Radio Flyer M880 Assessment 2022

We put all our assessment bikes via a gauntlet of testing on a roughly one mile circuit, a take a look at meant to reveal the distinction in energy between every of the bike’s pedal assists settings. We did a complete of six laps on the M880 round Electric Bike Report’s take a look at loop, beginning with a lap with no motor help and growing the ability setting by one for every lap after.

The Radio Flyer carried out properly amongst its Class 2 rivals, yielding an influence profile that actually shines on the higher three to 4 PAS settings. Like many bikes we take a look at, PAS 1 didn’t provide a lot assist other than large battery conservation. The place the bike actually began to enliven was at PAS 3, which noticed a 1.8 mph leap in common velocity over PAS 2. There was one other giant leap between PAS 3 and PAS 4 earlier than the bike bought close to its 20 mph motor-assisted ceiling.

These circuit take a look at outcomes are fairly typical of a solidly-tuned e-bike. There’s no monumental jumps in energy and the steps between every degree felt measured and acceptable. This bike’s PAS settings seem differentiated by velocity versus accessible wattage, a characteristic I appreciated when climbing the small hill on our take a look at circuit. Even in low PAS settings, the bike laid down a stable quantity of torque on the hill; giving assist on the a part of the loop that required it most.

Every e-bike we review at Electrical Bike Report is put via our comparatively rigorous hill take a look at, the place we do two laps on an area steep lovingly dubbed “Hell Gap.” That hill is a couple of third of a mile lengthy with a grade that varies between 12 p.c and 15 p.c. The primary lap of the hill is finished underneath throttle energy solely, and the second is on most pedal help.

On most pedal help, the Radio Flyer crested the hill in 1:31.00 seconds with a median velocity of 11.9 mph. And sadly within the throttle-only take a look at Hell Gap bought the most effective of the M880, and the bike was unable to rise up the climb underneath motor energy alone.

However earlier than you go bashing the M880’s hill climbing efficiency there are some issues I’d prefer to level out, together with some brilliant spots. As I discussed earlier than, the M880’s 500W motor isn’t the torquiest we’ve reviewed — a proven fact that raised some questions on the way it’d carry out on the hill even earlier than we carried out the take a look at. However what it lacked in torque it made up for in unimaginable smoothness. By no means as soon as did the motor whine, vibrate or in any other case appear to wrestle in both take a look at. We’ve examined a number of e-bikes just lately that vibrated uncomfortably up our take a look at hill, and the Radio Flyer did none of that.

Additionally, although the hill bought the most effective of the bike’s throttle, it actually was spectacular how little effort on my half it took to get the bike over the hill within the PAS 5 take a look at. I used to be capable of discuss via the entire climb and felt like my coronary heart price solely calmly lifted. It’s just like the bike wanted just some further Newton meters of power to make the distinction.

The Radio Flyer M880 handles very properly; the steering could be very predictable and the bike feels extremely planted and steady.

Weight is one thing folks all the time wish to discuss in the case of reasonably priced e-bikes, and whereas the Radio Flyer is not any featherweight, I by no means felt like its weight was unwieldy. Its heart of gravity could be very low in order that weight by no means desires to drag you aspect to aspect.

On a clean paved floor, the Radio Flyer rides and handles precisely as I hoped it might. It’s snappy, regardless of its weight, and tracks very clean in corners. These huge moped-style tires are additionally very confidence inspiring with out sacrificing an excessive amount of rolling velocity.

I do have a gripe, although: On something however clean paved surfaces, the body’s rigidity can meet up with you. There’s no suspension on this bike, a characteristic I often like on commuter-specific e-bikes, however within the Radio Flyer’s case its distinctive body trusses and inflexible fork stiffen the journey sufficient that bumps get translated proper to your bum. It doesn’t attempt to buck you off and it’s not overly uncomfortable for a median journey, but it surely actually was one thing I used to be noticing by the tip of my 36.65 mile vary take a look at.

The Radio Flyer M880’s 500W rear motor has a very stable quantity of energy for such a bike. It’s actually not designed to be a velocity racer, however for the commuter on the lookout for a fast however predictable energy profile the M880’s motor is an efficient match.

On throttle it really works nice, and when pedaling from a lifeless cease the motor engages rapidly and will get you as much as the max motor-assisted velocity of 20 mph with out a lot bother. Even on hills the bike performs properly, clearing even among the more durable climbs in our space. The place the difficulty is, is within the motor’s energy supply on the high finish of its energy band.

If you happen to cease pedaling and coast at velocity, assume within the ballpark of 17 mph to twenty mph, the motor engagement is mild and subdued while you begin pedaling once more and it turns into pretty troublesome to take care of your velocity. The motor does have interaction rapidly while you restart pedaling, so it doesn’t appear to be a cadence sensor difficulty, however moderately the bike simply accelerates slowly. It looks like a security characteristic or a little bit of controller programming designed to maintain the bike’s acceleration secure and mellow, however as an alternative is making it just a bit powerful to take care of velocity.

I solved this drawback by tapping the throttle for a couple of seconds after I needed to speed up rapidly, which gave somewhat extra punch to the motor, however I’d actually prefer to see Radio Flyer give this bike somewhat extra PAS gusto close to the highest of its velocity vary.

The Radio Flyer’s 720WH battery is impressively giant for its 500W motor, giving the bike a very stable vary. It’s additionally properly built-in into the downtube and you’ll take away it to cost off the bike or retailer it inside.

We had been actually stunned by how far this bike went on a single cost — until your commute is approach above common, you’d be exhausting pressed to run this factor low on cost.

The Radio Flyer M880 has a fairly customary 5 ranges of pedal help plus a half-twist throttle on the handlebar.

