The last electric mountain bike I tested cost $8,000. That’s a lot of dough, and a lot of working parts to troubleshoot when things go sideways, as they eventually will with any bike. Alternatively, the Clip, which markets itself as the “first plug-and-play bike-upgrade device” starts at $500 and doesn’t even need a companion app.
Designed in Brooklyn with urban commuters as its target demographic, this simple, clamshell-shaped device clamps to the front wheel of a commuter bike, instantly electrifying the ride. Even before Clip began manufacturing the device in 2021, it earned a spot on Time magazine’s Best Inventions of 2020 list. The following year, it hit Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas List. With one billion bicycles in circulation worldwide, it’s easy to see why this simple, cost-effective solution has such immense appeal.
Plug and Play
Compatible with road, commuter, and hybrid models—any bike with 26- to 28-inch wheels and no front suspension—the Clip comes in two sizes. There’s the 8.8-pound Commuter, with a 96-watt-hour battery and 450-watt motor for a four- to six-mile range, and the 9.8-pound Explorer, with a 192-WH battery and 450-watt motor for a 10- to 12-mile range.
They both work the same simple way, and you don’t need any tools. Just press a button at the top of the device, which opens the Clip’s clamshell. Align the Clip, like an open clam, over the front wheel of your bike, and it attaches to the fork blade via a rubberized groove. Two small red arms also extend out around the fork. When you lock it closed, the arms fit tightly around each fork blade. At the top of the wheel, a plastic roller is always in contact with the rubber tire.
Once the Clip is secure in its three positions, the bike is ready to roll and can be electrified whenever the rider chooses to engage via a friction drive. A friction drive differs from a traditional motor in that the front wheel’s power is activated by surface friction rather than the teeth of the cogs in a motor. (Because of this need for friction, it’s essential to keep the front tire inflated to 85 PSI at all times.)
,
The motor and battery are activated via a small, simple Bluetooth-enabled remote control strapped on to the handlebars. Press the red button on the remote and a ride-assist algorithm on the Clip will deliver the necessary torque to the bike based on your current speed. On power assist, the bike goes up to 15 mph, about half the speed of full-powered ebikes, underlining the fact that the purpose of the Clip is to add needed juice on difficult portions of a short daily commute, not to run along full tilt at dangerous neck-breaking speeds.
To ensure that juice doesn’t run out, there’s a bright panel of four LED lights on one side of the clamshell that allows the rider to see how much battery power is left. If four lights are illuminated, you’re good for miles; if only one light is illuminated, it’s time to get home. Just like a Prius, a regenerative braking system recharges the battery up to 50 percent while riding.
Simple? Not So Fast
In a sea of expensive, complicated ebikes, it’s a refreshingly simple concept and one that the company hopes will “democratize ebike technology,” in the words of its Brooklyn-based French cofounder Clément De Alcala. He walked me through the basics of attaching the device to my bike, a Brilliant Carmen commuter that has three speeds and a carbon belt drive, for a combined total weight of 36.8 pounds (the bike is 27 pounds, and the Explorer device is 9.8 pounds).
After the Clip clicked securely in place, I was excited to zoom off. Except there was a problem: The device didn’t work. Whether a glitch in the individual Clip, user error, or getting scrambled in shipment, the Bluetooth connection on the remote had been disengaged from the wheel device, and there was no amount of button pushing I could do to get it back.
Clip’s other cofounder, Somnath Ray, assured me it was an “isolated incident.” Still, there was no solution but to return the Clip and wait for a new one to arrive.
,
The new device arrived a few days later and worked like a charm, adding oomph to the Carmen. For college kids riding across a leafy, flat campus after a bookish day or tired commuters crossing the Brooklyn Bridge after working in Manhattan, this would be a great turbo-charged ride home.
But Duluth, Minnesota, where I live, is a slightly different beast for cyclists. It’s known for stiff, chilly headwinds and enormous, San Francisco–grade hills. I found that while the Clip did provide ample extra power on steady inclines, it wasn’t enough to easily pedal up the 11-percent grade, a mandatory climb to return to my house. I also found that on long stretches where I needed to constantly engage the Clip, which required continuously pressing the red button with my thumb while monitoring the brake with my index finger, was a literal stretch for my hand. It was noticeably uncomfortable after a few miles.
There were a few other practical issues I encountered. One of the biggest is that the device adds eight to 10 pounds of extra weight to the front wheel. While I didn’t have any crashes while testing, the Clip’s nine-plus pounds on the front wheel, which is more than one-third the weight of the Carmen, felt like an unbalanced bowling ball that could jackknife the front wheel any time it hit a pothole on Duluth’s streets.
,
Also, what to do with the Clip when it’s not in use? If I left it on the Carmen, the bike couldn’t stand upright on its kickstand without falling over, unless I leaned against a tree or a bench. I didn’t want to risk the Clip getting stolen—there’s no way to lock the device to the bike—but I also didn’t have additional space in my pack to haul around the nearly 10-pound Clip in the grocery store. I need that space (and strength!) to haul milk and produce.
To address these issues, the company is piloting a series of docking stations around cities (there’s one in Paris), where commuters can drop off a used Clip and pick up a recharged unit that’s ready to go. This will troubleshoot two things: lack of battery power for an extended commute and the need to haul the device around while going to work or running errands.
In theory, I love the potential for Clip and how it could help reduce carbon emissions and make ebikes affordable to all, especially in major cities or countries like India where there are 200 million cyclists on the road at any given moment. In practice, however, if you live in a city with unavoidable hills and entire streets full of rough, patchy pavement, the battery range, safety risks, and inconveniences currently outweigh the rewards.
