacity to handle useful errands when needed. At some point I’d like to get a second battery and look at doing some 60 to 80 mile camping rides. Perhaps in the fall.
Edit to add: On my usual but an extended route, I rode 40 miles yesterday and ended with three bars, I suspect about 50%. First time I’ve ridden 40 miles on a charge. If there was one thing I’d change on the Rover it would be a better, more precise indicator of my battery charge level! Assuming the bottom 50% of a battery provides less mileage than the top 50% I’d guess though that another 20 miles, possibly more would have been doable.
All in all, a fantastic bike. I’m finding it more comfortable than the Lectric XP and the increased range is exactly what I was looking for. Rather than the 22 to 25 miles I was getting with the XP I’m getting 35 miles with the Rover and have 40% battery left after those longer rides. One of my favorite rides is a quiet county road that turns from blacktop to gravel to packed dirt and on this ride I drop down to PAS 1 and a very slow pace to enjoy the scenery. Saw both a groundhog and a fox on my ride yesterday. No traffic. No sounds but the birds, the wind and me on the bike. I didn’t drop below 80% on the battery indicator until about 18 miles on yesterday’s ride. No doubt my slow pace and use of PAS 1 for much of the ride helps extend the battery. Light to moderate rolling hills on the ride. A couple of steep hills but only about a quarter mile long.
The only issue I’ve had with the bike is the cable connecting the LCD to the battery came loose one day causing the bike to shut down and momentary panic. I quickly noticed the disconnected cable and screwed it back together, no problems since. Will keep an eye on that!
I’m really liking the upright riding position on the Rover and finding it fairly comfortable on the 30 mile rides. Looking forward to pushing it to 40 or 45 miles to this spring. I‘m thinking I could get a 50 mile ride from the battery if I’m careful and hoping that I’ll still be comfortable at 50 miles. I work from home so no commute except to occasional meetings in town 8 miles away. I’ll be using the bike for grocery getting too, working on getting some bike racks put up around town for folks to lock lock up to which will make bikes more useful for other people too.
I’ve got both front and back racks from RAD, have the usual small-medium trunk pack on the back rack with tools, tube, pump, patch kit, etc. On the front rack I‘ve got two small plastic crates from Walmart (Sterilite brand). I’ve got them zip tied together and to the rack. The two together fit the rack pretty well and are perfect for taking along extra stuff like locks, snacks, water, hat, gloves, air horn, dog spray (Lots of loose dogs in this area that like to chase. Hope I don’t have to use the spray but I’ve got it if I need it.), iPad Mini, etc. I’ve got the bigger version of this crate for carrying groceries or other bigger items, it’s easily attached to the back rack when I need it. Thought about the basket/crates that RAD sells but they’re a bit pricey. I think, for the money, these plastic crates actually look good on the bike, they’re light weight, sturdy and sized so that they’re useful without being too large for daily rides.
Once I start shopping I’ll get a couple of panniers for each side. In anticipation of the occasional night commute I’ve got a couple extra lights too.
All in all a fantastic bike. Comfortable, great range, and with enough rack space/weight capacity to handle useful errands when needed. At some point I’d like to get a second battery and look at doing some 60 to 80 mile camping rides. Perhaps in the fall.
Edit to add: On my usual but an extended route, I rode 40 miles yesterday and ended with three bars, I suspect about 50%. First time I’ve ridden 40 miles on a charge. If there was one thing I’d change on the Rover it would be a better, more precise indicator of my battery charge level! Assuming the bottom 50% of a battery provides less mileage than the top 50% I’d guess though that another 20 miles, possibly more would have been doable.
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