There are of course drawbacks to this, chiefly being that there’s a fair amount of resistance on asphalt. With this in mind, the RadRunner 2 is a road bike that has very thick tyres and so blazes a trail of its own. Typically, different tyre profiles are for different kinds of terrain, with thin tyres being for the road and thicker tyres for off-road conditions. But you can then remove the keys before riding.īraking performance with the Tektro mechanical disk brakes was mostly good, being tight and responsive in general even at higher speeds.Īn interesting choice made with the design of the RadRunner 2 is the choice of tyres. The key-operated lock prevents anyone from taking the battery while the bike is parked, and it also used as an ‘ignition’: it must be set to the appropriate position before the bike will power on. The battery can be removed from the frame for charging off the bike, but it isn’t the easiest thing to do. If you are a commuter, this might automatically mean looking elsewhere, particularly for those who take their bikes with them on public transport. At 29kg, the relatively diminutive dimensions of the RadRunner 2 belie its sheer heft.
The size of the battery along with the generally chunky design also bring another compromise: weight. A friend at 150cm was delighted to find a bike that wasn’t way too big – so perceptions of this may skew heavily on height. This made for a cramped ride in general, though those with shorter legs might not encounter the same issue. This is to be applauded as many e-bikes in particular leave out the sub-160cm club, however it introduces a range of compromises.Īt 177cm, approaching the upper limits of the fit, I found that the bike was difficult to adjust into a comfortable riding position between the handlebars and the saddle. First, and unusually, it is designed to fit a range of ‘average’ heights, those being 150cm to 188cm. There’s no requirement to produce something lithe and elegant that could be as at home on the Champs d’Elysee as on Ordinary Street – instead it is robustness and the size of the rack that count.Įven on these merits, the RadRunner 2 is a slightly odd customer. The utility bike, as a general rule, doesn’t ascribe to the same design principles as the ‘standard’ bike. For small business couriers, parents with kids and more, the ability to easily shift a small (but heavy) cargo with relatively minimal effort is highly welcome. One style in particular that seeks to replace short car journeys is the utility bike. Exploding in popularity, particularly as Joe Public looks for an alternate transport option for short commutes, it seems the market for these bikes will only continue to grow. The electric bike as a product category is, in the grand scheme of things, pretty new. Plus, taller riders will find the frame too small for comfort.
It will appeal to first-time buyers looking for an inexpensive electric bike for carrying luggage (or a second person), but range is relatively limited and optional accessories can push the price up quite a lot. The RadRunner 2 is an electric utility bike that attempts to do it all, but in trying to be everything to everyone it inevitably falls down.
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