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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth the money -- but you need to tweek it. . ., June 29, 2008
Well, if you're browsing for one of these kits, you must be in the same boat I was in about three months ago: Sick of gas prices sucking cash out of your wallet and leaving little with which to enjoy others things like . . . food or air conditioning in your home.
I'm the only wage-earner for my family and I am fortunate enough to live within five miles of most of my destinations (work, groceries, dentist, doctor, pharmacy, etc.). I resolved to do something with my "Economic Stimulus" check other than hand it over to gasoline companies. I did the math and I can expect these kits to pay for themselves after about 14 tanks of gas I will not need to purchase (which will be about five to eight months at current fuel prices).
I purchased two of the Wilderness Energy conversion kits (a 26" for my TREK 4500 and a 24" for a Miami Sun trike that someone was going to throw away).
First off, there is a learning curve with these things. Number one, even though you're excited about the prospect cruising at 20 mph without the need to pedal -- quash that feeling immediately. If you bolt this thing on to your bike right out of the box, you will experience the feeling of bounciness you can only get with a wheel that is not trued -- meaning the spokes are so loose and out of alignment that your axle is making a nice oval shape as the wheel tries to rotate around it -- at about 120 rpms! So, immediately take the hub motor and rim to a bike shop and ask the specialist to true up your wheel. The $10 to $20 you will spend and the extra two day waiting period will make all the difference. There is such a high demand for these motors that the factory is spitting these things out as fast as they can assemble them. As a result, quality in the finished product is not a priority. I was able to move/jiggle/rattle/turn almost half of the spokes I tested. Use this time to charge your batteries and prepare your bike for conversion.
Second, it is very advisable to NOT mount these things on an aluminum fork. Torque the motor down too much (and you will need to torque it down) on the drop outs and you will definitely hear a $120 "snap". This will indicate that your Rock Shox is now good for nothing more than a doorstop or a frame for a beefy slingshot. I found a rigid, chrome-moly fork to replace the "fork that went FUBAR".
Third, if your dropouts are not wide enough to accept the axle of the motor, gently file away at the opening -- do not Dremel your way to seating the axle into the dropouts.
Once you've done all of that, you will have a vehicle that can get you from point A to point B (assuming they are within about 10 miles of each other -- 15 to 20 miles if you have six hours to wait for the battery to recharge before heading home [like work]) and it will only cost you about a nickel per trip. After I've worked the kinks out of my conversions, I must say that I am well please with the quality these kits offer when balanced with the price.
I seriously considered getting a Crystalite Sparrow -- but I decided to gamble about $400 (remember, this was three months ago) per kit and try this out. I'm glad I made this choice. The Crystalite was about 50% more than the WE kits at the time. Sure, the Crystalites boast more speed, but here in Texas, any motorized bicycle that can travel faster than 20 mph on its own must be licensed as a motor vehicle. So these kits fit my needs perfectly. Be sure to check your local and state laws regarding this -- I checked out the ones for Texas and it's OK for me to drive these e-bikes on the street provided I don't go more than 20. Which is fine by me because that's no less than half the speed limit on most of the streets of which I travel.
These motors are also strong. I found a used InStep trailer (the kind in which you can tow your kids with your bike) and stripped everything off leaving only the frame. I then made a 2ft x 4ft wagon-styled box and bolted it onto the frame using EMT connectors (the kind that holds electrical conduits to walls and ceilings)and BINGO! I now have something in which to carry about about $100 worth of groceries (including the cooler for meats & dairy). The maximum carrying capacity of the InStep trailers is 100 pounds -- more than enough of what I will buy at the grocery store.
When it's just me on the bike, I can reach speeds of up to 23.7 mph on flat concrete with no wind (I weigh 226 pounds). When I'm towing about 50 to 75 pounds (groceries or my three year old in another InStep trailer I didn't convert), I can go as fast as 15 mph on flat concrete without pedaling. If you want to increase your range or help it over a hill, you can pedal to take the strain off of the motor/batteries (but not too fast for the setting your at on the throttle -- too much and the motor will fight you to maintain the speed the throttle is set to).
Between the TREK and the trike, I've travelled almost 250 miles . . . and NOT used one drop of gasoline, which means saving about 14 gallons of gasoline or about $60. During inclement weather and when items are too heavy/large for me to tow, I, of course, will spin up the V-6 in my car. But never again for a $4.00 gallon of milk (hee hee). The last time I've had to gas up was about three weeks ago. Oh! and another added bonus: I've lost 17 pounds since I've made this conversion. Go figure!
Anyway, that's my testimonial. I apologize if I've rattled on between preaching and reviewing. But, it's not like buying a plasma television -- it's a commitment to living differently. If you're wanting to dump or seriously diminish your reliance on an internal combustion engine, it would be a wise choice to seriously consider these conversion kits from Wilderness Energy -- provided you avoid some of the inconveniences I described in this review. Crystalite may give your the quality you're expecting, but at about $700 per kit, I wanted to stretch my dollar...at least in the beginning of this odessey (smile).
Good luck and may you climb as few hills as possible (which won't be an issue once you've gone e-bike!).
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Awsome! I highly recommend it., July 19, 2009
This review is from: Wilderness Energy 26 Inch Brushless Electric Bike Conversion Kit (Misc.)
I bought this kit from a non amazon dealer. It is everything i expected. This is the third conversion kit that i have bought and am lookig forward to getting another. The current kit was fitted onto my sons bike. It does take some tweaking. The worst part was getting the hub to fit inside the fork. Be careful here as not all forks are wide enough to fit this hub. But in the end, it does 20 easy. It gets its 10 miles easy as well. I live on a steep hill and that is a charge killer, but i can make it up the hill with no peddle assist. With me helping out, its a relaxing peddle up an incline similar to standard peddling on a flat surface on a bike with no motor.
The bike is very quiet. No one knows it is electric. It is not legal in my state (MA) to ride this bike without a valid drivers license, but my son and i have been riding electric bikes for at least five years, with his current bike being a christmas gift this past christmas (12/25/08). He is currently 15 and when he was 10, we started out easy as in trailer parks and parking lots. by the time he was 13, i totally felt he was completely safe and responsible.
Thank You
Jerry C
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
This product is China junk!, May 9, 2009
This review is from: Wilderness Energy 26 Inch Brushless Electric Bike Conversion Kit (Misc.)
I purchased this product in good faith and am very disappointed with it.
It does not work and the photo of the battery is deceptive because it is twice as big! The front tire is unbalance and needs to be professionally balanced by a bike shop for $27.00 dollars. It is very heavy!
David sent a new controller to get it to work, which still does not function.I am returning this item and disputing this charge with my credit card. Save yourself from any aggravation and do not buy this product, it is junk! China still makes crappy products.
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