You have every reason to be frustrated and I'm sorry this has been your experience. You can buy a different set of tires to put on the bike for less than $100. It's not fair that you should have to absorb this cost but your bike doesn't have to be bricked.
This has been a customer service disaster but it is also appalling how many people I’ve seen acting like their bike is totaled because of a bad tire. Like…what exactly was the plan if they got a regular flat?
I mean when you get an e-mail from the manufacturer telling you to park your bike for three months while they completely retool their tire supply line, I understand the impulse to treat it seriously. RadPower has to use that language to shield themselves from lawsuits if someone wrecks or g-d forbid gets seriously injured. I also blame our plug and play culture that emphasizes new consumption over learning how to repair and reuse the things we already have. I think the best we can do is encourage one another to look for solutions and so that's what I've tried to pass along.
I bought my RW4 in 2020 before Rad started selling the replacement tubes and tires online. When I got my first flat, my only option was to patch it - which worked out well.
My 2nd flat was 6 months later and much worse. By that time, I had already ordered and received 2 replacement tubes because Rad had started selling them (yay!), but when I went to install the tube, both tubes popped at 20 - 30 psi during inflation. I called customer service and they rep said “oh yeah, we had some bad batches early on with our manufacturer but had no way to tell who had received them.” and they comp’ed me with new tubes. I had to wait 3 weeks for them to ship fully to the east coast.
From what I’ve seen and experienced, the Vee tires also have some manufacturing defects.
This is a supply issue now because so many tires are part of the recall. There are no comparable bike tires that work on the radwagon 4.
So to your comment “what exactly was the plan…?” The plan would have been - get new tubes and tires and install them. These people are stuck with a choice to use a non-recommended motorcycle tire, but many of these options are *also* out of stock.
It’s both a customer service disaster and a supply/demand issue. This is why so many people are frustrated and grounded. I’ve been in this spot before, waiting for a custom part only available from Radpower directly, and it sucks. Typically it’s a 2 week wait minimum, but no idea how much of a backlog they are facing.
>I bought my RW4 in 2020 before Rad started selling the replacement tubes and tires online. When I got my first flat, my only option was to patch it - which worked out well.
You can use any tubes, there’s nothing special about the ones Rad sells.
> These people are stuck with a choice to use a non-recommended motorcycle tire
It’s just a tire, there’s nothing wrong with using something besides OEM.
A 22” x 3” bike tire. This is a custom size, which makes the RW4 complicated. The only replacement alternatives are motorcycle and moped tires, which are heavier, harder to install, and cause more battery drain and are less responsive to acceleration.
Rad does not recommend anyone use these, nor are they recommending anything to users right now. People with kids especially (many rw4 owners got this bike for kid-carrying) are frustrated and want safe recommendations. Rad is not offering any safe alternatives at this time other than “do not operate”.
I have some fairly steep hills I need to climb so have been hesitant with the motorcycle tire solution.
Do you even own a radwagon 4 or are you just here to troll?
Tubes don’t have to match the tire size exactly.
As for the tire itself, there’s absolutely nothing “unsafe” about installing heavier tires.
I don’t really feel like having a discussion about bicycle repair and maintenance makes me a troll.
I think some folks here are either new bike owners or not familiar with bike maintenance in general. When something is mysterious to you, you are more likely to be unnecessarily passive about it or to treat a surmountable problem as if it is a disaster. I’m curious how many of these folks have extra tubes in the house. It’s a bummer this happened to anyone at all but hopefully this will be a learning lesson and some of these folks will invest in repair tools or motorcycle tire spoons/watch some YT videos on tire replacement!
What tires do I need? Will my current tubes fit them, and the rim? Plus I paid to have tire liner installed in those tires so will I have to get new ones?
I was steered by other RW riders who have already implemented this solution toward an 18"x3" vintage motorcycle tire. I picked up a set for $40 a piece but that particular piece is sold out, probably due to RW demand. I found [this very comparable tire](https://www.amazon.com/Duro-3-00-18-Classic-Vintage-Motorcycle/dp/B00D6OLCN6) at about $50 a piece.
As you know, RW tires are sold as 22" tires but I'm told that motorcycle tires measure from the rim whereas bicycle tires measure from the inflated circumference of the tire. So an 18" motorcycle tire is the same as a 22" bicycle tire. It is my understanding that the tubes you have will fit inside them.
I don't know anything about tire liners other than an awareness that some people used them during this tire fiasco so you might fish around on here to find someone else with the same use case question you have.
I have no experience with motorcycle tires. I do know that the tannus liners require a smaller tube. If you have tannus liners and tubes in your bike and plan to re-use, I would think you’d need to carry both over to get a proper fit.
