Rad Mission e-Bike Review

eMountain Bikes Rad Power Bikes

The Rad Mission is Rad Power Bikes affordable city cruiser electric bike. The Mission possessses a standard aluminum 6061 skinny bike frame paired with Rad Power Bikes famous battery pack and controller. The Rad Mission scored a 37 on our Tower ebike score giving it a not recommended ebike score. Read our full review on the Rad Mission ebike below.

DISCLAIMER - Rad Power Bikes and Rad Mission are trademarks of Rad Power Bikes, and use of that trademark in this review does not indicate that the reviewer is claiming any interest in the mark or any affiliation with or sponsorship or endorsement by Rad Power Bikes.

Rad Mission Review

Rad Mission e-Bike Review and Rating on a 100-Point Scale

We’re going to review and rate the Rad Mission from Rad Power Bikes. Rad Power Bikes is one of the big names in the electric bike industry that offers various e-bike models. The Rad Mission is one of the company’s lower-end city style e-bikes that looks similar to a regular city bike with a battery in the middle frame.

The Rad Mission scored a low rating of 37 on our Tower 100-Point Score, giving it a non-recommended e-bike rating. But before we proceed, I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Stephan Aarstol. I’m the CEO of the Tower e-Bike Repair Shop here in San Diego. We get hundreds of e-bikes coming through our Repair Shop every month.

We put together a Tower e-Bike 100-Point Scale where we get a thorough look at the mechanics of each electric bike that comes in our shop and review and rate them. We give each of these attributes a 1 to 10 score. One being the lowest, and ten the highest. Then, we normalize those seven attributes to get a 100-point scale. We do this to give consumers a grasp of the difference between the qualities of ebikes, and help them find the best e-bike for their needs.

The seven key attributes are the following:

Materials quality
Mechanical quality
Low maintenance
Hill climbing ability
Range
Comfort
Universality

We also have a secondary score called the Specialty Score, which also has a total of 100 points. The Specialty Score omits the last criteria of our Tower Score, comfort and universality. The reason we omit these last two attributes is because each e-bike and bikes in general won’t work for everyone. Some bikes are made with different frame sizes and road functions. Other bikes also offer options of customization for a specific user. Thus, we omit these two scores as comfort and universality are not the priority.

Let’s move on to the Tower Score of the Rad Mission.

Rad Mission Materials Quality: 2/10

The first attribute is materials quality. We give the Rad Mission a 2 out of 10. Materials quality is a crucial attribute as some companies try to offer affordable bikes and save money by putting lower quality materials on the other bike components. The materials we are looking for here are the pedals, seat, tires, grips, and other parts. Most people who shop for e-bikes only focus on the quality of the battery, the top speed and motor capacity. Therefore, most shoppers often overlook some of the important things to look for in bikes.

Rad Mission has Kenda tires and stainless steel spokes that are common in the designs of Rad Power Bikes. It has low-quality seats and pedals that are unlikely to endure long. The parts will likely need repairs and replacement, which can be cumbersome. Overall, the Rad Mission scores a very low score of 2 on materials quality.

Rad Mission Mechanical Quality: 3/10

The second attribute is mechanical quality, where the Rad Mission scores a 3 out of 10. What we look at here is how sound of a bicycle is the electric bike. At the end of the day an electric bike is still a bike and it's important it can function like one and has high quality bicycle components. Mechanical quality looks at the type of materials, quality and longevity of the bike components–which are a huge factor when it comes to riding in farther distances.

The Rad Mission has mechanical brakes which require a lot of maintenance and they tend to squeak. So, they need to be adjusted and checked after every use. We highly recommend getting bikes with hydraulic brakes as they self-adjust overtime. You’ll be spending more money and more trips to repair shops if you have mechanical brakes on your e-bike. Also, this bike doesn’t have a derailleur. All of these equate to the Rad Mission receiving a low score of 3 on mechanical quality.

Low Maintenance: 4/10

The third attribute we looked at is low maintenance. The Rad Mission scored a 4 out of 10. In our bike shop, we see many Rad bikes coming in. The Rad bikes have relatively flat-resistant tires and some even come with tire liners, which is also evident on the Rad Mission. However, it still comes equipped with mechanical brakes. The maintenance on the brakes will be high and become annoying with the amount of brake caliper adjustments you will need to do. Pair that with lower quality mechanical equipment on the bike and the Rad Mission scores a 4 out of 10.

Rad Mission Hill Climbing Ability: 3/10

The fourth attribute is the hill climbing ability where the Rad Mission gets a low score of 3 out of 10. The Rad Mission has a 500-watt hub motor and a 48 volt system. However, it only comes in a single speed where it doesn’t allow its users to switch gears, hence, its low score of three. Most city bikes, like the Rad Mission, come in single speed only. And since this bike doesn’t have any gear, you are left with the only option to get more torque by using the pedals when climbing uphill.

