Some Assembly Required

Photos taken on May 29 & 30, 2022. The last two photos were taken June 25, 2022.

When we were in Vancouver, we scoped out some new E-bikes at Rad Power Bikes. Our hope was to get folding E-bikes which we could transport in the back of our car, but also bikes that were be better sized to fit us. We were still in Vancouver, when we ordered the bikes and accessories. The delivery dates were so long in the future, we thought nothing of it, until the packages started to arrive home before we did.

All the accessories and one bike were waiting for us when we got home. But, where was the 2nd bike? The notice of shipping from the supplier said both bikes had been shipped, but, the Fed-Ex delivery slip listed only one bike package.

The day after our friends from NZ visited, I opted to open the box and see what “moderate” assembly difficulty meant. It took about 3 hours to complete the assembly, so not too bad.

That’s a mighty big box – what’s inside

Well packaged

How many zip ties and how much foam can you use to pack a bike?

the parts

Step one – handlebars – well that was easy

Down to the final steps

Tada!

Portability – 1st attempt

I will wait for bike #2 to show, before I try again.

Assembly of bike #1 completed, I began trying to track down the whereabouts of bike #2. I found out that a software glitch had erroneously indicated it had been shipped and that they would let me know when it was sorted out.

3 days later, the 2nd bike arrived….or did it? We had ordered a white bike and the 2nd bike was black. After some more back and forth, we agreed to ship the wrong bike back at their cost and wait for the white one to arrive. Radpower Bikes compensated us for the inconvenience and said to expect the white bike at the end of June. 2 days later, the white bike was delivered. It sat for a few days, before I assembled it.

Rather than attaching the basket to the front of the bike which would have complicated the folding process, we strapped it to the back carrier. Since then, we have been enjoying our rides on these new E-bikes immensely.

The motor in these bikes is more powerful than in our old ones, they have a throttle boost to save the knees on startup from a full stop and disc brakes front and back to stop us safely.

Today, I fashioned a liner for the back of the Prius to protect the finishes and we hope to fold them and take them for rides further afield soon. Stay tuned.