Advice sought - Electric bike conversion kits

[bretonbikes]

Hi all,

Much against my principles I'm considering adding electric bikes to our fleet, something which has come into sharp focus after a family where the father has MS and wouldn't be able to ride otherwise. I've been looking at them and many seem expensive and pretty horrible bikes with a motor attached. So I was wondering about converting a couple of our BB Special bikes (expedition tourers 26" wheels) to do the job instead and give people a decent bike beyond the 'electric' bit. There seem to be plenty of kits available which fit a front wheel, has anyone had experience of these or are they a snare and an illusion?

[Flinders]

Be very careful of conversion kits- make sure any one you choose been successfully done on exactly the bikes you plan to use.
Mr Flinders got a kit (from a firm no longer with us, so I won't name them) and was assured by the manufacturer that it would work on his tourer. I've lost count of the hours he's had to put in trying to get it to work, making components himself, even getting my brother to help (and they are both engineers). The kit would probably have been okay on a hybrid or mountain bike, which it was clearly (in retrospect) designed for, but has been a complete pill on a standard steel touring bike. Didn't fit with the brakes, didn't fit the bars, didn't fit the levers.....

And the battery pack on the back has been just as bad- very heavy, and kept twisting the rack (which it came with) off when panniers were added. He's had to adapt almost every component (with many thanks to the wonderful people at pandabikes who have been excellent helping him sort it out in spite of it not being one of theirs) and has now just got child seat stays to try to stabilise the rack.

See the thing working on a bike like yours, and talk to the person who fitted it and make sure it was an easy conversion, before you buy anything.

[John Holiday]

I was tempted to follow the 'conversion' route when I was recently considering an e-bike, having various bikes suitable for conversion.
However, balancing cost with uncertainty of suitability/back-up etc., decided to spend just slightly more on an Emu which has good write ups & is assembled in London.
Having been riding it for five months,have no regrets on marginal extra cost.

[Manc33]

The only one I can suggest is the Clean Republic Hill Topper.

Had it... sold it again.

You need to file your fork dropouts though with that kit and since it is from the US, you can't have the 40 mile battery pack sent to you, or even the 20 mile one, you can only have a 10 mile one (since we are all terrorist suspects these days).

The only other ones I saw were dodgy looking plastic Chinese ones that were not that much cheaper.

I sold it because it only did ten miles, thats it. I thought I would get on with it but I couldn't, because when that battery runs out its like riding through treacle, it was on a light bike as well, 1200g carbon frame and 800g rear wheel.

[Greenbuilder]

Hi Bretonbikes

I've converted several bikes to electric hub motors; the best kit I have used to date is that from Electric Bike Conversions EBC in the uk. Their 250w front drive wheel kit came with all the parts, including a torque arm and an excellent battery, price last year was about £375.
I find older style hybrids and MTB with v brakes convert easiest, but I have just done a disc brake front drive for my wife.
The bottom bracket nearly always needs to be changed for a longer one to accommodate the 'pedalec' sensor disc. You can't use their brake levers with cut-out switches if you have hydraulic brakes (or drop bars) so then I tend not to fit the thumb throttle and only have pedal assist.
The 13ah battery is quite large and won't fit inside smaller diamond frames.
I find the realistic range here in hilly Cornwall about 20 miles. If you take your charger with you then you can take the battery out and charge up for 20 mins in your friendly coffee shop
I agree about using the lightest bike possible for the conversion as they are hard work uphill with no power.
Tony

[Brucey]

I think that in the short term front drive kits install easier but in the long run rear or BB drive kits are probably better. There are so many out there that I can't keep up with them but an LBS near me does a lot of them and the cheap ones do tend to break; batteries, controllers, front hub motors...

The latest kits have all kinds of fancy features, eg some now have a sensor built into the BB unit, which is kind of neat.

cheers

[SpannerGeek]

An electric bike conversion...;!! In the land of the Trotinette!?

Sacre bleu!!!

[TrevA]

Since you mainly do camping tours, how would they charge the battery on an e-bike?

