Gear

The amount of times an ad pops up and gets me thinking that I need to have something is zero times. A Lamborghini would be nice but I do not need a Lamborghini. Even if I could afford a Lamborghini I have no use for one.

And how many bikes do I need to own? I own a perfectly good 2006 Specialized Rockhopper with 3000+ miles on it. Outside of changing a set of tires it still has the original brakes and everything else on it.

With me working from home the past decade I rarely have use for a car. We have a need for 1.5 cars and since they don’t make .5 cars we own two. But now we have kids and need 1.75 cars. I do not see this number going down until they are no longer needing car seats.

But what if we had a bike that could replace a car?

One that could get me from A to B quickly, along with being able to haul cargo and a baby or two. How awesome would that be?

When I saw the video of the RadWagon I started talking myself into why I needed one. When I was on RadPowerBikes.com I watched videos for their other bikes (RadRover, RadMini) but I kept coming back to the RadWagon.

(**Hey. That link above is my referral link which I get to send to friends. That’s right, we’re friends. They have a Refer A Friend program where YOU and I both get a $50 Amazon gift card when you buy a bike via my link. We’re welcome.**)

I never want anything. If I want something its because I see it having a purpose. When I mention something a couple of times it means its probably the best thing you could ever buy even if I don’t own it.

Andrea watched the video with me a couple of times and laughed when she saw the couple taking the RadWagon to the farmers market. It looked fun and funny at the same time. Thats kind of what we do.

Of course I did not need one but as I watched the video over and over and thought about how it could do all the things a .5 car could do I started doing the math to see if it would make sense to own one of these and a car instead of two.

The math did work out but we still need two cars. Damn you Michigan winters!

I could not justify spending $1600 on an e-bike just yet.

But Andrea could.

And for my 36th B-Day I was pleasantly surprised to see the RadWagon hiding in my brothers garage for me to find. Well played Andrea.

Without me knowing, she bought the RadWagon and had it shipped to my brothers house. It had been quite some time since I was surprised with a gift, especially one like this.

She knew how cool I thought the RadWagon was but how I could not bring myself to buy it. It was one of the few things that made me smile during an otherwise sad time. Forty-five days prior to my 36th birthday I lost my dad.

The RadWagon was a gift for me for our family. I could not wait to get it back to our house to put it together. And thats where the nuts and bolts of my RadWagon review begin.

Assembly Process

I knew ahead of time the RadWagon shipped mostly assembled with a few finishing items for the owner to do. The pedals, seat post, front headlight and wheel, running boards, and front parking spring needed to be installed.

I believe the directions said it would take an hour to do. Anytime I am doing something like this for the first time I multiply the “about time” by three to set the right expectations for myself.

It took me around two hours to assemble the RadWagon. Kept having issues with the seat post and getting the headlight to line up straight.

First Ride

While I was being overly cautious assembling the RadWagon I had been charging the battery. You bet your ass I was taking this thing for a ride immediately after I got it assembled.

Press the power button. Turn the key. Hold the menu button down. Put it in the “1” setting. And away I go.

Its been so long since something brought a genuine smile to my face. And that’s what happened the second the hybrid motor kicked in. I had moved maybe eight feet and pedaled one rotation before the electric boost kicked in.

I was smiling and laughing my ass off as I gained speed hitting 20 mph in less than fifty yards. Did a couple high speed passes as Andrea and my brother watched from the driveway. It makes it even better when you say “OMG I am going so fast” as you pass them.

Up and down the street I went testing out all the speed levels, brakes, throttle, and lights before I let Andrea and my brother go for a ride.

Genuine smiles from both of them too. It got even funnier when I gave Andrea a ride followed by my brother. It was just too funny.

We all agreed the RadWagon was a big heavy bike but the electric motor over compensated for that. You didn’t even notice how heavy or big it was once you got moving.

I also renamed the RadWagon the B-RadWagon (you see what I did there). Not gonna lie. First thing that popped into my mind after seeing the companies name was my name. When you’re name is Brad, you will be referred to as B-Rad at least one thousand times in your life.

Accessories

After a few weeks of owning the RadWagon I knew I had to get accessories to get the most out of the bike. Why own the bike if you’re not going to try and use it for the cargo bike it is?

Its going to get a little expensive when you add all the costs for those accessories but I feel a year and half later those costs to be worth it.

RadWagon Aluminum Accessory Deck – You have to have this to attach accessories to the RadWagon. It replaces the wood deck that comes with the bike. $59.

Deckhand – If you are going to give people rides then it would be nice to give them something to hold onto. It securely attaches to the accessory deck. $65.

RadWagon Rear Deck Pad – To keep butts comfortable when going for a ride. (I bought another one in 2018). $25

Ballard Cargo Bags – I bought two of them. These bags are huge. Rarely do I need to use both of them. One will do just fine. You can fit so much stuff in the bags that I only keep one attached to the bike.

Like the one time Andrea told me to pick up some boots she dropped off to get fitted for her. I thought she said boots, not boots plural, or however you say “two pairs of boots”.

When I saw the owner of the store bring out two boxes I got a little nervous since I was one mile away from home with one bag on the bike. Fear not. They fit.

The Ballard Cargo Bags come in quite handy for making beer runs. Two twelve packs, a bottle of wine, a fifth of gin, and some limes have all fit into one bag. $119 x 2 = $238.

Thule Yepp Maxi Child Seat – If you have a kid and you have a RadWagon then you have to get the child seat. It makes getting a toddler around that much easier than a trailer when they are sitting behind you instead of in the trailer.

