conversion kits

[madcyclist09]

I have thought of buying a Ebike but I want to keep the bike I already own which are the best ones I have looked at swytch but they only do fromt hub motor but I know they are working on a rear motor I have also looked at boost
recommendationsTIA

 

[Hilldodger]

I've converted several of my bikes to electric due to my Parkinson's and each of them has their merits. I have 3 Swytch kits (bought off ebay still in their boxes and about half the price) and found them great for shorter trips but the range isn't great and being cadence sensing means hill starts are tricky and the steering is heavy. My gravel bike has a TongSheng mid drive which is a cost effective torque sensing motor and it's been great so far with no issues, but compared to my Raleigh Motus with the Bosch mid drive, it does feel a bit lower quality. I had a Carrera mountain bike with a Bafang rear hub motor for a while and that was generally quite good - until you have a rear wheel puncture.

 

[raleighnut]

More tricky since the 2016 regulation change, we've got 2 cyclotricity front kits (250w) and they have been faultless but were fitted in 2013 and 2014 so have no sensors and are 'thumb throttle only' speed is governed by the controller 3 phase frequency being limited so the wheel will only spin to a certain RPM (3 phase 'hall effect' motor)

 

[Dogtrousers]

Swytch got a pretty damning write up from @annedonnelly on here https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/my-experience-with-swytch-bike.311237
But you don't want one of those, fortunately

 

[Hilldodger]

Swytch got a pretty damning write up from @annedonnelly on here https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/my-experience-with-swytch-bike.311237
But you don't want one of those, fortunately

The long delivery times seem to be why some people put there unboxed kits on eBay for half the money - by the time the kit arrives they've found an alternative. I do find the kit itself good at what it's designed for.

 

[ktmbiker58]

A few years ago I put a Bafang mid-drive kit on a Pashley trike that was very successful, it was 250W and fully legal, it fitted a standard BSA BB. I also fitted one to an On-One MTB frame but that took more work because the wider chainstays fouled the back of the motor assembly so I had to heat the chainstay and put a flat on it. Other than that they both worked well and was a good way of getting a bit more life out the trike and the bike!

 

[Drago]

The regs are badly written, which affects kits. I guess the kits were never anticipated then the lawmakers went to work.

Even a kit whose characteristics are in full compliance with the regs isnt technically legal - the law regards the person fitting it to the bike as the manufacturer, not the builder of the kit, and the manufacturer is responsible for compliance with regulations and, crucially, the fitting the compliance plate/decal as certification.

As a "manufacturer" you must be registered with the vehicle certification agency, or hold DVSA approved certification, in order to prove compliance with regulation 168/2013.

Clearly no individual fitting a kit at home is going to hold such certification, so cannot manufacturer a road legal EPAC.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

On top of the "legally fitting it yourself" thing

You have to be careful to get something where the motor assist cutoff CANNOT be changed
technically - if the cutoff can be changed by a computer - possibly an app on a phone - then it is not legal
even if you have it set to 15.5 mph

It would have to be a very pedantic copper to test it and find it cuts off at 15.5 mph but still prosecute it
but given some of the cases in the news at times then if you got one of them and tried to get it back
then proving it was legal might be complicated

and the sticker than "proves" it is legal - is available on the WWW - at least on mine I can say that it was put they by the manufacturer
proving it was genuine to a grumpy copper when he can find the exact same thing in 2 minutes as sticker would be a problem


Of course - the seem to be mostly testing them using a rolling road thing - and any decent person would say that if it doesn;t have a throttle and the motor cuts out at 15,5 mph then they may as well say
"Nah - we could look for something - but things like this are not the problem"


but I would doubt that even mine (Raleigh with Bosch motor) would come out totally clean if someone wanted get really grumpy

e..g how much leeway is there on the cutoff speed - it is cuts out at 15.7 mph of 16 then ........

I mean - I have not tested it on a proper machine myself and just using the speedo on the bike is certainly not accurate

 

[Hilldodger]

You have to be careful to get something where the motor assist cutoff CANNOT be changed
technically - if the cutoff can be changed by a computer - possibly an app on a phone - then it is not legal
even if you have it set to 15.5 mph

On most of the ones I have (I've not tried with my Motus) there's a setting in the menu for wheel size and you just select a smaller size.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

On most of the ones I have (I've not tried with my Motus) there's a setting in the menu for wheel size and you just select a smaller size.

Yes - actually can;t be done on my Motus - Bosch are like that

but doing so also means the speedo is wrong all the time

as is the range displayed and mileage done

same as moving the magnet from the wheel to the pedal and the detector as well to detect it

 

[Mike_P]

Maybe I was unlucky but a TongSheng mid drive packed in on me after just over a year. That was early 2020 and what I had spent on it i recovered in buying a new 2019 Giant ebike that was heavily reduced.