Hello Tom,
As Paul said about his, so far we are very satisfied with ours.
We decided that as we are hovering around the 70 mark that this was possibly the time to look at some sort of hill assistance with our Thorn Raven Twin tandem. It is fitted with a Rolhoff rear hub and S&S couplings. We have done numerous cycle camping tours in the UK and Europe, two rear panniers and a YakBob trailer.
We looked at a number of kits, and finally bought a front wheel kit from Cyclezee. It was promptly delivered and I started the assembly.
First the fork dropouts had to be widened with careful use of a file and the wheel and motor fitted very snugly. I put the throttle on the stoker bars relying on my wife to feed in just the right amount of power.
Pedelec sensor required a longer bottom bracket axle to be able to fit the rotor and sensor. Because we split the tandem I had to cut all the other cables and fit connectors, the JST connectors were a bit fiddly as the crimp-ons were small but I managed and also soldered them. Extra junction boxes were required and I needed an extra length of power cable which together with the extra connectors, provided.
While waiting for the bits to arrive (some were brought from China) I did a lashup of the wires and we used the tandem for about a couple of hundred miles before everything was sorted. The pedelec facility is for use when we go to France.
There has been a lot of e-mails between us and he has been very helpful and patient with me, even mailing when he was at the factory in China. There is a photo at the end of his website gallery.
We upgraded the battery to a 14ah and added the town rack taking off the spring clip as it rattled.
The motor is rated at 250watts but can easily be adjusted for offroad use to 350watts.
We use it for HILL assistance, very rarely relying on it to power us without pedalling. The whole setup is quite heavy but we are used to loads and also never use the motor from a standing start as the torque may damage the tapered forks which have a double crown, we also fitted the torque bar.
So for us, with awareness of the limitations re. weight and frame, the kit is doing just what we want it to.
By the way we also have a Dawes Galaxy tandem for local use when we need the exercise. I hope this has not been too boring but also I hope it will encourage others to convert.
Peter (shannock)
