Rad Power’s RadWagon 4: A great e-bike at a surprisingly low price

The Salter household is very much a bicycling household, so when Rad Power offered me a review unit of one of its 2021 model e-bikes, I eagerly accepted. Rad offers a wide selection of models with a few important common features; all of them are powered aluminum-chassis e-bikes that retail for less than $2,000.

I tried the $1,899 RadWagon 4—a large, aggressively utilitarian, and very configurable cargo bike aimed at folks who need to haul passengers or groceries. After spending three full months with the RadWagon and putting several hundred miles on it, I'm happy to recommend it as an outstanding e-bike at a low price.

Drivetrain and integrated electronics

The RadWagon 4 uses a standard chain-drive mechanism offering seven speeds on one ring. The gears only work with muscle-driven power—the RadWagon's electric motor spins the rear wheel directly, independent of the gearing. The motor can be engaged by both a standard power assist with selectable aggressiveness, or by an auxiliary throttle grip on the right handlebar—neither method is exclusive, which turns out to be a great feature on a big cargo bike.

Unlike some models of e-bike we've tested, the RadWagon looks and feels very much like a bicyclist's bike, meaning that it's primarily a bicycle with a motor attached rather than the other way around. Its Tektro disc brakes and Shimano gears and shifter are familiar and well-respected names from decades of un-powered biking. The 750 W geared hub motor is sufficient to get the RadWagon 4 up to 20 mph—fast enough to keep up with serious bicyclists on a moderate workout ride but not fast enough to blow past them.

Rad Power rates the RadWagon 4 at 45+ miles per charge. Your actual range will vary widely with how heavily you use the motor and how much cargo you're hauling, but in our experience, that 45-mile rating is extremely conservative. Even with a 200 pound rider, 100+ pounds of cargo, and moderate-to-heavy power assist, we achieved nearly double that range.

RadWagon 4 comes with an integrated headlight and brake lights. The lights are always lit when the bike is powered on, but the brake lights become significantly brighter when the brakes are applied, just like a car. The front-mounted headlight is a nice safety feature for getting cars' attention, but it's insufficient for actually lighting up the road—we needed to add a battery-powered, handlebar-mounted headlight for serious night riding.

We also would have preferred a powered horn on the RadWagon 4—the simple bell it comes with is sufficient for getting another bicyclist's attention, but pedestrians tend to ignore it, and it's utterly useless in traffic with cars.

Overall impressions

When it comes to looks, the RadWagon's simple tube-frame chassis doesn't scream "fancy bike"—but the aggressively industrial-looking design and long wheelbase does stand out. We got significant "Hey, nice bike, can I ask you about it?" attention from random passers-by, although much less than we had with the much fancier-looking Stromer ST2 we tested prior to the RadWagon.

Even with the motor completely disabled, the RadWagon 4 handles and feels like a high-quality bike—albeit a heavy one, at 76.7 pounds unloaded. That's roughly double the weight of my usual daily rider—a Specialized Roll upright cruiser—but no heavier than the unpowered Madsen cargo bike we've used for hauling kids and groceries alike for years.

If you're a moderately fit and experienced bicyclist, the RadWagon 4 is entirely manageable even without the power assist. If you're a fit and experienced cargo bicyclist, the RadWagon 4 is downright easy, even without the power assist. As with any cargo bike, you do need to pay extra attention to working your way through the gears without "mashing"—but it doesn't feel as punishing as our Madsen, which I have affectionately nicknamed the Pain Train.

With power assist, the RadWagon 4 is a pretty powerful bike, but it's not a terrifying speed demon even on full power. Both its acceleration and top speed are still solidly within the higher end of "normal bicycle" territory—but they're at the higher end of a sprint. Those speeds are now achievable with casual-to-moderate effort over very long distances, even with 100+ pounds of cargo on board.

We opted for the Large frame on the RadWagon 4, which accommodated both my long-legged 5-foot-11 height and my wife's short-legged 5-foot-6 height—but if we had it to do over again, we'd select the Medium frame instead. The double telescope action on the RadWagon's seatpipe makes it unusually adjustable, and although my wife needed to collapse both halves entirely, I only needed to extend the top section when I rode.

Cargo handling

The "cargo" side of the RadWagon is configurable with a wide variety of optional accessories—the rear rack can be configured with one or two toddler seats, padded bench seats for bigger kids (or adults), cargo baskets, or insulated saddlebags. Additional handlebars can also be mounted to both the front and rear of the deck area, along with wooden footboards. We tested everything but the toddler seats.

We didn't find much use for the cargo baskets, which are small, shallow, and open-framed—but the insulated saddlebags and padded bench seats are both great. Seats and bags both attach by way of sturdy clips that hook onto the cargo deck and can be popped on and off in seconds (and without any tools). Although you can attach both bench seats and saddlebags at the same time, there's not much point; a passenger's legs won't fit comfortably around the saddlebags.

