Ridstar DC26 Review: 70 lb, Folds to 39 Inches

26 × 4.0 fat tires on a frame that folds to 39 × 39 × 28.7 inches · one motor Ridstar's text rates "1500W (PEAK 2000W)" and its spec table "2000 Watt" · 48V 20Ah (960 Wh) on ridstar.net, 48V 23Ah (1,104 Wh) in ridstar.com's spec block · 70 lb, 330 lb load, riders 5'7" to 6'7" · our DC26 listing sold out at $746.35 · verified October 25, 2026

Quick Answer — On October 25, 2026, our DC26 listing and both Ridstar stores' US variants were sold out. It is a 70 lb folder on 26 × 4.0 fat tires for riders 5'7" to 6'7". On flat pavement at 15 mph with no pedaling, a 180 lb rider computes to 55 miles on its 960 Wh pack.

With the US market selected, ridstar.net's DC26 listing showed its US variant sold out at $649.00 that day, beside an EU variant at $1,399.00 in stock, and all four variants on ridstar.com's DC26 listing read sold out, the US one at $1,449.00.

What the two stores print about the bike, and where they disagree, is in the figures and the identity section; the verdict names the four in-stock bikes we would send you instead.

Read the maker's record before anything else. Owners of Q20-family Ridstars were told twice in 2026 by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to stop using them: 26-337 says batteries and wires on the Q20 and Q20 Pro "can ignite", and 26-584 that a Q20 or Q20 Lite front wheel "can detach without warning".

Neither warning names the DC26 or the H26 Pro, and the CPSC's recall list had nothing under Ridstar's name on October 25, 2026. The record section gives you the rest, including the spare-battery listing on which Ridstar sells the DC26's pack beside the Q20's.

What this review covers

Figures · What it is · Folding · Fit · Motor · Battery · Range · Brakes and lights · Frame and gears · The Mercer fit test · UL · Recalls · The maker's record · The Ridstar family · Class · Where to ride · Green and red flags · Verdict · Checklist · Buying · FAQ · Limitations · Bottom line · References

How we verified this Ridstar DC26 review

Every Ridstar figure on this page was verified against the two DC26 listings Ridstar runs, on ridstar.net and on ridstar.com, read with the US market selected on October 25, 2026, and compared word for word with the copies of both pages saved on August 26, 2026. Every Ridstar photograph was opened at full size, and where a number is ours, its section shows you the arithmetic, so you can rerun it with your own.

Beside the two listings, the review reads YVY's parts catalog, three more Ridstar-named sites, the CPSC record, two federal court dockets, the statutes it quotes and our own stock and checkout, all on October 25, 2026. Part of our e-bike reviews.

Written by Milad Ghobadibeygvand, BScN (Western University, 2014). Corrections: support@redtailebikes.com.

The DC26's figures, on two Ridstar stores

Ridstar's two stores print one DC26 with two motor ratings, two pack sizes, two top speeds, two descriptions of the suspension and two warranty lengths. Each row gives our reading first, then each store's own words, and where the stores agree the row says so once.

Ridstar leads its ridstar.net DC26 listing with this photograph, the third in our gallery. The inset in its corner shows the bike folded at the latch in its main tube, just ahead of the seat post.

Ridstar's description, specification table and Technical Details tab on ridstar.net's DC26 listing, and the specification block and carousel on ridstar.com's, both read for US delivery on October 25, 2026. We multiplied Ridstar's volts by its amp-hours for the watt-hours.

Before you buy, read four of these rows twice. The class section turns on the motor row and the top-speed row, because a state's e-bike definition reads both; the battery row moves every figure in the range section; and the rider-height row is the one the fit section tests against an Army survey of 6,068 bodies.

Where Ridstar's figures disagree, both stay on this page, and the paperwork in your bike's box is what settles it. When a calculation can take only one of them, its section names the figure it used and gives the reason.

One folding frame, two stores: what the DC26 is

The DC26 is a folding fat-tire mountain e-bike on 26 × 4.0 tires, a black aluminum frame that folds at a latch in its main tube, a suspension fork, a rear shock and a rear rack, listed by Ridstar on both of its US-dollar stores under the same handle. On October 25, 2026, our listing and the US variants on both Ridstar stores all read sold out.

Each store's price and stock for a US shopper on October 25, 2026, in US dollars, with the creation dates taken from each store's own product record. ridstar.net lists a compare-at price of $1,599.00 on both of its variants and ridstar.com a "Regular price" of $1,699.00 on its US variant.

Both Ridstar pages read word for word as they did on August 26, 2026. Set against the copies saved that day, ridstar.net's 590-word description and ridstar.com's 201-word specification block match exactly, so every figure you read in the table above has stood for at least two months.

The first photograph on ridstar.com's DC26 listing, the other side of the bike from ridstar.net's lead. It is not on our listing's gallery.

The DC26 and the H26 Pro

In August the DC26 had a twin on ridstar.net. That store's DC26 and H26 Pro pages carried the same fifteen-row specification table, and their 590-word descriptions differ only in the motor bullet: its heading read "2000W POWERFUL MOTOR" on the H26 Pro where the DC26's reads "1500W POWERFUL MOTOR", and its sentence "PEAK 2000W" where the DC26's reads "1500W (PEAK 2000W)".

The H26 Pro's ridstar.net page returned a 404 on October 25, 2026, and the Wayback Machine's last capture of it is from September 4, 2026. ridstar.com sells the H26 Pro with figures of its own: "Shimano 7-Speed gears", "front & rear oil Disc Brakes", "81.5 7LBS" (sic) and "5.5- 6.2 Ft".

The two are different bikes in their photographs too: across the 18 galleries compared pixel by pixel for this page, no DC26 photograph matches an H26 Pro one. Our H26 Pro review covers that bike, which is the one we would send you to if you came for the DC26.

Which of Ridstar's photographs show the DC26

Only the two lead photographs show the DC26 you would be buying, a frame that folds. The other four images on ridstar.net's listing, and four of the six on ridstar.com's, are the same files as on ridstar.com's MN26 listing, which Ridstar titles "Unfoldable", and ridstar.com's DC26 gallery includes one named "MN26-battery.png".

Each of those five is a captioned graphic, and the one street scene among them shows two step-through bikes, a frame shape unlike the DC26's folding one. So the "36MPH", "85NM" and "40°" you see on the motor graphic may describe either bike: the MN26 review found that graphic on its bike's listings and the DC26's alike.

Folding: 39 × 39 × 28.7 inches, 70 lb

Folded, the DC26 measures 39 × 39 × 28.7 inches by ridstar.net's text, which says it weighs "only 70 pounds"; unfolded, both stores give "77.5 x 28.7 x 47.2 inches". The fold halves the length, from 77.5 inches to 39, and leaves a block about 39 inches tall and 28.7 deep that you lift at the full 70 lb.

The folded bike from the inset in the corner of ridstar.net's lead photograph, cropped at the size it has in Ridstar's file; the dark shape at its lower right is the top of the main photograph's saddle.

Ridstar's figures from ridstar.net's DC26 listing and ridstar.com's, read October 25, 2026; the volumes and the share are our arithmetic, as boxes around the bike's outer dimensions.

Ridstar's ridstar.net listing says the folded bike will go "in your SUV trunk, office, or apartment" and "on trains, buses, or elevators", and prints no fold steps, latch description or battery-out instruction on either page. Measure the opening you have in mind against 39 × 39 × 28.7 inches before you count on it.

Who the DC26 fits: a 5'7" to 6'7" window and the saddle formula

Set by the 109% rule, a saddle height counted from the pedal axle, the DC26 needs its saddle top 36.8 inches above the pedal for a median 5'10" body in the US Army's ANSUR II survey and 39.3 inches for a median 6'2" one. Ridstar prints a rider window for the DC26, "Riders Height 5'7" -6'7" ft", the same on both stores, and no seat height to set a rider against.

Ridstar's 5'7" to 6'7" says nothing about legs, and legs vary: in the survey, riders of the same height differ by about three inches of inseam. Our tables stop at 6'4", the tallest height the survey holds 30 or more bodies for, and start at 5'0"; that takes in the DC26's window from its 5'7" floor to 6'4".

Get your own figure in three steps:

1. In socks, put your back flat to a wall, hold a hardback book level between your legs, push it up until it is snug, and measure from its top edge to the floor.
2. Take that inseam to the saddle table, find the row for your height and read across to the saddle top above the pedal axle.
3. Use the heel check in the setup subsection to set the saddle, and finish by checking how far your knee bends at the bottom of the stroke.

Ridstar's pages say "Adjustable seat and handlebars to suit individual preferences" (ridstar.net) and "height adjustable handlebars" (ridstar.com), and print no seat range, standover, reach, crank length or grip position. With so little printed, this section gives you the formula and the window only; lean, hand load and clearance need frame measurements Ridstar has not published.

What seat height does the Ridstar DC26 need?

Peveler et al. (2005) set 109% of inseam, from the pedal axle to the saddle top, against the heel method, and that 109% is this table's middle column. Ferrer-Roca et al. (2012) give a recommended range of 106% to 109% and an equation range of 108.6% to 110.4%, so the table carries 106% and 110.4% as its ends.

The US Army's ANSUR II survey measured 6,068 bodies, and each band in the table is the middle 90% of the ones at that height. Whether the DC26's post can reach the height the formula gives you is a question the table cannot answer, because Ridstar prints no seat height or post range for it.

Saddle tops for the DC26 by the formula. Each row's inseam band holds the middle 90% of ANSUR II bodies of that height, never fewer than 30 bodies. Peveler et al. supply the 109% column and Ferrer-Roca et al. the two outer ones, 106% and 110.4%; LeMond's 88.3% needs a crank length Ridstar does not give, so it has no column.

Can you put a foot down on the DC26 at a stop?

With no standover height in either DC26 listing, the gap between frame and rider cannot be computed here. What the survey can give you is the leg that gap has to clear: a median 33.8-inch inseam at 5'10" and 36.0 inches at 6'2", by the Army survey.

The lead photographs show the main tube sloping down from the head tube to the seat tube, with its folding latch just ahead of the seat post. If you need both feet flat at a stop light, have the standover measured on the very bike you would receive; the email offer above covers that too.

Will you sit stretched or cramped on the DC26?

Ridstar gives no reach or grip position for the DC26, so how far you lean is not computed on this page. Both depend on the stem and bar it ships with, and its two photographs show the bike with no rider. Sit on one at rest if you can, or put your arm length in the email above.

How much weight goes through your wrists on the DC26?

How much of your weight lands on your hands turns on where the grips sit, and no DC26 grip position is published, so none is computed. For the upper end, Carahalios (2015) measured about 15% of body weight through the stem with road racers' hands on the hoods; that is a racer's forward lean, far from an upright folder, and this page derives no DC26 figure from it.

How do you set the DC26's saddle when it arrives?

One DC26 frame covers Ridstar's whole 5'7" to 6'7" window, so all of the fitting is done at the seat post once the box is open. Start with the heel check: seated, bring one pedal to the bottom with its crank lined up along the seat tube, put your heel on it, and the leg should then be fully straight.

A knee that stays bent means the saddle is too low, and a heel that cannot reach the pedal without your hips rocking means it is too high.

After that, pedal on the ball of your foot and look at how far the knee bends at the bottom of each stroke. Two papers give that bend, and Peveler, Pounders and Bishop (2007) cite 25 to 35 degrees from the cycling literature; Ferrer-Roca et al. (2012) aim for 30 to 40 degrees, and a bend inside both, near 30 degrees, is the place to start.

The fit arithmetic, step by step

The model works body by body through ANSUR II, placing the saddle top at 109%, 106% and 110.4% of each inseam above the pedal axle. The worked case is a 68-inch rider: the model puts the inseam at 32.6 inches, which gives a saddle 35.6 inches above the pedal axle at 109%, 34.6 inches at 106% and 36.0 inches at 110.4%.

The 109% the model applies is the method Peveler et al. (2005) call Hamley's; among their 19 trained cyclists, LeMond's method, counted from the pedal, came to 109.2 ± 0.9% of inseam.

LeMond's 88.3% is measured from the crank axle, so comparing it with the 109% takes a crank length, which Ridstar does not print for the DC26; that check is not run, and Limitations lists the gap. Nothing here says how many riders of a height the DC26's post reaches: the window is Ridstar's, and the table is the formula's.

One motor in the rear hub: 1,500 W, peaking at 2,000 W

Ridstar's text gives the DC26 "a 1500W (PEAK 2000W) brushless motor", so 1,500 W is the figure it rates and 2,000 W the peak. The same ridstar.net page's spec table and both store titles print "2000W", and ridstar.com's spec block prints "1500 Watt High Speed", so the two readings sit one store apart.

The rear wheel, cropped from ridstar.net's lead photograph. The DC26's listings do not say where the motor sits; Ridstar's parts store sells it as a "Rear hub contains motor" option.

Ridstar's parts store lists a "US / DC26" option on its "Rear hub contains motor" listing, at $379.00 on October 25, 2026, and the same option on a motor listing at $209.00. Both pages add that "To purchase a motor you need to send the motor code to support@ridstar.net. The motor code is shown on the motor and is CE marked."

Ridstar prints four top speeds across the two listings and their pictures. ridstar.net's spec table says "Max Speed 28+++ mph", ridstar.com's carousel "28 MPH" and its spec block "37 mph", and a motor graphic on both listings, a file that also sits on the MN26's, "36MPH".

