radrover vs radmini ride comfort?

[vincent]

would love to hear experiences of owners/riders of both bikes

considering buying a second fat bike

since the radrover frame is pretty big - especially for women- i wonder about getting a radmini instead of another radrover

but what i love on the radrover is the squishy ride

is there an option for a front suspension fork on the radmini? and how would people who have ridden both rate the ride comfort?

 

[sanglee007]

Hi Vincent,

I have both a Radrover and a Radmini, I use them for commuting through suburban neighborhoods in San Jose, CA

I'm probably around 200lbs and it's been over a decade or since I rode ... I did ride a lot back then, mostly road, around the south bay, nothing serious.

Radmini with suspension seat post

• Tires: 20x4 stock tires
  • comfort: 2.5/5 (so buzzy when on streets)
• Tires: Sunlite/Kenda 20x4 street tires @ 24psi
  • comfort: 3/5
• The mini is my commute bike and it can get a bit buzzy on the handlebars on San Jose suburban roads.
• I've added a suspension seatpost (origin8)

Radrover with suspension seat post

• Tires: 26x4 stock tires @ 30psi
  • 5/5 - even with high psi...so much cushion on the tires. Front suspension keep my hand from feeling fatigued with the buzzy knobbies
• Tires: 26x2.5 Maxxis Hookworms
  • 4.5/5 - definitely feel more through the back wheel, even with the suspension seatpost, but the trade off is that hookworms are fast and quiet

The Rover is a bit tall for me (5' 7" with short legs, longer torso) so I switched to the Mini. I recently installed Maxxis Hookworms as recommended in the forums and it brought it down an inch in standover height. It's workable for me, but not comfortable. If you're concerned about standover, I would look at the Mini.


Suspension fork: I've seen a few posts about 20" folding bikes with front suspension, but have not found them for sale separately.


Sang

 

[vincent]

thank you so much sang

this is exactly the info i was looking for

i love the ride on my radrover and love how stable it is

disappointed the mini is so much rougher, was really thinking about getting one
mainly for shorter friends to ride it when we go off road, the rover is tall/big - i do ok on it but barely
wanting a smaller fat bike for friends for gravel roads etc

will do some research on the front suspension for a 20 inch and maybe a bodyfloat seat post would help....

if i find anything interesting on the front fork i will post back

 

[mbirds]

I want to point out how critical the tire pressure is. My mini feels harsh at 25psi, but totally different at 15 psi, which is what I use. Like night and day. This is with the Vee Speedsters. And judging by the amount of watt hours consumed, whatever loss of efficiency there is, is undetectable to me using a kill-a-watt.

 

[vincent]

very interesting mbirds

the rover seems comfortable to ride at any pressure but to me handles best with the tires at 20-30psi

wish they would come up with a front suspension fork for the mini, that might help

you see some of the china versions with suspension but i dont know how high the quality is

 

[sanglee007]

mbirds,

I enjoyed your radmini vids, good insights from an owner especially the mods.

Yep, tire pressure is very important, I'm on the streets so for less rolling resistance I keep them around 25psi. On my road bike, I used to be a 110psi!

RadMini

• Sunlite/Kenda 20x4 @ 25psi (I keep writing 26x4, but it's 20x4 for the RadMini)
  • I hit the dirt for a little bit on to avoid people taking up the a whole trail and it was a bit jarring, I didn't have the firmest grip on the bars. Lower tire pressure would have definitely helped out

RadRover

• Maxxis Hookworms 26x2.5 @ 25psi
  • I rode through a fire trail around a small pond and it was much more comfortable, that front shock definitely helps.

Sang

 

[mbirds]

Sanglee, Thanks for the feedback on the videos! I haven't ridden as much as I'd like recently.

I should add that the stock tires ran nicely at higher psi. I think they are 20-30psi rated? When I got the Speedsters I noticed they were rated 8-20 psi which seemed weird since they are "slicks" but they have a much different structure. In any case they work very well at 15, but the main point is that tires vary and with these fatties you need to really try some different options within the tire's range.

Vincent, just my personal opinion, while if I had a non-fat bike I would definitely want a suspension fork, I find it unnecessary on this bike. This is coming from a mountain biker with a FS mountain bike. If I were in the market for a 26" fat bike I might even get a rigid model like the Yukon... sorry RPB.

A fantasy project I've planned is a downtube brand full suspension folding 20" bike with either a bafang mid-drive or a magic pie and a 48V pack. Would be more compact, a bit lighter, very powerful and fast. Price would come out to a bit more than a radmini though. The Rad bikes are basically DIY prices.

 

[mbirds]

Also, @sanglee007, are you using the sunlite Stingray style tires? How do you like them?

 

[vincent]

Mbirds since the rad is the only fatbike i have ever ridden i have no idea how much difference the front suspension makes on it, but love the ride..

But i am also a very casual rider, dont go fast or want to
It may be used for offroad some but offroad for me is a gravel or dirt road at medium speed
not mtn biking type stuff
It will also be used for a lot of paved road/bike trail riding

I really need to ride some more fat ebikes...