It might be a little un-nerving at first thinking about what happens to your kid if you fall over. They fall over too. They also fall over if you parked the RadWagon sideways on a slight decline. This almost happened to me.

The child seat and child add some weight to the bike. If you are concerned about not being strong enough to stabilize the bike after kicking the kickstand up then make sure you have someone around the first time you put them in the seat. Its awkward at first but you’ll get used to it.

But the kids have so much more fun in the seat over a trailer. And why wouldn’t they? They are doing 18 mph and seeing everything you see instead of being six inches off the ground with fabric blocking their view.

I did have to put a sweater on the seat to get my then 1.5 and 2.5 year olds heads above the back of the seat so their helmet would be above the back of the child seat. Otherwise their heads would be leaning forward. I’m sure somebody would tell me thats a no-no but I made an executive parenting decision and rolled with it.

I did put my youngest on the seat when she was one year old but decided against taking her for a ride. She was too small still even with the sweater. Had to wait a couple of months before I felt comfortable with her in the seat. $165.

Yepp Easyfit Adapter – You can’t use the child seat without the adapter. It attaches to the accessory deck in a way which allows the child seat to securely work with it. $39.

***Update May 2018***

I have added a couple accessories since early 2017.

Top Tube Bag – Bought in 2018. So much nicer to put my cell phone, keys, and sometimes wallet into versus my cargo shorts.

The top is clear so you can keep your cell phone in and easily view a call, text, etc. Much better than trying to get a phone out of a cargo short pocket at 15 mph.

I also keep a bunch of referral cards I printed out in there for when people ask me about the bike. $39

Caboose – Bought in 2018. My kids are almost 3 and 4 now. I have wanted the Caboose since getting the bike. They are big enough now to hold onto the rails. The farthest I’ve gone with them so far is 2 miles and I believe they like it a whole lot more than the trailer.

With them both being up higher and seeing everything I hear “Da Da – look at that” like all the time.

And I like it more than pulling the trailer. Doesn’t feel like a long haul semi-trailer now. The RadWagon is definitely top heavier with them in the Caboose so I go a little bit slower.

I doubt I’ll ever use the Yepp Maxi Child Seat and adapter again as they had to come off when the Caboose went on. The Deckhand came off but might go back on after the kids want to start riding their own bikes.

After having the Caboose on I kind of wish I would have skipped buying the Yepp Maxi Child Seat, used the trailer exclusively for another year, and then bought the Caboose. $150.

Accessories Total – $795. Including the cost of the RadWagon at $1600 we are $2395 into the bike.

You can buy all of the accessories for the RadWagon at RadPowerBikes.com. The Yepp Maxi Child Seat and Adapter are available on Amazon for a few dollars cheaper if you have a prime membership.

Pictures

 

Improvements

After 500 miles on the RadWagon there are a few things I’d like to see improved on.

• Seat Post – The plastic coupling cracked on me during assembly and you never know when the seat is going to fall down. I really have to crank it down to get the seat to stay in one spot.
• Front Fenders – The fenders have been a pain in the ass since almost day 1. The second you hit a bump of any sort they start to come lose and rub the front tire. I am at the point where I’m thinking about removing them all together. There has to be a better design then how they tighten.
• Bike Trailer Mount – There is no good place to attach a bike trailer. I managed to tighten it to the running board but it is not directly behind me. Its not a big deal but it would be nice to know the kids are directly behind me and not off to the side.
• Built In GPS – I’d pay another $100 to $200 more if GPS was built into the frame somehow. I’m not impressed with the bike GPS options available and it would be nice to know GPS was hidden so a bike thief wouldn’t know where to look.
• Better Accessory Deck – Since I installed the accessory deck I have not taken it off. We use it too much with the kids. It would be nice if the accessory deck (or even the bike frame) was built in such a way that I would not need the Yepp Easy Fit Adapter. Just drop the Yepp Maxi Child Seat into the deck, lock it in, and go. Getting the seat on and off is fast and easy. Taking the adapter off is not fast and easy as it involves tools. And with it being raised you have to take it off if you’re giving rides to anyone older than six. It just takes up too much space. (***Update*** This is built into the 2018 RadWagon frame.)
• Make Accessory Deck Standard – Why would anyone buy the RadWagon and not put the accessory deck on? Yes, the wood board plank it comes with is nice but its sitting in a closet. Kind of wasteful. Or at least an option when you buy it. Oh, and can we get it in black? (***Update*** No more accessory deck on 2018 RadWagon).
• Different Spot For The Key – It would be great if the key was repositioned to the front of the battery so it hid under the frame. With the key sticking out I have snagged my cargo shorts at least five times. Its not a big deal but I’m concerned about snapping the key.
• Suspension – I get it. The length of the bike frame absorbs and disperses the bumps. But man, there are so many bumps and pot holes here in Michigan and you cannot avoid them all. Maybe with a front suspension it wouldn’t rattle the front fenders off.

Battery

I have not yet tried to see how far I can get on one charge. The farthest I have gone so far on a full charge is 8 miles and the screen said I still had half a charge left. And thats after a lot of starting and stopping in and around Royal Oak.

Only one time did I go out with one bar showing and it was for a 2 mile round trip. Made it back still on the one bar.

I can’t say for sure if I can make it over 20 miles on one charge but my guess is yes. Its just that every time I see it with half a charge remaining I bring it in and charge it all the way up.

