My Stoopidest Acquisition Yet: THE RIDE Radiant Carbon / Envolio Automatiq

[speedub.nate]

As it turns out I am an n + 1 guy BUT I rEaLLy thought my bike silo had reached its overfill limit.

So then this funny looking "blue thing" shows up on Upway's site and piques my curiosity (photo at the bottom). Turns out, after some back-and-forth emails with Enviolo, it's their early version of the Nuvinci auto shifting drivetrain -- the giveaway is there's an extra-fat cable plugged in to the shifter box, and an additional wire running up to some buttons on the handlebar, neither of which show up on their production bikes I've seen. As I'm contemplating this bike somebody buys it so oh well, but immediately afterward a beautiful red one is listed. Ooh! I fire off one more question to Enviolo about THAT bike, but I'm too slow and it sells before I can get back to it.

The Radiant Carbon is, at this point, a six year old design germinated from the mind of mountain bike legend Tony Ellsworth, aka Ellsworth Bikes and his successor ebike company The Ride. The Radiant Carbon has since picked up a 2nd life through another brand, Tomberlin, where they're selling it as the "Signature Carbon." Single legged aluminum fork, single sided chainstay & single sided seat stay. The rear fender is a structural member of the carbon fiber frame in place of a traditional seat tube. Frame-integrated front and rear lights. Tires are 27.5", so a good bit more proportional than the 26" balloon tires on my Electra Moto Go cafe cruiser, which with its skinny tubing is left looking like there is space to fill.

As of my posting this, there is one of each example (Radiant Carbon & Tomberlin) available on Upway's site, both in gray.

Anyhow, the shiny red version really struck me. I went on a search and found one with all of 5 miles on the clock, listed on eBay by a somewhat risky-looking 1-Review seller in Louisiana. I made some phone calls and I got ahold of a local bike shop owner out there and convinced her to act as my middleman and shipper, and made a deal with the seller after nobody bid on his auction.

Without further ado, here it stands with a couple of mods to make it mine, namely the skibidi plywood pedals, cork PDW grips, and the "aged" saddle (with silver rivets to match the "The Ride" badge )

I do have very modest plans: The stock motor is a Shimano E6100 and I have an E8000 on the shelf that might fit this mount. Enviolo's Automatiq transmission works OK but not great, so while in concept I should be able to set my preferred cadence via the app once and be done, I'm thinking I'll add their wireless buttons so I can make adjustments on the fly (or, for instance, if a friend is riding it they're not stuck with my cadence setting). But actually, the auto shifting works better than I expected and I could probably live with it and adapt to it. After all, this is just a cruising around town fun bike, not a commuter or pack mule. Oh, and Enviolo's Android app sucks: I can't adjust the cadence. Enviolo tells me it's a known bug. I had to steal somebody's iPhone to make adjustments. If I buy their handlebar button, that problem goes away. I may unlock it to break the 20 MPH restriction (my Moto Go is a 28 MPH bike), but I'll leave it as is for now and see if that gets in the way.

What about the ride (erm... "The Ride")? It's fine. The CF frame is PHAT so there's a little big of leg rub. The bike came with a kickstand (which I want because I don't want lean the frame or for that matter the saddle against things), but the rear tire rubs it because the wheel has the slightest wobble, not enough to notice otherwise but I need to mount it up in the truing stand! The front wheel & tire must be lighter than my Moto Go because I don't feel as much torque steer when I lean it into a corner. Cruising and descending is fine, no quibbles, but because I don't have direct control of the shifting I am at Enviolo's mercy during climbs. Once I select a cadence via the app, that's the comfort zone for the duration of the climb. If I spin faster than what's set, the bike reads that as it needs to gear up. If I leave it at the leisurely default 65 RPM, the motor tries to do all of the work but it's not the torquiest unit out there, so my steeper hills cause it to strain. I didn't buy this to climb hills though, so I'm not complaining too loudly. Enviolo also sells a 4-button controller that can alternately simulate a 9-speed drivetrain, but I'm thinking that's bastardizing the concept and would run afoul of the intention of this bike.