But for me looking at the radmini i want a similar ride to the rover, but with a smaller frame size for shorter friends to ride

Wrote a few companies last nite asking about 20 inch fat tire front suspension forks and the one answer so far is no they dont have them- never heard of them

Agree on the prices on the mini and rover, you cant beat them

 

[sanglee007]

Also, @sanglee007, are you using the sunlite Stingray style tires? How do you like them?

Actually the Sunlite XL Cruiser

• https://www.amazon.com/Sunlite-XL-Cruiser-Tires-Black/dp/B0063R2X86

They seem pretty good so far, very quiet... much less buzzy on the roads compared to knobbies. The tread part seemed decently thick when I was mounting them but I didn't really pay that much attention since getting the wheel on/off on such a heavy bike was a chore. Brea

I was exploring the scooter tire option, but I don't know how well a 16"x 2.5" wide tire would mount on the fat tire rim, the Maxxis Hookworms are 26x2.5" and they mount pretty well on the RadRover, so Scooter tires are definitely something I'm open to.


Sang

 

[vincent]

sang do you have some pics you could post of both of these tires mounted

so to understand correctly you have 2.5 hookworms on your rover now, so it is not really a fat tire anymore??

these bikes are specifically for stability off road/gravel roads for me, so not really wanting to get away from off road tires
i just want really tough off road tires and tubes or tubeless set up

dont know why but my lbs seems to be not wanting to do tubeless on my fat tires or any tires, they seem to steer me away from it every time i ask

but they also did not know there were any tubeless ready fat tires for the rover, so will see their response this week when i tell them that i can get some...

 

[walawn]

@vincent I'm running 26 x 2.5 Hookworms on mine and the wheel width still makes it a fat tire bike since it is wider than a normal narrow bicycle tire. I did the W & OD trail the other day (25 miles out and 25 miles back in on gravel all the way) and they performed fine.

 

[thatdude902]

Forum member Casey is selling his 26x2.5 Maxxis Hookworm tires & tubes in the "for sale" section, with pictures so you can check them out. He has the Big O fenders so you can compare it with pictures of the 4" tires vs the 2.5 Maxxis within the fenders. I bought his Big O fenders and the transaction went fine except for a slight hiccup at UPS.

 

[sanglee007]

sang do you have some pics you could post of both of these tires mounted

so to understand correctly you have 2.5 hookworms on your rover now, so it is not really a fat tire anymore??

these bikes are specifically for stability off road/gravel roads for me, so not really wanting to get away from off road tires
i just want really tough off road tires and tubes or tubeless set up

dont know why but my lbs seems to be not wanting to do tubeless on my fat tires or any tires, they seem to steer me away from it every time i ask

but they also did not know there were any tubeless ready fat tires for the rover, so will see their response this week when i tell them that i can get some...

Hi Vincent,

I don't have any pics, but here's the thread I found the Maxxis Hookworms on with pics

• https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/maxxis-hookworms.3390/

Sang

 

[vincent]

thanks sang, i forgot about that thread

right now think i will stick with the more offroad, fatter tire

actually did a search for "best fat bike tire" and think it was one of the mtn biking forums lists 10, some that are made for tubeless, and kendra we have was in the list..

will try to find that link again and post it

 

[vincent]

here is that link

http://reviews.mtbr.com/10-top-notch-fat-bike-tires


actually this is listed as a kendra juggernaut pro tire, so maybe not the same one..

if anyone has thoughts on which ones of these tires would be the most flatless type i am all ears

 

[TheMost77]

Hi Vincent,

I have both a Radrover and a Radmini, I use them for commuting through suburban neighborhoods in San Jose, CA

I'm probably around 200lbs and it's been over a decade or since I rode ... I did ride a lot back then, mostly road, around the south bay, nothing serious.

Radmini with suspension seat post

• Tires: 20x4 stock tires
  • comfort: 2.5/5 (so buzzy when on streets)
• Tires: Sunlite/Kenda 20x4 street tires @ 24psi
  • comfort: 3/5
• The mini is my commute bike and it can get a bit buzzy on the handlebars on San Jose suburban roads.
• I've added a suspension seatpost (origin8)

Radrover with suspension seat post

• Tires: 26x4 stock tires @ 30psi
  • 5/5 - even with high psi...so much cushion on the tires. Front suspension keep my hand from feeling fatigued with the buzzy knobbies
• Tires: 26x2.5 Maxxis Hookworms
  • 4.5/5 - definitely feel more through the back wheel, even with the suspension seatpost, but the trade off is that hookworms are fast and quiet

The Rover is a bit tall for me (5' 7" with short legs, longer torso) so I switched to the Mini. I recently installed Maxxis Hookworms as recommended in the forums and it brought it down an inch in standover height. It's workable for me, but not comfortable. If you're concerned about standover, I would look at the Mini.


Suspension fork: I've seen a few posts about 20" folding bikes with front suspension, but have not found them for sale separately.


Sang

Can one use the 26x2.5 Maxxis Hookworms on the RadRover with the tubes that came with the RadRover?

Edit: just found this thread which indicates that tubes should be bought as well (link for tubes in thread):
https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/maxxis-hookworms.3390/page-2