Ownership

• Customer Service – I contacted Rad Power Bikes with a question once and they responded within 24 hours. They will answer your questions.
• Check Your Tires – The reason I contacted customer service was because it felt like the RadWagon was going really slow which had me concerned about the battery. Turns out the tires had lost a lot of air around the sixth month of me riding it. My guess is from all the bumps in the roads and weight of the bike. I pumped them up and the RadWagon was back to normal.
• Water Resistant – I found myself stuck in a rain storm with shelter a mile away. I rode home as fast as I could. The battery, wires, hybrid motor, LCD screen, etc. were all wet. I was freaking out that I broke the bike. I was wrong. It worked fine all the way through the rain storm and after drying out it fired right up.

Where To Buy

Unless you live in Seattle where they have a store than you have to order it at RadPowerBikes.com. When Andrea bought the RadWagon in May 2016 it cost $150 to ship it. No longer. They now offer free shipping on all of their bikes.

(**Like I stated at the top. That’s my “Refer A Friend” link above. That’s right, we’re still friends. If you so choose to click on it and buy a bike YOU and I both get a $50 Amazon gift card. We’re welcome.**)

Rad Power Bikes is a direct to consumer company out of Seattle. They explain the cost savings in this business model on their website and I agree with their claims.

From time to time I pop into the bike store near my house and see e-bikes from Trek and Specialized going for over $2500. If you are looking to get your first e-bike without spending over $2000 than do yourself a solid and get one from Rad Power Bikes.

Since Andrea bought the RadWagon for me they released the RadCity to go along with the RadRover and RadMini. For 2018 they introduced the RadCity Step-Thru. There is something for everyone.

Summary

I really like the RadWagon. Its so much fun. It feels like cheating when you’re biking. You do not realize how fast 18 mph is when you’re barely pedaling and looking at everything go by.

Rarely do I see the need to use any setting higher than the lowest setting of “1”. Pedaling at a leisurely pace in the first setting results in a average speed around 16 mph. Anything higher is almost unnecessary as you hit 20 mph quickly. From time to time I’ll put it in “2” when I’m towing both kids in the bike trailer.

Sometimes I’ll put it in the “0” setting (hybrid motor off) which turns the RadWagon into a regular pedal bike. Talk about a fricking workout pedaling a 75 pound bike plus my weight. My legs are burning after a hundred yards.

I really enjoy when I get to an intersection and somebody in a car waves me through. I throttle all the way and stare at them. All of their faces are saying “How is he moving without pedaling?” Its hilarious.

I don’t see the need to get into all the specs and technology of the RadWagon. Thats not my thing. Lets assume the battery will get better. The bike will get lighter. Rad Power Bikes will see my improvement list and be like “that Brad guy is right”.

I’m more of a “Does it do what it claims to do?” sort of person. And the answer is yes.

I could see somebody replacing a car with the RadWagon. I can see somebody saving a lot of money on their transportation costs with it. Lets assume it can in fact do 20 mph for 20 miles on one charge. Do you know how far 20 miles is? Its really far.

After owning the RadWagon for a year and a half now I see how e-bikes can change transportation. I almost said “the world” and I know I have before. When I read politicians say we need to expand roads and build more parking structures I think how we’re missing it.

What if we had designated bike lanes and allowed e-bikes to do 30mph instead of being governed at 20 mph?

The sad thing for me is I live in Metro Detroit where there are no designated bike lanes. It sucks. And I probably live in the most bike friendly area (Huntington Woods, Royal Oak, Berkley, Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge). Oh, there are bike lanes but they go nowhere.

So when I saw the first video of the couple on the RadWagon going to the Farmers Market in Seattle on a designated bike lane I kind of got jealous. I cannot think of one road or even a sidewalk where I can get up to 20 mph for more than a sixteenth of a mile without having to stop.

And there is the guy on a bike painted in the streets telling you its ok to ride in downtown Royal Oak but nobody besides a biker sees it. And its confusing to say the least. Do I stay in the middle? On the side? Can I use the turn lanes? When can I not ride in the streets?

I kind of feel like I can’t get the most out of the RadWagon due to where I live. Its like I own that Lamborghini (LOL) and its my only car here in Michigan. Good luck not hitting a thousand pot holes or having to abruptly stop for them in that thing.

The RadWagon gets a lot of attention wherever I go. I tell people its kind of like a Tesla. You don’t get it till you ride it. I tell anyone who takes it for a ride at my house that they will have a smile on their face in eight feet when the electric boost kicks in. As soon as it kicks in they look back with a big smile on their face.

Oh geez. Look at what you made me do. I’m just rambling on now. Lets finish this.

The RadWagon is awesome.

One common problem I continue to have with my working from home setup has been my desk. A lot has changed in my life since I started working from home a decade ago.

Mostly I went from having a home office in our house to kind of having a home office. And thats because we have two kids now and no more rooms for a home office. Into the un-finished basement I went.

What I know to be true after working from home is I need some sort of a stand up desk. We all know by now how bad sitting for long periods of time is and there’s even evidence that standing isn’t all that great either. Nothing can be simple anymore, right?

I’ve tried the Varidesk and didn’t really like it as it was too bulky and cumbersome. I’ve even tried putting my iMac on an odd workshop sort of table thing the previous homeowners left behind. That didn’t work either.

All I really want is a desk. One that goes up and down. Thats it.

I don’t know why I didn’t think to search for a pneumatic desk in the first place. My best guess is every time I searched for a stand up desk the results I saw were for the top of the line electric desks that cost $1k+ which is unnecessary for my needs.

And then one day searching Craigslist I see the Realspace Magellan pop up for sale and I was like “yup, I’m buying that.” They retail for $300 (sale price) to $400 at Office Depot and I was able to get it for $150.

The guy I bought it from helped me load it into the truck assembled. I had to take one leg off to get it into the house which was kind of a pain but I was able to get it into the house by myself as the desk is light.