The range model takes 37 mph, the highest figure, for the motor's no-load speed: how fast it spins with nothing to push. A 180 lb rider then settles at 31.9 mph on the flat. Read the 28 mph figure that way instead and the model's fastest steady speed falls to 25.8 mph.

You get three riding options, "Pure Electric, Pedal Assist, and Pedal Modes", with "5 Electric Speed Levels", and Ridstar's throttle listing sells "throttle handlebars for Q20, H20, DC26, MN26 and other electric bicycle models", $59.00 as a "US / DC26" option. The DC26 pages name no torque figure; the shared motor graphic prints "85NM".

Two of Ridstar's lines tell you to leave the controller alone. Above the price on ridstar.net: "Non-professionals please do not adjust the controller circuit！！！". On the controller listing, $89.00 for the DC26: "Do not handle the wiring of the controller privately." Neither prints a current rating.

Battery: 48V, 20Ah or 23Ah

Three of Ridstar's representations give the DC26 a 48V 20Ah pack, 960 Wh by its own volts and amp-hours, and one gives 48V 23Ah, 1,104 Wh. ridstar.net's spec table, ridstar.com's carousel and Ridstar's spare-battery listing ("DC26 Battery:48V 20Ah imported Lithium Battery") say 20 Ah; ridstar.com's spec block and its four SKUs say 23 Ah.

Read October 25, 2026. Watt-hours are volts × amp-hours; Ridstar prints no watt-hour figure for the DC26.

You can take the pack out of the frame to charge it: "Removable battery, convenient to bring home or office to recharge", by ridstar.net's text, which gives "4 to 6 Hours" for a charge and calls the packs "lithium batteries" without naming a cell format or a cell maker.

If you want a spare pack, Ridstar sells it on a listing the DC26 shares with the Q20. Ridstar's "Q20/DC26/H20" battery listing priced its "US / DC26" option at $429.00 and its "US / Q20" option at $399.00 on October 25, 2026, both in stock, and its charger listing sells a DC26 option at $69.00.

The CPSC's 26-337 warning concerns the batteries of the Q20 and Q20 Pro. No Ridstar page says whether the DC26's pack and the Q20's are one part, and the listing prices them differently and names the DC26's as an "imported Lithium Battery".

A full charge costs you about 17 cents. At the national residential average for August 2026, 18.16 cents a kilowatt-hour in the US Energy Information Administration's table released October 23, 2026, 960 Wh is 17.4 cents, before the charger's own losses.

At the model's 17.4 Wh a mile, if you weigh 180 lb and ride 1,000 miles at 15 mph on the motor alone, you use about 17.4 kWh, about $3.15 of electricity at that average.

Range on the 20 Ah pack: 55 miles at 15 mph, motor only

A 180 lb rider on the 20 Ah pack, motor only, covers 55 miles of level pavement at a steady 15 mph and 28 at 25 mph; on the 23 Ah reading in ridstar.com's spec block, that 15 mph ride reaches 64. Loaded to Ridstar's 330 lb limit, the 20 Ah pack's 15 mph ride shortens to 45 miles.

Climbing is billed by the foot of height: each 1,000 feet you gain at 10 mph on the motor alone takes about 147 Wh from the pack on a 4% grade and 191 Wh on a 10% one, by Martin and colleagues' power equation.

To find your own ride in these tables:

1. Start in the speed tables at the speed you usually hold and the effort you pedal with, on the 20 Ah reading or the 23 Ah one.
2. Then let the weight rows take off what your body and bags cost, and the hill rows what your route climbs.
3. For cold mornings, the cold rows give the cut; the figure to plan on is the reserve column's, with a quarter of the charge held back.

Every figure comes from one steady-state model built on Ridstar's DC26 numbers, the published curve of a comparable hub motor, drum-measured rolling resistance of ten fat tires and that validated equation. The arithmetic subsection works one ride through.

How far does a 48V 20Ah pack go on the DC26?

At 10, 15, 20 and 25 mph on flat pavement, motor only, a 180 lb rider gets 77, 55, 39 and 28 miles from the 20 Ah pack and 88, 64, 45 and 32 from the 23 Ah reading. The first table's last column is the one to plan on, and the second sets the two readings side by side.

Every row is a steady ride on flat pavement at 77 °F: a 180 lb rider on the 70 lb bike spending the 20 Ah pack's 960 Wh (48 V × 20 Ah), on tires that roll like the median of ten drum-measured fat tires. In the reserve column 25% of the pack stays unspent, the share a complete pedelec system left unused on Schmitt, Decker and Doppelbauer's (2019) test bench; neither DC26 listing names one.

Both readings of the pack side by side, motor only, for the same rider, bike and road. The 1,104 Wh comes from ridstar.com's spec block, 48 V × 23 Ah; the bold column carries over the 20 Ah figures.

With your legs helping, the pack lasts longer: the 20 Ah pack's miles when you put in 75 W (easy) or 150 W (steady), next to the motor-only miles, for a 180 lb rider on the 70 lb bike over flat pavement.

The tables stop at 28 mph and the model goes a little past it: a 180 lb rider settles at 31.9 mph on the flat with no-load speed set from ridstar.com's 37 mph. Held at 28 mph on the flat, motor only, a 180 lb rider gets 23 miles from the 20 Ah pack and 26 from the 23 Ah reading.

Switch the motor off and 75 W from your legs carries a 180 lb rider on this 70 lb bike at about 9.1 mph on the flat; 150 W makes it 13.2 mph. A steady rider needs no help under about 13 mph, so the effort table opens at 15 mph.

What do the DC26's 21 gears change?

Ridstar sells "Shimano 21-speed shifting" and prints the gearing as "Front Derailleur Shamano 3-Speed + Rear Derailleur Shamano 7-Speed(3*7=21)" (sic). Because this motor sits in the rear hub, the gear you choose sets your legs' pace, and the pack's draw is set by speed, load, grade and the watts your legs add.

What the table below prices is your effort, and the gear you ride in does not appear in it: at 12 mph up an 8% grade, easy pedaling saves the pack about 14 Wh a mile against the motor alone.

What each mile costs the 20 Ah pack in watt-hours at three pedaling efforts, for a 180 lb rider on the 70 lb bike: two rides on the flat, then 4% and 8% climbs at 12 mph.

Does going uphill drain the DC26's pack faster?

Carrying a 180 lb rider up a 2% grade at a steady 10 mph on the motor alone, the 20 Ah pack spends 27 Wh a mile and lasts 36 miles; up 15% it spends 206 Wh a mile and is empty after 5. Add easy pedaling and each 1,000 feet of height costs 129 to 169 Wh, from the 4% grade to the 10% one.

Miles from a full 20 Ah pack on climbs of 2% through 15%, holding 10 mph with a 180 lb rider on the 70 lb bike: first on the motor alone, then with 75 W of easy pedaling.

ridstar.net and ridstar.com both print "Max. Slope 30°" for the DC26, and the shared motor graphic "40°". As grades, 30° and 40° come to 58% and 84%, far past the steepest row here, and Ridstar gives no speed, load or length of hill for either.

Does rider weight affect the DC26's range?

Ridstar prints "Max. Load 330 LBS"; at that weight, motor only, 15 mph on the flat yields 45 miles from the 20 Ah pack against a 180 lb rider's 55, and an 8% climb at 10 mph shrinks from 11 miles to 6. Count everything on board against that limit, the rack's load and your bag included.

Miles on the 20 Ah pack as the weight on board rises, rider and cargo together, on the 70 lb bike with the motor alone. Flat pavement except the climb column (8% at 10 mph); the bottom row is Ridstar's 330 lb limit.

Every table runs on 70 lb, the one weight both Ridstar stores print for the DC26 ("E-bike Weight 70 LBS" on ridstar.net; "Item Weight 70 Pounds" on ridstar.com), so no second weight is checked here.

Does cold weather drain the DC26's battery?

A 180 lb rider's 55 miles at 15 mph, motor only, on a 77 °F day drop to 44 when the air is 32 °F (bracketed 39 to 46) and to 40 at 14 °F (bracketed 19 to 40). Ridstar names no cell format or cell maker for the DC26's pack, so the energy column borrows the HG2, an LG 18650 cell whose behavior across temperatures is published.

At each air temperature, how much of its 77 °F energy the 20 Ah pack keeps, and how far that takes a 180 lb rider on the 70 lb bike at 15 mph on the flat, motor only. The brackets from 32 °F down run between the published cell measurements.

Heat works the other way: at 95 °F the cells give up a little, keeping 99% of their energy, but warm rubber rolls more easily, and the ride reaches 58 miles, past the 77 °F row.

For each degree Celsius of warmth the model trims about 0.9% off rolling resistance, and below 41 °F it stops correcting. The rate sits between two published results: Bicycle Rolling Resistance's temperature test found six road tires losing 17.6% of their rolling resistance on average as the tire surface went from 20 °C to 40 °C, which we divide out to about 0.88% a degree, and Rothhämel's (2023) climate-chamber data to about 0.97%.

Kept indoors until you ride? The rows put the cells at the air's temperature, so if the pack comes from a warm house, expect more than its row shows.

Do the DC26's fat tires cut range?

On the best-rolling of ten drum-measured fat tires, a 180 lb rider's 55 miles at 15 mph, motor only, grow to 64, and on the worst-rolling they shrink to 51; the tables run on the median tire. For the DC26, Ridstar gives no tire maker, tread or pressure, only "puncture-proof fat tires" for "snow-covered streets, sandy beaches, mountain trails, and urban environments".

With no tire named, none of those ten can stand in for the DC26's, so the model takes their median coefficient, 0.0105, and holds the best-rolling tire's 0.0070 and the worst's 0.0126 as the outer limits.

How you sit is the other large loss. The model's drag area, 0.640 m², is what Tengattini and Bigazzi (2018) measured on riders sitting upright on cruisers. Their mountain-bike riders came out at 0.603 m², and with that figure 15 mph on the flat, motor only, stretches to 57 miles.

Miles at 15 and 20 mph on flat pavement for a 180 lb rider on the 70 lb bike, 20 Ah pack, motor only, with the tire set to the lowest, the median or the highest coefficient among the drum-measured fat tires. All rows are paved road; the model has no figure for the snow, sand and trail riding Ridstar's text names.

The front tire, cropped from ridstar.net's lead photograph. Knobs this deep roll harder on pavement than a smooth tread, the reason the table's upper limit is a knobby casing.

Is the DC26's 55 to 75 miles real?

Both Ridstar stores give the DC26's range as "55 miles in pure electric mode, 75 miles in pedal assist mode", and ridstar.com's text adds "up to 75 miles on full charge", with no speed, load or surface beside any of them. The figures are the same on the 20 Ah and the 23 Ah readings.

The model also works in reverse: name a distance and it returns the steady speed on flat pavement at which the full 960 Wh runs out at that distance. To make 55 miles on the motor alone, a 180 lb rider holds 15.1 mph; to make 75, 10.4 mph on the motor alone, or 16.0 mph with easy pedaling.

Each of Ridstar's distances beside the steady flat-pavement speed that would drain a full 20 Ah pack over it, for a 180 lb rider on the 70 lb bike at three efforts: motor only, easy (75 W of pedaling) and steady (150 W). The distances are from ridstar.net's DC26 spec table, read October 25, 2026.

Read that way, Ridstar's "55 miles" fits a steady 15 mph with the motor doing the work, and its "75 miles" fits easy pedaling at 16 mph. For a figure of your own, go to the speed tables, find the speed you ride, and plan on its reserve column.

The range arithmetic, one ride at a time

The model adds rolling resistance, air drag and, on a climb, gravity into one force, multiplies it by speed for the power at the wheel, then divides that by three efficiencies in turn, the drivetrain's, the motor's and the pack's, to reach what the cells must supply. Martin and colleagues (1998) published the equation, and each input below carries its source.

Every run of the model writes this provenance block: Ridstar's own figures, the studies' figures, the comparable motor and its brackets, and physical constants. Each source appears again in the references.

The arithmetic, worked for one ride: a 180 lb rider on the 70 lb bike holding 15 mph on flat pavement, motor only. Of the 192.8 W the wheel needs, rolling resistance takes 78.6 W and air drag 114.2 W. At about 77% efficiency at that speed, the motor pulls 252.0 W from the battery's terminals, and the pack's own losses bring the cells' share to 260.3 W.

At 15 miles an hour, 260.3 W comes to 17.4 Wh a mile, so 960 Wh lasts 55.3 miles, or 41.5 with a quarter kept back.

Two checks hold the model to its sources. Fed the inputs of the example Martin and colleagues work through in their Appendix I, it returns the paper's 45.7 W of rolling and potential power and its 158.8 W of aerodynamic power. At the comparable motor's rated point, the model's motor efficiency comes out at 80%, the floor Bafang's workbook prints.

The motor curve is a comparable's, so the model runs in four versions, and in all of them the 15 mph flat figure on the motor alone stays between 54 and 61 miles. Rated at 750 W, the comparable gives 55 miles at 15 mph and 8 on the 8% climb at 10 mph; at Ridstar's 2,000 W peak, 54 and 12; at 82% efficiency, 61 and 11.

No case is a measurement, and every table runs on the 1,500 W case.

Brakes, lights and the display

Ridstar gives the DC26 disc brakes at both wheels, "Front and Rear Disc Brakes" on both stores and "twin disc brakes" in ridstar.com's text, and neither store says whether they are mechanical or hydraulic. Neither listing tells you a rotor size, a brake maker or whether the levers cut the motor.

