[ralphwreed]

I'm a 70 year old retiree looking for some cardio workout while enjoying the hilly Prescott AZ countryside. I'm looking at a semi-recumbent Cruzbike with front wheel drive. Can I mount a Hill Topper kit at the rear wheel location? This would give a push instead of pull motor assist. Would that make the bike unstable? Finally, can I mount the Maxxis Detonator 100 psi 26" x 1.5" rear tire that comes with the bike on the Hill Topper rim? I think the combination would be ideal for my needs.

[Chris Clean Republic]

Hi ralphwreed,

Thanks for the question. That looks like a really nice recumbent. Which model were you looking at?

The good news, is regardless of the model, I see no reason that the Hill Topper won't work with this bike. There is enough clearance between the rear dropouts. There should be no issue with the Hill Topper "pushing" from the rear instead of the standard front wheel installation.

You should be able to mount your Maxxis tire onto our wheel, as we build the Hill Topper motor wheel with a standard 23mm rim found on most bikes.

Thanks for the questions. Happy riding.

[ralphwreed]

Thanks for your help, Chris.

I'm looking at the Cruzbike Sofrider model. Cruzbike said that officially I will void the warranty if I put an e-motor on the bike, but unofficially, it would work fine and has been done. They even gave me a contact with a bike shop that has built several Cruzbike e-bikes. Clean Republic should get together with Cruzbike to offer an e-Cruzbike package. My main worry was that the rear aluminum frame dropouts would fatigue and crack over time due to the e-motor torque, but apparently that's not likely especially with a 250 watt motor. Because I'm not fond of derailleurs and for the sake of operational simplicity, I'm also looking into the possibility of replacing the front hub, cassette and derailleur system with a NuVinci N360 continuously variable hub to create the ultimate old man cruiser. If anyone is interested, I'll update this thread with progress reports and photos. Thanks, again.

[Chris Clean Republic]

hey,

Glad I could help.

That's really interesting to hear the Cruzbike is familiar with e-bike conversions on their bicycles. It seems to me that ebikes maybe starting to really catch on.

I would love to hear about your upgrades. Please, by all means update this thread. If you can include pictures that would be great too!

Good luck and happy riding!