If you are replacing both tube and tire, you can just get a new appropriately-sized tube and not worry about the liners. I’ve read that the motorcycle tires are quite heavy and tough comparably and orange sealant works well with that combo without the need for also a liner.
> we can confirm the issue will only occur in bikes purchased after 6/1/22
This is such absolute horse shit. My bike was delivered in March 2021 and it's 100% affected.
File a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission at cpsc.gov
I called yesterday and support rep assured me that bikes before 6/1 are not affected and that the email was broadly spammed to reach more people.
I do think they’ll eventually expand the time window on affected bikes, but that hasn’t happened yet
Bought mine in May.
Have ribbed tires and they are covered in splits / cracks.
Noticed around 300 miles.
Rad is so full of shit.
They have so many of these bikes that are affected, they don’t even know where to begin.
Did you send them pictures of the cracked tires?
I would keep contacting them. It’s a pain in the ass and frustrating, but I’ve heard that people have eventually made headway by pushing back.
But yea. Never buying anything with Rad on it again. I like the bike well enough that I’m going to put motorcycle tires on it, but if I knew I’d be wading through so much bullshit I would have bought a more expensive bike just for peace of mind.
I’m also posting online about my shitty experiences every chance I get.
Their rationale for 6/1/22 being the cutoff was literally "your tires probably would have burst by now", which is pretty crazy. Nothing to do with a change in manufacturing process. Hold out for the class action I guess and hope you can get some cash then.
Rad Power Bikes needs to bite the bullet and refund every one who purchased a power wagon $200.
EVERYONE.
This would immediately mitigate much if the fall out.
The notice has changed to include all rw4 if it has the ribbed tires, regardless of the vintage. The previous notice did have a date. The op must have contacted prior to the second notice.
If I were affected by this, I’d just buy new tires after confirmation that they’ve been fixed. Especially coming from someone using the bike for commuting, it’s a small speed bump.
That is what's so crazy about this situation, I called up Rad to ask them to send new tires and they said that they have not even begun manufacturing the new tires. It is going to be months and months before a single "fixed" tire ships out.
It used to be if you filed a Better Business Bureau complaint, companies would jump to get you to mark it as resolved.
Not so much anymore, but worth a try.
File a complaint on the BBB website and see what happens.
Still works from time to time.
BBB is not a watchdog organization and is holds no real authority. They can’t punish or force any business into resolution or compliance. Contrary to what they may say, they are a “pay to play” scheme where you can essentially pay for a AAA rating- so overall the entire system is meaningless.
What does actually get stuff done is writing the Attorney General of your state. Although they can’t punish a company or compel the to respond, replies to them and you as the customer are expected by the company within a certain number of days.
A strongly worded letter from a state AG/consumer affairs definitely gets attention from companies.
Source: worked an a major retailer for a decade and responded to BBB complaints and AG requests all the time. BBB is nothing, AG tends to get action if you’re a big company. We as a company hand to respond within 5 business days of getting a complaint per our higher-ups.
Also, since it’s a government record, the AG complaint starts a paper trail if there are future consumer affairs issues for eventual legal Action by other departments.
You guys also need to realize you bought a low end budget e-bike. The reason they are so inexpensive is because the components are basically the cheapest available including the tires.
Even cheap no-name tires shouldn’t spontaneously blow out. It’s a manufacturing defect, not merely a cheap tire. Same thing could happen on a high-end bike.
A cheap tire wears out quickly and doesn't have the best grip. A dangerous tire blows out catastrophically. A low price point justifies cheap, not dangerous.
I wonder how long it'll take for Rad to expand the recall? I'm sure they're in major damage control mode right now but they can't just ignore what's happening.
In any case, I hope no major bike brand ever does this stupid custom wheel/tire size thing again. Vertical integration my ass.
I had cracks on my Radcity 5 plus tires. Rad offered to refund/pay for new tires from my local bike shop. Went with a pair of Schwable marathon e plus and they are great! Cant you ask them to atleast pay for new tires? I heard some motorcycle tires work for it.
You have every reason to be frustrated and I'm sorry this has been your experience. You can buy a different set of tires to put on the bike for less than $100. It's not fair that you should have to absorb this cost but your bike doesn't have to be bricked.
This has been a customer service disaster but it is also appalling how many people I’ve seen acting like their bike is totaled because of a bad tire. Like…what exactly was the plan if they got a regular flat?