The fork and the front disc, cropped from ridstar.net's lead photograph. The front hub is small; the motor, by Ridstar's parts store, is in the rear one.

Ridstar's parts store sells a DC26 brake for each wheel on its brake-set listing, $90.00 for the left front and $90.00 for the right rear, and the listing names no brake type either. On a 70 lb bike printed at up to 37 mph, ask which brake ships before you order.

Lighting is "LCD, and LED light" in ridstar.net's text and "LED taillights and headlights" in ridstar.com's, which adds "Rear-mounted LED taillights" that are "extra bright". Both lead photographs show a round headlight in a cage, and neither store gives you a lumen figure.

The cockpit, cropped from ridstar.net's lead photograph.

The display is a "SMART LCD METER" to ridstar.net, whose "waterproof LCD interface provides information on battery power, speed mode, and accumulated mileage", and "a huge screen display" with "5 speed modes" to ridstar.com. No Ridstar page says whether it reads in miles or kilometers, or whether you can switch it.

Frame, suspension, tires, gears and what comes in the box

The DC26 rides on a suspension fork and a rear shock, "Front and Rear, Dual Shock Absorber" in both stores' spec rows, over 26 × 4.0 tires on a 6061 aluminum frame. The same tables list "Suspension Type Front" a few rows down, and Ridstar gives you no travel for either end.

The folding latch and the rear shock, cropped from ridstar.net's lead photograph.

ridstar.net's text calls the fork "a lockable front suspension fork" and promises "front/rear shock absorbers"; ridstar.com's describes "a shock absorber and double front fork shock absorbers". Both lead photographs show the rear shock under the saddle, and the spec rows add "Seatpost Suspension No".

The gearing is a triple front ring and a seven-speed rear, "Front Derailleur Shamano 3-Speed + Rear Derailleur Shamano 7-Speed(3*7=21)" (sic), while the motor bullet on ridstar.net says "Shimano 21-speed shifting system" and, in its next sentence, "The 7-speed system offers customizable speed options". Ridstar does not tell you the derailleur model.

The rear of the bike from its left side, cropped from ridstar.com's lead photograph. Neither store prints a load rating for the rack.

Two notes sit above ridstar.net's price: "Note: Front tires must be securely installed, Self-modification may posesafety risks." (sic) and the controller warning. On delivery day, hold the bike to that first note: if you cannot be sure the front wheel is mounted right, a bike shop can check it before your first ride.

In the box, by ridstar.com's spec block: "Electric Bike, Manual, Charger, Tool Kit". ridstar.net's text says the bike comes "90% pre-assembled", where both spec blocks read "Assembly Required No", and asks you to "keep the original packaging for some time".

The Mercer fit test

The Mercers are the seven-person cast we hold every bike against, and each of them takes a turn on the DC26 below.

Each row sets one member against three things: the 5'7" to 6'7" window both Ridstar stores print, the pedaling saddle the 109% formula gives a body that tall, and what the class section found, applied to that rider. Ridstar prints no seat height and no standover for the DC26, so no row can say how many riders of a height reach the floor.

Each row is an archetype, the median ANSUR II body at that member's height, so look for the height closest to yours and read along its row.

We give each character the age and height shown here, and the Mercers' own page introduces the family. Saddle heights are 109% of the median ANSUR II inseam at each height, measured from the pedal axle, as the fit section works them.

Jack, at 6'1", sits well inside Ridstar's window; Maya, at 5'6", sits an inch under it, and on a frame with no published seat height that inch is the question to settle before you pay. Frank and Dana are inside too, Dana on the window's lowest inch, and Ruth is two inches short of it.

If you stand under 5'7", as Ruth and Maya do, the folding bike we would send you to is Samebike's RS-A02 Plus: on the seat post Samebike draws, our RS-A02 Plus review puts the saddle at the formula's height for 94 of every 100 riders at 5'6".

For Cole, 16, and Ivy, 12, no. Ridstar puts its own age line in a notice on the ridstar.net DC26 page, and it sits at 18: "E-Bikes Are Not for Sale to Persons Under the Age of 18. Underage riders MUST be accompanied by parents or adults when riding." ridstar.com's Technical Details give the age range as "Adult".

The same ridstar.net listing carries a five-star review that opens "Bought 2 of these for our kids". Whatever a family decides, no state's e-bike definition takes in a bike at Ridstar's 28 and 37 mph, so a teenager on the DC26 would be riding whatever class of vehicle the state makes of it.

Parents can turn to our kids and teens guide, which pairs each age with bikes we sell and sets each state's age rules beside them.

Is the Ridstar DC26 UL certified?

Nothing on either DC26 listing claims UL: on October 25, 2026, the text, specification tables, Technical Details and structured data of both its listings were silent on UL, on any UL standard and on certificates. If a seller says the bike is certified, get the name of the certificate holder and the file number in writing, and check both before you pay.

The standard is UL 2849, "the Standard for Electrical Systems for eBikes" in UL Solutions' words, and a certificate to it covers the electrical drive train, the battery and the charger as one combination, so it speaks for all three examined together. You can fairly put the same written request to any seller, us included.

Three PDFs sit under "Our Qualifications" in ridstar.net's DC26 footer, labeled "US trademark", "CE trademark" and "European trademark"; ridstar.com's DC26 listing links none. The two trademark files register the Ridstar name to "Huizhoushi Xingqishi Sports Goods Co., Ltd.": US Reg. No. 6,936,242, dated December 27, 2022, and EU No 018609888, registered March 16, 2022.

The "CE trademark" link opens a test report to EN 15194:2017, number ATS240329142LR, issued April 2, 2024 for a "Cargo electric bicycle" under the model reference "FM-002, CDDA20", with its "Trade Mark" line marked "N/A" and a "Maximum power measurement" of "250W". None of the three files names the DC26, and none was issued by UL.

The difference between the two standards is drawn by UL Solutions itself: "EN 15194 does not cover the safety of electrical systems utilizing battery packs in the same manner that UL 2849 covers this subject."

Has the Ridstar DC26 been recalled?

No. On October 25, 2026, the CPSC's recall database held no record from Ridstar and none naming the DC26, whether written DC26, DC-26 or DC 26. Only Q20 models appear in the Commission's two Ridstar stop-use warnings, the fire warning naming the Q20 and Q20 Pro and the front-wheel warning the Q20 and Q20 Lite.

The database ran to 10,058 records that day, the newest dated October 22, 2026, and none named Ridstar, its maker Xingqishi, HK Ridstar or YVY. None of them appeared either among the 40 items the recall feed carried from September 24 through October 22, and of the 379 rows on the Commission's warning list, only the two Ridstar warnings mention the brand.

Nothing in either warning sets out a remedy, whether refund, repair or replacement. The June release tells owners of the warned Q20 and Q20 Lite what to do with them: "CPSC urges consumers to stop using the e-bikes immediately and dispose of them." On the day you order any Ridstar, search the recall database for its name again.

The maker's record

Two CPSC stop-use warnings, a UK border rejection and two lawsuits make up Ridstar's public record, and none of them names the DC26; it reaches this bike through Ridstar's parts catalog, where 22 of the 23 listings that sell a DC26 option also sell Q20 parts. What follows quotes each regulator, court and owner directly, so the weighing is yours.

The two releases, read on the Commission's site on October 25, 2026.

Huizhou Xingqishi Sporting Goods Co., Ltd., of China, is the maker in both releases, and each says how the company responded. The company "has refused to agree to an acceptable recall", the March fire warning says. Its reply, printed in the same release, was "The company objects to this press release".

By June the company had "been unresponsive to CPSC's requests for information about these products or a recall", according to the crash warning.

The DC26's parts are sold beside the Q20's. ridstar.net's catalog feed held 85 listings on October 25, 2026; 23 of them sell a DC26 option, and 22 of those also sell an option for the Q20, Q20 Lite or Q20 Pro. Two of them bear on the warnings: the spare pack, which the battery section prices beside the Q20's, and the front axle.

The axle comes on two listings, "Ridstar Front axle with bolts（Active axis）" and "Ridstar Front axle with bolts（Through shaft）", and each sells a "US / DC26" option and a "US / Q20" option at $35.00. No Ridstar page says whether the DC26's axle and the Q20's are the same part.

A Q20 front wheel that "can detach without warning" is the subject of the crash warning. The Oregon complaint, set out below, alleges that the Q20's front tire "is held on exclusively by" an open-dropout fork and "a shaft, shim, lock washer, tab washer, and a nut".

Whichever seller you buy a DC26 from, ask them to state in writing the front axle and fastening hardware it ships with, and follow ridstar.net's own note, "Front tires must be securely installed", which the frame section quotes in full.

The model number on your purchase receipt is where the March release sends you to find out whether your Ridstar is one of the warned models. Its sellers were "Amazon.com, Ridstar.net, and Walmart.com", and the June release adds AliExpress.us; redtailebikes.com is on neither list.

Britain's Office for Product Safety and Standards took up Ridstar's Q20-Plus, Q20-Mini and E26 Pro e-bikes and their chargers in report 2506-0011 of June 19, 2025, which describes them as "presenting a serious fire risk". It faults the chargers for "poor quality soldering" and a transformer that "does not meet the minimum requirements for creepage and clearance distances".

The report warns that "If the product was left plugged in overnight, the charger and plug could overheat, causing a fire", and its corrective action reads "The import has been rejected at the border." The DC26 is not among the products it names.

Two lawsuits, both about a front wheel

In the Florida complaint a Ridstar's front wheel "detached", and in the Oregon one the front tire "became removed from the bike"; each suit is against the retailer that sold that bike. The Oregon case, Cunanan v. Amazon.com Services LLC, No. 3:26-cv-00692, is about a "Ridstar Q20", and its docket shows nothing newer than a stipulated protective order entered on July 8, 2026.

L.E. v. Walmart Inc., case 9:26-cv-81045, was brought in the Southern District of Florida for a minor. The complaint gives no model name; the bike appears only as a Walmart listing title, "Ridstar Electric Bike, Peak 1500W30MPH,48V", followed by "15.6Ah Electric Bicycle, Full Suspension Mountain Bike UL2849", whose 1500W is the DC26's rated figure while its 30 mph and 15.6Ah match none of Ridstar's DC26 figures.

The Florida docket last moved on October 23, 2026, with an "Order on Motion to Dismiss", after a scheduling report on October 21 and, on October 22, an order sending the case to a magistrate judge and to mediation. The free copy of the docket does not show what the order on the motion to dismiss says, so what it decided is not on that public record.

Ridstar is not a party to either suit, both of which are brought against retailers, and the complaints' claims are still allegations.

What the DC26's owners wrote

In the structured data on ridstar.net's DC26 listing, the rating count is "8" and three reviews are printed, all five stars. Daniel Savage writes "I'm thrilled with my electric bicycle! It's smooth, fast, and easy to ride." Dora writes "Bought 2 of these for our kids", adding that "My husband was impressed when he put them together."

Justin Pawlowski writes "I've had this bike for 3 years now. I bought it on Amazon", and says that "a customer service with ridestar was absolutely amazing" (sic). On ridstar.com's listing, one review from Valerie Lardin reads "Wonderful ebike" and "It is a pleasure to ride and easy to build".

Each is one owner's account, quoted as written; none gives you a weight, a speed or a distance that the range section could check.

Who would you be buying from?

ridstar.net's company page gives the "Name of Business" as "HK RIDSTAR TRADE LIMITED", at an address in Hung Hom, Hong Kong. Its DC26 listing describes Ridstar as "Established in New Jersey and proudly serving the US since 2008", and both stores' Technical Details give the brand as "Bopzin", with ridstar.com adding "Manufacturer Ridstar".

The paperwork adds two more names. The US and EU trademarks belong to "Huizhoushi Xingqishi Sports Goods Co., Ltd.", and the EN 15194 report lists "Huizhou Xingqishi Sporting Goods Co.,Ltd" as both applicant and manufacturer, the company the CPSC names as the warned Q20s' maker.

YVY's catalog feed held 48 listings on October 25, 2026; ten of them name the DC26, every one a part, and none is a DC26 bike. Both our YVY profile and our Ridstar profile trace the ties between the two brands.

Which Ridstar store would you be buying from?

The official statement Ridstar posts on ridstar.net names one store as its own and the rest as dealers: "Except ridstar.net, other similar websites are our dealers". After-sales service, it goes on, is for ridstar.net's own buyers, and anyone who bought elsewhere is told "we will not provide any after-sales service to customers who purchase ridstar products from other places".

ridstar.com's DC26 listing draws the same line from the other side: "The Ridstar Warranty Policy is only available to customers ordering from ridstar.com." Each store, in other words, supports you only if you ordered from it.

A third site trading under the Ridstar name, ridssttaar.it.com, listed a "Ridstar DC26 2000W Folding Fat Tire Mountain Electric Bike" in stock at $479.70 on October 25, 2026, $169.30 under ridstar.net's sold-out US price, and all five of its photographs carry the file names of ridstar.net's five DC26 photographs. It also listed the spare battery at $137.70.

If you are about to pay a Ridstar-named site, first have it put in writing who honors the warranty and who services the bike after the sale, then compare that answer with ridstar.net's statement.

