Bontrager

I am looking at the 700c lithium version of the Hill Topper by clean republic.

I mainly like it because it's a front wheel design so I can 1)move it to whatever bike that I'm riding that day 2)no extra weight when I remove the front wheel and battery to throw the bike on my fork-mount rack (I know the kit is not a quick release).

I'd consider throwing it on a rebuilt rim on my 26" FS MTB for kicks, too.

Total weight of me, my bike, my laptop is probably 185 lbs (plus the weight of whatever kit I add).

Any opinions on this kit?

I ride 4 miles to work. On the way in it's all downhill and I hit 38 mph without pedaling. The ride home is _all_ uphill and sometimes in a fierce headwind. The potential ride home is sometimes bad enough to turn me off to riding to work in the first place. (No, I can't park my car in the work garage overnight in case its nice enough to ride home).

The other reason I'm considering this kit is because it's carried/warrantied by a few dealers out here in Colorado.

Sangesf

Although you know a kit is not a "quick release" kit... Just making sure you know it's not a 5 min thing...
It's more like, an hour thing, every time you want to move from one bike to another.

Bontrager

By quick-release I mean that it's not a quick-release lever on the front axle.

I think it would take me no more than 10 minutes to move it from bike to bike. The hardest part is routing the cables so they're not ugly or have the potential to get caught on something....

jethro56 

This is about the fifth post I've seen asking about these. No-one ever posts a review. Bontrager: since you have the N+1 thing down. Why don't you try it out and post a review?

Bontrager

O.K. So I ordered the lithium 700c wheel kit last night with regular shipping. Waiting to hear that it's shipped.

Bontrager

My hill topper electric bike kit came in the mail on Friday the 13th. I brought it home from work and attempted to put it on my bike, a 2009 Diamondback Insight 1 flat bar road bike/fitness bike that I use to tool around Boulder as my general utility bike.

Unboxing
The box had a hole in it on top which I would later find that it was caused by the zip-tie ripping thru the cardboard that was fished thru to help hold a portion of the wheel in place. No big deal. I was worried that something had punctured the box and damaged something.

Once open everything was held in place inside the box very well by thick zip ties. They were difficult to cut with a pair of scissors.

The rim was sanded/ground down near the hole that the valve goes thru. Worse yet, the tube valve opening is HUGE and worse off, the tube valve is a Schrader valve. I don't think I've ever seen a 700c wheel that has a Schrader valve. They're always Presta. Even on my cheap Diamondback. Hopefully I can replace it with a presta valve tube (my CO2 pump is Presta-only I think).

The battery charger is a generic, but large, charger. There are no US Governmental UL or other markings on it.

The front wheel motor contains a CE sticker on it. Incidentally there is a sticker that is removed. I wonder why. The casing of the motor itself is stylish and has some lazer etchings and things.

There was nothing damaged except for the top of one of the axle nuts that had a dent in it. No biggie - there's really no reason for the top to be there except to keep out the elements.

Installation
The wires are of a good length for the most part. Their thick black appearance makes them look like brake and shifter cables to further hide the presence of them which I like.

The axle was too thick to fit into my front aluminum forks. I took a Dremel and sanded down the paint on the inside. This did nothing. I took another round/drum type sanding tube which did nothing but heat up the aluminum as I worked on it and made me scared that I may be heat-treating something that shouldn't be. I finally took out a sanding disc which seemed to work well. I took my time sanding a tiny amount at a time until the washer-tab-like device fit almost all the way down the notch that the axle goes thru. I very carefully checked for cracks in my fork where I did the work. I only had to use the tab/washer things on the inside and I stacked the remaining 2 washers per side on the outside of the fork blades and tightened to a reasonable torque (not too tight).

I don't agree with all of the instructions I read on the internet with respect to putting electric motors on a bike where it says to put the nuts on "very tight." I have many more bikes than any man should own and have worked on cars, etc. Besides that, as a surgeon, I've put many screws inside bones using the same principles as working with wood and metal. There's a difference between "good and tight" vs. x ft-lbs vs. "as tight as you can." I think if you make bolts too tight you'll put undue stress on the threads and squeezing the crap out of the metal probably beyond it's intended amount. This kit comes with these washer/tab things that won't let the axle spin in the fork. The tabs put pressure on the fork tabs but only if the bolts are put on too loose (which would allow the axle to spin). Ideally, if you put the axle bolts on "tight enough" then nothing move or spin. There's no reason to tighten the bolts beyond "tight enough" and if you do, you'll probably create unintended stress which could lead to cracks.

The supplied rim is Alex (a name brand) but I can't find any information on the XLC S2516 rim except that REI sells a ~$45 wheel that uses this 36 hole rim. The tire is Kenda (a name brand) Cosmos unidirectional tire that sells for about $30 (but appears to have been discontinued). I have no clue whey they include a tire and tube. All bikes come with tubes and tires. If you're buying this kit you probably already have a tube and tire on your current front rim which you could easily transfer to this rim. But I digress.

The rim itself is a smaller diameter than my current 700c rim so I had to relocate the front brake pads about 1/2 centimeter downwards so that they were centered and not touching the tire. The supplied rim is also wider than my current 700c rim so I had to let out some brake cable to give proper clearance and to prevent dragging of the brake pads.