Its incredibly simple to operate as all you do is hold the little lever and push it down or pull it up to your height. It is so much easier to move than the Varidesk was.

And the Realspace is not heavy either. So even with the weight of the tabletop, my iMac, a printer, two small speakers, a lamp, and a fake plant it moves quite easily. I’m 5’11” and find the heights it raises to perfectly acceptable to work at when standing for an extended period of time.

Cable management is of course a problem with desks but I solved that with the Signum from Ikea. No cables dangling near my feet or in such a way where my kids would see them and grab them. For some reason it is half the price to buy it at the store versus Ikea.com or on Amazon. So I drove to the Ikea store an bought it there. Install was simple.

I believe mine to be the Espresso (dark brown) finish. So far its hiding any sort of scratches or dings it might have. A quick wipe down and I can’t see any blemishes on the finish.

I searched for other pneumatic desks and there really aren’t that many. Its unfortunate as I feel the manufacturers are not catering to the work from home types like myself who just want something simple. Heaven forbid I use a muscle to manually raise or lower the desk once or twice a day.

The last thing I want to do is spend $1k+ on an electric stand up desk and have to spend $100+ on an electric motor when it goes out.

After six months of owning the Realspace Magellan I am extremely happy I bought it. It classy’s up my part of the unfinished basement and makes it feel like a home office.

Once upon a time in 2015 I wrote this review for the Varidesk Pro standing desk. After a year of ownership I had to sell it due to home office arrangements changing.

We had two babies a year apart from each other and our office was now a baby room. I bought a MacBook Pro and worked from the kitchen table for a while and still do.

I bounce back and forth between the kitchen table and a quasi office I have set up in our unfinished basement. In 2017 I purchased a Realspace Magellan pneumatic standing desk and have my iMac, printer, etc. down there.

I prefer that desk over the Varidesk. One, it’s a desk. And two its easy to maneuver. My guess is the entire desk is lighter than the Varidesk.

Everything below this is still true about the Varidesk and if you’re curious about buying one then I hope this helps.

What lead me to buy the Varidesk in the first place was after a bit of self diagnosing I concluded that years of sitting on my arse is a leading factor into these ailments. Knees and hips are not liking all the sitting. And I found a number of people saying the same thing and how they combat it with stand up desks.

That’s what lead me to the Varidesk Pro.

I had a very nice glass desk from Ikea and getting rid of it did not make sense at the time. I liked how the Varidesk sat on top of my old desk and could be moved anywhere. Figured my iMac would fit and look oh so pretty on it which it does.

Can’t remember why I went with the Pro version instead of the Single version besides it being only $50 more for the Pro. I got super-sized.

Varidesk Pro…um..Pros

• Flexible – Move it where ever your standing desires are needed.
• Sturdy – Put it down and the Varidesk ain’t moving.
• Well built – Nothing flimsy about this bad boy.
• Multiple settings – Works for people of all heights.
• Varidesk app – Alerts you to stand up. Keeps track of calories burned.
• Lives up to expectations – The Varidesk performs exactly how it says it would.

Varidesk Pro Cons

• Heavy – Its 48 pounds. Thought it might break my glass desk but it didn’t.
• Expensive – At $350 plus $50 in shipping it can put a dent in your wallet.
• Large – 36 inches long by 23 inches wide. There is space for a notepad and you can store stuff between the upper and lower levels.

The Varidesk Pro has done exactly what I thought it was going to do. I spend quite a bit more time standing up now when I’m working and notice a difference in how I feel at the end of the day. More energy, bloods pumping through the body, stuff is stretching. All good things.

Saying all that I had to sell the Varidesk with my home office being eliminated due to babies. The amount of real work I will be doing at home will be done from our kitchen table and the Varidesk would look stupid sitting on it. I love my iMac but I foresee me switching to a MacBook so when I need to stand up I can slide over to the kitchen counter.

If you go the standing desk route you must buy an anti-fatigue mat to stand on or your knees will hurt something fierce.

I don’t think I’d spend $400 on the Varidesk again if I was in the market to do so. I feel the Varidesk Pro is geared more towards the corporate office instead of the home office. Just looking at it says “I’m designed to take a beating everyday and my black finish will blend in with any cubicle.”

I just checked the Varidesk Companies website for the first time since I bought mine and noticed they have come out with a few more models. Nothing that screams home office yet so maybe soon.

Its been about a year since I bought a Fitbit Charge HR and that means its time for a review. This isn’t going to be your normal boring review where I say things such as “I like that its light” or “This feature is great but could be better.” None of that crap. Well – some of that crap.

What I wanted to do instead was share with you a couple of things that happened to me through the eyes of my Fitbit Charge HR. One that cost me over $20,000 and another that saved me $300.

And lets get something straight here. It’s not a Fitbit. It’s a FATBIT.

**Update: 2-28-18**

I wrote this review in Feb 2016 after a year of owning the Fitbit (bought in 2015). And my Charge HR has finally gone kaput. It cracked in half.

It was a pretty good run seeing how it lasted almost 3 years with me pretty much wearing the Charge HR everyday. To replace it I bought the Charge 2 and will write a review about it someday.

Everything below this is apart of my original review.**

This is probably the first gadget I’ve bought which I used longer than a couple of days. Wasn’t sure if I was going to like a Fitbit before I bought it as I’ve never been a big fan of watches or anything on my wrists for that matter. With that the first place to start is…

Why I bought a Fitbit Charge HR?

Because all the cool kids had one and were bragging about their steps. Since I don’t care what the cool kids are doing this could not be the reason. The actual reason is I hoped it would tell me / motivate me / impress upon me / inform me on how active/inactive I was.