You will find Ridstar's warranty terms in four versions. The banner on ridstar.net reads "One year warranty on all products". Its warranty page covers a part that "proves defective because of hardware malfunction under regular use and maintenance", which "Ridstar dealers or Ridstar authorized partners will repair or replace, at no charge".

ridstar.net's DC26 listing adds "a 2-year warranty on the motor, battery, and charger" under a "ONE-YEAR WARRANTY" heading, and ridstar.com's lists a "1-Year Warranty" in its Technical Details and a "Hassle-Free 2-Year Warranty" in its text. Find out from the seller which of these applies to your order, and compare it with our terms in Buying it from us.

Where the DC26 sits among Ridstar's bikes

The DC26's nearest relative on Ridstar's stores is the H26 Pro, another folding fat bike on 26 × 4.0 tires, and the identity section sets their listings side by side. Eighteen more Ridstar reviews are live here, every one computed from figures Ridstar publishes:

• Ridstar H26 Pro review: the in-stock folder this page sends you to first, and the question of whether its motor is 1,500 W or 2,000 W.
• Ridstar MN26 review: the 26-inch bike whose photographs the DC26's listings share, and whose one 960 Wh pack carries five range figures.
• Ridstar E26 Pro review: a fat bike with two motors, and one of the models Britain's product-safety report on Ridstar's chargers names.
• Ridstar H20 review: a folder on 20-inch wheels with five top speeds in Ridstar's text.
• Ridstar Q20 review: under both CPSC warnings, the fire one and the front-wheel one.
• Ridstar Q20 Pro review: 11 fire reports behind the March warning, with no recall.
• Ridstar Q20 Lite review: on a 720 Wh pack, and named beside the Q20 in the June warning.
• Ridstar Q16 review: 20 mph from the factory and 30 mph unlocked, on one image.
• Ridstar Q30 review: 33 mph, and no e-bike class to take it.
• Ridstar Q30 Pro review: the dual-motor model, rated 2,000 W a motor, with a second pack.
• Ridstar Q30 Lite review: three model names on one frame, and a motor printed at two ratings.
• Ridstar Q30 Luxe review: a 2,000 W motor behind a 28 A controller.
• Ridstar Q30 Luxe Lite review: 1,500 W under a 35.8-inch seat.
• Ridstar Q50 review: 1,200 Wh in one pack.
• Ridstar FM001 review: a two-rider bike held to 330 lb, the same load limit as the DC26.
• Ridstar MN20 review: a folding step-through on smaller wheels, its spare pack sold on the same battery listing as this bike's.
• Ridstar Q20 Luxe review: outside every e-bike definition at its printed top speed, on a bench-seat moto frame.
• Ridstar Q20 Luxe Lite review: one rear hub and cable-pulled disc brakes on a bench-seat fat bike.

If you are weighing other makers, our e-bike reviews set the DC26 against their bikes, and the company itself is the subject of our Ridstar profile.

1,500 W at 28 or 37 mph: outside all 49 e-bike definitions

By Ridstar's own figures the DC26 has the "fully operable pedals" a federal low-speed electric bicycle needs under 15 U.S.C. § 2085(b), whose two limits it misses: a motor "of less than 750 watts (1 h.p.)" and, on the motor alone, a top speed that "is less than 20 mph".

Its 1,500 W rating is twice the federal motor line, and the 2,000 W peak more than two and a half times it. Of its two printed top speeds, 28 mph is 8 mph over the speed line and 37 mph is 17 mph over it.

Ridstar's two DC26 listings set against the federal text, from govinfo, and the California section, from the Legislature's site, each read October 25, 2026.

Every e-bike class in California's § 312.5(a) is held to a motor that "does not exceed 750 watts of power", so the DC26 drops out of all three on power alone. On speed it would fail as well: a class 2 motor stops helping at 20 mph, and class 3 reaches 28 mph only with you pedaling and a speedometer fitted.

That stays true after January 1, 2027, when SB 1167, signed on September 30, 2026, as Chapter 846, takes effect. Its new § 312.5(c) lists "A vehicle with motor power of more than 750 watts" and "A vehicle capable of attaining a speed greater than 20 miles per hour on motor power alone" among the vehicles that are not electric bicycles, and the DC26 is both.

Until December 31, 2026, the next definition to read is § 406(a), the "motorized bicycle" or moped, with "fully operative pedals for propulsion by human power" and a motor that "produces less than 4 gross brake horsepower". The DC26's 2,000 W peak is about 2.7 horsepower, inside that limb.

On the speed limb, Ridstar's two figures land on opposite sides: § 406 wants a maximum speed "of not more than 30 miles per hour on level ground".

At ridstar.net's 28 mph the DC26 is inside it; at ridstar.com's 37 mph it is outside, and so is 31.9 mph, the flat-ground speed the range model derives from that figure for a 180 lb rider, against 25.8 mph from the 28 mph one.

From January 1, 2027, SB 1167 rewrites § 406: a moped has a motor under "4 gross brake horsepower (3,000 watts)", the same 30 mph ceiling, and "is designed for highway use", and it must "have a 17-digit vehicle identification number and a safety certification label". Neither DC26 listing mentions a vehicle identification number, federal safety standards or a certification label.

Which of Ridstar's top speeds your bike ships with decides which side of § 406's line it lands on, so get that speed from the seller in writing, then ask the California DMV which class it makes the DC26 on the day you ride. The code around both sections is on our California page.

State by state

Every state except Alaska and Kentucky writes an e-bike definition into law, and so does the District of Columbia, 49 of the 51 jurisdictions in all. Forty-four limit the motor in watts, all at 750, each in its statute's own words, from "less than" to "not more than". Four set no power figure, and Rhode Island counts in horsepower.

Run at 1,500 W or 2,000 W, and at 28 mph or 37 mph, the DC26 fits none of the 49. Even with the motor cut to 750 W, 28 mph on the throttle means it still fits none, so Ridstar's slower printed speed is enough to keep it out.

Slow it to 20 mph and a 1,500 W or 2,000 W throttle bike meets three definitions, the District's, Montana's and Oregon's, because none of the three caps the motor's power. New Jersey also writes no power figure, but its definition takes in only a motor that "provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling", which leaves a throttle bike out.

Converted, the "not more than two (2) (S.A.E.) horsepower" of Rhode Island's limit comes to about 1,491 W, nine watts under the DC26's 1,500 W rating.

You will not find a 20 mph setting, or any speed you can select, on either DC26 listing; the one instruction ridstar.net gives about the controller is "Non-professionals please do not adjust the controller circuit！！！". Unless your seller puts in writing how your bike is held to 20 mph, treat those three definitions as out of reach.

Every bike this page sends you to is rated past 750 W as well, so the same question applies to each of them. If a class is what you need, start with our 750W guide, which sets 41 bikes against one rider grid, and read your own state's definition for any bike you buy in our atlas of state e-bike laws, whose state guides quote each rule from its statute.

Snow, sand and mountain trails: who decides where it rides

ridstar.net sells the DC26 for "snow-covered streets, sandy beaches, mountain trails, and urban environments", and whether a 1,500 W bike may go on any of them is up to whoever manages that ground. A trail that lets e-bikes in by class has nothing to admit the DC26 under, since no class fits it.

California's § 21207.5(a) shuts a motorized bicycle out of "a bicycle path or trail, bikeway, bicycle lane", and out of equestrian, hiking and recreational trails, except where the path is "within or adjacent to a roadway" or the local authority or agency in charge lets it in by ordinance. SB 1167 keeps that rule from January 1, 2027, renaming the vehicle a moped.

If your DC26 is a motorized bicycle under § 406(a), that rule applies to it directly; if it is not, no e-bike rule opens a path to it either, so stay off bike paths with it unless the agency in charge says in writing that you may ride there.

The quoted words are ridstar.net's, from the DC26 listing's text. Where the agency posts its own rule, that rule wins over this table, and any watts or speed in it can be set against Ridstar's 1,500 W, 2,000 W peak and 28 to 37 mph.

36 CFR 261.2 makes "any vehicle which is self-propelled" a motor vehicle on National Forest land, with exceptions only for rail vehicles and devices designed for people with impaired mobility, so the DC26 counts as one there.

Once roads, trails and areas are designated and shown on a motor vehicle use map, 36 CFR 261.13 makes it "prohibited to possess or operate a motor vehicle" in that unit "other than in accordance with those designations". Riding against those designations is a Part 261 violation, which under 36 CFR 261.1b carries "imprisonment of not more than six months", a fine under 18 U.S.C. 3571, "or both".

National forests, national parks, Bureau of Land Management ground, wildlife refuges and Army Corps of Engineers lakes each get their own section in our public-land guide, the place to start before a federal ride.

Green flags / Red flags

What pulls buyers to the DC26 comes to eight points, and what to settle before you pay comes to eleven; each one ends at a next step, here on this page or on a bike we sell.

Green flags

• A 26 × 4.0 fat bike that folds. It runs 77.5 inches long unfolded and packs to 39 × 39 × 28.7 inches folded, a box about 42% of the unfolded one's volume, by the folding section.
• A fork and a rear shock in both lead photographs. Both stores' specification rows read "Front and Rear, Dual Shock Absorber", and the frame section shows each end.
• Room for tall riders and heavy loads. Ridstar prints a 5'7" to 6'7" rider window and "Max. Load 330 LBS", and the fit section works the saddle height in two-inch steps up to 6'4".
• 55 computed miles on the motor alone. At a steady 15 mph on flat pavement, a 180 lb rider gets 55 miles from the 20 Ah pack, or 41 with a quarter held back, by the speed tables; easy pedaling stretches the 55 to 85.
• About 17 cents a charge. Filling the 960 Wh pack from empty costs about 17 cents at 18.16 cents per kWh, the EIA's residential average for August 2026, and 1,000 miles at 15 mph on the motor alone about $3.15.
• A pack that comes out to charge. Ridstar's text calls it a "Removable battery, convenient to bring home or office to recharge" and gives "4 to 6 Hours" for a full charge.
• Twenty-one speeds for your legs. Three gears at the front times seven at the back, and with the motor off a steady 150 W of pedaling moves the bike and a 180 lb rider at about 13.2 mph on the flat, by the speed tables.
• Five stars from the ratings on Ridstar's page. ridstar.net's structured data averages "5" from a count of "8", and Daniel Savage calls it "smooth, fast, and easy to ride".

Red flags

• Sold out for US buyers on Ridstar's two stores and ours. Ours, ridstar.net's US variant and all four of ridstar.com's read sold out on October 25, 2026; the H26 Pro, which folds on 26 × 4.0 tires, is ready to order at $803.85, and to hear if the DC26 returns, email us.
• Two motor ratings. "1500W (PEAK 2000W)" in the text and "2000 Watt High Speed" in ridstar.net's specification table, and either is past every power limit a state writes; work through the class section for yours, and for bikes rated at 750 W start with our 750W guide.
• Four top speeds. 28, "28+++", 36 and 37 mph across the listings and their graphics; get the one your bike ships with in writing, because California's moped line sits at 30 mph, as the class section sets out.
• Two pack sizes. 20 Ah on ridstar.net and 23 Ah in ridstar.com's specification block; the range tables give both, and a photograph of the pack's label settles which ships.
• Suspension printed two ways. "Front and Rear, Dual Shock Absorber" sits beside "Suspension Type Front"; both lead photographs show a rear shock, so ask the seller to confirm yours has one, with the frame section open beside you.
• Disc brakes of no stated type. For hydraulic discs on a 26 × 4.0 folder, ridstar.com prints "front & rear oil Disc Brakes" for the H26 Pro, $803.85 here; without the fold, the RS-A08 II carries "180mm hydraulic brakes" on Samebike's page, at $1,299 here.
• No UL claim. The three files in ridstar.net's footer are two trademark registrations and an EN 15194 report on another machine; the UL section names the two details to ask any seller for.
• Parts listings shared with the warned Q20s. Of the 23 ridstar.net listings with a DC26 option, 22 also sell Q20 options, and the front axle is one of them; get the axle hardware named in writing, for the reasons in the record section.
• No seat height, standover or crank length. The fit section works the saddle from your own inseam, or, if you stand under 5'7", look at the RS-A02 Plus, which our review fits to 94 of every 100 riders at 5'6".
• Support only for each store's own buyers, in Ridstar's words. ridstar.net limits after-sales service to its own customers and ridstar.com its warranty to its own; Buying it from us names who deals with a fault on a bike bought here.
• Four warranty statements. One year and two years appear on the same listings, so ask the seller in writing which governs before you pay, and set the answer beside how we handle a warranty claim.

Buy it if / Buy something else if

Buy it if the DC26 comes back with a seller who will put its top speed, pack size and brakes in writing; you want a 70 lb folder on 26 × 4.0 tires with a fork, a rear shock and 960 Wh, for a rider between 5'7" and 6'7" and a load up to 330 lb; and you will ride under your state's rules for a 1,500 W machine at 28 or 37 mph.

Ride 1,000 miles a year at 15 mph on the motor alone and you would pay about $3.15 a year for electricity at the national residential rate for August 2026.

Buy something else if you want the fold and the tires now. The Ridstar H26 Pro read in stock here at $803.85 on October 25, 2026, and ridstar.com's listing prints "26inch 4.0 Chaoyang fat tires", "front & rear oil Disc Brakes" and "Max Load: 330 LBS", at $1,399.00 for its US variant the same day.

That listing prints its rider height two ways, "5.5- 6.2 Ft" in the specification block and "5'7" -6'7"" on a carousel panel, and its top speed as "37 MPH" and "28 MPH". Our H26 Pro review works out 54 miles from a charge at 15 mph on the motor alone for a 180 lb rider, and Ridstar's record applies to it as to the DC26.