The price differential of $150 between the Lithium battery Pro Pack and Hill Topper isn't worth it - you're better off taking the Pro Pack to the bike store and having them build-up a quality wheel for you instead for the same price. Incidentally why is there a $100 price difference when you look at the SLA battery pack but there's a $150 difference with the Lithium battery pack? The only difference between these 2 kits is the battery but for some reason getting a wheel vs. motor-only (no rim or spokes) is worth $50 more if you're getting the Lithium battery. It makes no sense to me. It makes even less sense when you look at the individual parts (i.e. buying the wheel separate from a battery, charge, wire kit) and price them. It's great that you get a "discount" when you buy a complete kit but gimmie a break here.

I temporarily installed the wiring so that it was unobtrusive and installed the Li battery behind my seat. My frame is a compact/sloping top tube so the battery wouldn't fit in the triangle despite removing both water bottle cages. This was partially due to the central location of where the power plug exits the battery pack. This area isn't waterproofed.

With the motor on the front and the Li battery on the back, my bike was more-or-less balanced weight-wise. This bike goes up and down 4 flights of stairs and it was easy to transport both ways because of the front/rear balance. If this were a rear motor setup I probably wouldn't say that. Unfortunately since this is a front motor setup it's going to be a pain in the rear to remove and reinstall the front wheel when putting it on top of my car in the fork rack. But then again, there's no need to lift more weight above my head. I think my bikes still lighter than a steel cruizer bike, though.

I checked the charge on the Li battery and it showed 4 green LED's so I didn't bother topping-off the battery yet.

Maiden Voyage
I took it out for a spin and it ran fine. I went up a hill that I normally lose my breath on pedaling around 5 mph and with the Hill Topper on, it was like someone was pushing me up the hill. It's been too cold to ride so I haven't gone beyond a mile or 2. I'll post another update in time when I've put the bike/motor thru its paces.

miro13car

Did you say you installed motor on ALUMINIUM FORK**********?
IT IS BIG, BIG MISTAKE, common agreement is that you install motor ONLY ON STEEL FORKS.
Y

miro13car

whatever ebike seller web site you go there is plain and clear advice:
DO NOT INSTALL MOTOR ON ALUMINIUM FORK.,
Check dropouts of your fork immediately!!!
cmm

Sangesf

So, how long do you think it will take you to move the setup from one bike to another?

Bontrager

As long as the fork dropouts are open enough to accept the axle is say 5 minutes give or take. It also depends on how anak you are about hiding the wires, etc.

she

I know this is kind of old but I was wondering how its still running? Any problems? I was thinking about ordering. So glad you put a review here.

chvid

I think the kit should be moved to another bike as soon as possible - and left there. One with steel forks. Torque forces operating over time on an aluminum fork can lead to eventual catastrophic failure of the dropouts. At the very least, an over-engineered torque arm solution should be fitted, and this defeats the original purpose of quick switching of the kit from bike to bike. I rate this build FAIL.

miro13car

to make things worse he made aluminium dropouts weaker even more by grinding them - it is totally wrong way to install e kit. Motor shaft with flat section pushes U-shaped dropout apart with great force even on 300W motor.
If you don't believe,
Look at the bottom of this picture of alu fork after motor was installed and run , see crack - that's catastrophic failure to me for sure

miro13car

some more reading here about dangers of using aluminium fork for electric motor

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/vie...aluminium+fork

Dan Burkhart 

Amen!!
In the recent build I did, I shot this video of the fabrication of re-enforcement tabs I made as an added safety measure.
Even with tabs like this though, I would never consider putting a front hub motor on an aluminum fork.

miro13car

AMEN
But there is never enough warnings and we need to post to keep this subforum active, right?

Dan Burkhart 

Agreed.This is one that can't be stressed too much. However, given the availability and price of replacement steel forks, I would consider that if the rest of the bike is just what the op wants.
On another note, I appreciate that the op is a surgeon, and obviously very skilled an knowlegable in his field, but I think he should educate himself a bit on industrial fasteners, and not equate them with what he uses to tie bones together. I know absolutely nothing about the fasteners used for these purposes, but I'm certain they would need to be designed to resist loosening without the threads being elastically deformed.
There is very good reason for torque wrenches to exist.

miro13car

I agree,
There is less and less steel forks on the market

roadrelics

Beware of this company "CLEAN REPUBLIC"......They sold me an obsolete system for $1200 which i did not know...both battery and charger has failed after the 6th time using it.....when i called the they told me that the battery was not in use anymore as it had flaws, however their "new" battery would work fine....told me to send in my old battery and charger and they would discount me a new one....that was a lie...now they want full price and still have not returned my unit......there facebook page and forum pages are monitored very close and if a negative reply is posted, its immediately removed....furthermore they have an icon from the BBB saying they are accredited however after clicking this icon it brings you to a page that says "navigation cancelled"...so i checked with the BBB and they have had many disputes.....They have one of the worst customer service depts. i have ever seen....they do not answer phones, emails and are simply put, THE WORST....stay away!!!!!!!!!!!!!

alienbogey

I've had a Clean Republic kit for several months now and have been very happy with it. I asked them one question after purchase and got a prompt reply.

FWIW.

roadrelics

i don't think that they treat evrybody bad, and they were very nice to me also at first after paying them over a $1000....let me know when you have owned your unit for 2 years ......my unit was obsolete within 2 years and they would not fix it and the charger that went bad was also obsolete and their new one will not work with my battery.....however when i had a problem with my unit, things went bad very fast..........check the BBB link out on their facebook page, it goes to a blank page...so i contacted and filed a complaint directly with the BBB and they have had many unhappy Clean Republic customers........DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHERE I CAN GET A COMPATIBLE BATTERY CHARGER FOR MY 20 MILE LITHIUM BATTERY **********