The last two years have gone by very fast with the addition of two babies in our household. With them being a year and twenty days apart there really hasn’t been any time to get back into any sort of groove with fitness or scheduled activities. Those were all put aside. I knew without those same activities I had been doing for years like playing softball a couple of nights a week it didn’t motivate me to do other workouts for those activities. My hope was that the Fitbit would tell me where my new baseline was.

I decided to go with the Fitbit Charge HR because of two features: the heart rate monitor and the caller id. The Surge looked too big and the Flex didn’t tell time. If I was going to have something on my wrist it better tell time. Saw the Charge cost $130 and the Charge HR was $150. Figured the extra $20 was worth it.

My first impressions of the Fitbit Charge HR were that it was very light and simple to set up. The Fitbit didn’t feel like a watch and I kind of liked that. Took about 10 minutes from unboxing it to setting up an account on Fitbit.com. Did need to wait an hour for it to fully charge.

While it was charging I played around in my account settings putting things in like height, weight, goals, etc. Kept all of the goal settings like 10,000 steps a day as is. I’m not into playing around with settings on any electronic device (computer, camera, etc.) I buy because I believe the people who built the thing have probably tested it for months or years and know whats best. After all that it was time to wear it and see what the data told me.

The data tells me most of what I knew

I’m not all that active. Most days I’d barely hit 5000 steps. I guess that’s what happens when you work from home and sit on your ass most of the day. Making excuses here but it doesn’t help that I bought the Fitbit Charge HR in January and winters here in Michigan are miserable. I only go outside to take out the trash. Last winter I was playing racquetball with my brother and two friends once a week which provided some interesting data.

Was getting my heart rate in the “Fat Burning” zone an hour or so a day. That’s basically being a blob. Days I moved around I’d be in the 3+ hours of fat burning zone and noticed it. Energy was higher, attitude was better, and didn’t feel as stiff. Never hit the “Cardio Zone” unless I was working out. And the “Peak Zone” = LOL. I’m not in Peak Zone shape right now.

One neat feature of the Fitbit Charge HR and I’m guessing most Fitbits is it allows you to track data for a specific workout. Hold down the button for three seconds and it starts tracking everything you do until you hold down the button for another three seconds. When you’re done it lets you name the activity and is uploaded as a separate log in your Fitbit dashboard.

Here are a couple of my favorite activities from 2015 including the one that cost me $20,000.

Distance is wrong for my bike ride. The Fitbit Charge HR does not have GPS capabilities so it’s guessing. I know I did 10 miles that day. Was surprised how many steps I took doing Body Beast Build Chest & Tris. Over a half a mile walking to the stand where my Bowflex Selecttech dumbbells are, changing the weight setting, and heading back to the bench.

Didn’t burn as many calories as I thought I would doing Insanity Max:30 Sweat Intervals. Lots of steps though. Not that much data to track doing P90X3 Yoga. The Fitbit Charge HR is not waterproof but it does allow you to add in workouts. This is why you see swimming. Interesting to see I burn 100 more calories swimming a mile versus doing Insanity Max:30 and covering the same amount of ground.

Had to throw in shoveling 2 inches of snow. You could say shoveling snow is a better workout than Insanity Max:30. Probably would have equaled the amount of calories burned if it would have been 3 inches of snow and took me another 13 minutes.

Racquetball. WOW! What a workout. Like I said earlier, I played racquetball just about every week last winter from December to April for an hour and a half. I’d get half of my daily step goal in during those 90 minutes. Over 700 calories burned!! Not sure why it didn’t record a distance. Didn’t record for the other times either.

Played a decent amount of golf this past summer. Rackham Golf Course is in my neighborhood and I usually go there. Sometimes I’d even ride my bike up there with clubs on my back. The data you’re seeing above is half right.

April 17th data is correct. Walked 6.37 miles that day carrying my clubs. Makes you think how many miles the pros and their caddies walk annually. Burned 1936 calories and took 13,687 steps. Was the first time in years where I walked 18 holes. Felt great at the end. Shot a 94.

April 24th data is incorrect. Rode a cart that day. My guess is because my wrist is at about the same height in the cart as me walking that the Fitbit cannot tell the difference between the two. Over half of those numbers are fake. There is a difference of over 500 calories burned between the two. It shows I took almost 300 more steps this day versus the 17th. How could I burn 1475 calories on the 24th with 300 more steps than the 1936 calories burned on the 17th. Shot a 94 that day too. Data shows me I suck walking or riding.

Onto the $20,000 data entry

Notice the Feb 20th entry that says “Workout”. I took 7,122 steps over a 16 hour time period and burned 2,434 calories. This workout started as me doing P90X2 Yoga X? It turned into something much different.

The week leading up to Feb 20th, 2015 in Detroit, Michigan was a cold one. Four of the previous 6 days had lows in the single digits with 4 days being negative degrees. Feb 19th was brutal. The high that day was 6.1 degrees but with windchill it felt like -10.2. It got down to -17.7 with windchill at one point that day.

Feb 20th carried over that intensely brutal cold weather. At 7:53 am it was -21.4 degrees and it felt like it. Andrea stayed home that day with our son. We went about our normal activities and I decided to do P90X2 Yoga X around 2pm where the temp outside was now -7.

I get through the warm up with Tony Horton and the crew and then I hear this pop sound come from the ceiling followed by a kkkssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh. A pipe had burst.

We had known there was a possibility of one particular pipe bursting in our house. One selling point of our bungalow was it had an upstairs bathroom. These are hard to come by. When we bought the house we could see water damage on the basement rafters but did not know where the water came from.