There are a couple of blemishes in the red finish, and I noticed there is a bit of wrinkling on one side of the top tube, visible in the photo.

Ultimately I don't know if I'm going to get rid of the Moto Go? There's a ton of overlap between these two, despite them being distinctly different styles. It's cool having something for a friend to ride or just an even day / odd day bike selection for my mood.

 

[Nesdon]

Way out of my budget, but Im looking at one of these Tomberlins. I have an old Townie I put an 8 sp Alfine on with a Tong Sheng midrive using a Bafang display, throttle, and 3 button control. Its a wonderful bike I've been riding for a decade, and so funky no one would think to steal it. I've been nursing a cart and favorites list on Upway for months now wanting to get a more proper Ebike that's not such a old fart for my middle aged son.

I made the schlep down to Brooklyn to test ride a bunch of bikes, but the ride a loop inside the warehouse between rows of bike test drive model is pretty whacked. I have been looking for a torque sensiugn midrive wuith a belt and a 5-8 sp hub. But rode some Specialized and Gazelles that I wasn't very impressed with. I prolly should have ridden some hub drives, which i never have ridden, always assuming that the having the motor in fornt of the trans was clearly superior from a physics perspective.

Weird to have them feel like a down grade on the way my Townie performs. Kinda haven't wanted an Envolio, which i've ridden a few times, finding the heavy twist difficult, maybe because i have bad wrists, but also matching cadense on an ebike is not such a fussy thing. I tend to only use 3 or 4 gears most of the time on My Shimano 8 speed IGH Ebike, though I use them all on my Trek Soho so the envolio feels excessive. But I actually liked the ones i rode so am OK with this Tomberlin having one, tho am worried about the mapping of the autoshift.

I'm from LA and still have lots of friends and family there, and i can get a RT plane ticket for about Upways shipping charge, so I'm thinking of digging into my savings and bitting the bullet. But my disappointment in the Specialized Turbo Como 5.0 which had no handlebar controls or display, and which they told me was not compatible with the Specialized handlebar TCD2, as well as the terrible Bosch displays on the Gazelles, made me really wary of judging a bike from its online listing.

 

[Chargeride]

What a creation, you could dress up as a toddler and confuse the populace.

 

[speedub.nate]

Agreed, the proportions look like an oversized balance bike!

Oh, and I haven't measured, but bottom bracket height seems very low. Pedal strikes guaranteed if I try to pedal through turns.

 

[speedub.nate]

Kinda haven't wanted an Envolio, which i've ridden a few times, finding the heavy twist difficult, maybe because i have bad wrists, but also matching cadense on an ebike is not such a fussy thing. I tend to only use 3 or 4 gears most of the time on My Shimano 8 speed IGH Ebike, though I use them all on my Trek Soho so the envolio feels excessive. But I actually liked the ones i rode so am OK with this Tomberlin having one, tho am worried about the mapping of the autoshift

I have the Enviolo also on the Electra I mentioned above, and I micro-adjust it constantly during a ride. I hear what you're saying about the motor sort of erasing the need for fine / narrow gear shifting, but since it's there, I can't help it.

Enviolo sells a 4-way wireless button controller that they say allows shifting like a 9-speed. It's about $100 (assuming it's being installed on a bike that already has the Automatiq doohickie).

made me really wary of judging a bike from its online listing.

I've used Upway twice and they haven't burned me. But for the Tomberlin, they had two errors: listed it as 28 MPH max (it's 20), and listed the motor as an EP8 (I believe it's still an E6100).

I emailed them about it, and they corrected the max speed, but never did anything with the motor type. Maybe it is an EP8 and Tomberlin never updated their spec sheet? That would automatically make it a better deal that the Radiant Carbon.

 

[Nesdon]

I checked the Signature Carbon in Brooklyn today, and while it had no badges or labeling, I connected it to the E Step app and it listed the wireless unit as it as an SCE6100, even said it was not compatible with an SC-EP8000, tho not sure if thats the same. I was really impressed with the Shimano interface and would expect it to be a very solid and well made drive. I like the crank forward design, like my Townie, and think the Envolio is also app controlled. I was mostly OK with the auto shifting, and if one can tweak the map and set up some manual shifts it would be impressive.

