nasabiker

just to clear up some confusion, confirmed with Clean Republic-the fork is Aluminum. I cancelled order. I have no desire to pay so much money for a product that can be inherently dangerous unless I spend money to undo a design choice that even the seller/manufacturer does not recommend. IE... the Q&A portion of the websites explicitly says not to use aluminum forks on the 350 watt kit. I will be looking elsewhere for my Ebike needs

RockstarBruski

Hi Nasabiker thanks for your update. BTW I was at the local bike shop this morning buying a biking rain jacket today where they installed the Hill Topper 350w kit on my 2018 Specialized CT bike and where they worked on my Hill Topper foldable 350w bike. I asked the owner what he thought about the 350w kit and the aluminum forks on both bikes and he said that the forks on both bikes will be fine as they are manufactured sturdy enough for that motor. So for me I'm going to keep on riding both bikes, periodically check the aluminum forks and I feel the forks will be fine based on what the bike shop owner told me today.

2old

Main thing with fork failures is the potential ramifications. If you must roll the dice, IMO at least install one (or better, two) torque arms.

Nelson37

He'll be just fine.

I mean, never mind what almost all manufacturers recommend, what just about every experienced user in the field will say, heck, ignore experienced metallurgical engineers opinions, he got the OK from a BICYCLE SALESMAN!

nasabiker

That was my thoughts, they can sell me a bike all they want but they likely wont fix my face, or pay for my funeral expenses when I'm dead.

slomoshun

If you investigate eBike fork failures, it appears that the action occurs with hubs larger than 350w which generate a lot more torque. Dropout fractures seem to happen when the wheel repeatedly loses traction and spins, then instantly regains traction.

Manufactures will state whatever is necessary to protect themselves from idiots and tort.

Doc_Wui

It's not hard to do a rear drive. All you do is loop the chain round the rear gears. Maybe adjust the brakes whether they are rim or disc.

If the derailleur was tuned prior, and the gear count is the same, there may be no adjusting needed there.

Anyway, an hour of viewing youtube self-help videos will teach a mechanically adept person how to adjust brakes/gears.

If you cannot do the above, you shouldn't be mounting any kind of kit as you will probably leave the hub nuts loose on a steel fork and land on your face.