Useful Electric Bike Conversion Kit Option. off-the-shelf e-bikes are not cheap, that’s very true but that does not mean to say you cannot build your own using a kit. whether you’ve got a mountain bike, a road bracket cruiser, or will bean ax yep.
so today we take a look at a few different options and the pros and cons of each system. now before we dive into the different systems on the market.
Let’s have a look at some of the key considerations you guys need to be thinking about before you start building your own new bike head. I think you really need to take into account whether you want throttle assist. where you twist a grip or push a button or you want pedal assist.
What sort of terrain you’re riding is it hilly or is it flat and whether you want that kid for commuting or playing mountain bikers. you’re different there’s a big different circus and also there’s the hardware issues to take into account as well now can the bike you’re converting can then actually deal with the added weight of a motor and a battery under control the second thing is such things at the bottom bracket width.
Now some of these Electric Bike kit motors are only suitable for certain with such as 60873 and also think about, the chain line on your bike can you actually deal with say a hub drive or a mid-drive motor and also the frame type that you’re going to be used in our traditional hardtail is quite easy to swap across to an e-bike motor kit because you can fit the battery inside that front triangle quite easy but if you’ve got a full suspension frame you might struggle to fit that big bulky battery inside.
there as well and also think about the axles that your bike runs now a traditional old-school mounted bike is 135 no dropouts and that back wheel should slot in there quite nicely but if you’re using a newer school bike so that may have boost or Balter axles and it’s not going to be compatible and lastly are you technical minded enough to pull rank it and that’s a big we’re gonna take it to a shop and spend even more money in fact Chris, I think that is possibly the biggest consideration of all and has a massive impact is the bike you’re about to build is it suitable for the purpose that it’s going to be intended to be used for because if it’s not then maybe you should think of alternative now earlier this year we’ve dumped into a couple of guys they bought some mid drive kits they spent about five six hundred pounds.
I know they’d mounted them, they were really good but they found that it did actually fall down and certain technical conditions. it wasn’t what they expected it to be and so they ended up actually going for a off-the-shelf E like and you know they had to sell their custom bill kit and also like you say Chris and don’t underestimate the technical know-how needed to put a kit together. because if you’re not electrically minded go elsewhere right yeah.
So you’ve got the bicycle that you’re going to convert using your ebike kit. What are the main types of kit on the market?
well, first up you’ve got your Electric Bike kit front hub Drive catch which obviously powers the front wheel clamped in the front forks propels. the bike forward yeah very straight forwards then of course there is the mid-Drive quick coat which is centrally located on the bike and is actually powered off the cranks and bringing up the rear you got, the rear hub drive unit which bolts into
the rear dropouts of the bike and again proposed the bike forward pretty simply right Chris let’s start off with the front hub drives.
Now it’s amazing isn’t it how many companies there are now making these Kittery bikes yeah we went to Europe bike in Germany earlier this year and we counted a hundred and fifty six different brands making motors from from the Far East from France from Spain from Italy.
Today we’re gonna be looking at a few systems actually from cyclicity which is a small UK brand and they make front rear and mid drives for bikes. so it’s great things about the front hub drive motor. Steve is that small that is great for commuting and of course you can fit them fairly easily you know at your own home.
if you’re confident mechanic yeah and obviously that’s a lot of these motors was a throttle assist right but you might want to go to a pedal assist system how can you do that well a lot of these kids are actually upgradeable to a pedal assist sensor all you need to do is just add a ring to the bottom bracket and the sensor that clips onto your C tube.
Usually and it just detects our crank movements meaning you get a lot more range a lot more natural feel to that right and that’s not that doesn’t cost much right no it’s not a lot of upgrade you can get all sorts of things LCD.
Electric Bike kit Screens pedal-assist upgrade you name it he’s gonna come in that kit I think what you guys need to be aware of is a lot of these kits do start from maybe a hundred and fifty pounds for a front hub drive but you’ve also got to get the battery on topler and those what those close
from 200 pounds up yeah upwards yeah.