Buy something else if you stand under 5'7". The Samebike RS-A02 Plus folds on 20 × 4.0 tires with an 816 Wh pack and hydraulic discs, by Samebike's page, for $1,139 here, and on the seat post Samebike draws, our review puts the saddle at the formula's height for 94 of every 100 riders at 5'6".

Buy something else if hydraulic brakes and suspension at both ends matter more than the fold. The Samebike RS-A08 II is $1,299 here, and Samebike's page prints "180mm hydraulic brakes", a "100mm double-crown front fork" and a 48V 17Ah pack; that is Samebike's $1,399 less the $100 its code N100 took off on October 30, 2026.

Buy something else if you want to leave Ridstar and keep 26-inch wheels on a frame that folds. The Samebike LO26 Plus is $949 here, with a 720 Wh pack, hydraulic disc brakes and a rear shock on Samebike's page, on tires narrower than the DC26's.

Before you buy: the checklist

Eight things to close, with the seller first and then at home, before a DC26 goes out on a public road.

1. The class your state gives it. Look the DC26 up at each of its printed speeds, 28 mph and 37 mph, in our state law atlas, and have that class's requirements in place before you first ride.
2. The top speed, in writing. Ask which of Ridstar's figures your bike ships with; in California it decides which side of the moped line the bike falls on, by the class section.
3. The pack's label. Ask for a photograph of it: 48V 20Ah is 960 Wh and 48V 23Ah is 1,104 Wh, and the range tables carry both.
4. The brakes. Ask whether the discs are mechanical or hydraulic, since neither store says.
5. The front-wheel parts. Have the seller name the front axle and its fastening hardware in writing. Before every ride, make sure the axle nuts are tight; that is what Ridstar's "Front tires must be securely installed" asks of you.
6. Your inseam against the seat. Ask for the seat post's lowest and highest settings and set them against your saddle height in the fit section.
7. The weight aboard. Ridstar's limit is 330 lb for you, your gear and anything on the rack together, and the load rows show the miles each total leaves you.
8. Delivery day. Open the carton the day it lands and unfold the frame at its latch. Ridstar says the bike comes "90% pre-assembled" and asks you to "keep the original packaging for some time", so recheck every bolt you fit and keep the box.

Buying it from us

No order can be placed on our DC26 listing, which read sold out at $746.35 on October 25, 2026. The terms below come with whichever bike you buy here in its place: the H26 Pro, the RS-A02 Plus, the RS-A08 II or the LO26 Plus. Each row quotes the policy you can hold us to.

Every row comes from one of our own pages, the terms of service, shipping policy, refund policy or contact page, or from our checkout, as each read on October 25, 2026.

If you change your mind, our refund policy needs to hear from you within 72 hours (3 days) of delivery, and the bike must still be in its unopened, factory-sealed carton. A return carries a 15% restocking fee plus return shipping, which is yours to pay, and every canceled order carries a 3% transaction fee.

You could not get a DC26 from Ridstar's own stores for US delivery either. On October 25, 2026, ridstar.net showed its US variant sold out at $649.00 beside an EU variant in stock at $1,399.00, and ridstar.com showed all four of its variants sold out, the US one at $1,449.00.

The ridstar.net column quotes its return policy, warranty page and DC26 listing as served to a US address on October 25, 2026, and the middle column is ours. Canceling a ridstar.net order costs a "5 % transaction fee" before shipment and "a 15% processing fee" after it, by the same return policy.

Frequently asked questions

Where can you buy a Ridstar DC26?

On October 25, 2026, ours and both Ridstar stores read sold out for a US buyer: ours at $746.35, ridstar.net's US variant at $649.00 beside an EU variant in stock at $1,399.00, and ridstar.com's four variants, the US one at $1,449.00.

A .it.com site listed it at $479.70, set beside Ridstar's own statement in the record section. For the fold and the tires, the H26 Pro was $803.85 here that day.

How fast does the Ridstar DC26 go?

Ridstar prints four figures: "Max Speed 28+++ mph" on ridstar.net, "28 MPH" on ridstar.com's carousel, "Max Speed 37 mph" in ridstar.com's specification block and "36MPH" on a motor graphic.

Read 37 mph as the unloaded motor's speed and our model has a 180 lb rider settle at 31.9 mph on the flat; read 28 mph that way and it is 25.8 mph. At any of them the DC26 is outside every US e-bike definition, by the class section.

Is 28 mph fast for an e-bike?

It is as fast as California's quickest class goes: a class 3 e-bike "ceases to provide assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of 28 miles per hour", and only while you pedal, under § 312.5. The DC26 can also ride on the motor alone, which no class there allows past 20 mph.

At 28 mph on the flat, on the motor alone, the model's 180 lb rider spends 42.6 Wh a mile, so the 20 Ah pack lasts 23 miles.

Is the Ridstar DC26 a 2,000 W or a 1,500 W e-bike?

Both, in Ridstar's own words. ridstar.net's text gives "a 1500W (PEAK 2000W) brushless motor", which makes 1,500 W the rating and 2,000 W the peak, while its specification table and both store titles print 2000W and ridstar.com's specification block reads "1500 Watt High Speed". The range model runs on 1,500 W and checks 2,000 W: at 15 mph on the motor alone, the two give 55 and 54 miles.

How far does the DC26's 48V 20Ah battery last?

On flat pavement with a 180 lb rider and the motor alone, the model gives 77 miles at 10 mph, 55 at 15 and 39 at 20; plan on 41 at 15 mph with a quarter of the charge kept back. Easy pedaling at 75 W stretches the 15 mph figure to 85 miles. Ridstar prints "55 miles in pure electric mode, 75 miles in pedal assist mode", and the range section finds the speed each one fits.

What battery does the Ridstar DC26 use?

One removable 48V pack: 20Ah, 960 Wh, by ridstar.net and ridstar.com's carousel, or 23Ah, 1,104 Wh, by ridstar.com's specification block.

If you need a replacement, it sells on Ridstar's "Q20/DC26/H20" battery listing at $429.00 as "US / DC26", beside $399.00 for the Q20's, and the listing calls the DC26's an "imported Lithium Battery". Get the fit confirmed in writing before you buy a spare, for the reasons in the record section.

What charger does the Ridstar DC26 use?

Ridstar's charger listing sold a "US / DC26" option at $69.00 on October 25, 2026, and its text gives amp ratings only for the Q20 Lite and Q20 chargers, "(2A)" and "(3A)". Ridstar gives "4 to 6 Hours" for a full charge of the DC26's pack. Ask the seller for the charger's output rating, and do not leave it plugged in overnight, the risk Britain's report on Ridstar chargers names in the record section.

Can you replace the motor on a Ridstar DC26?

Ridstar's parts store sells it two ways for the DC26: the motor alone at $209.00 and a rear hub with the motor inside at $379.00, both as "US / DC26" options on October 25, 2026. Each listing asks you to send the motor code, printed on the motor, to support@ridstar.net before you buy. Both listings sell Q20 options too, so get the part matched to your code in writing.

Is there a Ridstar DC26 Pro?

Not as a listing. On October 25, 2026, neither ridstar.net's 85 listings nor ridstar.com's 56 included a DC26 Pro, Plus, Max or Lite; the one DC26 bike on each store is the folding model this page reviews. If you want a Ridstar folder on the same tires, the nearest is the H26 Pro, whose August listing on ridstar.net carried almost the same text, as the identity section shows.

How much does the Ridstar DC26 weigh?

70 lb, the one figure both stores print: "E-bike Weight 70 LBS" on ridstar.net and "Item Weight 70 Pounds" on ridstar.com. Folding does not lighten it, so the 39 × 39 × 28.7-inch package you lift into a trunk still weighs the full 70 lb. With Ridstar's "Max. Load 330 LBS" aboard, bike and load together come to 400 lb; the load rows run from 100 lb of rider and cargo up to that 330 lb.

How small does the Ridstar DC26 fold?

To 39 × 39 × 28.7 inches, by ridstar.net's text, from 77.5 × 28.7 × 47.2 inches unfolded, at a latch in the main tube just ahead of the seat post.

The fold halves the length, from 77.5 inches to 39, and leaves a block about 39 inches tall, about 42% of the unfolded box's volume. ridstar.com prints no folded size, and neither listing gives folding steps or a time; the folding section has both shapes.

How high does the Ridstar DC26's seat need to go?

Ridstar prints a 5'7" to 6'7" rider window for the DC26 and no seat height, so the figure comes from the 109% saddle formula in the fit section. A median 5'10" rider, with a 33.8-inch inseam, needs the saddle top 36.8 inches above the pedal axle; a median 6'2" rider, with a 36.0-inch inseam, needs 39.3 inches.

The tables stop at 6'4", the tallest height with at least 30 bodies in the Army's ANSUR II survey. Above that, take 109% of your own inseam, measured from the pedal axle.

Is a 2,000 W e-bike legal?

Not as an e-bike anywhere a definition sets a power limit. Forty-four states draw the motor line at 750 watts, in wordings from "less than" to "not more than", and 2,000 W is past it under each. Rhode Island's two horsepower comes to about 1,491 W.

At 20 mph, a 2,000 W throttle bike fits only DC, Montana and Oregon, which set no power figure; at the DC26's 28 or 37 mph it fits none of the 49 US definitions. Your state then decides which other vehicle class it is, by the class section.

Is a 1,500 W e-bike legal in California?

Not as an e-bike: § 312.5(a) caps every class at a motor that "does not exceed 750 watts of power", and from January 1, 2027, SB 1167 adds that a vehicle "with motor power of more than 750 watts" is not one. Until then, at 28 mph the DC26 meets the speed and power limbs of § 406(a)'s moped definition, and at 37 mph it fits neither definition.

Are Ridstar batteries safe?

The CPSC's March 2026 warning says the Q20 and Q20 Pro's "batteries and wires can ignite", citing 11 fire reports, and that the company "has refused to agree to an acceptable recall". Neither warning names the DC26, whose spare pack Ridstar sells on the same listing as the Q20's at a different price, and no DC26 listing names UL.

Do not leave it charging overnight, the risk Britain's report on Ridstar chargers names, and read the record section first.

Is Ridstar a legit brand?

It is a registered name with a company behind it: US Reg. No. 6,936,242 registers Ridstar to "Huizhoushi Xingqishi Sports Goods Co., Ltd.", and ridstar.net names "HK RIDSTAR TRADE LIMITED" of Hong Kong as its business. Its record also holds two 2026 CPSC stop-use warnings on Q20 models, a UK border rejection and two lawsuits against retailers over front wheels; the record section quotes each.

Can the Ridstar DC26 go off road?

Ridstar's ridstar.net listing sells it for "snow-covered streets, sandy beaches, mountain trails, and urban environments", on 26 × 4.0 tires with a fork and a rear shock.

Each trail's land manager decides whether you may ride it there: in a National Forest it is a motor vehicle under 36 CFR 261.2, held to the routes the Ranger District maps, and where trails admit e-bikes by class it has no class. The trails section covers each surface.

How do you assemble the Ridstar DC26?

ridstar.net says the bike comes "90% pre-assembled", where both specification blocks read "Assembly Required No", and ridstar.com lists "Electric Bike, Manual, Charger, Tool Kit" in the box. Ask the seller to send the manual before delivery so you can read it first. Ridstar's own note, "Front tires must be securely installed", is the step to take most seriously, for the reasons in the record section.

Is the Ridstar DC26 good for kids?

Ridstar does not sell it for them: ridstar.net's DC26 listing reads "E-Bikes Are Not for Sale to Persons Under the Age of 18", and ridstar.com's gives its age range as "Adult".

At its printed 1,500 W and 28 or 37 mph it fits no US e-bike definition, so a child on it would ride under whatever vehicle class their state gives it. For a rider that young, look in our kids and teens guide for a bike we sell that fits the child's age.

What is the best folding e-bike?

That turns on your height, your load and how small it must fold, and our folding e-bike guide sorts folders by the space you have and the ride you need.

On 26 × 4.0 tires, the H26 Pro folds and read in stock here at $803.85 on October 25, 2026; under 5'7", the RS-A02 Plus folds on 20 × 4.0 tires for $1,139; and for 26-inch wheels from another maker, the LO26 Plus folds for $949.

Limitations of this review

The published record runs out in twenty-two places, listed by number, and each item says what is left for you to check.