They also have a few Serial 1 Rushs, made by Harley, which are similarly equipped. Much heavier, and with a Brose drive and a lot of proprietary parts, but $1100 cheaper. The one availble to ride in Brooklyn had some sort of Envolio control pad glitch (the Tomberlin has no phyiscal control) so it couldn't shift. But a very nice riding bike.

Also rode a Priority Current which was too small for my son, but which was really powerful with a nice interface. It too was $1000 less than the Tomberlin. I worry a bit about the really highly stressed carbon frame in the Tomberlin, what with the mono fork, and wonder about how one would fit a front fender. I feel like the Shimano drive with its app interface is big advantage. Really tempted. Have you ridden yours much?

 

[Nesdon]

Getting the batterry between the down tubes of the Townie was a challenge. I actually heated up the battery case and deformed it then cut a notch to fit into the little gusset on the old frame design as well as another dimple on the aft end to fit under the top tube. I removed the mounting plate and carved an ethafoam block to keep it centered on the lower tube, then just push it up into the notch and hose clamped a small bit of aluminum angle to hold it there. At first i was strapping it in as a safety, but I've given that up and It's worked perfectly for 1000s of miles.

I don't blame my 47 year old son for not really wanting to ride it, so still looking forward to a real Ebike, Tho I think I will junk up with a zillion stickers to discourage the envy and covetousness of bike thieves.

 

[speedub.nate]

I rode the Serial 1 at Sea Otter... gosh, 5 or 6years ago? (and still have the T-shirt, BTW!) ..and remember liking how that bike operated as a pit cruiser, unaware of the Automatiq shifting system at the time. In fact, both of my sons fell in love with that bike, but of course they were quite a bit younger than the adult-sized teens they are today. The good thing going for Serial 1 is that IIRC those frames come in different sizes. The Signature Carbon / Tomberlin are one-size-fits-all. But actually, that's ok, I'm 6'1 and as a cruising around the lake kind of ride it's perfectly adequate. It's very chill, very relaxed. Also a good bit lighter than the Serial 1 AND my Electra Moto Go!

But I bought this bike (actually both of these bikes) based on vibes -- they just plain look appealing and I've had a good time riding both.

Here's my problem with Enviolo's automatic shifting:
- on flats, I can't really hammer it out of a stop. So say I'm at a light that I want to jump, or just at an intersection where it's my turn and I need to go. My other bikes I'm in the right gear and can charge out of there. With the Automatiq, it's like of like "la la la" and the bike is in no hurry to go anywhere any faster than it's going to go. In my short time with it I've questioned whether it's dangerous (no) or just annoying (maybe) or simply something to get accustom to (probably) that might be solved with the optional buttons (remains to be seen).
- on flats once I'm moving, it's fine, maybe a little light at my preferred cadence but it's fine for recreational cruising.
- on downhills, may as well just coast. Or maybe I can try changing the cadence preference to something really, really low. Can't lay down the power, and if I'm not pedaling, the motor's not contributing. Not a big deal, not for how I use this bike, just something I noticed.
- on uphills, that's where I like to spin my legs and contribute something, but it requires a cadence preference set to something north of 75 RPM otherwise I'm just lugging it.

I am happy to hear you got to test ride the bike; I was buying site-unseen and just trusting the reviews and other experiences. And I was primarily attracted to the unusual looking frame, almost to the point that function was secondary. My fallback was that I could always revert to some form of manual shifting if the Automatiq really didn't suit my tastes!

 

[speedub.nate]

I checked the Signature Carbon in Brooklyn today...

Oh, and on that note, with the Tomberlin being the identical bike, it's at least 2 years newer (2023) if not three, meaning hopefully a fresher battery. And zero miles on the odometer, vs. the 500-some on the Radiant Carbon. The Radiant Carbon is listed as "524 miles since 2023" but it's simultaneously listed as 2021 model year bike and that means the battery has been aging since at least that date. Not that I've detected any irregularities with my RC's battery yet, which has a 2020 production date.