More bad PR for RadPower

[LimboJim]

Rad Power Bikes puts the brakes on RadWagon 4 over safety concerns – The Seattle Times

 

[JRA]

I get why they would say not to use 3rd party tires but why wouldn't someone use 3rd party tires although selection in that size is limited I assume?

 

[BKing]

I get why they would say not to use 3rd party tires but why wouldn't someone use 3rd party tires although selection in that size is limited I assume?

The bike weight and lateral forces especially on the rear tire when loaded require a specially designed tire.

 

[tomjasz]

The bike weight and lateral forces especially on the rear tire when loaded require a specially designed tire.

Silly design!

 

[m@Robertson]

The bike weight and lateral forces especially on the rear tire when loaded require a specially designed tire.

Thats not really true. Cargo bike tires certainly benefit from a heavier-duty casing but this is by no means a requirement. Lets not forget that when you are loaded heavy enough to stress the tires, you are by necessity restricted to slow speeds simply because of the reality of riding a 400 lb bike. We're talking 8 mph being too fast. Lateral forces aren't the same level of concern at those speeds.

And its certainly not a secret formula as heavier-casing tires are widely available. The simplest way for a consumer to get hold of them without engaging any brain power is to only buy e50-rated tires. Schwalbe Marathons, Pickups and Super Moto X's are in wide use. My Big Fat Dummy is using Vee tires. and the fat tires with their enormous sidewalls and equally enormous load capacities take the place of the multilayer casings of something like a Pickup. My Envoy is running Vee Speedsters, which are not heavy duty at all but their 2.8" size makes up for that.

Plus its by no means all about the tire. Your wheels play a big role in tire profile and whether you are going to get squirm as a result. But the success/failure range is very wide, just like it is for tires. My Envoy with its 26x2.2 Kenda tires came stock with rims that were 19mm wide internally, and I had no issues. I replaced them with custom wheels with 32mm internal width and that let me go bigger on the tires, which added to ride comfort more than anything else.

By all means use stronger tires on a cargo bike, but its not brain surgery, and any other bike will have many replacement options. The problem here is Rad introduced an almost proprietary tire size (22"x3") into the market. This let them try to corner the market on tire replacement purchases. Now they have a quality control issue with the product that almost everyone is more or less locked into using ... and the result is an advisement from Rad to stop riding the bike until they can get an acceptable replacement product to market. On a bike they themselves acknowledge is a daily driver for many now-grounded customers.

 

[Rexlion]

And here I thought that only some trailer tires were going to be known as "China bombs." Now there are bike tires that qualify for the moniker!