There's also an optional basket mount below the handlebars. Like the rear baskets, the basket is minimally useful while riding due to its shallowness and open frame. If you want to use the front basket for cargo, you'll want a zippered bag that fits inside it—and bungees or similar to make sure you don't lose the bag. But even without a bag, it's a great resting place for the charger—and maybe a bike helmet and riding gloves—while you're not riding.

The insulated saddlebags are more than sufficient for a typical grocery run. We like to unclip both saddlebags and take them right into the store—the bagger in the checkout line can load your groceries directly into them, saving the need for either disposable or reusable bags. On our first trip to the local Food Lion, the bagger put all $150 of groceries—mostly frozen food—into a single saddlebag, which we redistributed more evenly before clipping the bags back to the bike for the ride home.

The clips for the saddlebags slide back and forth in an integrated track on the bags themselves, which ensures you can always fit the clips neatly into any available space on the rear deck—a really thoughtful feature we appreciated, once we finally discovered it!

One final note about cargo handling: the RadWagon's manual twist throttle is an absolute lifesaver when you have 100+ pounds extra on board. Like any heavy cargo bike, being in the right gear for your current speed is critical—but having the throttle right there means that getting stalled in traffic is a non-issue, even if you're riding with the automatic power assist completely disabled.

In an early test ride with my 105-pound daughter as passenger, an oncoming car cut us off with an unsignaled left turn while we were riding up a steep hill. This unexpected stall left us a solid five gears away from where we needed to be to accelerate—which on a typical cargo bike would likely have meant coming to a complete stop, dismounting my passenger, and carefully finagling the gears back down to first before remounting. But on the RadWagon, it just meant twisting the throttle to accelerate effortlessly back into the proper speed for sixth gear.

When I first began riding the RadWagon, I was worried that having the throttle right there would make me less likely to work and result in less exercise—but I found in practice that it encouraged me to work harder with automatic power assist set very low or entirely off.

Conclusions

The RadWagon 4 is an innovative, affordable e-bike design with a wide range of uses. We absolutely loved having a twist throttle in addition to the automatic "pedal assist" found on other e-bike models; the throttle can save your butt in situations where pedal assist doesn't, and it encourages less overall motor use since you know there's an "instant save" there whenever you need it. We also appreciated the swept-back comfort handlebar design, integrated brake lights and headlights, and (optional) running boards, padded bench seats, and large insulated saddlebags.

Although the RadWagon 4 is a great e-bike and an outstanding value, it's not perfect. We wish it offered a powered horn loud enough to get drivers' attention and perhaps a larger bucket-style cargo option for the rear deck. But did we mention the outstanding value? The $1,899 RadWagon 4 costs less than a $2,395 unpowered Madsen cargo bike, let alone a $3,250 Specialized Como or a $5,900 Stromer ST2 e-bike.

If you're not into cargo bikes, Rad Power does have other models—like the $1,999 RadRover 6 Plus or the $1,799 RadCity 5 Plus Step-Thru. Most of the Rad Power lineup offers the features we loved on RadWagon 4 at similar price points, but with alternate configurations, including step-through design, half-size cargo decks, or even foldable models.

The good

• Fantastic value proposition—less expensive than almost all e-bikes and many unpowered bikes
• Great components, from the Shimano gears and shifter to Tektro Aries disc brakes
• 350-pound payload capacity including rider (120 pounds on rear rack)
• Integrated powered headlight and brake light
• Integrated USB port for charging phones/accessories while riding
• Unusually good handling for a cargo bike
• Long range—frequently double the 45-mile manufacturer rating
• High configurability with multiple accessory options for the long rear deck
• Naked tube-frame design of rack allows easy creation of custom-designed accessories for the welders and makers out there
• Integrated fenders and plexiglass rear wheel shroud minimize puddle splatter
• Wide range of purpose-designed cargo accessories available
• 750 W motor controllable by both adjustable power assist and direct twist-grip throttle
• Fast shipping—this model currently ships within three business days of order

The bad

• No powered horn—the included bell won't get a car's attention
• No "Dutch lock" for the wheels
• Significantly lower cargo capacity than a Madsen bucket bike
• No suspension—consider a spring-loaded seat if you ride a lot of very rough roads
• Wimpy headlight—good for getting attention at night, insufficient for lighting dark roads by itself

The ugly

• No rubber feet on the dual-leg kickstand—may scar up driveways, rub paint off the kickstand itself
• Shallow, open-frame (optional accessory) baskets are not very useful
• Difficult to carry both passenger and cargo at once