Hello all. New RadRover 5 owner

[DrewH]

Hi all,

I just purchased my first E-bike. Picked up a RadRover 5 along with a second battery. I live a little north of Seattle and as luck would have it I called the other day to check stock and they had one more Rover in stock. So I bombed down, test rode the 5 and the 6 Plus and left with the 5.

I‘ll be using the bike to travel on logging roads here in the NW and as such will be subjecting the bike and myself to lots of hill climbing. I plan on doing the Bolton upgraded controller along with the true 750 watt Bafang motor at some point.

In the mean time, I’m curious as to what my options are for changing the gearing? The Rover 5 has an 11-34 freewheel and a 42 tooth chainring. Top speed is of little importance to me compared to hill climbing ability. Am I able to put a smaller chain ring on it? And can I do anything different with the freewheel that would benefit me for hill climbs?

I’ve taken it up some pretty good grades so far but I’m on pedal assist 5 for the longer climbs and don’t want to put too much strain on the motor and controller. I asked the folks at Rad if I should be concerned with riding up steep grades that are a mile or so long and they did say it’s best to not be on Pedal Assist 5 for prolonged periods. Any truth to that?

Thank you,


Drew

 

[mrgold35]

Congrats on the new Rover! I have two 2016 Rad rovers still going strong with +7000 miles between both ebikes.

Using PAS-5 is not recommended in my 2016 owner's manual for steep inclines. I figured it could result in damage to the plastic gears and/or overheating the electric motor (me at +275lbs does not help either). I was a PAS 4/5 user at first living at +5000 feet with 400 foot incline between my work and home commute. Once I got my ebike legs under me, I was able to maintain my same speed and commute time only using PAS 3. I got in the habit of lowing my gears to maintain a 50-70 pedal rpm instead of a certain mph.

I would give yourself some time if you are new to ebikes to build up your conditioning before modifying just yet.

 

[ExPatBrit]

I had a Rover, I live on a hill and am surrounded by them . My inbound commute is 5-6 miles uphill I never used 1-2 gear. With the bolton upgrade +motor , I switched to a 48T Chainring and still rarely required low gears even on the trail.

 

[DrewH]

Thanks for the replies. I figure I’ll consider the next few months a shake down cruise and then see what I want to tweak on the bike. I think mrgold35 is correct in that I don’t have my ebike legs under me quite yet. I live about a half hour from work and there’s not really a way to safely commute on the bike but I can fairly easily get out and ride some logging roads close to home so I’ll be doing that as much as possible.

First night I owned the bike I actually had the display fail on me. I’d go to turn it on and it would light up for just a second and turn back off. Rad’s customer service is excellent though and they swapped the display for me without an appointment the next day and I was on my way back home in 10 minutes or so. I’m glad to hopefully get issues like that out of the way before I’m 10 + miles in on some forest service roads.

 

[AHicks]

2nd the idea of riding the new bike for a bit, to give yourself a chance to get to know it, prior to changing a thing. I usually give them like 50 miles. THEN, once you identify a weak spot, go for it! Do whatever it takes to fix it. That's one of the bonuses of going with the 5 over the 6 version. There's a TON of aftermarket stuff available for it.

Noteworth likely, is that if this is your first e-bike, you're going to suck when it comes to riding it efficiently. We ALL did! There's way more going on than first meets the eye. That first 50 miles will likely show you that....

Enjoy the new bike, and welcome to EBR! -Al