Has anyone got a Radpowerbikes Radwagon (https://radpowerbikes.eu/products/radwagon-electric-cargo-bike)?

Moved to a new area which is perfect for a cargo bike, plus the lad starts nursery soon and I’d like to drop him off / pick him up on the way to / from work.

Even allowing for the £-€ exchange rate, the Radwagon comes up cheaper than many longtail cargo bikes and has an electric assist, albeit slightly compromised in terms of torque.

€1699 is still a fair whack of money, so I wouldn’t want to spend this and then wish I’d waited to get a Tern GSD or Yuba Spicy Curry.

Has anyone got one and what are they like to live with?

An alternative I’m considering is picking up a Pashley Mailstar / Elephant bike. No electric assist but I could use it to get around while I save to get a Tern GSD / Yuba Spicy Curry.

They’re cheap enough that I wouldn’t mind just getting a couple of years use out of it (although I think they’d probably outlast me!).

An alternative I’m considering is picking up a Pashley Mailstar / Elephant bike.

+1. Was in a similar position, thought I wanted ecargo but couldnt afford a decent one so bought a used Kona longtail. It was a noodly mess. Then I spent last 6-7 years on Batavus Personal bought for £100 from STW classifieds. Carried everything. Carried stuff better than the Kona Ute that I sold on before it, and it also had everything needed for urban/cargo bike – ie onboard locks, big stand, full guards, stepthru frame, 26er w tough balloon tyres, dynamo hub + lights etc. Slow, for sure. I sprocketed it for winching Malvern Hills with 20-30kg of groceries. But it is steady and uber-comfortable and stable when loaded with stupid weights.

Will probably resurrect it when I can afford to re-powdercoat, as damp storage finally did for the drivetrain and a few rust patches on frame. But anything recent by Gazelle, Union, Batavus will most likely be better than the Elephant thing regarding ride quality and parts. Eventually I questioned why I thought I needed electric assist? A nice quality Dutch utility bike is a thing of joy. I’d never have thought it until I tried it.

I love the look of them too, eldest starts school in sept and that meets my needs nicely.

750w / L1e-A is a legal minefield in the UK though – could argue you can just ride it and no-one is likely to be the wiser but still a risk.

Thanks for bringing those to my attention, looks like a great alternative to my Big Dummy and my other half could ride it as well and it’s loads cheaper than a new Dummy, let alone a Big Easy!

Shame about the 750w L1-EA thing. You probably could just get away with it but…..

One month and 300 miles into Tern GSD ownership and it is absolutely brilliant at doing what it does. T’waife and I share it and we do nursery runs, shopping, day trips and camping with it and our 3 year old.
It’s great because it has no pretensions. T’waife can and does happily use it with the boy which was the main driver for getting it. The kit on it is very good and the build quality is spot on.

I avoided the radwagon for the reasons mentioned above and went for the Yuba Spicy Curry in the end.
Expensive but well worth it. Nursery and school runs and 20 miles/day commute for the last year and a bit. Awesome!

Ah, thanks for the heads-up on the L1-e A categorisation – I hadn’t spotted that this category is classified as a moped in the UK.

I think that’s ruled it out for me. Back to the drawing board!

I’ll have a look at those dutch bikes. Maybe I should have a look at non-powered cargo bikes around the £1699 mark too.

I’d say that for 1600€ that is great value and I’d be very interested, however….

My only problem is that I need to transport tools around town, from workshop to workshop and job to job.

GF and I were talking about getting a Bullitt with a motor. Perfect for carrying tools, the shopping, crates of beer and picnics down to the river.

Unfortunately they start at 1600€ without a motor.

i’ll have a look at those Dutch bikes

A Batavus Personal, deluxe version like mine with all the goodies on FB Marketplace (Rugby) right now. Don’t know how to link but listing says Batavus Bike 2kids chairs. £230 quid. Bargain if all good, they retail for over double that even in basic form (ie without dynohub etc). Just needs a change of seat and maybe sprocket depending how hilly your locale. Also scrote-proof IME. Tempted myself..but quite excited about doing the old one up!

I’ve been riding a radwagon for a couple of months now.
For the money, it’s good. but, if you’ve ridden other ebikes you’ll be disappointed with the motor – it’s very unresponsive to pedal inputs, and 750W means little when there’s not much torque behind it. I’d say a Bosch/Shimano 250W motor feels more powerful OTR.

That said, it’s significantly cheaper than others, and when loaded, it’s a far, far easier prospect to ride around any town with the merest hint of a hill than a non-motorised cargo bike.

I don’t use the throttle very much, but do use it to get away from the lights, as, as mentioned, the responsiveness of the motor is poor, so it just helps you get moving.

WRT it’s legal status, Radwagon helped register it with the DVLA – you’ll need to do this, but whether, or how, they respond seems to vary massively. I’ve heard nothing, but have done my part of the bargain, so i’m fairly happy riding it around. it’s still limited to 15mph, and the motor cuts as soon as you touch the brakes.

only other thing of note is the weight – it’s really, really heavy, so if you might need to carry it up/down steps, be aware.

i really like riding it – it’s a super shilled bike to ride around on. you’ll never go fast, so you might as well sit up and enjoy the view!

I started a thread on this recently – https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/electric-cargo-bikes-inspire-me/

Bought a big dummy, loving it (ride it with the kids most Saturdays and Sundays) and find it really useful

GSD still on my radar but wondering if the midtail format might not be big enough. I seem to use the full size of my big dummy a lot unless the GSD is really more like a compact long tail)