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Rad trike adventure
Apr. 25th, 2023 11:55 pmI ordered another electric trike. This one is made by Rad. They are one of the larger online purveyors of e-bikes, and in fact I already own one of their bikes, which I have been quite pleased with.
The Rad Trike looks very similar to the Liberty Trike which I have had for years. Smallish wheels, very low step-through, comes apart in the middle. Front hub motor, reverse gear. But it is considerably wider, slightly taller, and looks beefier. The Liberty Trike is like something out of the kiddy section at Kmart in the 1950s, with an electric kit bolted on. It’s a flexy creaky POS. In spite of it being junky, it has worked out well for me. I wish I could put the seat up a bit higher, and that I could fix the crunchy bearings, but they aren’t designed for any of that. Based on my prior experience with the Rad bicycle, and the online Rad Trike specs and photos, I expected more modern components, and less squeaks and rattles, with the Rad Trike.
And at first it seemed like I was getting that. But as we got to the back end of it, we discovered some bad issues. One, the chain was bizarrely tight, like it was a link short or something. You could hardly move it. Two, the rear axle was bent! The right rear wheel had a pronounced waggle, and we realized it wasn’t just out of true, it was the hub that was waggling. We put a digital runout gauge on it and AT THE HUB it was out by 90 thou. At the rim, this became about a half inch.
I called Rad customer support and they asked me to upload some videos. And they sent me a replacement trike right away! They said to wait for the new trike, and then use its packaging to ship back the defective one.
The second trike arrived. In support of someday boxing the first trike back up, and also to prove its condition, I took a 40 minute, single take, unboxing video. Which was good because it has the same two problems. Tight chain and bent axle. Except in this case it is the left rear wheel. The left waggles when the right wheel turns, even when the left is not turning. It’s crazy to see it waggling while not turning!
So we keep going back and forth with Rad support. I really want this to work, because the trike seems a great fit for me, and it’s not like there are huge numbers of choices in this market segment. But two in a row with the same two weird defects? I don’t want a third; I am already daunted by the notion of boxing up two of them for return.
In our troubleshooting we have got one problem resolved. The tight chain is due to an assembly error. There is a chain tensioner pulley that the chain is routed under, when it should have been routed over. Fixing the routing solves it.
But the bent axle is a bigger deal. I don’t think it was bent by the over tight chain, but if it was, that implies the axle is way too soft. Bad metallurgy?
I am trying to get Rad to send me a shop manual. And ideally some parts. It would be cool if they offered me a deal to keep both trikes, but the more time and trouble I spend on this, the better that deal ought to be!
The Rad Trike looks very similar to the Liberty Trike which I have had for years. Smallish wheels, very low step-through, comes apart in the middle. Front hub motor, reverse gear. But it is considerably wider, slightly taller, and looks beefier. The Liberty Trike is like something out of the kiddy section at Kmart in the 1950s, with an electric kit bolted on. It’s a flexy creaky POS. In spite of it being junky, it has worked out well for me. I wish I could put the seat up a bit higher, and that I could fix the crunchy bearings, but they aren’t designed for any of that. Based on my prior experience with the Rad bicycle, and the online Rad Trike specs and photos, I expected more modern components, and less squeaks and rattles, with the Rad Trike.
And at first it seemed like I was getting that. But as we got to the back end of it, we discovered some bad issues. One, the chain was bizarrely tight, like it was a link short or something. You could hardly move it. Two, the rear axle was bent! The right rear wheel had a pronounced waggle, and we realized it wasn’t just out of true, it was the hub that was waggling. We put a digital runout gauge on it and AT THE HUB it was out by 90 thou. At the rim, this became about a half inch.
I called Rad customer support and they asked me to upload some videos. And they sent me a replacement trike right away! They said to wait for the new trike, and then use its packaging to ship back the defective one.
The second trike arrived. In support of someday boxing the first trike back up, and also to prove its condition, I took a 40 minute, single take, unboxing video. Which was good because it has the same two problems. Tight chain and bent axle. Except in this case it is the left rear wheel. The left waggles when the right wheel turns, even when the left is not turning. It’s crazy to see it waggling while not turning!
So we keep going back and forth with Rad support. I really want this to work, because the trike seems a great fit for me, and it’s not like there are huge numbers of choices in this market segment. But two in a row with the same two weird defects? I don’t want a third; I am already daunted by the notion of boxing up two of them for return.
In our troubleshooting we have got one problem resolved. The tight chain is due to an assembly error. There is a chain tensioner pulley that the chain is routed under, when it should have been routed over. Fixing the routing solves it.
But the bent axle is a bigger deal. I don’t think it was bent by the over tight chain, but if it was, that implies the axle is way too soft. Bad metallurgy?
I am trying to get Rad to send me a shop manual. And ideally some parts. It would be cool if they offered me a deal to keep both trikes, but the more time and trouble I spend on this, the better that deal ought to be!