The bathroom is not original to our 1952 home. I think the upstairs was an attic/storage area before it was finished into a bedroom and bathroom. When they did the bathroom they decided to run the pipes up from the bathroom on the main floor, into the shower, and then out into what is the attic, and then back through the wall hooking up into the sink.

Instead of running it straight up through the floor and through the cabinet floor (how it’s supposed to be done) the way it was done created an exposed pipe. I had wrapped the pipe with pipe tape, insulation, and blocked it from the rest of the attic. We even left the water dripping the previous 4 nights. When we woke up that morning the pipe had frozen. I guess -21.4 degrees is cold and stuff.

What happened next was I go from Mountain Pose to instant panic. I knew instantly what the sound was. Ran up the stairs, peeked into what we call the dungeon, and could see the water starting to puddle. From here I go into all out crazy mode.

Search for the valve to shut the water off upstairs. There is no valve. Run to downstairs bathroom to turn off upstairs valve. There is no valve. Run into basement and start turning off every valve on that side of the house. By this time water is pouring into the basement where the previous water damage on the rafters was. NO VALVES WORKED. THERE WAS NO SHUT OFF VALVE. BALLLLLLSSSS. Only option is to turn off the main valve to the house.

All of this happened in a 10 minute time period. There was no real damage and luckily we were home when it happened. Some of the water puddled up in the ceiling of my office and dripped through but most of it found its way down the wall between the office and the downstairs bathroom into the basement and into a drain.

What does all of this have to do with a Fitbit Charge HR?

Well – this is what it looked like through the eyes of data.

My normal resting heart rate is 68. This shows four hours of data where I averaged 93. Its like I ran a marathon. Notice how I go from lets call it 80 during my Yoga warmup to 135 in what appears to be minutes. That’s me freaking out running up and down stairs followed by a steady decline but still at an elevated heart rate. I was alive and flat lining.

The remaining 3 hours of data involved me and my dad (who fortunately is a pipe fitter) running back and forth to Home Depot buying supplies and him showing me how to repair it with Shark Bites. Turned the water back on a couple of hours later and we’re good to go.

We got done with everything around 9 pm. In the log above this chart it says over a 16 hour period. I forgot to turn off (hold the button down for 3 seconds) the activity tracker until 6 am the next morning. The 7,122 steps and 2,434 calories burned happened in the 4 hours above.

Which leads into us spending $20,000

Winter turned into spring and then into summer and us welcoming another baby into the world. The only room available for a new baby to go into was my office where water leaked into. We did not want to renovate the bathroom in 2015 as we had remodeled our kitchen and put a new roof on in 2014. With this though we did not want to have to worry about another pipe bursting over our now sons room this winter.

To fix the problem we had to rip up the floor. To rip up the floor we had to remove the cabinet. To remove the cabinet we had to remove the closet. You see where I’m going with this. Might as well renovate the entire bathroom if half of it is going to be ripped up.

We bite the bullet and started renovating around Thanksgiving to have it done before winter set in. My dads old golf partner did the work. During the estimate process I told him I work from home and could be the “Bucket Bitch” on demo day (i.e, him smashing stuff, putting it in buckets, me walking it down stairs and throwing it into the dumpster) if it would save us some money. He agreed to $300. Did I ever get a workout that day.

Here is what the Fitbit Charge HR told me I did on Demo Day

Worked 9-6 that day. Had 18k steps, 8.45 miles, 110 floors, and 6 hours in the fat burning zone. Would be interesting to see how much weight I carried in the buckets that day. This was the most steps, miles, and floors I had done in a day ever since owning a Fitbit. They just all happened to be on the same day.

The next day I received an email from Fitbit congratulating me on earning a Skyscraper Badge. Its given out to those who climb over 100 floors in a day. Basically I was a bad ass for a day.

I’ve earned a couple other badges but I like this one the most because it reminds me I spent $20,000 renovating a bathroom. It also tells me I saved $300 going up and down stairs with plastic Home Depot buckets full of 15 year old shower tiles.

Got to hand it to the people who do this kind of job every day. I felt ok the next day. Didn’t over do it taking stuff out to the dumpster. Kept a nice pace throughout the day.

The bathroom was finished in about a month and turned out very nice. Shouldn’t have to worry about pipes bursting again as the plumbers fixed the pipe issue.

Houston – We Have A Problem

Things were going well with my Fitbit Charge HR for about 9 months. It had become a part of me. Kind of like a like a cell phone in that I had to have it on me all the time and never would I leave the house without it.

For some reason Fitbit designed the Charge HR in two pieces. I don’t see why it needs to be two pieces. One day the small plastic piece popped off when I was detaching it from charging and it never was the same. The small piece continued to pop off just about every time I took it off from wearing and definitely when detaching from charging. The piece did pop back on but I became tired of dealing with it and would leave it off sometimes.

This really wasn’t a deal breaker for me. What did become a deal breaker was in early December my Fitbit started to not sync at all. I could tell it was tracking steps but nothing was syncing with my iPhone or iMac. I tried every troubleshooting tip and nothing was working. When I went to re-install the set up software on my iMac it did not recognize the Dongle which is a small Bluetooth device Fitbit gives you to plug into a USB port that syncs your Fitbit when you come within a certain distance of it. Recognized it before but not now. Story of my life.

Turns out a lot of people were having the same issues as I was around the same time. Appears Fitbit did a software update which automatically happens and it did more harm than good. I got the Fitbit to work for a day by turning off the caller id function. It back synced weeks worth of data but didn’t work again.