1. Where Ridstar's figures compete, every one of them is on this page. Motor "1500W (PEAK 2000W)" and "2000 Watt"; top speed 28, "28+++", 36 and 37 mph; pack 20 Ah and 23 Ah; suspension front and rear, and front only; warranty one year and two; assembly "90% pre-assembled" and "Assembly Required No".
2. Which brakes ship is not stated. Both stores print disc brakes front and rear and neither says mechanical or hydraulic; the parts store's brake listing names no type either.
3. The model's top speed is ridstar.com's 37 mph, used as the speed the motor reaches unloaded; the 28 mph reading would cap a 180 lb rider at 25.8 mph on the flat, and the rows above that speed describe a bike Ridstar may not ship that way.
4. The continuous rating is the text's 1,500 W. The model checks 750 W, 2,000 W and 82% efficiency, and at 15 mph on the motor alone the four cases give 54 to 61 miles.
5. No controller limit is printed, and a controller that limits the pack's current would slow the steepest climbs below the model's speeds.
6. No torque figure is on either DC26 listing. A motor graphic shared with the MN26 prints "85NM"; the model uses the comparable motor's 90 N·m ceiling.
7. The motor curve is borrowed from a comparable, Bafang's RM G0H0, rescaled to 48 V and 1,500 W, and its no-load speed is taken from the printed 37 mph.
8. The wheel's size is nominal: 30.01 inches, the 559 mm bead seat of a 26-inch fat rim with the 4.0-inch tire counted twice, because Ridstar prints no outer diameter; it sets only the torque a climb needs.
9. No tire is named, so the model rolls on the median of ten drum-measured fat tires, with the best and worst of the ten as brackets, and on pavement only; it does not model snow, sand or trail.
10. One cell type, LG's HG2, carries the cold figures, since Ridstar gives no cell format or cell maker for the DC26's "lithium batteries".
11. Nothing published checks the model against a real DC26 ride, since none of the four owner reviews gives a rider weight, a speed and a distance together.
12. Ridstar prints no seat height, standover, crank length, reach or grip position, so the fit section can give only the formula's saddle height for your height; standover, lean and hand load stay uncomputed.
13. ANSUR II measured soldiers, 6,068 of them, who are not the general public, and a height with fewer than 30 bodies gets no row, which leaves out 6'5", 6'6" and 6'7", the top three inches of Ridstar's window.
14. Saddle formulas are averages. At 5'8" the formulas from 106% to 110.4% of inseam disagree by 1.4 inches of saddle height, and the heel check on your own leg tells you where in that span you belong.
15. Ridstar's pages hold no document that links the DC26 to UL certification. The files in ridstar.net's footer are two trademark registrations and an EN 15194 report on another machine, and ridstar.com's DC26 listing links none.
16. Shared listings are not shared parts. Ridstar does not say whether the DC26 option and the Q20 option on a single parts listing are the same part. The DC26 itself is named in no warning, report or suit.
17. The H26 Pro comparison is of listings. ridstar.net's H26 Pro page answered 404 on October 25, 2026, so the text comparison rests on our copy of August 26, 2026, which shares almost all its words with the DC26's listing; the H26 Pro's figures here are ridstar.com's live ones.
18. All the owner record holds is four written reviews and a rating count of 8, quoted as the owners wrote them, with no score made from them.
19. The dealer record is partial. On October 25, 2026, ridstar.eu and ridstar-ebike.com listed no DC26, ridstar.uk could not be read, and the .it.com shop was read once.
20. Reddit's search for "ridstar dc26" could not be read on October 25, 2026, after the site refused the request; eight other searches, from "ridstar dc 26" to "folding fat tire", read cleanly and returned no post naming the DC26.
21. All the state results come from a single rule table, 51 rows with a linked statute in each; the federal and California wording on this page was read again on October 25, 2026, and SB 1167's from its chaptered text.
22. The cost figures use one national average, the EIA's 18.16 cents per kWh for August 2026, before the charger's own losses; your utility's rate moves them.

The bottom line

Buy the DC26 if it comes back with a seller who will put its top speed, pack size and brakes in writing, and a 70 lb folder on 26 × 4.0 tires with a fork, a rear shock, 960 Wh, a 330 lb load and a 5'7" to 6'7" window is what you want.

The model's 180 lb rider, holding 15 mph on level pavement with the motor doing the work, gets 55 miles from one charge. Before you pay anyone, get the front-axle hardware named in writing and read the maker's record.

Ours and both Ridstar stores read sold out for a US buyer on October 25, 2026. The nearest bike you could order here that day was the H26 Pro at $803.85; under 5'7", the RS-A02 Plus at $1,139; for hydraulic discs and full suspension without the fold, the RS-A08 II at $1,299; and for 26-inch wheels on a folder from another maker, the LO26 Plus at $949.

Photographs: past the cover, the nine images are Ridstar's own DC26 photographs, the lead from ridstar.net and the lead from ridstar.com shown whole and scaled evenly, and seven details cropped from them at their own size; none is retouched.

Cover: the bike is Ridstar's own studio photograph, the first image on its ridstar.net DC26 listing, scaled evenly and otherwise untouched, with the small folded-bike picture in its corner left out. The charcoal studio was generated with Nano Banana Pro on Playcut for an earlier cover and reused as it was; the floor shadows under the tires were added, softened from the shadow in Ridstar's photograph, and the type and badge are ours.

Source register

Every source behind this page, with its tier, the claim it supports and the date it was read.

Expiry conditions

This review is due a fresh pass when the DC26 is back in stock here or at either Ridstar store; when ridstar.net or ridstar.com changes the DC26's stock, prices or figures; when the CPSC recalls a Ridstar or YVY bike, or issues or amends a warning; and when the October 23 order in L.E. v. Walmart can be read or either suit reaches a judgment.

It is due again on January 1, 2027, when California's SB 1167 takes effect; when our own prices, stock, listing text or store policies change; when 15 U.S.C. § 2085, California Vehicle Code §§ 312.5, 406 or 21207.5, or any state's e-bike definition changes; and when Ridstar or Samebike publish new figures for the H26 Pro, the RS-A02 Plus, the RS-A08 II or the LO26 Plus.

References

The documents this review rests on, each with its publisher, the exact place cited, the day it was read and a link.

