Clean Republic Hilltopper Electric Bike Conversion Kit | 350 Watt E-Bike Front Wheel Motor & 36 Volt Lithium Battery Included | for 20”/24”/26”/27.5”/29” inch or 700c Bicycles

I ordered the Clean Republic 350 Watt 36 Volt Hill Topper Ranger with Lithium Battery for my wife's Torker Tricycle. My wife has balance problems and she gets tired easily, so the electric bike conversion kit allows her to ride with me on extended bike rides. The installation was straight forward with almost no surprises. It took me 1 hour to install everything because I put all the wiring in split loom to make a neat installation. I found that the handlebar mounted thumb throttle wire was a little short, so I needed re-route the wiring twice before fastening the wiring to the tricycle frame using the included zip ties. If you are installing this electric bike kit on a step-through bicycle frame, you probably won't have enough thumb throttle wire to route the wiring in the most efficient way.The kit was delivered to me with the battery partially charged. I plugged in the included battery charger and it took 1.5 hours to complete the charge. While testing the trike, the first thing I noticed was the very noisy front hub motor. It made a slight grinding sound. After a 5 mile bike ride the motor was almost completely silent except for the very slight whirring made by the electric motor when accelerating.My wife is very pleased with the ability she now has to apply motor power when she is climbing a hill. The variable speed handlebar mounted thumb speed control makes it very easy to get any amount of pedal assist the rider wants. This electric bike kit easily takes a 215 pound adult (me) up to 20 MPH on a flat surface with no peddling. You really don't want to go that fast on a tricycle.We now have 15 miles of operation on the electric bike kit and so far, there has been no real problems. The only reason I didn't give the Clean Republic 350 Watt 36 Volt Hill Topper Ranger electric bike kit a 5 star review is because there is no way to monitor battery power consumption. A rider should never assume that they will 20 miles because the seller says it will. There are too many variables that have an impact on battery charge state. Clean Republic needs to include or offer a handlebar mounted battery gauge.Update 04/10/2017: I had a minor problem with the battery charging cord. I contacted the seller, Clean Republic, through Amazon. Clean Republic honored the warranty and very quickly sent me a new replacement part. Based on customer service alone, I would give them a 5 star rating.