Usually it kind of doubles the price of the kit to be fair so they range in lots of different sizes what our hours and amps and things like that so just make sure you’re getting the right size battery. Yes that kit yeah but it’d be a you’re right.
if you’re looking for a very straightforward system you’re going to be using fire roads or commuting to work and I think this is a great option right mid drives not a favorites right for
sure yeah yeah now the advantage of a mid-Drive or Rahab drive is that actually better suited for those really hilly conditions and that’s because they are operated through the cranks and the Electric Bike kit.
gears rather than that rear hub which means you can get the optimum cadence for the bike involved yeah and not forgetting you removing the weight from the wheels and transferring it into the middle of the bike.
Therefore the suspensions are going to work better in the grip of the wheels. you’re not lugging
those big hub motors up. the steps and down roots things like that but it is a hugely complex area in the mid drive market.
You’re thinking about such things as the weight, the power, the legality, throttle or pedal assist. it’s a total minefield rider for sure right so look at some of the systems on the market this one’s
screen. now from cyclo tricity it starts at 350 pounds really easy to fit.
Remember doesn’t include the battery but it’s a really good starting point moving on to something a little bit more expensive this is now from Dillinger UK. It involves a Samsung unit 771 pounds. so a little bit more expensive but remember that’s the whole kit you get in there to get your ebike going yeah some good buys.
There for sure and of course there’s those crazy high powered kits like the clever coats we see from lift MTB now these start around thousand pounds up to 3,000 pounds yeah. I simply bolt onto your bottom bracket twist of throttle and you get to the top of the hill yeah but again you know there’s a lot involved you and fitting these motors and batteries and yeah like we keep saying you need to be pretty kind of cute to be a fitter.
But it gets even more insane right once the batches like this. Now Martin Ashton went to Whistler and he had an eager kid there. I Mean the power the price you’re looking at about 5 kilos for a for the motor on your bike which is a significant weight and they’re not cheap but she’s real size neros for a kid Louis at this point.
You’ve got to be thinking well actually, should I just buy an off-the-shelf bike ride at that kind of price and the speeds that these bikes can go as well? We went out to Croatia recently, yeah.
Read the grape g12 and that thing was restricted to a hundred and ten kilometers an hour. yes on a hub drive motor so they can propel the bike yeah.
Crazy speeds crazy money this won’t you know down to what you want to do the bike at the end of the day right Steve rear hub drive motor kit yeah. well I’ve actually got one here from psycho tricity this is a thousand watt unit I think yeah well it comes in loads of different prices they tend to start around a hundred and fifty pounds.
So that’s gonna get you the motor and all the components you’re going to need to get it – a battery that is pretty, simple to fit that push and ya plug-and-play kits so fairly simple. If you’re fairly mechanically minded loads of different options they do tend to come and throttle only but you can’t get.
Pedal assist sensors and LCD screens have lots of different options in that package I mean talk of the package this actually is the package you’ve got the the wheel and the motor in here you got the cables you got the battery you play speed controller the speed control system attributes putting all yeah there.
I have tuned it all together, twisted the throttle and off you go yeah. I think I think you know if you’re riding five trails and not so hilly ground is a fantastic option right. because you can convert your bike which you might have it in the shed for that for 20 years yeah and some of these kits are restricted from the factory especially.
If you in the UK can be 25 kilometers an hour 32 if you’re in the States and Canada but a lot of those kits you can actually do restrict. If you want to, you know you’re legal and you’ve got the right place to ride it, the oken and pretty powerful unit. So how does that work?
Actually come as I say you can have a mix you can have a like a 250 500 watt mix or a 250 thousand, what next so you? simply switch on and off between the power levels that’s a very simple system.
Use it’s good Chris let’s move on to batteries now I want to pick you up on something you said earlier about the different type of bikes you’ve got. obviously with a triple triangle hardtail you can fit that on to the down to bridges bottom mounted bosses they’re dead easy. So I think the key consideration is get the measurements of the batteries and the type of battery to get on that bike and but you still can fit batteries to full suspension bikes right such as the lift MTB.
