I have a brand new forest green Radrunner 1 and here are my first impressions. To clarify, this is not first my e-bike and I've been riding for 40 years on San Francisco hills.
1.
Built like a tank. Tough and strong all around, and the forest green color reinforces the image of a classic Jeep. The rack can easily handle an adult in the back. The minus is, of course, weight so it's not a sharp handler and doesn't stop on a dime. Difficult to lift into the back of my minivan, or onto a bike rack.
2.
Plenty of power and plenty of battery. Gears unnecessary. I use the throttle for about 2 seconds to help startup the bike. I weigh 178 pounds and just did a 23-mile loop around San Francisco with total 1,499 elevation gain (see photo 1). On the flats, I was on assist 2 and on the hills I used assist 3 or 4. I'm sure a controller/display upgrade would be a lot of fun, and I'd likely recommend it if you routinely carry an adult in the back. On this 23-mile loop, I started on a full battery and rode the entire time with lights on, and when finished, battery voltage was 47.8 volts (still ~57% full).
3.
Upright seating position is excellent. Very comfortable for those with back problems. Reminds me of the banana seat bikes that I had as a kid.
4.
Double leg kickstand is a must. Terrible that it's not included in the Radrunner Plus, but if you're going to be using this bike for utility, the double leg is going to help with stability while you're loading all the stuff on the racks, etc.
5.
Seat is horrible. It's hard, poorly contoured, and impossible to replace without replacing the seat post at the same time. It's designed to "blend in" with the passenger seat (if you get one), which is foolish because you can't get any leg extension at all when the seat is that low. Balloon tires at lower inflation pressures only help a little, and the trade-off is increased risk of picking up debris that causes a flat. Thankfully the seat post is a standard size, so I just transplantrf my seat/post from another bike.
6.
Headlight is so-so. Tail light is a joke. I believe in running lights day and night. The headlight is for you to be seen only (not illuminate the road much) and sadly there's no flash option. The "upgraded" headlight from RAD is worse than the original, with an extremely narrow beam that provides no side visibility, and even worse for traffic from the side to see you. The tail light is awful, even with the flash option and even with the increased brightness when braking. A cheap USB tail light is brighter. I think the headlight circuit in the controller is a major weak spot.
7.
Foot peg location is terrible. It's so high up on the rear rack that any adult passenger has to bend their knees A LOT and keep their legs in an uncomfortable position. I'm looking at attaching pegs at the rear axle, where they're much lower. Something like this:
https://www.thebikeseat.com/store/p12/Ebike_Pegs.html
8.
Battery security is non-existent. The fact that a blank Honda X84 / HD-74 motorcycle key that you can get for $1 at the local hardware store can be used to steal any battery from any Rad Power Bike is downright criminal. Granted it's a bad idea to leave your bike parked unattended with battery attached since the battery is, even with the lock, pretty easy to steal. That said, the situation is analogous to old Kryptonite locks being opened with a BIC pen - and Kryptonite replaced all their U-locks if you made a warranty claim. I personally think that Rad Power Bikes should replace all batteries still under warranty for free, and give a pro-rated discount to all batteries out of warranty based on age. Yes, that's an expensive move but realistically the right thing to do. You could use a locking (not so) quick release collar for the seat post to block the battery from being lifted out, but then you'd have to unlock that as well every time you wanted to charge the battery off bike.
Lastly, some iconic eye candy with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.