1. Ridstar (ridstar.net), Ridstar DC26 2000W Folding Fat Tire Mountain Electric Bike — ridstar.net product page. Ridstar.net's 'Ridstar® DC26 2000W Folding Fat Tire Mountain Electric Bike' listing on October 25, 2026: US $649.00 (compare-at $1,599.00) sold out, EU $1,399.00 in stock; text 'a 1500W (PEAK 2000W) brushless motor', '28+++ mph', '48V/20AH (Waterproof & Removable & With Phone Charge Port)', '55 miles in pure electric mode, 75 miles in pedal assist mode', '4 to 6 Hours', 'Max. Slope 30°', 'Pure Electric, Pedal Assist, and Pedal Modes', '5 Electric Speed Levels', 'Front Derailleur Shamano 3-Speed + Rear Derailleur Shamano 7-Speed(3*7=21)' (sic), 'Front and Rear Disc Brakes', 'Front and Rear, Dual Shock Absorber' beside 'Suspension Type Front', 'a lockable front suspension fork', 'puncture-proof fat tires', 'snow-covered streets, sandy beaches, mountain trails, and urban environments', folded 39*39*28.7 in, 'E-bike Weight 70 LBS', 'Max. Load 330 LBS', 'Riders Height 5'7" -6'7" ft', 'Brand Bopzin', '90% pre-assembled', 'ONE-YEAR WARRANTY' over 'a 2-year warranty on the motor, battery, and charger', 'Established in New Jersey and proudly serving the US since 2008', the notes 'Front tires must be securely installed' and 'Non-professionals please do not adjust the controller circuit', the under-18 notice, 'FREE RETURNS 30 DAYS', free shipping to 'the lower 48 states'; structured data rating '5' from '8' and three reviews; the footer's three 'Our Qualifications' PDFs; five photographs. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/products/ridstar-dc26-2000w-folding-fat-tire-mountain-electric-bike
2. Ridstar (ridstar.com), Ridstar DC26 2000W Folding Fat Tire Mountain Electric Bike — ridstar.com product page. Ridstar.com's 'Ridstar DC26 2000W Folding Fat Tire Mountain Electric Bike' listing on October 25, 2026: all four variants sold out, US $1,449.00 against a regular $1,699.00; spec block '1500 Watt High Speed', '48V/23AH', 'Max Speed 37 mph', '1-Year Warranty', 'Manufacturer Ridstar', 'Brand Bopzin', 'Age Range (Description) Adult', 'Assembly Required No', 'Electric Bike, Manual, Charger, Tool Kit'; carousel '2000W Motor', '48V/20AH', 'Max Speed 28 MPH', 'Recommended Height 5'7" -6'7"'; text 'twin disc brakes', 'LED taillights and headlights', 'a huge screen display', 'a shock absorber and double front fork shock absorbers', 'up to 75 miles on full charge', 'Hassle-Free 2-Year Warranty', 'The Ridstar Warranty Policy is only available to customers ordering from ridstar.com', returns 'within 15 days of delivery'; one review (Valerie Lardin); six photographs, among them the motor card ('PEAK 2000W', '36MPH', '85NM', '40°') and a battery card ('48V20AH', 'Max Range' '75Miles') that also sit on the MN26's listings. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.com/products/ridstar-dc26-2000w-folding-fat-tire-mountain-electric-bike
3. Ridstar (ridstar.com), Ridstar H26 Pro Folding E-Bike — ridstar.com product page. Ridstar.com's H26 Pro listing on October 25, 2026: US variant '(48V 20Ah)' $1,399.00, in stock; spec block 'Tire: 26inch 4.0 Chaoyang fat tires', 'front & rear oil Disc Brakes', 'Net weight: 81.5 7LBS', 'Max Load: 330 LBS', 'Recommended Height: 5.5- 6.2 Ft', 'Max Speed: 37 MPH', 'Mileage: 44 miles range'; carousel '1500W', 'Max Speed 28 MPH', 'Recommended Height 5'7" -6'7"'. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.com/products/ridstar-h26-1500w-48v-23ah-folding-ebike
4. Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), Wayback Machine capture of ridstar.net's H26PRO page, September 4, 2026 (13:23 UTC). The last Wayback Machine capture of ridstar.net's H26 Pro listing, September 4, 2026; the live page answered 404 on October 25, 2026, and our August 26, 2026 copy of it shares almost all its text with the DC26's listing. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20260904132303/https://ridstar.net/products/ridstar-h26pro-2000w-folding-fat-tire-mountain-electric-bike
5. Ridstar (ridstar.com), Ridstar MN26 1500W Unfoldable Fat Tire Mountain Ebike — ridstar.com product page. Ridstar.com's MN26 listing on October 25, 2026: its gallery carries the same motor card and battery card files as the DC26's, a file named 'MN26-battery.png' among them, in a step-through frame unlike the DC26's folding one. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.com/products/ridstar-mn26-1500w-unfoldable-fat-tire-mountain-ebike
6. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC Warns Consumers to Immediately Stop Using Ridstar E-Bikes Due to Fire Hazard; Risk of Serious Injury or Death. CPSC warning 26-337, March 19, 2026: 'Ridstar Q20 and Q20 Pro e-bikes'; 'The e-bikes' batteries and wires can ignite, posing a fire hazard to consumers'; '11 reports of fire, including one burn injury, five reports of smoke inhalation, and two reports of property damage totaling over $40,000'; the manufacturer, Huizhou Xingqishi Sporting Goods Co., Ltd., of China, 'has refused to agree to an acceptable recall'; 'The company objects to this press release.'; sold on 'Amazon.com, Ridstar.net, and Walmart.com'; the model number on the purchase receipt; the DC26 is not named. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.cpsc.gov/Warnings/2026/CPSC-Warns-Consumers-to-Immediately-Stop-Using-Ridstar-E-Bikes-Due-to-Fire-Hazard-Risk-of-Serious-Injury-or-Death
7. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC Warns Consumers to Stop Using Ridstar E-Bikes Immediately Due to Crash Hazard; Risk of Serious Injury or Death. CPSC warning 26-584, June 25, 2026: 'Ridstar Q20 and Q20 Lite e-bikes'; 'The front wheel can detach without warning, posing a crash hazard to consumers'; '32 reports of the front wheel detaching, including 31 reports of injuries'; the company 'has been unresponsive to CPSC's requests for information about these products or a recall'; 'CPSC urges consumers to stop using the e-bikes immediately and dispose of them.'; sold on 'AliExpress.us, Amazon.com, Ridstar.net and Walmart.com'; the DC26 is not named. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.cpsc.gov/Warnings/2026/CPSC-Warns-Consumers-to-Stop-Using-Ridstar-E-Bikes-Immediately-Due-to-Crash-Hazard-Risk-of-Serious-Injury-or-Death
8. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Recalls & Product Safety Warnings. The CPSC recall database on October 25, 2026: 10,058 records, the newest dated October 22, 2026, none naming Ridstar, Huizhou Xingqishi, HK Ridstar, YVY or the DC26 in any spelling (DC26, DC-26, DC 26). Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls
9. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Recalls RSS feed — U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. CPSC's recalls RSS feed on October 25, 2026: 40 items, September 24 through October 22, 2026, none naming Ridstar, Huizhou Xingqishi, HK Ridstar, YVY or the DC26. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/CPSC-RSS-Feed/Recalls-RSS
10. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Product safety warning listing (CSV) — U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. CPSC's product safety warning listing on October 25, 2026: 379 rows, of which the two Ridstar warnings (26-337 and 26-584) are the only ones that mention Ridstar; no row names the DC26. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/recall-data/product_safety_warning_listing.csv
11. Office for Product Safety and Standards (UK), Product Safety Report: Ridstar E-Bikes and Chargers (2506-0011). UK Office for Product Safety and Standards report 2506-0011, published June 19, 2025: 'Ridstar E-Bikes Q20-Plus, Q20-Mini, E26 Pro and Chargers presenting a serious fire risk'; the charger's 'poor quality soldering' and a transformer that 'does not meet the minimum requirements for creepage and clearance distances'; 'If the product was left plugged in overnight, the charger and plug could overheat, causing a fire'; 'The import has been rejected at the border'; the DC26 is not named. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.gov.uk/product-safety-alerts-reports-recalls/product-safety-report-ridstar-e-bikes-and-chargers-2506-0011
12. U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon (docket via CourtListener RECAP), Cunanan v. Amazon.com Services LLC, No. 3:26-cv-00692. Cunanan v. Amazon.com Services LLC, D. Or. case 3:26-cv-00692: a product-liability suit against the retailer over a 'Ridstar Q20', whose complaint alleges the front tire 'is held on exclusively by' an open-dropout fork and 'a shaft, shim, lock washer, tab washer, and a nut', and that it 'became removed from the bike'; Ridstar is not a named party; the newest docket entry on October 25, 2026 is the stipulated protective order of July 8, 2026; allegations only. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73159439/cunanan-v-amazoncom-services-llc/
13. U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (docket via CourtListener RECAP), L.E., a minor, v. Walmart Inc., No. 9:26-cv-81045. L.E. v. Walmart Inc., S.D. Fla. case 9:26-cv-81045: a suit on behalf of a minor against the retailer over a bike the complaint identifies by a Walmart title beginning 'Ridstar Electric Bike, Peak 1500W30MPH,48V' with a '15.6Ah Electric Bicycle, Full Suspension Mountain Bike UL2849' and no model name (its 1500W is the DC26's rated figure; its 30 mph and 15.6Ah match none of Ridstar's DC26 figures); the front wheel 'detached'; a scheduling report October 21, an order referring the case to a magistrate judge and to mediation October 22, and an 'Order on Motion to Dismiss' October 23, 2026 whose text the docket's free copy does not carry; allegations only. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74691512/le-v-walmart-inc/
14. US Government Publishing Office, 15 U.S.C. § 2085 — Low-speed electric bicycles. 15 U.S.C. § 2085(b): a low-speed electric bicycle has 'fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than 750 watts (1 h.p.)', and its top speed on the motor alone 'is less than 20 mph'; the DC26's printed 1,500 W (2,000 W peak) and 28 or 37 mph miss both limits. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title15/html/USCODE-2024-title15-chap47-sec2085.htm
15. California Legislative Information, California Vehicle Code § 312.5. Cal. Veh. Code § 312.5(a): an electric bicycle has 'fully operable pedals' and a motor that 'does not exceed 750 watts of power'; classes 1 and 3 give assistance 'only when the rider is pedaling'; class 2 has 'a motor that may be used exclusively to propel the bicycle' and 'is not capable of providing assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of 20 miles per hour'; class 3 'ceases to provide assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of 28 miles per hour, and equipped with a speedometer'. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH&sectionNum=312.5.
16. California Legislative Information, California Vehicle Code § 406. Cal. Veh. Code § 406(a), in force until December 31, 2026: a 'motorized bicycle' or moped has 'fully operative pedals for propulsion by human power', 'an automatic transmission and a motor that produces less than 4 gross brake horsepower', and a maximum speed 'of not more than 30 miles per hour on level ground'; 2,000 W is about 2.7 horsepower; ridstar.net's 28 mph is under the speed line, ridstar.com's 37 mph and the model's 31.9 mph over it. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH&sectionNum=406.
17. California Legislature (leginfo), Bill Text — SB 1167, enrolled. California SB 1167, Chapter 846, Statutes of 2026 (approved by the Governor and chaptered September 30, 2026; in force January 1, 2027): SEC. 8 rewrites § 312.5, whose new (c) lists 'A vehicle with motor power of more than 750 watts' and 'A vehicle capable of attaining a speed greater than 20 miles per hour on motor power alone' among vehicles that are not electric bicycles; SEC. 10 rewrites § 406, a moped with a motor under '4 gross brake horsepower (3,000 watts)', a maximum speed 'of not more than 30 miles per hour on level ground', that 'is designed for highway use', and that must 'have a 17-digit vehicle identification number and a safety certification label'; SEC. 37 keeps § 21207.5's path rule for a 'moped'. Retrieved Oct 1, 2026. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB1167
18. California Legislative Information, California Vehicle Code § 21207.5. Cal. Veh. Code § 21207.5(a): a motorized bicycle 'shall not be operated on a bicycle path or trail, bikeway, bicycle lane', or an equestrian, hiking or recreational trail, unless it is 'within or adjacent to a roadway' or the local authority or agency with jurisdiction permits it by ordinance. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH&sectionNum=21207.5.
19. Rhode Island General Assembly, R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-1-3. R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-1-3(g): Rhode Island's electric bicycle motor is rated 'not more than two (2) (S.A.E.) horsepower', about 1,491 W, nine watts under the DC26's 1,500 W rating. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE31/31-1/31-1-3.htm
20. District of Columbia (DC Council), DC Code § 50-2201.02. D.C. Code § 50-2201.02: the District's definition limits the motor by speed and prints no watt figure, so a bike held to 20 mph fits it at 1,500 W and at 2,000 W. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/50-2201.02
21. Montana Legislature, MCA § 61-8-102. Mont. Code Ann. § 61-8-102: Montana's electric bicycle definition sets speed limbs and no power figure, so a bike held to 20 mph fits it at 1,500 W and at 2,000 W. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0610/chapter_0080/part_0010/section_0020/0610-0080-0010-0020.html
22. Oregon Legislature, ORS chapter 801 (ORS 801.258). ORS 801.258: Oregon's electric assisted bicycle definition sets speed limbs and no motor-watt limb, so a bike held to 20 mph fits it at 1,500 W and at 2,000 W. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors801.html
23. New Jersey Legislature, P.L.2025, c.285. New Jersey P.L.2025, c.285: a low-speed electric bicycle has a motor that 'provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling', so a bike with a pure electric mode falls outside it at any wattage. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://pub.njleg.gov/Bills/2024/PL25/285_.HTM
24. Forest Service, USDA (eCFR), 36 CFR § 261.13 — Motor vehicle use. 36 CFR 261.13: once a Ranger District's roads, trails and areas are designated on a motor vehicle use map, it is 'prohibited to possess or operate a motor vehicle' on its National Forest System lands 'other than in accordance with those designations'. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-36/chapter-II/subchapter-B/part-261/subpart-A/section-261.13
25. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (Office of the Federal Register, eCFR), 36 CFR 261.2 Definitions. 36 CFR 261.2: 'Motor vehicle means any vehicle which is self-propelled', other than a vehicle on rails or a wheelchair or mobility device designed solely for use by a mobility-impaired person. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-36/chapter-II/part-261/subpart-A/section-261.2
26. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (Office of the Federal Register, eCFR), 36 CFR 261.1b Penalty. 36 CFR 261.1b: violating a Part 261 prohibition is punishable by 'imprisonment of not more than six months or a fine in accordance with the applicable provisions of 18 U.S.C. 3571 or both'. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-36/chapter-II/part-261/subpart-A/section-261.1b
27. U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, 2012 Anthropometric Survey of U.S. Army Personnel (ANSUR II), public data release 2017. US Army ANSUR II survey, 6,068 bodies: the inseam bands and medians behind the saddle table, the Mercer rows and the 5'8" worked case; heights with fewer than 30 bodies (6'5", 6'6", 6'7") get no row. Retrieved Sep 25, 2026. https://www.army.mil/article/188601/for_good_measure_natick_releases_raw_data_from_army_wide_anthropometric_survey
28. Journal of Exercise Physiology Online (American Society of Exercise Physiologists), Peveler et al., Comparing methods for setting saddle height in trained cyclists, JEPonline 8(1):51-55. Peveler et al. (2005): the 109% of inseam saddle formula checked against the heel method, and LeMond's setting measured at 109.2 ± 0.9% of inseam from the pedal. Retrieved Sep 25, 2026. https://www.asep.org/asep/asep/JEPonlineFEBRUARY2005_PevelerSaddle.doc
29. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (NSCA), Ferrer-Roca V, Roig A, Galilea P, Garcia-Lopez J. Influence of saddle height on lower limb kinematics in well-trained cyclists: static vs. dynamic evaluation in bike fitting. J Strength Cond Res 26(11):3025-9; doi 10.1519/JSC.0b013e318245c09d. Ferrer-Roca et al. (2012): the 106% bottom of their recommended range and the 110.4% top of the range their equation gives, the two ends of the page's saddle band; their own knee target is 30 to 40 degrees. Retrieved Sep 25, 2026. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22190163/
30. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (NSCA), Peveler, Pounders & Bishop, Effects of saddle height on anaerobic power production in cycling, JSCR 21(4):1023-7. Peveler, Pounders and Bishop (2007): the 25 to 35 degree knee bend at the bottom of the stroke. Retrieved Sep 25, 2026. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18076230/
31. University of Colorado Boulder (MS thesis), Carahalios A. An Analysis of the Bicycle-Rider Interface Forces in Stationary Road Cycling (MS thesis, Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado). Carahalios (2015): about 15% of body weight on the stem for ten road racers riding on the hoods, a reference from another kind of bike. Retrieved Sep 25, 2026. https://scholar.colorado.edu/downloads/70795789x
32. BAFANG, BAFANG Workbook OEM 2021. Bafang OEM workbook 2021, RM G0H0: the comparable motor curve the range model rescales to 48 V and 1,500 W with ridstar.com's 37 mph as its no-load speed, its 90 N·m maximum torque, and its 80% efficiency floor at the rated point. Retrieved Sep 23, 2026. https://www.bafang-e.com/Uploaded/Labels/BAFANG%20Workbook%20OEM%202021.pdf
