Firstly, apologies for the poor sound on this video - it was windy and the mic on the camera didn't cope well, plus I didn't have the time to do a re-take.
I've been thinking about getting an electric bike for a while now, and after reading and watching many reviews, I finally took the plunge and bought the Rad Wagon.
I began by thinking that I might convert an existing bike to electric , a Peugeot mixte frame tourer, and priced it up - it came out at around £700 for a powerful set-up -wheel with hub motor, controller, battery and all the various bits, and I wasn't convinced that I'd be able to get to to work. I was also a bit concerned that the old tourer might be a bit deficient in some areas, with its side pull brakes, light touring wheels and a frame designed to carry a rider and panniers, but nothing else. I'd seen some wonderful looking retro style bikes, like the Vintage Electric, but these are very expensive and not legal in the UK, but there were a few other interesting ones on the market, but again all rather expensive. The first Rad Power bike that caught my eye was the Rad runner - it looked perfect - compact, low stepover frame, built in heavy duty rack and plenty of power. But it was only single gear, and further research produced more bad news - the EU version was only 250W as opposed to the full-strength 750W USA version...and that single gear wasn't going to be much use on the hill that I live on. But then I saw the RadWagon...aimed fair and square at the utility market - a custom designed cargo bike with carrying capacity and more power. It seemed like it might be sensible thing for me house in my business. I'm a guitar maker, and often need to make trips to then post office, drop off parcels at the local collection points, visit my off-site warehouse to pickup stock.
I'd never ridden an ebike before, so after a couple of days with this, here are my first impressions. Again, apologies for the patchy sound quality.
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/v5z5G2QVZuQ/maxresdefault.jpg)