Whereas we did select to conduct one in every of our vary exams in PAS 2 due to how mild the help is in PAS 1, it’s powerful to knock the bike for this. Fairly frankly, many of the reasonably priced e-bikes we take a look at have a PAS 1 that provides such little help it’s hardly usable. On Class 2 e-bikes particularly it’s troublesome to interrupt aside the ability profile into 5 distinct settings.

The throttle, nevertheless, labored rather well and was arguably the snappiest approach to have interaction the Radio Flyers’ energy.

The M880’s show is a fairly customary unit for a sub-$2,000 e-bike that provides you metrics resembling velocity, journey time, distance traveled and some extra issues. It’s additionally bought buttons to toggle via the assorted PAS settings and to show the bike on and off.

Regardless of the M880’s weight and mechanical disc brakes, which usually are barely much less highly effective than their hydraulic counterparts, the Radio Flyer had a formidable displaying throughout our braking take a look at.

We run every bike we assessment via a collection of brake exams from 20 mph to get an thought of how rapidly the bike stops from velocity. The take a look at is run 5 occasions and we take the common to get our outcomes.

The Radio Flyer M880 got here to a cease with a median braking distance of 12-feet-2-inches, an above common consequence we had been actually happy with. I feel this result’s owed, no less than partially, to these semi-slick CST tires. Not solely do they grip properly, they’re barely wider giving the bike a bigger contact patch. That, plus the M880’s balanced weight distribution, slowed issues down fast.

The 6061 aluminum body makes use of a cool truss-like design that includes the rear rack into the construction of the body, making the rack stronger and giving the body a really cool look.

Radio Flyer calls the M880 a “midtail” electrical cargo bike, that means it’s bought a lot of the carrying capability of a full-size cargo bike with the wheelbase and maneuverability of a conventional e-bike. I personally assume they nailed it with this body. Not solely is it useful but it surely appears very nice.

We did discover that the body felt fairly inflexible on rougher roads, however these bigger tires helped clean issues out.

Connecting that 500W rear hub motor to the cranks is a Shimano Tourney 7-speed drivetrain.

This can be a fairly typical groupset we discover on a sub-$2,000 e-bike that works properly and helps maintain prices down. I discovered the Radio Flyer M880 to be an e-bike that actually favors frequent shifting, so I’m glad they opted for a reputation model element producer.

The gearing moreover felt acceptable for the bike’s Class 2 speeds — the smallest cog is sufficient that I’m not spinning out on the bike’s high velocity and the best gear was a lot for steeper hills.

All of the factors the place your physique touched the bike — the seat, grips, handlebars and pedals — all meshed collectively properly and made for a cushty journey.

Radio Flyer Spec’d the M880 with a set of ergonomic rubber grips, which I personally desire over the extra aesthetically-pleasing fake rubber grips which are very talked-about proper now, and the bike is supplied with a Selle Royale Freeway consolation saddle.

I’m not an enormous fan of this saddle, however take that with a grain of salt since no two butts are alike. It’s a particularly standard consolation saddle we see spec’d on e-bikes, but it surely simply doesn’t mesh nice with my bum — particularly throughout lengthy stints on the bike. However for these on the lookout for a really broad and supportive saddle, chances are you’ll discover it matches properly.

The CST Massive Boat tires are new to Electrical Bike Report’s staff of e-bike reviewers, however they’ve rapidly develop into one in every of our favourite pavement-oriented e-bike tires.

The Massive Boats are 3 inches broad and fitted to a set of 26-inch rims. Along with the stopping energy I discussed above, I used to be actually impressed with how properly these tires rolled and caught to the bottom in corners. Regardless of its weight, the M880 was simple to pedal.

I really like the Radio Flyer’s entrance and rear storage baskets. These are elective equipment that may price you a bit extra, however I’d argue that they’re properly price it. The hampers themselves are your standard-issue metallic baskets that mount to the Flyer’s built-in rear rack and a four-bolt mounting system on the entrance, however the place they actually bought me was with their canvas liners.

These liners look like water repellant, have some nifty elastic loops to carry water bottles or journey espresso mugs and — that is the most effective half — every liner sports activities a zippered pocket that completely matches a big cellular phone, pockets and keys. As somebody who hates pedaling with the load of keys or a cellphone in my pockets, I can’t let you know how a lot I favored the pockets. They’re positioned in an space that’s accessible whereas using (for those who’re comfy doing that).

If you happen to like your e-bikes with a dose of nostalgia, the Radio Flyer M880 could also be a motorcycle to lookup.

However Radio Flyer’s first batch of e-bikes have far more going for them than simply identify recognition. The Radio Flyer M880 we reviewed is only a holistically good e-bike; it strikes a pleasant stability between utilitarianism and enjoyable that makes you wish to spend extra time within the saddle.

I used to be totally impressed by the bikes design, it’s 300 lb payload capability, and albeit its value — Radio Flyer did a terrific job of piecing collectively a top quality e-bike at a value that’s inviting to first-time e-bike consumers. Radio Flyer clearly paid a number of consideration to equipment, too. The racks we examined had been useful, had a better weight capability than many different racks we see on reasonably priced e-bikes and had cool options like zippered pockets and cup holders.

It’s vary is bar none within the reasonably priced class, and whereas we had a couple of notes on the motor, I used to be general happy with the bike’s exceptionally clean energy supply that felt measured and secure. Not all e-bikes must be velocity demons, and this one did an excellent job on capitalizing on all different components of e-biking — starting from consumer friendliness to general consolation.

The Radio Flyer M880 is obtainable for buy via Radio Flyer’s web site from the button above, and will be shipped on to your door.

‘Comfortable Driving, be certain that to tell us if in case you have any questions down in our feedback part or for those who assume we left something out on this assessment of the Radio Flyer M880