Radster Trail Review

Rad Power has made a name for itself by selling solid-value electric bikes that lean into consumer friendliness in a way that has eluded some other bike companies. The Radster Trail is a Class 1/2/3 all-purpose ebike that gives riders above-average capabilities with a mature sense of comfort. Available in two sizes, the Radster frame is somewhere between a step-through and step-over. 27.5" x 3" mid-fat tires balance off-road capability with real-world range while providing a bit more cushion between you and the ground. With an upright seated position, rack, fenders, lights, and several accessory mounts, there's little reason not to take the Radster on your next adventure.

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Ride

The Radster Trail is a delight to ride. As with most of Rad Power's current bikes, the bike has a high-quality, planted feel that we found to be confidence-inspiring and comfortable. Rolling on 27.5" wheels and 3" tires, the bike has a capable and poised feel. Some of the bikes with oversized tires can give you a vague, lethargic feel, but not the Radster. A sporty and somewhat upright body position provides a commanding view and a relaxed posture. The 700mm wide, BMX-style riser bar keeps your front end higher, and consequently, you feel less pressure on your hands. The tradeoff is more weight on your rear end, and while we all found the saddle comfortable without padded shorts, those seeking more comfort might consider a suspension seat post. The bike's ride is rigid, but the high-volume tires and 80mm suspension fork do a good job of smoothing out the smaller bumps on the trail.

Given the dimensions, geometry, and parts spec, it feels natural to compare it to the Segway Xafari and Ride1Up Vorsa. At approximately 17 pounds lighter than the Xafari, the Radster feels a bit lighter and easier to move, and its more upright positioning gives it a bit more of an agile feel. The Xafari's extra weight gives it additional power and range; these are the biggest distinctions between these two bikes, but we'll explore more comparisons later. The Vorsa doesn't have the solid, confident ride of the Radster; this is largely due to the way the front end is set up. The Radster utilizes a Boost-spaced (110mm) thru-axle fork with a tapered steerer tube, whereas the Vorsa employs a 100mm-spaced fork with a straight steerer tube. This difference makes a significant impact on the bike's steering and bump absorption. While both of the other bikes have more power, the Radster is no slouch.

The Radster is capable of Class 3 (28mph) assisted pedaling, and it feels great at that speed. The 67.5-degree head tube angle gives the steering a calm, deliberate feel. The Radster's frame structure likely provides it with the additional torsional rigidity that helps it feel so solid on rough roads and at higher speeds. Looking over the front end is confidence-inspiring; you're not driving a monster truck, but it feels more capable than most, welcoming you to try that dirt path instead of the bike path. The tires feature uniform small knobs that engage soft terrain more readily, while remaining fairly quiet on pavement.

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The bike pedals smoothly, and its torque sensor adds power in proportion to your effort. A 72-degree seat tube angle places you behind the 170mm crank arms, providing a balance of power and comfort. A steeper angle gives you more direct power, while a slack angle allows for a lower saddle position. The Q-factor, or width between the pedals, is 210mm, which feels wider than a typical bike, but none of our testers found it uncomfortable.

The bike's wheelbase measures 1210mm, which is long enough to provide stability at speed, but can feel a bit too long when navigating tight urban environments or parking the bike. Our test bike weighed just over 79 pounds, and 10 pounds less with its battery removed. The bike is short enough to fit on most modern hitch racks, but it flirts with the weight limit of most racks. When riding the bike, its weight feels like a positive attribute, giving you a solid, planted feeling that never struggles for traction or bounces around on bumpy terrain. If you're loading the bike on a rack or carrying it up a flight of stairs, that attribute feels less positive.

Power comes from the 750-watt hub motor, providing the Radster with peppy, yet smooth and predictable acceleration. Five ride modes offer varying levels of assistance, up to 28 mph in the Class 3 setting, while the throttle provides power up to 20 mph. Class settings are becoming increasingly complex, and Rad provides you with all of them to choose from. You can ride the bike in Class 1, Class 2, or 3 different Class 3 settings. You can choose from Class 3, 25mph speed limit, Class 3, 28mph speed limit, and Class 3 California, which lets you pedal to 28mph but disables the throttle.

Tektro hydraulic brakes handle the stopping duties with 180mm rotors; if you're approaching the bike's 370-pound weight limit, consider increasing the rotor size for additional stopping power. An 8-speed Shimano Altus drivetrain features our favorite Shimano SL-M315 underbar shifter, designed for trouble-free shifting. Although the 11-34 cassette doesn't offer a huge gear range, the bike has enough power that you're unlikely to notice.

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The Radster comes with a few accessories that enhance its ride. A small, half-fender on the front end prevents being sprayed in the face by puddles, but won't keep your feet dry if conditions are really wet. A full fender on the rear and a rack with a 55-pound capacity did a great job of hauling our panniers and keeping them dry. A moderately bright headlight is attached to the arch of the fork, while a tail light sits just below the deck of the rack. The tail light features a working brake light and turn signals, but lacks the cool radar that comes on the RadRunner Max. The bike also features a side-mount kickstand with a wide foot and a bell to ding your way through traffic.

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Range

As a general rule, bikes with large, knobby tires won't achieve the same range as those with less rolling resistance. However, the Radster combines a large battery and a motor that uses a bit less power. With our battery at full capacity and tires inflated to maximum recommended psi, our 180-pound test rider set out on our range course with the bike in its most powerful setting. Twisting the throttle until the battery was exhausted, we were able to clear 33.1 miles and over 1700' of elevation on the Radster. The bike's display has a range feature that shows the expected remaining range, and our range exceeded the bike's estimate.