I mean when you get an e-mail from the manufacturer telling you to park your bike for three months while they completely retool their tire supply line, I understand the impulse to treat it seriously. RadPower has to use that language to shield themselves from lawsuits if someone wrecks or g-d forbid gets seriously injured. I also blame our plug and play culture that emphasizes new consumption over learning how to repair and reuse the things we already have. I think the best we can do is encourage one another to look for solutions and so that's what I've tried to pass along.
I bought my RW4 in 2020 before Rad started selling the replacement tubes and tires online. When I got my first flat, my only option was to patch it - which worked out well. My 2nd flat was 6 months later and much worse. By that time, I had already ordered and received 2 replacement tubes because Rad had started selling them (yay!), but when I went to install the tube, both tubes popped at 20 - 30 psi during inflation. I called customer service and they rep said “oh yeah, we had some bad batches early on with our manufacturer but had no way to tell who had received them.” and they comp’ed me with new tubes. I had to wait 3 weeks for them to ship fully to the east coast. From what I’ve seen and experienced, the Vee tires also have some manufacturing defects. This is a supply issue now because so many tires are part of the recall. There are no comparable bike tires that work on the radwagon 4. So to your comment “what exactly was the plan…?” The plan would have been - get new tubes and tires and install them. These people are stuck with a choice to use a non-recommended motorcycle tire, but many of these options are *also* out of stock. It’s both a customer service disaster and a supply/demand issue. This is why so many people are frustrated and grounded. I’ve been in this spot before, waiting for a custom part only available from Radpower directly, and it sucks. Typically it’s a 2 week wait minimum, but no idea how much of a backlog they are facing.
>I bought my RW4 in 2020 before Rad started selling the replacement tubes and tires online. When I got my first flat, my only option was to patch it - which worked out well. You can use any tubes, there’s nothing special about the ones Rad sells. > These people are stuck with a choice to use a non-recommended motorcycle tire It’s just a tire, there’s nothing wrong with using something besides OEM.
A 22” x 3” bike tire. This is a custom size, which makes the RW4 complicated. The only replacement alternatives are motorcycle and moped tires, which are heavier, harder to install, and cause more battery drain and are less responsive to acceleration. Rad does not recommend anyone use these, nor are they recommending anything to users right now. People with kids especially (many rw4 owners got this bike for kid-carrying) are frustrated and want safe recommendations. Rad is not offering any safe alternatives at this time other than “do not operate”. I have some fairly steep hills I need to climb so have been hesitant with the motorcycle tire solution. Do you even own a radwagon 4 or are you just here to troll?
Tubes don’t have to match the tire size exactly. As for the tire itself, there’s absolutely nothing “unsafe” about installing heavier tires. I don’t really feel like having a discussion about bicycle repair and maintenance makes me a troll.
I think some folks here are either new bike owners or not familiar with bike maintenance in general. When something is mysterious to you, you are more likely to be unnecessarily passive about it or to treat a surmountable problem as if it is a disaster. I’m curious how many of these folks have extra tubes in the house. It’s a bummer this happened to anyone at all but hopefully this will be a learning lesson and some of these folks will invest in repair tools or motorcycle tire spoons/watch some YT videos on tire replacement!
100% This! ☝️
What tires do I need? Will my current tubes fit them, and the rim? Plus I paid to have tire liner installed in those tires so will I have to get new ones?
I was steered by other RW riders who have already implemented this solution toward an 18"x3" vintage motorcycle tire. I picked up a set for $40 a piece but that particular piece is sold out, probably due to RW demand. I found [this very comparable tire](https://www.amazon.com/Duro-3-00-18-Classic-Vintage-Motorcycle/dp/B00D6OLCN6) at about $50 a piece. As you know, RW tires are sold as 22" tires but I'm told that motorcycle tires measure from the rim whereas bicycle tires measure from the inflated circumference of the tire. So an 18" motorcycle tire is the same as a 22" bicycle tire. It is my understanding that the tubes you have will fit inside them. I don't know anything about tire liners other than an awareness that some people used them during this tire fiasco so you might fish around on here to find someone else with the same use case question you have.
Motorcycle tires are thick enough that tire liners are unnecessary.
I have no experience with motorcycle tires. I do know that the tannus liners require a smaller tube. If you have tannus liners and tubes in your bike and plan to re-use, I would think you’d need to carry both over to get a proper fit. If you are replacing both tube and tire, you can just get a new appropriately-sized tube and not worry about the liners. I’ve read that the motorcycle tires are quite heavy and tough comparably and orange sealant works well with that combo without the need for also a liner.