We tested the bike’s hill climbing ability here in San Diego, and although it has excellent motor assistance, we couldn’t pair it with pedalling. It’s also slower compared to the other e-bikes we’ve tested on the hill.

Rad Mission Battery Range: 5/10

On the next attribute, the range, the Rad Mission scored a 5 out of 10. The important thing to look for in an e-bike for this attribute is the battery cells of the bike. It’s best if the battery cells are branded like LG Panasonic, or Samsung. However, if the bike has a battery with unbranded cells, then it has cheap Chinese cells, meaning more frequent charging and fast battery draining.

The Rad Mission provides an excellent pairing with the Samsung battery cells, 500-watt motor,10-amp hour battery and 48 volt system. However, in terms of range, we would have liked it more if it has more amp hours. We were getting between 35-50 miles on a charge. But we still gave it a 5, which is not a bad score for a lower-quality bike.

Rad Mission Comfort: 4/10

The next attribute is comfort, and the Rad Mission is a little uncomfortable. It’s a bike that’s between a cruiser, city, and a road bike making you sit in a semi-upright position during rides. While it has easy-to-reach handlebars, you are a little hunched over when riding it. Also, there is not much suspension, unlike other Rad Power ebike models that have fork suspensions. When you go off road or accidentally hit a bump, you will feel it on the frame and on the seat. Hence, the Rad Mission scores a 4 on comfort.

Universality: 5/10

For the universality attribute, the Rad Mission gets a score of 5. TheRad Mission has a high step over height, and we thought that it would be better if it had a step through frame. Rad Power Bikes also have a Step Through model as well, which is well-suited for shorter people. We will discuss it in another review, so you may want to check it out.

Universality generally refers to the adaptability and versatility of the bike in different sizes, weights and heights of the users. The Rad Mission has an adjustable and versatile seat range, post and height. However, it doesn’t offer customizability on the handlebars. It doesn’t adjust up or down. In fact, it only has minimal up and down adjustments, and has no back and forth adjustments at all. This will make adjusting the handlebars closer to its rider impossible, which can limit height ranges of its possible users.

Rad Mission Tower Score: 37/100

Summing up all those attributes, the Rad Mission scored a 37 out of 100 for our Tower e-Bike Score of 100-Point Scale. It falls into the non-recommended e-bike rating.

Specialty Score: 34/100

For the Specialty Score, like I’ve mentioned earlier, we omit the last two attributes: comfort and universality. And in omitting those two factors, the Rad Mission still gets a low score of 34 out of 100. Again, it falls into the non-recommended e-bike score, the same with its Tower e-Bike Score.

Rad Mission Weight: 48 pounds

Rad Mission weighs 48 pounds, which is an excellent weight for a standard e-bike. It’s lightweight for a typical city style bike.

Rad Mission Aesthetics

The Rad Mission is pretty much a typical city bike with a battery placed in the middle of the frame. Its aesthetic appeal is average – it just looks like any other bike that’s indistinguishable from other electric bikes. Additionally, it looks more like a bike compared to motor-style e-bikes or like the new e-bikes coming out nowadays. But overall, it’s sleek-looking and comes in different colors. We like how it looks.

Low Proprietary Risk: 5/10

Lasty, we also have one more attribute to rate, which is the low proprietary risk. It touches the factor on how serviceable the bike is. It also refers to the longevity of the bike business. Because if the bike company shuts down, it will be difficult to get your hands on their bike parts, contact their customer support, and to source their proprietary components.

For the Rad Mission, we gave it a score of 5 out of 10, which is a pretty good rating. Most companies score pretty low on this attribute because they often have standard or non-standardized/ proprietary parts. Additionally, having no way to get in touch with the company leads to more costs for bike repairs and ending up with an electric bike and components that won’t work at all

Fortunately, Rad Power Bikes offers an accommodating customer service. However, the company is growing, so it may get harder to reach them on the phone nowadays. But still, they are providing excellent service when it comes to sending replacement parts. From our experience, in our bike repair shop in San Diego, they're easy to reach. Their bikes are easy to repair, thanks to the company’s outstanding service.

Conclusion

That concludes our review for the Rad Mission e-bike. It received a 37 for the Tower Score, and a 34 for the Specialty Score, which all falls into the non-recommended e-bike score.

Hopefully, you have learned good information in this article for the Rad Mission e-bike. Don't forget to check out our site for more Tower Scores and our growing list of other e-bikes that come through our Repair Shop.

Where to buy: RadPowerBikes.com