Thoughts on this Used 2017 Rad Rover?

R

reluctantsuburban

Member
Hey All,

I am looking to get into the ebike game and price is steering me towards used or DIY if I can get away with it. Briefly, I am looking for something to help me with a 20 mile one-way commute on flat roads that are pock-marked with potholes in Texas. I am 28, reasonably fit, 165lbs and 6'1". I was hoping for a class 3 for sake of speed. To see more info on my commute specifically, you can check out my original help request: Post here

I wanted to see if anyone had any guidance on whether or not this post on Craigslist for a Used 2017 Rad Rover looked like a good deal? In particular, is the listing of top speed of 25 mph correct, and does it seem like it would serve my commuting needs? If I could buy new, something like the Juiced CCX would really seem to suit my needs, but I don't think I can justify the cost. $1500 would be more of a sweet spot.

Craigslist (Link Removed - No Longer Exists)

The poster has upgraded to Jones handlebars, is including a rear rack from Salsa, and says that they have 2 batteries which have been "meticulously maintained", each with about 1000 miles.

Thanks!
 
I have two 2016 Radrovers with around +5600 miles between them. I don't think Rad made any changes between the 2016 and 2017 versions. I work commute all 4 seasons at around 55-75 miles per week. I like my Radrover a lot better compared to my old 700X40c GT Transeo GT because of the fat tires. I like how the fat tires provide a smoother ride over all types of terrain at almost any speed. I also added the Cloud-9 seat and Bodyfloat suspension seatpost. It was mostly inclines and headwinds of +15 mph pushed me towards an ebike. It always takes me the same 25-30 minutes on each leg on my ebike work commute; while, it could take up to an hour to get home if I had a 15-20 mph headwind with 500 foot elevation gain on my old pedal bike.

The 2017 Radrover is a class II 20 mph ebike with PAS 0-5 and throttle. The 7 speed gears are pretty much maxed out around 22-23 mph (about 70-80 rpm pedal speed). Almost impossible to maintain anything above 15-17 mph for long runs on the rover without rear motor. I've sometimes reach speeds of 24-26 mph on downhill runs on my work commute (12-15 mph up the same hills). You can adjust the motor cut-off to 24.8 mph in about 15-20 seconds in the controller set up screen. You will can then reach 24.8 using the throttle or ghost pedaling. You will end up using a lot battery power because of that speed and fighting normal wind resistance because of the upright riding position. There have been times I had to ride home in +20 mph headwinds with +25 mph gust and I was down to 2 bars after 6 miles in PAS 4 trying to maintaining mid-teens for speed. I'm usually about 28-32 mile range using PAS 3 and around 17-18 mph average on my rad trip computer (trying to make 6 stop lights drops my avg).

The 17 Radrover would work as a 40 miles a day work commuter. You would need to switch batteries at work or be able to re-charge for 3-4 hours during the day. You would also need a rack with rack bag+panniers for tools, pump, spare tube, and flat repair kit. Fat tires are not as puncture resistant as smaller size regular or plus size tires. I still get flats from road debris even with Mr. Tuffy liners and Stans tire sealant.

To me, I would think the Craigslist Radrover with spare battery and charger would be a good buy at under $1000 because of wear/tear and mileage.
 
mrgold35 said:
I have two 2016 Radrovers with around +5600 miles between them. I don't think Rad made any changes between the 2016 and 2017 versions. I work commute all 4 seasons at around 55-75 miles per week. I like my Radrover a lot better compared to my old 700X40c GT Transeo GT because of the fat tires. I like how the fat tires provide a smoother ride over all types of terrain at almost any speed. I also added the Cloud-9 seat and Bodyfloat suspension seatpost. It was mostly inclines and headwinds of +15 mph pushed me towards an ebike. It always takes me the same 25-30 minutes on each leg on my ebike work commute; while, it could take up to an hour to get home if I had a 15-20 mph headwind with 500 foot elevation gain on my old pedal bike.