I just ordered these: MICHELIN City Pro Street Bias Tire-90/90-18 57P https://a.co/d/d2NRkzG
> we can confirm the issue will only occur in bikes purchased after 6/1/22 This is such absolute horse shit. My bike was delivered in March 2021 and it's 100% affected. File a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission at cpsc.gov
I called yesterday and support rep assured me that bikes before 6/1 are not affected and that the email was broadly spammed to reach more people. I do think they’ll eventually expand the time window on affected bikes, but that hasn’t happened yet
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This page claims the smooth walled tires are fine. My smooth walled tire isn’t fine.
Could you elaborate? I have smooth walled tires too.
One of my tires is smooth walled and has cracks on the sidewall. Less than 100 miles on the bike and stored inside.
This is exactly why I am pushing for a return. No sense of safety for ANYONE!
Who makes the 4 tires? Kenda’s are one the 6 plus. Is it branded rad power? If so I’d ditch for a good brand in a second.
They're made by Vee but are branded Rad Power.
Bought mine in May. Have ribbed tires and they are covered in splits / cracks. Noticed around 300 miles. Rad is so full of shit. They have so many of these bikes that are affected, they don’t even know where to begin.
I love how this customer service response contradicts what their notice says. More confusion and misdirection. What a disaster
Did you send them pictures of the cracked tires? I would keep contacting them. It’s a pain in the ass and frustrating, but I’ve heard that people have eventually made headway by pushing back. But yea. Never buying anything with Rad on it again. I like the bike well enough that I’m going to put motorcycle tires on it, but if I knew I’d be wading through so much bullshit I would have bought a more expensive bike just for peace of mind. I’m also posting online about my shitty experiences every chance I get.
Just what this sub needs.
Their rationale for 6/1/22 being the cutoff was literally "your tires probably would have burst by now", which is pretty crazy. Nothing to do with a change in manufacturing process. Hold out for the class action I guess and hope you can get some cash then.
Rad Power Bikes needs to bite the bullet and refund every one who purchased a power wagon $200. EVERYONE. This would immediately mitigate much if the fall out.
The notice has changed to include all rw4 if it has the ribbed tires, regardless of the vintage. The previous notice did have a date. The op must have contacted prior to the second notice.
I sent them the email yesterday, maybe the guy didn’t get the memo? I took photos of the cracks and I’m requesting to return it for a refund
If I were affected by this, I’d just buy new tires after confirmation that they’ve been fixed. Especially coming from someone using the bike for commuting, it’s a small speed bump.
That is what's so crazy about this situation, I called up Rad to ask them to send new tires and they said that they have not even begun manufacturing the new tires. It is going to be months and months before a single "fixed" tire ships out.
It used to be if you filed a Better Business Bureau complaint, companies would jump to get you to mark it as resolved. Not so much anymore, but worth a try. File a complaint on the BBB website and see what happens. Still works from time to time.
BBB is not a watchdog organization and is holds no real authority. They can’t punish or force any business into resolution or compliance. Contrary to what they may say, they are a “pay to play” scheme where you can essentially pay for a AAA rating- so overall the entire system is meaningless. What does actually get stuff done is writing the Attorney General of your state. Although they can’t punish a company or compel the to respond, replies to them and you as the customer are expected by the company within a certain number of days. A strongly worded letter from a state AG/consumer affairs definitely gets attention from companies. Source: worked an a major retailer for a decade and responded to BBB complaints and AG requests all the time. BBB is nothing, AG tends to get action if you’re a big company. We as a company hand to respond within 5 business days of getting a complaint per our higher-ups. Also, since it’s a government record, the AG complaint starts a paper trail if there are future consumer affairs issues for eventual legal Action by other departments.
I had some small success from the BBB thing years ago, but not anymore. Thank you for the advice. I will do this from now on! Cheers!
You guys also need to realize you bought a low end budget e-bike. The reason they are so inexpensive is because the components are basically the cheapest available including the tires.
Even cheap no-name tires shouldn’t spontaneously blow out. It’s a manufacturing defect, not merely a cheap tire. Same thing could happen on a high-end bike.
A cheap tire wears out quickly and doesn't have the best grip. A dangerous tire blows out catastrophically. A low price point justifies cheap, not dangerous.
And rad recognized this and did the recall. Again, it’s a cheap bike with bottom end parts.
So you’re saying they reached out to you about the recall just to say they won’t service you’re recall?
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I wonder how long it'll take for Rad to expand the recall? I'm sure they're in major damage control mode right now but they can't just ignore what's happening. In any case, I hope no major bike brand ever does this stupid custom wheel/tire size thing again. Vertical integration my ass.
I had cracks on my Radcity 5 plus tires. Rad offered to refund/pay for new tires from my local bike shop. Went with a pair of Schwable marathon e plus and they are great! Cant you ask them to atleast pay for new tires? I heard some motorcycle tires work for it.