33. Bicycle Rolling Resistance (Jarno Bierman), Fat Bike Tires Test Results. Bicycle Rolling Resistance fat-bike tests: ten 26 x 4.00 fat tires measured on a drum, median rolling resistance 0.0105 (used), lowest 0.0070, highest 0.0126. Retrieved Sep 25, 2026. https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/fat-bike-reviews
34. Journal of Applied Biomechanics (Human Kinetics), Martin JC, Milliken DL, Cobb JE, McFadden KL, Coggan AR. Validation of a Mathematical Model for Road Cycling Power. Martin et al. (1998): the cycling-power equation and the Appendix I worked example the model reproduces (23.6 W rolling plus 22.1 W potential, 158.8 W aerodynamic); the climbing cost per 1,000 feet of rise. Retrieved Sep 23, 2026. https://collections.lib.utah.edu/dl_files/b4/8e/b48ef26086091662c561e673d7bd990d77868437.pdf
35. Journal of Sports Sciences (Taylor & Francis), Tengattini S, Bigazzi AY. Physical characteristics and resistance parameters of typical urban cyclists. Tengattini and Bigazzi (2018): drag area 0.640 m² for upright cruiser riders (the central case) and 0.603 m² for mountain-bike riders (the bracket). Retrieved Sep 23, 2026. https://civil-reactlab.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2022/11/Tengattini_2018_Physical-characteristics-and-resistance-parameters-of-typical-urban-cyclists.pdf
36. World Electric Vehicle Journal (MDPI), Arango I, Lopez C, Ceren A. Improving the Autonomy of a Mid-Drive Motor Electric Bicycle Based on System Efficiency Maps and Its Performance. Arango, Lopez and Ceren (2021): the battery-efficiency curve applied at the same C-rate, bracketed by cell data at 0.5 C. Retrieved Sep 23, 2026. https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/wevj/wevj-12-00059/article_deploy/wevj-12-00059.pdf
37. IEEE / EPE'19 ECCE Europe (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology authors), Schmitt M, Decker S, Doppelbauer M. Measuring and Characterization of a Pedal Electric Cycle (Pedelec) on a Full System Test-Bench. Schmitt, Decker and Doppelbauer (2019): a whole pedelec system bench-tested delivered 75% of its nominal capacity, the 25% planning reserve. Retrieved Sep 23, 2026. https://publikationen.bibliothek.kit.edu/1000100371/50695920
38. McMaster University (Kollmeyer et al.), Mendeley Data, LG 18650HG2 Li-ion Battery Data and Example Deep Neural Network xEV SOC Estimator Script. LG HG2 cell discharge data by temperature: the pack-energy column of the cold table and its brackets from 32 °F down, used because Ridstar names no cell format or maker for the DC26. Retrieved Sep 23, 2026. https://doi.org/10.17632/b5mj79w5w9.2
39. Bicycle Rolling Resistance (Jarno Bierman), CRR at Different Temperatures: Examining Temperature Dependence of Rolling Resistance. Bicycle Rolling Resistance temperature test: rolling resistance fell 17.6% on average across six road tires from a 20 °C to a 40 °C tire surface, about 0.88% per degree Celsius by our division. Retrieved Sep 23, 2026. https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/specials/crr-temperature-test
40. International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing (Inderscience), Rothhamel M. On rolling resistance of bicycle tyres with ambient temperature in focus. Rothhämel (2023): the linearised gradient of rolling resistance over temperature (+5 to +25 °C) divided by the paper's rolling resistance at 25 °C comes to about 0.97% per degree Celsius, by our division. Retrieved Sep 23, 2026. https://www.inderscience.com/filter.php?aid=132317
41. NOAA, NASA, US Air Force, U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976 (NOAA-S/T 76-1562; NASA TM-X-74335). U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976 (NOAA, NASA, USAF): air density by temperature. Retrieved Sep 23, 2026. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19770009539/downloads/19770009539.pdf
42. Harris Cyclery (Sheldon Brown, technical reference), Tire Sizing Systems. Sheldon Brown's tire sizing table: the 559 mm bead seat of a 26-inch fat rim, from which a 26 x 4.0 tire's nominal outer diameter is 30.01 in (559 mm plus twice 4.0 in); Ridstar prints no outer diameter for the DC26. Retrieved Sep 27, 2026. https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html
43. U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A. Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers by End-Use Sector. US EIA Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A: residential electricity averaged 18.16 cents per kWh in August 2026 (released October 23, 2026), the cost of a full 960 Wh charge (about 17 cents) and of 1,000 miles at 15 mph on the motor alone (about $3.15 at the model's 17.4 Wh per mile), charger losses extra. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_06_a
44. UL Solutions, E-Bikes Certification: Evaluating and Testing to UL 2849. UL Solutions: UL 2849, 'the Standard for Electrical Systems for eBikes', certifies 'by examining the electrical drive train, battery, and charger system combinations in e-bikes'; 'EN 15194 does not cover the safety of electrical systems utilizing battery packs in the same manner that UL 2849 covers this subject'. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.ul.com/services/e-bikes-certificationevaluating-and-testing-ul-2849
45. United States Patent and Trademark Office (copy hosted by Ridstar), US trademark registration certificate No. 6,936,242 (Ridstar), as hosted on ridstar.net. US trademark registration 6,936,242, registered December 27, 2022, owner 'Huizhoushi Xingqishi Sports Goods Co., Ltd.', Class 12 bicycles; linked as 'US trademark' under 'Our Qualifications' in the footer of ridstar.net's DC26 listing. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0696/9960/0602/files/Ridstar_12_6936242.pdf?v=1720059854
46. European Union Intellectual Property Office (copy hosted by Ridstar), EUIPO certificate of registration, EU trade mark No. 018609888 (Ridstar), as hosted on ridstar.net. EU trademark registration No 018609888, registered March 16, 2022, proprietor 'Huizhoushi Xingqishi Sports Goods Co., Ltd.', goods including bicycles; linked as 'European trademark' in the footer of ridstar.net's DC26 listing. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0696/9960/0602/files/Ridstar-12_018609888.pdf?v=1720059857
47. Shenzhen ATS Testing Technology Co., Ltd. (copy hosted by Ridstar), TEST REPORT EN 15194:2017 Cycles - Electrically power assisted cycles - EPAC Bicycles, No. ATS240329142LR, as hosted on ridstar.net. The EN 15194:2017 test report ATS240329142LR linked as 'CE trademark' in the footer of ridstar.net's DC26 listing: a 'Cargo electric bicycle', model reference 'FM-002, CDDA20', 'Trade Mark' 'N/A', 'Maximum power measurement' '250W', issued April 2, 2024; applicant and manufacturer 'Huizhou Xingqishi Sporting Goods Co.,Ltd'; it names no DC26 and is not a UL document. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0696/9960/0602/files/FM-002_ATS240329142LR_EN15194.pdf?v=1730083922
48. Ridstar (ridstar.net), Ridstar Official Statement. Ridstar.net's official statement: 'Except ridstar.net, other similar websites are our dealers.'; 'Except for customers who purchase from ridstar.net, we will not provide any after-sales service to customers who purchase ridstar products from other places.' Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/pages/ridstar-official-statement
49. Ridstar (ridstar.net), Company Address — ridstar.net. Ridstar.net's company page: 'Name of Business: HK RIDSTAR TRADE LIMITED', at an address in Hung Hom, Hong Kong. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/pages/company-address
50. Ridstar (ridstar.net), Ebike Warranty — ridstar.net page. Ridstar.net's warranty page: 'One year warranty on all products'; 'Ridstar dealers or Ridstar authorized partners will repair or replace, at no charge,' a part that 'proves defective because of hardware malfunction under regular use and maintenance'. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/pages/ebike-warranty
51. Ridstar (ridstar.net), Return & Refund Policy — ridstar.net page. Ridstar.net's return policy: returns 'within 15 days of receiving the bike', none for 'bikes over 10 miles in total mileage', 'the return shipping cost of $200 per ebike', 'up to a 15% restocking fee'; cancellation before shipment '5 % transaction fee', after shipment 'a 15% processing fee'. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/pages/return-refund-policy
52. Ridstar (ridstar.net), ridstar.net catalog feed (products.json) — ridstar.net. Ridstar.net's catalog feed on October 25, 2026: 85 products; one DC26 bike listing and no DC26 Pro, Plus, Max or Lite; 23 listings sell a DC26 option, 22 of them also an option for the Q20, Q20 Lite or Q20 Pro (the seat the exception). Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/products.json
53. Ridstar (ridstar.net), Ridstar Front axle with bolts（Active axis） — ridstar.net product page. Ridstar.net's 'Ridstar Front axle with bolts（Active axis）' listing on October 25, 2026: $35.00 for 'US / DC26' and for 'US / Q20'; the listing does not say whether the options are one part. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/products/front-hub-with-screws-set
54. Ridstar (ridstar.net), Ridstar Front axle with bolts（Through shaft） — ridstar.net product page. Ridstar.net's 'Ridstar Front axle with bolts（Through shaft）' listing on October 25, 2026: $35.00 for 'US / DC26' and for 'US / Q20'; the listing does not say whether the options are one part. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/products/ridstar-front-axle-with-nuts-and-washers-active-axis-copy
55. Ridstar (ridstar.net parts store), Ridstar Q20/DC26/H20 48V 20AH 15AH Removable Electric E-Bike Battery. Ridstar.net's 'Ridstar Q20/DC26/H20' battery listing on October 25, 2026: 'US / DC26' $429.00 (compare-at $459.00) and 'US / Q20' $399.00, both in stock; its text 'DC26 Battery:48V 20Ah imported Lithium Battery'. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/products/ridstar-q20-dc26-h20-48v-20ah-removable-electric-e-bike-battery
56. Ridstar (ridstar.net parts store), Ridstar Motor (Please provide the motor code). Ridstar.net's 'Ridstar Motor' listing on October 25, 2026: 'US / DC26' $209.00, beside Q20 options; 'To purchase a motor you need to send the motor code to support@ridstar.net. The motor code is shown on the motor and is CE marked.' Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/products/ridstar-motor
57. Ridstar (ridstar.net parts store), Ridstar Turning Handle Throttle (two keys included). Ridstar.net's throttle listing on October 25, 2026: 'US / DC26' $59.00; its text sells 'throttle handlebars for Q20, H20, DC26, MN26 and other electric bicycle models'. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/products/ridstar-turning-handle-throttle-two-keys-included
58. Ridstar (ridstar.net parts store), Ridstar Controller. Ridstar.net's 'Ridstar Controller' listing on October 25, 2026: 'US / DC26' $89.00; its text 'Do not handle the wiring of the controller privately.'; no current rating printed. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/products/ridstar-controller
59. Ridstar (ridstar.net parts store), Ridstar Charger. Ridstar.net's 'Ridstar Charger' listing on October 25, 2026: 'US / DC26' $69.00 (compare-at $79.00); its text names amp ratings only for the Q20 Lite '(2A)' and Q20 '(3A)' chargers. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/products/ridstar-charger
60. Ridstar (ridstar.net parts store), Ridstar Electric bikes brake set. Ridstar.net's 'Ridstar Electric bikes brake set' listing on October 25, 2026: 'US / Left front brake / DC26' and 'US / Right rear brake / DC26', $90.00 each; no description and no brake type named. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/products/rear-brake-set
61. YVY (yvyebike.com), YVY US catalog, products.json. YVY's catalog feed on October 25, 2026: 48 listings, ten naming the DC26 in a title or option, every one a part (inner tire, throttle, battery, motor, LCD, two brake pads, controller, charger, front wheel hub), and no DC26 bike. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://yvyebike.com/products.json
62. Samebike (maker), LO26 Plus Powerful Peak 1500W Fat Tire Foldable Electric Bike — Samebike US product page. Samebike's LO26 Plus page on October 25, 2026: $999 in Black, White, Gray and Navy, all in stock, with 'Oct. Offer $60 OFF Code: S60'; '48V 15Ah', 720Wh, 'Hydraulic disc brakes', a 40 mm rear shock, a folding frame; tire size printed '26*3.0' in the specification table and '20''*3.0''' in a feature strip. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://us.samebike.com/products/lo26-plus-powerful-peak-1500w-fat-tire-foldable-electric-bike
63. SAMEBIKE US (Guangzhou Sameway Electric Bicycle Co., Ltd.), RS-A08-II Off Road Peak 1500W Fat Tire Mountain Electric Bike — product page. Samebike's RS-A08 II page on October 25, 2026: $1,399 (compare-at $1,799) in Black and Gray, both in stock, with 'Oct. Offer $100 Off Code: S100'; '48V 17Ah', 'Large 180mm hydraulic brakes', 'an effective 100mm double-crown front fork' and a rear shock; 26 x 4.0 tires; no fold. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://us.samebike.com/products/samebike-rsa08-off-road-electric-bike
64. SAMEBIKE US, RS-A02 Plus Off Road Peak 1800W Fat Tire Foldable Electric Bike — product page. Samebike's RS-A02 Plus page on October 25, 2026: $1,199 (compare-at $1,699) in Black, White, Navy, DarkGreen and Gray, all in stock, with 'Oct. Offer $60 Off Code: S60'; '48V 17Ah', 816Wh, 'Hydraulic Disc Brake', 'Adjustable front fork+rear suspension', 20 x 4.0 tires, a folding frame. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://us.samebike.com/products/rs-a02-plus-off-road-peak-1800w-fat-tire-foldable-electric-bike
65. Redtail eBikes, Shipping policy. Our shipping policy: free shipping 'on every electric bike within the contiguous United States'; orders 'dispatched within 1–3 business days of confirmation'; tracking 'as soon as your order ships'; 'most e-bikes arrive within 5–10 business days after dispatch'; Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories, P.O. boxes and remote areas 'may incur additional charges or be excluded'. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://redtailebikes.com/policies/shipping-policy
66. Redtail eBikes, Refund policy. Our refund policy: change-of-mind returns only for items 'unopened and in factory-sealed original packaging', requested 'within 72 hours (3 days) of delivery', with 'a 15% restocking fee plus return shipping, which is the customer's responsibility'; damage reported with photos 'within 48 hours of delivery', after which 'we file the carrier claim and arrange a replacement or repair'; defective on arrival 'covered under manufacturer warranty — we coordinate repair or replacement remotely'; cancellations 'subject to a 3% transaction fee'. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://redtailebikes.com/policies/refund-policy
67. Redtail eBikes, Terms of Service. Our terms of service: the agreement is with the Florida corporation doing business as Redtail Ebikes, a retailer and not the manufacturer. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://redtailebikes.com/policies/terms-of-service
68. Redtail eBikes, Contact. Our contact page: sales@redtailebikes.com and support@redtailebikes.com; 'We typically respond to email within one business day'. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://redtailebikes.com/pages/contact
69. Playcut, Playcut. Playcut (Nano Banana Pro): the empty charcoal studio around Ridstar's photograph, generated on October 11, 2026 for an earlier review cover and reused unchanged; nothing of the bike generated. Retrieved Oct 15, 2026. https://playcut.ai
70. Ridstar (ridstar.net), Ridstar Rear hub contains motor（Please provide the motor code）— ridstar.net. Ridstar.net's 'Ridstar Rear hub contains motor（Please provide the motor code）' listing (created September 18, 2026) on October 25, 2026: 'US / DC26' $379.00 (compare-at $499.00), beside Q20 options; 'To purchase a motor you need to send the motor code to support@ridstar.net. The motor code is shown on the motor and is CE marked.' Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.net/products/ridstar-rear-hub-contains-motor
71. ridssttaar.it.com (a site trading under the Ridstar name), WooCommerce Store API product search for 'dc26' — ridssttaar.it.com. A storefront at ridssttaar.it.com: its Store API returned 'Ridstar DC26 2000W Folding Fat Tire Mountain Electric Bike' in stock on October 25, 2026 at 47970 minor units ($479.70), with all five images carrying the file names of ridstar.net's five DC26 photographs, and 'Ridstar Q20/DC26/H20 48V 20AH 15AH Removable Electric E-Bike Battery' at 13770 ($137.70). Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridssttaar.it.com/wp-json/wc/store/v1/products?search=dc26&per_page=100
72. ridstar.eu (a site trading under the Ridstar name), WooCommerce Store API product search for 'dc26' — ridstar.eu. Ridstar.eu, a Ridstar dealer by ridstar.net's statement: no DC26 in its store search on October 25, 2026 (its Q20 control found). Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar.eu/wp-json/wc/store/v1/products?search=dc26&per_page=100
73. ridstar-ebike.com (a site trading under the Ridstar name), WooCommerce Store API product search for 'dc26' — ridstar-ebike.com. Ridstar-ebike.com, a Ridstar dealer by ridstar.net's statement: no DC26 in its store search on October 25, 2026 (its Q20 control found). Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://ridstar-ebike.com/wp-json/wc/store/v1/products?search=dc26&per_page=100
74. Reddit (search RSS), Reddit search RSS for 'ridstar dc 26' — reddit.com. Reddit search on October 25, 2026: 'ridstar dc26' answered HTTP 429 (could not look); eight other searches ('ridstar dc 26', 'dc26 ebike', 'ridstar folding', '2000w folding', 'folding fat tire', 'ridstar folding ebike', 'ridstar 26 inch', 'ridstar q20') read cleanly and returned no post naming the DC26. Retrieved Oct 25, 2026. https://www.reddit.com/search.rss?q=ridstar+dc+26&sort=new&limit=100