The 2017 Radrover is a class II 20 mph ebike with PAS 0-5 and throttle. The 7 speed gears are pretty much maxed out around 22-23 mph (about 70-80 rpm pedal speed). Almost impossible to maintain anything above 15-17 mph for long runs on the rover without rear motor. I've sometimes reach speeds of 24-26 mph on downhill runs on my work commute (12-15 mph up the same hills). You can adjust the motor cut-off to 24.8 mph in about 15-20 seconds in the controller set up screen. You will can then reach 24.8 using the throttle or ghost pedaling. You will end up using a lot battery power because of that speed and fighting normal wind resistance because of the upright riding position. There have been times I had to ride home in +20 mph headwinds with +25 mph gust and I was down to 2 bars after 6 miles in PAS 4 trying to maintaining mid-teens for speed. I'm usually about 28-32 mile range using PAS 3 and around 17-18 mph average on my rad trip computer (trying to make 6 stop lights drops my avg).

The 17 Radrover would work as a 40 miles a day work commuter. You would need to switch batteries at work or be able to re-charge for 3-4 hours during the day. You would also need a rack with rack bag+panniers for tools, pump, spare tube, and flat repair kit. Fat tires are not as puncture resistant as smaller size regular or plus size tires. I still get flats from road debris even with Mr. Tuffy liners and Stans tire sealant.

To me, I would think the Craigslist Radrover with spare battery and charger would be a good buy at under $1000 because of wear/tear and mileage.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for the detailed reply. All makes sense to me. I asked if he would come down on price and so far was told no. Will see if I can try again later.
 
The biggest thing that would slow me down would be the geared motor. That's a personal preference thing though. Pictures show the bike pretty well - but it's hard to base too much on pictures. I've driven long distances only to be totally turned off by reality on arrival.

Each battery has been used for 1000 miles, for a total of 2000 on the bike. That looks like a mini Cooper in the back ground of one pic. Possibly giving you an idea of how the bike has been driven? Be nicer to see an Impala or a big Buick....

If it won't go 25, it'll be darn close. That's set using the display to whatever you want up to 25mph. You can cheat a little further by messing with the wheel size, but if running this thing wide open all the way to work and back, personally I think you're pushing it and it's intended purpose. Might work well for something like I did (total re-power w/DD hub), but you'd still be working around the batteries as the weak point in the electrical.
 
AHicks said:
The biggest thing that would slow me down would be the geared motor. That's a personal preference thing though. Pictures show the bike pretty well - but it's hard to base too much on pictures. I've driven long distances only to be totally turned off by reality on arrival.

Each battery has been used for 1000 miles, for a total of 2000 on the bike. That looks like a mini Cooper in the back ground of one pic. Possibly giving you an idea of how the bike has been driven? Be nicer to see an Impala or a big Buick....

If it won't go 25, it'll be darn close. That's set using the display to whatever you want up to 25mph. You can cheat a little further by messing with the wheel size, but if running this thing wide open all the way to work and back, personally I think you're pushing it and it's intended purpose. Might work well for something like I did (total re-power w/DD hub), but you'd still be working around the batteries as the weak point in the electrical.
Click to expand...
Hey AHicks, yes, I was just re-reading your Rad City conversion thread. Your comment along those lines was my initial inspiration for looking at some more used bikes in my area. I am very interested in a conversion along the lines of the one that you did.

I noted in that thread you said you weren't sure you would do the same conversion with the Rad Rover, but I'm not sure that I understood why--can you help clarify?

Batteries as weak points makes me a little nervous, but maybe with 2 in good condition, swapping at work, it would serve my purposes for a while until I buy something like a 52v shark pack? Would be eager to hear your thoughts!
 
The two batteries that come with the rover would equal 48vX23.2 ah = 1,113.6 watt hours compared to the 52vX13.5 ah = 702 watt hours. You will also need to rewire the rover for the shark battery and purchase a 52v charger. I've had my three Dolphin 11.6 ah battery packs for +2 years and haven't notice a drop in performance or range.
 
To be honest, not sure what I was thinking regarding the Rad Rover comment. If that comes back, I'll pas it on.