I knew my Fitbit Charge HR still had a month left on the manufacturers one year warranty. With it not syncing and the plastic piece falling off I figured it would be worth it to see if I could get a replacement. Told customer support I had bought the Fitbit Charge HR at Dicks Sporting Goods and still had the receipt.  Two days later they responded with this message.

Apologize about the small text. It says they were sending me a new one. Good news. From there it was a quick turn around time as the emails I received from Fitbit shows.

The new Fitbit Charge HR was ordered and shipped on the same day. Was very happy. Have my new one now and its working fine. After all of that you can see I have been very pleased with it so far. It’s this thing that’s on my arm. Its kind of boring looking and I’m cool with that. I think I prefer it over a fancy watch.

The feature I liked the most

Was the Caller ID. Paired the Fitbit with my iPhone. When somebody called a name would scroll on the small screen if they were saved as a contact in your phone or a number if they were not. It vibrates too.

I liked the Caller ID for when I was driving as I could take a quick glance at my wrist instead of reaching for my phone. Came in handy playing racquetball. The court we played at didn’t have any glass boxes built into the courts wall where you could put your phones and keys so we had to keep them outside. With a 7 month at home and another one on the way it was imperative I be near a phone. This let me keep the phone outside the court and not worry about missing a call.

Just about every time I play golf I put my iPhone in my bag and turn it to vibrate. Phone calls mean important. Texts are not important. Caller ID let me be available without having to keep my phones volume on. Didn’t mess with my swing either. Most of the time I played golf I didn’t even notice I was wearing the Fitbit until I took it off and had a tan line on my wrist.

The feature I used the least

Was the calorie tracker. It’s a very cool feature if you’re into counting calories. Me – not so much. I did use it for about a month and logged in everything. It started to feel like work and I lost interest. Checking the Fitbit app on my iPhone every couple of hours to see if I’m over/in the zone/ or under calories is too much.

I can see how it would be helpful to people wanting to lose weight or on a strict meal plan for their workout routine. I’m neither. I’ll throw in the feature that lets you track how many glasses of water you drink in a day. Again – information overload. When I’m thirsty I’ll drink.

The feature that I could care less about

Was the sleep tracker. I wore it to bed a couple of times and the data didn’t really mean that much to me. Mainly because I knew when I woke up if I was rested or not. Going to bed earlier solves that problem for me. By bedtime I was ready to take the Fitbit Charge HR off. Thing needs some air.

2015 Year End Stats

I really don’t know how to interpret this data. I’m going to drop the total steps to 2,300,000 and total miles to 1,000 due to the amount of times I rode in a cart while golfing.

I know I hit 10,000 steps a day on average once a week. I also didn’t wear my Fitbit Charge HR the whole month of December as it was broken. So those numbers might be accurate if I did. But man, does that mean the average American is half as active as me? That’s concerning considering I pretty much sat on my ass last year watching my oldest kid and taking care of another baby. I was sitting all the time.

Could also be the average American doesn’t keep their Fitbit on as long as I do throughout the day getting those additional 800 or so steps walking around the house. I put the Fitbit on within 10 minutes of getting up and don’t take it off until 7pm for the babies bath time.

In Summary

I really like the Fitbit Charge HR. I’ll probably continue to wear it as much as I do now for the foreseeable future. I know there are other devices out there like the iWatch that do everything the Fitbit does but I don’t think I’ll make the switch. The Fitbit looks and feels durable. The fancier things get the more cautious I am using them. Plus, my iPhone does everything else. Sometimes more is more and there are some things I don’t need more of.

I haven’t bought into the “I have to hit 10,000 steps a day. If I haven’t hit that goal by 9:52 pm then I’m heading out for a walk and not coming back until I do” mentality yet. Maybe I’ll get into that mindset when spring comes around and I can do things outside with my kids.

Right now, the Fitbit Charge HR is this thing on my wrist. Sometimes it tells me stuff. Sometimes it doesn’t. I’m cool with both.

Send me a friend request on Fitbit if you want to impress me with your stats and be underwhelmed by mine.

Once upon a time in 2008 I was fortunate enough to have a parent of mine ask me what I wanted for Christmas in which I replied the Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells.

At the time I was just starting my first round of P90X and needed a better set of dumbbells than the random ones we had laying around the house.

Mom had a little sticker shock when she saw how expensive they were. I don’t remember exactly how much they cost in 2008 but I believe with the stand it was around $400. Made a deal with Mom that I would buy the stand and she would get the dumbbells. Merry Christmas to Brad!

Here’s The Thing

I wrote my original review of my Bowflex SelectTech 552s in 2008 and its now 2018. Its time to update this post.

What you should know is I still have the dumbbells and they still remain a centerpiece of my home gym. It’s my humble opinion that the Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells could be the best set of dumbbells you could own.

What intrigued me to buy them in the first place is one of the reasons why they haven’t been sold on Craigslist or when we moved. They are so easy to use in your home and quick to clean up. No need to be spending time re-racking multiple dumbbells. And they save so much space.

How Do The Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells Work?

The Bowflex SelectTech Dumbbells go from 2.5 pounds all the way up to 52.5 with a simple click. Just turn the dial on both ends of the dumbbell to your desired weight and off you go. It could not be easier.

Stand Or No Stand?

The Bowflex SelectTech Dumbbells are not cheap. They cost around $290. For another $100 you can get the stand too. You’ll be all in for about $395. And after ten years of ownership I will say the stand is worth it.

It would be so annoying moving the dumbbells around without it.

Yes, maybe you have your designated workout area and your workout equipment stays in one place all the time.

And maybe you’re hardcore and acknowledge that squatting down to switch weights gives you bonus exercise between reps.