According to the bike's range estimates, you can travel 65 miles or more in a lower pedal assist setting. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the estimate is conservative, given that we didn't pedal at all in this test and rode at full speed. The bike's larger wheel diameter made the journey pleasurable, and overall, we found the bike really enjoyable for long-distance rides. The throttle can be used in conjunction with pedal assist to provide a passing boost or help you start on an incline when in Class 2 or 3 settings, but not the California setting.

Power

Using Rad's 750-watt hub motor, the Radster has a fair bit of oomph. The Radster has no problem accelerating from a stop or ascending a hill on throttle power alone. In our hill-climbing test, where we only used the bike's throttle, the Radster shot up to 16 mph and maintained a speed of 12 mph on the course's 9% grade. On flat ground, we test the bike's acceleration, and the Radster was able to accelerate our 180-pound test rider to 20 mph from a standstill in just 8.1 seconds. The Radster's half-grip twist throttle requires very little effort to rotate and get you rolling.

Even with our scientific approach to testing acceleration and hill-climbing abilities, some of the dynamics of the bike's power can be hard to quantify and compare. This is why we use a dynamometer to get exact, repeatable torque and power numbers. With the bike on the dyno, we measured 890 watts and 35.3 Nm of torque. These are lower numbers than we see on the Xafari or Vorsa, but the bike is by no means underpowered. If you're approaching the weight limit of this bike or plan to load it to the maximum, you might consider one of the models that delivers more power.

The Radster features five levels of pedal assist that can be easily swapped between using your thumb on the remote. Higher numbers of assist provide more power, where 1 gives you the feel of an analog bicycle and 5 gives you the sensation that you're merely pretending to be pedaling. Regardless of your pedal assist mode, the full power of the throttle is available whenever you're travelling at less than 20 mph. Since the bike uses a torque sensor instead of a cadence sensor, you never get the ghost pedaling sensation, and its assistance ceases as soon as your effort subsides.

Interface

The most recent Rad bikes have an incredibly simple and easy-to-understand user interface. It's almost like looking at a smartphone made for kids. The landscape-oriented display presents your data in a straightforward manner, using a clear typeface and unambiguous icons. The display is positioned high on the handlebars' cross-member and is centered in your field of view. The full-color display features a black background and uses colors sparingly. Your current speed is displayed as the largest icon in white, and your pedal assist mode is indicated in orange. Range and remaining battery are at the top of the screen, with a small icon showing whether your lights are on or not. You can skip reading the manual and easily understand most of the functions within a single ride.

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A small, 6-button wired remote sits just inside the left grip, allowing you to change pedal assist settings, use your turn signals, or access the bike's menu. The menu on past models would put you into a maze of codes that may as well have been Greek. The new menu is clear, intuitive, and very simple to understand. You can change the bike's class setting, customize the display's look, and set up Apple Find My, which enables tracking of the bike. You can also add and remove NFC cards in the menu.

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The bike comes with two NFC cards, which function as key fobs to unlock your bike without needing to press any buttons. It's a clever way to enhance security, and the small cards weigh almost nothing, making them easy to carry. If you lose a card, it's easy to unbind it, and you can get a replacement through Rad. I attempted to set the bike up using my phone's NFC, but was unsuccessful. Should a solution arise, I'll update the review with instructions. On the underside of the remote is a rubber-covered USB-C outlet that can be used to keep your phone charged or plug in additional lighting.

Rad's UL-listed Safe Shield battery nests into the downtube and can be easily removed for charging. Lights on the pack allow you to see the charge level without plugging the battery in. The Safe Shield battery uses a technology that wraps each cell in a coating that can prevent a fire in one cell from spreading to others, thus preventing thermal runaway, the nightmare scenario that can happen when Li-ion batteries catch fire.

The 15Ah battery provides 720Wh of power and charges with a 2-amp charger. This gives the Radster a relatively slow charging speed of 7.5 hours, and Rad does not currently offer a fast charging solution. As with most modern e-bikes, the battery can be removed and charged while off the bike and it carries an IP-65 ingress protection score, which means it's impervious to rain or incidental moisture. One thing that stood out to our testers was the location of the charge port in a convenient, easy-to-reach spot; this isn't as ubiquitous as it should be.

Assembly

Rad Power ships the Radster directly to you, and the assembly process is very user-friendly. The top-off style of shipping box allows you to use the base of the box as a support while you put the final touches on the bike's assembly. Rad is notorious for making the process easy with simple instructions that are easy to follow and a bag full of all the necessary tools. As you can see in our time-lapse below, the bike arrives mostly assembled. The steps needed to complete the bike are installing the handlebars, front wheel, display, and pedals. There is a fair bit of recyclable packaging that needs to be removed, but as you can see, we had the bike ready to roll in just over 15 minutes. Once you have the bike assembled, it's a good idea to top off the tire pressure and fully charge the battery.

Should You Buy the Radster Trail?

The Radster Trail is an impressive machine, but it's also large and heavy. That weight gives it an excellent ride feel, but you won't be carrying it up a flight of stairs or mounting it on a roof rack. If the bike's mass isn't an issue, we don't really have any other reservations about recommending it. We loved how easy it was to mount, start, and control, making it an excellent choice for seniors or those with less flexibility. Rad has done a great job in the user-friendliness department, and this bike delighted the testers (and friends) who rode it. If the large, high-volume tires seem like overkill to you, consider the Radster Road, which is the same bike with larger wheels (but smaller tires), giving it similar geometry.

What Other Electric Commuter Bikes Should You Consider?

If you appreciate the general utility of this bike, you might also want to check out the Segway Xafari, which is a few dollars more but has full suspension, more range, and more power. It's also significantly heavier than the Radster. The Ride1Up Vorsa is fun and capable, but its ride quality isn't quite as refined.