With your quest for sustained speeds in the mid 20's +, you have darn good reson to be concerned about batteries used in a production bike. ALL of them that I've looked at! That's quite a factor to be gained by the DIY plan.... YOU spec out the battery for YOUR needs!

My concern on the Rad batteries is regarding how many amps they're capable of delivering on a continous basis - thier "C" rating. How these are rated vs. what a 1500w DD hub (or even the stock geared hub at WOT) might need to maintain the speed you're interested in. I've never dug in that far and done the math. Myself, I kind of worked backwards from the batteries ratings as is, figuring what I needed would be on the conservative side, and that worst case (for my application) I could swap some of that stock 14ga wire for some 10ga to pick up a little capacity if necessary.

Rewiring a Rad for a different battery would not be that difficult. Might not be quite as tidy as the factory setup, but no show stopper by any imagination. Seems like a I saw a 48v 20amp Dolphin somewhere just recently. You would just need to make sure of the C rating there as well. Most of the 20's I've seen were pretty respectable. -Al
 
AHicks said:
To be honest, not sure what I was thinking regarding the Rad Rover comment. If that comes back, I'll pas it on.

With your quest for sustained speeds in the mid 20's +, you have darn good reson to be concerned about batteries used in a production bike. ALL of them that I've looked at! That's quite a factor to be gained by the DIY plan.... YOU spec out the battery for YOUR needs!

My concern on the Rad batteries is regarding how many amps they're capable of delivering on a continous basis - thier "C" rating. How these are rated vs. what a 1500w DD hub (or even the stock geared hub at WOT) might need to maintain the speed you're interested in. I've never dug in that far and done the math. Myself, I kind of worked backwards from the batteries ratings as is, figuring what I needed would be on the conservative side, and that worst case (for my application) I could swap some of that stock 14ga wire for some 10ga to pick up a little capacity if necessary.

Rewiring a Rad for a different battery would not be that difficult. Might not be quite as tidy as the factory setup, but no show stopper by any imagination. Seems like a I saw a 48v 20amp Dolphin somewhere just recently. You would just need to make sure of the C rating there as well. Most of the 20's I've seen were pretty respectable. -Al
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. All of this is new to me, so pardon the dumb question - but how can I determine what C rating would be appropriate for consistent mid-20s cruising? Your comments have proved very helpful so far.
 
That's a pretty good question, and I don't feel particularly well qualified to answer it, but I'll share what I know. I have a strong radio control background, 40+ years worth. Lately a LOT of guys have been gravitating to electric power for their planes (easy, reliable, not too expensive), and what can now be done with a radio control plane is just stunning compared to what we could do even just 5 years ago.

Noteworthy is the fact that RC is using the same brushless motor technology and battery chemistry that is used on an e-bike. That's given me quite an edge when it comes to how this stuff works...

So, I can tell you that a 1 to maybe 5C battery is generally used only to power electronics - no motors. For use with motors, C values start at 10C, but 20C is about as low as I would go for a "sport" plane. We also have these completely ridiculously powered planes whose motor will shake a plane around like a dog with a rat (think fully modified e-dirt bike here). Those generally use 40C minimum, and go up to 65C or so....

I would start shopping batteries so you can see what's available. Much easier to judge what you see here with production e-bike batteries, knowing what's available and what something like that is going to cost you. At that point, comparing wants with needs gets much simpler....

I think you're going to reinforce the concept that going fast is expensive - but there are a few ways to do that... -Al
 
Reading material I just ran across, written today (you need to be careful you aren't wasting your time with a 10 year old note!). They don't get into C values, but Mark spits out some quick logic and formulas you might find handy. Note the "endless" part of the website name literally means endless. I've been poking through it for months now...
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=96671
 
reluctantsuburban said:
Endless Sphere has become a constant companion over the past month. Lots of info, lots of opinions!
Click to expand...
Lot's of very high level tech talk that's really tough to follow/wade through for me (I know enough about electronics to just be dangerous!), and topics with hundreds of pages that might otherwise be interesting. I always feel like I'm starting near the end of the book! Getting easier now though, having learned some of the acronyms I've never seen, and recognizing several authors that seem to be much easier to follow. -Al
 
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