It’s got the thin Panasonic batteries you can bolt those on but yet a key consideration is the type of mounting and a few different mountain types right yeah you can obviously fit that onto. Steve mentioned the water bottle bosses. if it will fit in the frame we get seat post mounted racks that the battery simply clips on to and also panniers as well so there’s lots of different options out there.
If you can’t fit the Electric Bike kit it in the front triangle of the frame but it definitely needs to be super secure because it’s a heavy unit you don’t want it bouncing around yeah and finally a lot of the higher-powered mid drive kits. actually, come with a battery pack which you carry around in your backpack and they can range from two or three kilos up to maybe six or seven kilos depending
on the capacity.
So are you gonna bear in mind with those if you go backpack with a battery in it and you’ve also got a lead which comes down and plugs into you or you into the bike rather yeah make that connection yeah so yeah lots of different options out there. but just make sure you’re using the right one the type of riding you want to do and also that you’ve got the technical know-how to be charging and putting those batteries together is not easy. okay so
We’ve looked at the motors, we looked at the batteries and about some of the other party involved in these home-built catalysts and a few different items. Electric Bike kit Steve in the Box you’re going to find the LCD unit. Now, this is obviously a display that mounts on your handlebars can’t be an optional extra on some kits. but this displays your speed, what power mode you’re in what speed you’re going at, and how much range you’ve got left off the batteries.
Now lots of different options on those and you think you were talking about the fan one yeah I mean the befouling when that comes with the BBS or one kit another kit really quite a detailed display on there you’ve got this 9 pound modes on that bike swaps between different outputs 250 500 thousand watt and pretty high-tech actually for you. Again for the money yeah exactly another item you got.
Finding your Electric Bike kit well you definitely will find in your kit it’s gonna be the speed control and now this regulates not only the motors speed but it is the absolute brains of the bike this regulates like when you break in and it’ll cut the power off to the motor and it literally is a brains of the bike. so
You don’t want to be without one of those big questions is how much are these kits going to cost you well we’ve actually built up a kit from cycle tricity we’ve built up a rear hub drive 250 watts obviously making it strictly. young we’ve got the speed sensor on there as well we’ve got Chris’s hardtail for what was a hundred pound.
yeah it wasn’t a lot of money’s been kicking around in the back of the shed for a while yeah but we’ve actually built up this kit and here is a shot of the bike before and here is what it looks like after you put this kit on it. I’ve been for a spin down the road and Chris hasn’t and well I’ll I’m gonna tell you something then it’s pretty cool.
I’m looking forward to riding on its bottom line on the coast. I think we might get in just under five reports. I know that is an absolute bargain for a bike like that electric Bike kit it is you know if you’re looking to ride fire roads or commute or you know maybe just make your first journey into the countryside. because this is what these bikes allow you to do, right dip your toes into ebike worldís yes.
About but then when you start going up the scale you start spending a bit more money you know like I said you can spend maybe up to three four thousand on these mid drive kids you’ve got to be asking the question, should I be buying an off-the-shelf bike now? There’s this real hub drive bite from Decathlon which comes in a standard of 99 pounds.
So if you’re not technically mechanically electrically minded that might be a good alternative. I’m sure yeah earlier this year we rode the focus Whistler let’s go right that was a good bike out of the box are the bikes Hammond of 99 pounds or maybe a mid drive bike now this is from Decathlon the rock rider 1599 euros.
Think it is it’s a great setup so if you are thinking about making your own homemade kit. I think there’s so many considerations that will bring the mind to, yeah, definitely I think budget what you want to do with the bike and how capable you are can you even build. it would you want some of the safe as maybe we can have a warranty and it’s gonna all be brand new components on that bike because why it’s not a second hand bike you put a new kit onto it also can make a difference there you go that’s our overview of homemade DIY kits, Electric Bike kit.