I recently purchased this Clean Republic 350 Watt kit from Amazon.com, the seller was Clean Republic.Am not really experienced with bicycle maintenance but after some research felt confident I could figure out the installation for my first expirement with electronic bikes.The kit was shipped in two different boxes. One box contained the wheel/tire and cable set, the other box had the battery. The order was shipped as promptly as possible and all items were included.It took about 1 hour to get this installed on my Vanmoof 3. For mounting the battery I chose a front basket that is custom made for the frame I'm using. This setup is slightly different than traditional front baskets where weight is put on the fork, with a Vanmoof basket weight is distributed to the frame and supposedly holds up to 20lbs before risk of breaking. One thing I like about this is the weight of the 7lb battery is directly over the front wheel hub which seems to have an added bonus of keeping the front wheel from lifting. The result is a smooth ride that really feels balanced. At first I had a more traditional basket installed and the battery weight proved to be too heavy, the supports connecting to the forks started bending during my first ride and probably would not last.Since installing the kit about a week ago I've ridden probably 35 miles on 3 different rides and so far consider this purchase a success. I'll need to commute with it for about 7 months to recoup my "investment". If I don't need a new battery and the none of the parts break going into the next year I'll consider this purchase a success. My main use for this bike is commuting to work, 5 miles each way. The commute path has no steep hills but multiple long inclines that are about a mile long. As you might guess the 350 watt motorized wheel does a great job carrying up the hills.I do peddle also and can tell I will be building some small amount of muscle as I use this bike. It's fun using the throttle just enough to help out while still putting a strain on yourself by peddling. Of course some days you don't feel like peddling at all, or a 5 mile bike ride up and down long hills just won't fit in my schedule so this really helps out. I've also ridden it to the grocery store when I otherwise would have drive and look forward to using it more as a car replacement.The experience of riding the bike with this motor installed is fantastic, I got really excited about how well the first ride worked. For some reason the song Born To Be Wild has been stuck in my head and that about sums it up... followed by Queen's I Want to Ride My Bicycle.Safety is a big concern for me, what good is great transportation if it lands me (so to speak) in a hospital someday? I did a good deal of research on these types of electronic bicycle kits and have learned a few things in regards to safety that I think anyone who rides an ebike should be aware of, or will become aware of one way or another.*** Safety First *** 1. I've read in numerous places that a 350 watt front wheel motor will eventually damage a bicycle fork made from 6061 aluminum. With that in mind I DO NOT recommend installing this motor on a bike with aluminum forks. I've even read of 250 watt motors damaging aluminum forks. I don't truly understand the underpinnings on how torque works with these motors but am assuming 350 watts puts more pressure on the fork than 250 watts, I could be wrong. My bike comes stock with aluminum forks and I decided to purchase a chromoly steel fork and swap it out for added safety. My understanding is chromoly steel is significantly stronger than 6061 aluminum and the axle is less likely to rip through the fork and washers when stressed by torque. 2. Torque arms. When considering this purchase keep in mind that for a truly confident ride you may want to install torque arms on your fork. After some searching I found a really solid set of torque arms from a company in Canada. They are made of thick steel and actually were the perfect spacing I needed to make everything fit snug. With a steel fork and torque arms in place, I'm feeling good that this won't snap while I'm cruising over a pothole or something. 3. Be aware that the majority of people driving cars do not know what electronic bikes are or that they even exist. When a car sees you coming they may assume you are traveling the same speed as every other bicyclist they are driving near. Since an electronic bike can accelerate or move faster, drivers could miscalculate your speed and accidentally pull out in front by accident. 4. All the washers and everything screwed together need to be tight. After getting back from my first ride I did a check and was able to tighten everything a little bit more. After getting back from a second ride I was able to tighten but a little less. I checked after the third ride and everything was pretty well in place. I'll continue to check each week.The charger that comes with this kit is basic. Much like any PC laptop computers, there is a power cord that runs into a box and then a smaller wire that connects to the battery for charging. The power cord disconnects from the box, I was able to find a second one at Goodwill of the same voltage (7A 125v) to keep one at my house and one at work. That's one less cord I need to carry back and forth to work, and for only a few dollars.In an effort to keep the battery going as long as possible I charge it back to 100% immediately after every ride. My estimation is I run it down 30-20% during each ride. If the battery can be drained to only a 20% charge and then recharged up to say... 600 times then the way I'm using it should get even more charges and rides. Am hoping it will last at least into Summer 2017 before needing replacement, which would be cheaper than driving or riding the bus.I'll try to come back an update this review again in the Fall to report on how the battery life plays out. So far so good.

I'm able to commute to work as a result of this product.I've got a 15 mile commute and I've wanted to bike to work for years, but because both ends of the commute have 500+ foot climbs at 10% grades I really wasn't into the idea. I researched options and selected this to help assist me up the climbs on each end of the commute. It's been awesome.It took about a half hour hour to install the night the package arrived, if I did it again it would have only taken 5-10 minutes. Most of the time was spent pulling the handlebar grip off to install the throttle... Installation was as simple as replacing the front wheel, tightening the nuts a bit, and then zip tying the wiring harness, throttle, and battery onto the bike. Really not much work at all, and I'm not a bike person (I don't live in yellow lycra...)My first ride out with the new motor I was on the large downhill descent and the way to work and I hit a rock that I couldn't avoid and it dented the rim (amazingly didn't pop the tire) on the new motorized wheel. I contacted Clean Republic (I live in Seattle) and asked for a recommended place to repair the dent, after all, it was just rotten luck more than anything, not a product defect. Instead they were super cool and sent me a replacement overnight. That's top notch customer service in my book.As far as the product goes, it's perfect for what I wanted. I'm commuting 15 miles each way to work in a nice 50 minute bike ride along the lake. When I hit the hill climbs on each end the hill topper has me regularly passing the 'true bike people' who bike all the time.