Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

RadTrike Electric Tricycle

radpowerbikes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 167 posts

Re: RadTrike Electric Tricycle

#71

Post by bityard »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #63
dohdhdaa wrote: post #52

I am a decently experienced NYC cyclist. Not Terry Barentsen or anything, but pretty decent at biking both in fitness terms and in practical urban NYC riding. The biggest problem with e-bikers, and general e-thing riders, as a population, is that they haven’t built the bike skills equivalent to the speed that they can go at. I can ride 20mph if I want to, but it took a long time for me to be able to do that. I had to…

What does 'salmon' mean here? The first time I read it above, I thought you meant 'slalom' but then you repeated 'salmon' several times so it seems deliberate.

I want to know what it means to "shoal" on a bike. There are just too many marine references here.

Re: RadTrike Electric Tricycle

#72

Post by zemvpferreira »

flatiron wrote: post #65

I’m unsure why nobody releases a compact electric 4 seater car with a 60 mile range for running the kids to school and grabbing some random groceries. Basically a beefed up golf cart. That’s all I need to drop my kids off at school each day which is 95% of my weekday driving.

Because people won't buy it. This is just like the "smaller iPhone" conversation. Even in Europe compacts are disappearing because everyone would rather buy 100% more car for 50% more money.

It's that simple.

EDIT: that said we now have the Dacia Spring which is approximately what you're asking for. Even that is on the chopping block two years after being introduced and selling like hotcakes.

Re: RadTrike Electric Tricycle

#73

Post by bityard »

austinbeer wrote: post #22
CharlesW wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pre-order price of the e-bike is $2,500. Which electric car makes that line blurry?

https://www.wired.com/story/review-wuling-hongguang-mini-ev/ https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Hot-Sale-2022-New-Che... Like $2-$8k electric car / golf cart-sih cars are already happening!

We need AgingWheels to buy one of these

Re: RadTrike Electric Tricycle

#74

Post by rmahan »

cwoolfe wrote: post #42
austinbeer wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.wired.com/story/review-wuling-hongguang-mini-ev/ https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Hot-Sale-2022-New-Che... Like $2-$8k electric car / golf cart-sih cars are already happening!

Whoa! +1 for https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Hot-Sale-2022-New-Che... Is that legal to drive on US roads?!

Definitely not. Electrek bought a LEV (Light Electric Vehicle) truck like this and it wasn’t. They’re unsafe for roads due to lack of many safety features

Re: RadTrike Electric Tricycle

#75

Post by qwertox »

googlryas wrote: post #40
dylan604 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like my RadWagon 4, but several weeks ago, I received a recall notice with their recommendation to stop using the bike until replacements/repairs have been made. I'm really happy they will be making the repairs for me, but since they parts won't even be ready until Feb/Mar 2023 it does me no good since the eBike is my primary mode of transportation. I know eBikes popularity went to the moon during the pandem…

Yup, same. I bought my radwagon 4 in august, and then in early september was told I should not ride it. And maybe they will be ready to fix it in Feb/Mar, or maybe it will be later. If it was just me, I would risk it, but I bought it to ferry my kids on so I'm not going to do that. So we got to ride it for 4 weeks, and have had it sitting in our garage for the past 13 weeks, and it will probably be another 13 weeks u…

Hazard: The rim strip on the tires can be misaligned, causing the tube to pop and damage the tire. Additionally, the tires with a ribbed sidewall can unexpectedly go flat, risking serious injuries from loss of control and/or crash.

This is something a beginner can repair. This is normal stuff for those who ride bikes and don't go to a shop for little repairs. Replacing a tube (and fixing it with a small vulcanizing kit) is biking 101, and there they're not even expecting you to repair that. Just check how to replace the tube of a wheel in a youtube video and while at it, check if your strip needs alignment. Tyres often go flat but you normally feel that something is off because it feels "smeary".

The warning is just for those who are not the slightest bit technically inclined and don't feel like doing any of this. To avoid lawsuits.

I bet in the Netherlands any 10 year old kid could check if your wagon is affected and if it is, align the strip.

Re: RadTrike Electric Tricycle

#76

Post by justinator »

jeffbee wrote: post #58
mongol wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But bikes are not rocket science. They can be advanced and high tech, but they can also just be ordinary, well built bikes if using good parts. If the parts are good then the bike is good, the brand matters less for a bike than say for a car.

Well, I just think a real bike company probably has real bike engineers on the staff already and maybe real engineering experience and resources like FEA models and so forth. These new companies make a lot of mistakes, like Yuba with their forks sheering off, and like Rad with their custom, not-available-anywhere tire size. I feel that with a big brand you're going to get a no-surprises bike.

I think what you're going to get from a big brand is a support system for when things go south (ie: a warranty). It used to be that bike shops stocked a few brands of bikes and those brands had a relationship with the shop to provide customer service and a bridge between customer and brand. Less so now after Covid, but it's still a thing.

Bikes are one of those things that are sort of figured out how to make (tho eBikes, less so). You can go to a trade show in east Asia, spec out exactly what you want a run of bikes to be, and they'll do all the hard work for you, and ship you a container full of "your" bikes. Many brands use the same bike manufacturer/factory. Shop for some of them on bikesdirect.com. Many of the "brand" names are just stickers - the companies may have existed as something decades ago, but now live as a name only.

Even a more established brand will send over the cad files of the frame to be built (usually the only really distinguishing thing in most bikes), then spec out the rest of the parts to be put on it. A few visits to the factory from a brand rep/engineer to get details right (welds, layups), then start pumping out orders.

Re: RadTrike Electric Tricycle

#77

Post by winphone1974 »

flatiron wrote: post #65

I’m unsure why nobody releases a compact electric 4 seater car with a 60 mile range for running the kids to school and grabbing some random groceries. Basically a beefed up golf cart. That’s all I need to drop my kids off at school each day which is 95% of my weekday driving.

You can't build a compact electric car with 4 seats that meets safety laws. As soon as it's classified as an automobile you're stepping into a new game. That's why existing solutions are essentially mopeds with 4 wheels.

Re: RadTrike Electric Tricycle

#78

Post by kqr2 »

stevehawk wrote: post #62

This seems like a horrible idea. Three wheelers were outlawed for a reason, motorcycle trikes/sidecars aren't super stable either. I'm surprised someone would opt for this instead of a two wheels up front design.

The three wheeler (adult tricycle): an unstable, dangerous machine

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3723640/

Re: RadTrike Electric Tricycle

#79

Post by winphone1974 »

bityard wrote: post #71
UncleOxidant wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does 'salmon' mean here? The first time I read it above, I thought you meant 'slalom' but then you repeated 'salmon' several times so it seems deliberate.

I want to know what it means to "shoal" on a bike. There are just too many marine references here.

The bunching at a red light, typically moving to the front of the line because everyone assumes they're faster then the people already waiting

Re: RadTrike Electric Tricycle

#80

Post by mewse »

@dang: This submission links to a PR site written by the company producing the product.

As per the new policy introduced here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33884441, should this url be replaced by a third-party site we just googled?

For example, here's one I just googled which provides useful extra context about the company and the safety record of their previous products: https://www.geekwire.com/2022/rad-power-bikes-launches-radtr...

Post reply on HN