Rad Rhino

[John1960]

I have just taken delivery of the Rad Rhino .... which is the Rad Rover tweaked to comply with European laws.
My question is to do with the battery level indicator. I have ridden it a few times now and am a little confused about the amount of battery remaining, I ride in Pas 2 or Pas 3 and the battery level goes down as expected, however on the few occasions I have used the throttle or a higher Pas level the battery indicator drops to only two bars remaining then once the load comes off it returns to just one bar used. Is this showing the load/drain on the battery rather than the life remaining ?. I have another bike that uses the Bosch system and the battery level on this stays steady and drops as expected with distance covered, no large dips in level remaining when selecting a higher power.
Love the bike to bits, such fun to ride.
Thankss

 

[mrgold35]

Congrats on the new ride! I've had my his/her Radrovers since Sept/16 and have around 3700 miles between them.

The Rad battery indicator on the LCD screen does double duty:
- at rest it shows the battery charge level within 20%
- while using PAS 1-5 and/or throttle the battery indicator shows the load the battery is expending to maintain your speed

The only additional display is when the battery indicator is blinking to show the batter power is under 20% when powering the hub motor and it cannot keep up with load needed to maintain the desired power level. The Radrover will reduce the wattage; but, still provide the maximum amount of power it can to maintain your desired PAS level.

Example is if you are under 20% power and you want to maintain PAS 4 (550 watts) pedaling up hill. The Radrover might show a blinking battery indicator and max power might only be 400 watts at PAS 4. I usually slow down to PAS 2 (175 watts) or 3 (375 watts) to use less power depending how far I'm away from home.

It is very hard to estimate your range just by battery level because of so many other variables like wind, terrain, temps, road conditions, hills, your weight, wind drag, etc... I just had to take the wife's spare battery and ride until the Rad shut off to get a feel for my max range:

- a little over 36 miles with less than 10% power at 10-13 mph at PAS 2 with some PAS 3, with some throttle use
- usually at 22-27 miles with 20% on battery indicator at 15-20 mph cruising speeds using PAS 3 sometimes PAS 4 with some throttle use

 

[John1960]

That is really useful information, many thanks for the detailed reply. Your explanation make perfect sense.

I am really enjoying the ride on the Rad, it's so easy to cruise along at 10 - 15mph (our speed limit here) in Pas 2 - 3. My wife rides a different make of ebike, that has a 250W motor ( the old limit we were allowed here) and it's interesting how little power I need to match her pace. I am looking forward to getting out more and trying some off road riding.

I'm sure I am going to have many many hours of enjoyment.

 

[mrgold35]

My wife hates trail riding while I love it. The Radrover's big advantage is when it gets sandy and the fat tires can float on top instead of digging in (you will need the throttle with really deep sand). I had to add the larger Cloud-9 cruiser seat and Suntour NCX SP-12 suspension seatpost to my Rad for the trails. The updated seat combo also came in handy for my work commutes smoothing out the ride at 18-22 mph where I can remain seated 95% of time compared to always having to lift up over every bump.

 

[John1960]

A seat post sounds like a good investment.

 

[jst_at_home]

Can I ask if anyone here is from the UK? I am interested in a Rhino.

 

[John1960]

I'm in the UK and took delivery of a Rhino a week or two ago. From what I understand mine was the first in the UK and there should be five or six here now. Love the bike.

 

[Gustavian]

I have just bought a Rhino....have managed to register it with the DVLA under L1eA classification.
They call it a motorcycle under body type and electric motorcycle under taxation class.
What I am having trouble with is getting insurance....can't seem to get any insurance companies interested....brokers are telling me they don't have underwriters prepared to take on this class of vehicle. Any British owners having similar problems.....or have managed to insure?

 

[John1960]

I have just taken delivery of the Rad Rhino .... which is the Rad Rover tweaked to comply with European laws.
My question is to do with the battery level indicator. I have ridden it a few times now and am a little confused about the amount of battery remaining, I ride in Pas 2 or Pas 3 and the battery level goes down as expected, however on the few occasions I have used the throttle or a higher Pas level the battery indicator drops to only two bars remaining then once the load comes off it returns to just one bar used. Is this showing the load/drain on the battery rather than the life remaining ?. I have another bike that uses the Bosch system and the battery level on this stays steady and drops as expected with distance covered, no large dips in level remaining when selecting a higher power.
Love the bike to bits, such fun to ride.
Thankss

Hi, well done with the registration it took us ages to get ours done. We tried many companies for insurance and the only one we could find was .... https://www.bikesure.co.uk/

Hope it helps

John

 

[emerg]

I have just bought a Rhino....have managed to register it with the DVLA under L1eA classification.
They call it a motorcycle under body type and electric motorcycle under taxation class.
What I am having trouble with is getting insurance....can't seem to get any insurance companies interested....brokers are telling me they don't have underwriters prepared to take on this class of vehicle. Any British owners having similar problems.....or have managed to insure?

Hi I have bought a Rhino but DVLA have sent back my request to register it and have phoned them three times not but they keep insisting that I do no need to register it. Don't want to end up with police having an issue so how do I articulate the need to register it. I have sent them the certification etc. but they don't seem to understand.

 

[John1960]

Hi I have bought a Rhino but DVLA have sent back my request to register it and have phoned them three times not but they keep insisting that I do no need to register it. Don't want to end up with police having an issue so how do I articulate the need to register it. I have sent them the certification etc. but they don't seem to understand.

Hi

Very odd. I had to register mine with DVLA ( a year ago). It took ages as they had no idea how to treat it. Not registering it would be a dream if you can get away with it. Insurance is very hard to get as well. The only company I could get to quote was 'bikesure' - please let me know how you get on as I am more than a little interested.

Do you have a letter from them saying you don't need to register it ? - if you do, I would run away laughing and have happy riding. There is a very good facebook group for RAD owners and a few Rhino owners get on there. ..... https://www.facebook.com/groups/radpowerowners/

 

[freddie allen]

I had my BMW motorcycle insured fully comp with Bikesure (who are based in Gibraltar) for 8 years,it was 10 years old in pristine condition with many imported extras and had just passed its annual MOT with no advisories.I then took it into the next bay for a wash and stood less than 10 yards away,in the blink of a eye one of the vehicle cleaners knocked it over.What followed next was a nightmare,Bikesure immediately sprung into action sending a recovery vehicle to take it to one of their 'engineers'.This turned out to be a scrap yard,Eventually on discovering the vehicle wash had no insurance Bikesure refused to pay and threatened to crush it if I didn't take it back.Having no choice I excepted and they returned it with further damage more serious than the original damage.I contested this and it went on for months eventually they simply dismissed my claim refused to pay telling me 'well that's how it works', leaving me with a badly damaged,once beautiful well looked after Beemer.i have insured my e bike with Pedalsure,it cost £15 a month with a guarantee of new for old should it should be stolen cover includes £500 worth of accessories,health cover and legal costs

 

[RLS2]

Hi I have bought a Rhino but DVLA have sent back my request to register it and have phoned them three times not but they keep insisting that I do no need to register it. Don't want to end up with police having an issue so how do I articulate the need to register it. I have sent them the certification etc. but they don't seem to understand.

Did they send you a letter saying that you do not need to register? It would be very useful to see that. I registered in March, have been unable to find anyone that is able to insure me, and now have a penalty for having an uninsured vehicle. I have been in correspondence with my MP and the Dept of Transport for months. The DoT have been very evasive in giving answers and appear to be in breach of the EU Regulation relating to the L1-eA cycles.
I did obtain insurance from PedalSure, but it turned out that despite having given them all the bike details, they sold me a policy that is invalid.