As a Fleet Technician for Reddy Bikeshare (a program of Shared Mobility, Inc.) I was asked to do a practical test of the Clip unit to see how/if it would work with a variety of our bikes and perhaps to consider, given the specific properties of the Clip, how it might work best in the shared bike ecosystem of the cycling world.
At SMI/Reddy we are always excited to try new technologies and processes that might further our work. In the evolution of shared cycling, E-bikes have a wider variety of people riding bikes. The Clip adds even more flexibility to that picture.
My personal expertise lies in my many years as a bike messenger who has personally evolved to E-bike solutions with the heavy cargo side of the messenger company I help run. As a Fleet Technician, I get to meet with and talk to the everyday riders who use our bikes and experience first hand either by hearing their anecdotes or watching our customers use our bikes as I travel to every corner of the city doing my job.
The Clip motor which attaches to the front wheel and front forks of bikes can be quite handy. In my test using it at my work as a Fleet Technician for Reddy Bikeshare, I used it on my personal road bike and a 3.5 model of our shared bikes and on the Tern cargo bike that I use for rebalancing and changing E-bike batteries in the field.
The Clip has a limit on what type of tire it can be used on and the kind of forks it can attach to. For instance, we could not use the Clip with our 4.5 model shared bike because the forks are bladed and too wide for the attachment mechanism to clip onto the forks.
The Clip also doesn’t work on knobby mountain bike tires. I suspect that it might be usable on a mountain bike if the tires are slick. Our 3.5 model shared bike has a thicker, yet slick tire, much like a mountain bike.
As for the Tern, since it has a 20” wheel, the geometry of the Clip cannot span far enough to engage the wheel once it has been attached to the forks.
As a longtime rider, I admit I had some reticence about putting something heavy on the wheel and attaching it to the fork. I was nervous that the jolting and jarring nature of riding on rough roads would end in the Clip unclipping and taking a nose dive in front of my front wheel. In my experience, anything that stops the front wheel suddenly can be catastrophic. The lock mechanism that pinches the mechanism’s “fingers” holding the clip tightly to the spokes held fast throughout my rides and I was impressed that even riding on rough surfaces it didn’t move in any way. It stayed snugly on the forks the entire ride.
It creates a fair amount of friction, which is a little disconcerting when you start off. Once you are moving, you are reminded of it by the constant hum of the tire rolling against the power wheel of the Clip. I am curious how much resistance it must overcome to propel the rider forward as there is ample friction on the wheel and momentum isn’t enough for the wheel to roll freely. Nonetheless, it was a fun ride and after a hard day at work, it was nice to convert my traditional pedal bike into an E-bike making my ride home a lot easier. We don’t have any hills of note in Buffalo, however we do have a very windy city. The Clip easily tackled the wind and I barely had to pedal to keep up in a group ride with younger fresher riders.
I was able to nurse the Clip along and though it said that there was a 10 mile range or so, I think I was able to use it strategically for more like 20 miles.
I am curious as to how much help it can be on a standard non-electric shared bike compared with a traditional road bike. I also wonder about the braking regeneration aspect of the Clip, it would be nice for the nerds in the crowd, if there was a little simple diagram explaining that function of the Clip.
I typically ride upwards of 20 miles per trip, so I don’t really have a chance to charge it anywhere where I’m going. For a utilitarian cyclist like myself, either while rebalancing or doing courier work, it is not much help. Standard E-Bikes and bikes with
E Wheels are more powerful, go longer and can pull bigger loads. For instance, in my courier work, I haul sometimes as much as 400 lbs in one trip. I use a mountain bike (a road bike is unsuitable for this type of work) and I just don’t think the Clip would work very long in that capacity. For lighter courier work, a full day of work can be upwards of 60 miles, as a Fleet Technician I regularly put in 30 miles a day (this isn’t counting the ride to and from work).
For regular people, commuters and recreational riders, I can see how this is totally suitable, particularly in Buffalo which is a really flat city. The only difficulty would be the weather because the weather here is very variable and we are often surprised by rain. In that case, having to ride home with the clip might be more trouble than it is worth if you can’t actually use it to get there.
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