I feel that the stand makes it easier to switch weights between sets, is much easier to move around the house, and is overall more appealing when in my house. It just looks better on the stand then laying on the ground.

The stand makes it so much easier to workout with let alone move them around in the basement. We’re talking about 100 pounds of weights here.

If you’re thinking you want this set up too then check out the Bowflex SelectTech Dumbbells and Stand deal at Amazon. If you just want the dumbbells to start out with then you can always go back and buy the stand separately in the future.

For some sad reason it appears Bowflex stopped making the stands with wheels. Pretty dumb if you ask me. My stand has wheels which makes it incredibly easy to move when I have to vacuum.

Maybe Bowflex was able to save money building the stands without wheels and people don’t really move the stand unless they have to. I don’t know of course but man are the wheels nice.

Works Well With P90X & Body Beast

The Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells are a must have for anybody who is doing P90X, Body Beast, other Beachbody workouts, or just looking for a way to get rid of a huge rack of dumbbells in their home gym.

Just try to keep up with Tony Horton during P90X Back and Biceps or Sagi Kalev doing any Body Beast workout with normal dumbbells. It’s not going to happen.

You will be hitting the pause button after every bicep curl or tricep extension trying to get ready for the next move. The Bowflex SelectTech Dumbbells simplify that with a couple clicks.

Summary

After a decade of owning the Bowflex SelectTech 552s I can say I am glad I asked for them for Christmas:). What great investment they have been.

They are a little dusty from being in the basement but it hasn’t affected how they perform. I use them all the time and don’t see a reason to get a new set.

From time to time I think about buying the Bowflex SelectTech 1090s as there are a couple of exercises where 52.5 pounds are not enough. Moves like “Lawnmowers or Chest Press” in particular.

In those situations I’ll do more reps or add some push ups. Reason being is the 1090s cost $600+ for a pair. Bowflex has an option where you can buy just one 1090 for around $250 but I can’t justify it. Maybe if somebody is giving away a set on Craigslist for dirt cheap will I get them but in the mean time I’ll keep going with the 552s.

My home gym still revolves around these dumbbells. I am going on almost ten years of owning them and have had zero problems with them. Looking back, these dumbbells were a great investment.

A couple of years ago I switched out the stock 26 x 2.0″ nubby tires on my 2006 Specialized Rockhopper mountain bike for a set of Kenda Kwest 26 x 1.5″ commuter tires.

My intentions were to have something that rolled easier around town. With no nubs on the tires to provide resistance it should make for higher speeds with less effort.

I do not do that much trail riding in the Metro Detroit area but at the same time it might as well be. This is not a bike friendly area.

Something felt a bit off with the skinnier tires. The bike started to squeak. It rode poorly. Most of the time it felt like I was riding on the pavement. Even with the smaller tubes I bought, it made getting the 26 x 1.5″ Kenda’s on and off the wheel a task of its own. It no longer felt like a mountain bike.

My Rockhopper was telling me it wanted to be a mountain bike again. I wanted it to be one too. I still had a set of 26 x 2.0″ nubby tires that I could put back on. That is not what I wanted.

What I wanted was a 26 x 2.0″ commuter tire for a mountain bike. The minimal roll resistance of the Kenda’s I had on but with a bit more sidewall to provide a better ride. After doing some searching the Serfas Drifter City’s popped up.

You could say all commuter bike tires have an inverted tread pattern but look at how deep those are.

The Drifters were exactly what I was looking for. REI had them in stock so I bought them locally instead of waiting for them to be shipped from Amazon. They cost the same at both places.

The only knock I could find about the Serfas Drifters was they make a suction sound when rolling. This was not a concern for me when purchasing.

Getting the old tires off was the hardest part of putting the Serfas Drifters on. Do I ever hate those smaller tires. Thankfully my old inner tubes that have been sitting in storage for two years still worked. Thirty minutes later the new tires were on.

My Specialized Rockhopper looks like a mountain bike again. A commuter mountain bike if you will.

30 Miles Of Riding Later

• No Suction Sounds –  Maybe on a perfectly paved surface on a hot summer day you’d get that. I have been riding around in unseasonably warm but still cold weather (40 degrees in February) on the gentle streets of Huntington Woods, Michigan.
• The Serfas Drifters Roll – Going with the “wow – I’m going faster test” I can say there is very little resistance at all. These tires roll so much better than the 26 x 1.5″ Kendas did for sure. The middle of the tire has a built-in harder center tread which improves the rolling.
• The Serfas Drifters Grip – The center of the tire is harder for improved rolling with softer sides for cornering. Lean into any turn and you can feel the bike shift from rolling to gripping. It was odd the first time making a turn.
• No More Squeaks – The rattles have gone away.
• Rides Better – No longer feels like I’m riding on pavement. Way more comfortable.

It feels like a mountain bike again with the Serfas Drifter City’s on. I do not miss the smaller 1.5″ tires at all. This bike needs 2.0″ tires.

In July 2018 we took our bikes on a trip to the Upper Peninsula here in Michigan. We stayed near Munising and did a kayak trip to the Pictured Rocks. On one day we took our bikes to the Valley Spur mountain bike trail.

Before leaving I was debating about switching out the Serfas Drifter tires for my stock tires. Decided that was too much work and went with it. Outside of a couple of slips going uphill the Serfas Drifters did just fine.

Putting these on my Specialized Rockhopper was a smart choice. It gets me wanting to ride the bike again. Pulling my kids in the bike trailer will be a little easier to do too.

If anything, the Serfas Drifter City tires have me wanting to ride my old mountain bike for short trips from the house over my Rad Wagon.