Don't Buy a RadWagon 4 in 2025

The RadPowerBikes RadWagon 4 was released in May of 2020. At the time, it was one of the few bikes available in the budget space of the long-tail cargo e-bike market. Rad sold tens of thousands of this model of bike, and they remain quite visible around the country today, especially in the Seattle area.

Since the bike launched in 2020, there has been a huge evolution in the e-bike space, especially in budget cargo bikes. There are now more than a dozen cargo e-bikes priced at under $3000, and each year brings new entries into the market, and these bikes have evolved to fit the needs of users of these bikes.

With that in mind, we no longer believe the RadWagon 4 is a smart purchase for e-bike buyers, even at discounted or used prices. While folks who are happy with the bike should continue to enjoy their bike–any electric cargo bike can bring your family a ton of joy!–there are better options out there these days, and the drawbacks really hurt the experience of using a RadWagon 4, especially for shorter or smaller riders.

Here are some of the reasons we recommend folks not buy the RadWagon 4 in 2025:

• Mechanical brakes: The RadWagon 4 has mechanical disk brakes. While this was a pretty common default choice on older cargo bikes, modern cargo bikes have almost all switched to hydraulic brakes, which offer greater braking power. In addition to the greater power offered by hydraulic brakes, they remove a major maintenance burden, especially on long tail cargo bikes with long cable runs: they completely eliminate the need to adjust the cables due to stretch, as the hydraulic lines will adjust as needed. Effectively all other current cargo bikes offer hydraulic brakes in place of mechanical brakes.
• Cadence assist: The bike has a cadence assist sensor; this means that starting from a stop requires a fair distance of pedal movement to get going, which can be troublesome with weight on the back. Throttle makes up for this, and the Rad cadence system is probably the better side of cadence sensors out there, but other bikes in this price class started getting torque sensors in March of 2023 with the Aventon Abound, and this is now the standard.
• Front suspension: The bike lacks a front suspension. While this is not a deal-breaker for many folks, and some other bikes also skip this part, in my experience it can create stress on the wrists over long rides on longer wheelbases, long those on long tail bikes.
• High Stepover: It has a very high stepover, which makes it difficult to load up on, especially for shorter women. Improved frame designs that have lowered both step-over and seating heights have been a major improvement in design of long-tail cargo bikes over the last few years.
• Kickstand: It has a high kickstand pivot point, which makes getting it on and off the kickstand very difficult, again, especially for smaller folks. This is still a problem that some bikes released today have (like the Lectric Xpedition 2.0), but other bikes like the Aventon Abound or Radio Flyer Via have easier to use kickstands, a key feature for folks looking to carry kids on the back and do loading and unloading.
• Unique tire size: The RadWagon uses a unique 22”x3” tire size. The unique tire size was a major issue when Rad had to do a recall of 30,000 bikes in 2022 due to tire problems. It also makes things like purchasing studded winter tires difficult or impossible, because Rad is the only brand using this size tire.
• Reduced Accessories: It no longer offers the Conestoga cover to go with the Caboose, so no winter enclosure like the Radio Flyer or the Tern (or adapted from Tern to fit on the Abound in our community).

For 2020, the RadWagon was an incredible value, bringing a ton of opportunity for folks to become electric cargo bikers on a budget. As a long-time Rad rider (purchasing my RadCity in 2021), I appreciate how much they opened the door into the budget cargo bike market, but this bike is dated, and if you’re looking for a deal, there are better options today, including Rad’s latest cargo bike, the RadWagon 5.

If you’re looking for what those might be, check out our Budget Long-Tail Cargo Bike Round-up.