[simonineaston]

I think that's a worth-while project, M'sieur BB! I'm sure you'll get business from folks who, like the fellow you referred to, are part of a group who can mostly manage a pedal-only cycle, and who might have been left out, if the e-bike option wasn't available, as well as the traditional, "manual" bikes.
I've been thinking about an e-bike for touring recently and 2 hurdles I've thought of are: the maximum range between charging - if you want to do more than 20-30 miles, the bike may need multiple batteries, and I'm worried about the drag when battery/s are empty - continuing on to the day's destination when all the juice has gone might be a struggle.

[bretonbikes]

Just a note to say thanks to everyone who's replied. I like to think I know a lot about cycle touring, but find I know absolutely zero about electric bikes. But I am now convinced and especially a solution for groups where one handicapped, unfit etc member may stop a group coming. It looks like we're going to have to take over the local campsite too (current person running wants to leave - and leave in a poor state with no-one to replace him) and my aim is to use it as a base for a major cycling centre. Not just for our Breton Bikes customers and people cycling the Nantes-Brest canal, but day-hire, electric-bikes, trikes, bikes for wheelchair users etc and do something a bit special...

Then I plan to take over the world...*

Actually it's Kate who's the 'driving' (should it be whipping?) force...

[Chat Noir]

Last year a Finnish woman stayed the night with us (Warmshowers). She was on a Giant e-bike, en route from Edinburgh to northern France. She was not a cyclist, expected the motor to take her the whole way and her bike and luggage was extremely heavy (I couldn't lift it). In fact, one of her rims had split and I took her to Cycle Heaven in York who supplied a stronger replacement wheel. Her charger or her battery stopped working as well. We went to the Giant shop in York but they knew little or nothing about her bike and said might take at least 5 working days for a new part to arrive from the continent, if they could work out which part she needed. We went to the Electric Transport Shop in York (didn’t know it existed before) and I was impressed with their approach. They thought it would be the charger, not the battery, and plugged it in to test it, suggesting we go for a coffee for 20 minutes in the bike shop opposite. On return they showed that the charger was defective and offered either a refurbished or a new replacement. Our guest bought a cheaper refurbished one. The manager was enthusiastic and friendly and told me he converts several bikes each week. I’m not yet interested but for the same reason you’re looking at conversions I might have a need in the future (I’m 60 tomorrow). I like the fact that these can enable more people to be out and about on a bike.

Seems to me if you want conversions doing, find someone who knows what they’re doing and test the products for your needs. Indeed, your company could offer really valuable proving opportunities as the products continue to develop rapidly, given the useage they would be given. Credit to you for extending the availability of cycling.

Our guest’s next night was in Doncaster, and I sent her on the Sustrans route, probably not the best for her as her battery conked out after 25 miles so they came to pick her up. But, big credit to her, she did make it to northern France (she sent us a lovely card), all on her electric bike, using the same replacement wheel and charger – that was some trip she did.

[bobc]

I quite like the idea of a "converted" ebike rather than a dedicated one.
Mostly because I am sufficiently disorganised to frequently have no charge in the battery when I want to go somewhere (or during a journey) A bike that started life as a bike is probably going to be a nicer thing to pedal under these circumstances than something designed specifically for electric power.

[simonineaston]

A bike that started life as a bike is probably going to be a nicer thing to pedal under these circumstances than something designed specifically for electric power.

I can see what you're saying, but the easiest way to retro-fit a motor would be to pop a hub motor in, and I understand they have drag when not being by powered by electricity... whether the drag is enough to make life difficult, I don't know.
M'sieur BB, consider joining the Pedelec forum (I did) as that's where the expertise is. No offence to anyone here, but I think we mostly acknowledge that we, the CTC forum lot, don't know lots about e-bikes.

[Keezx]

the easiest way to retro-fit a motor would be to pop a hub motor in, and I understand they have drag when not being by powered by electricity... whether the drag is enough to make life difficult, I don't know.

My wife has an Ebike with front hub motor and it has no more drag then a hub dynamo.

[simonineaston]

My wife has an Ebike with front hub motor and it has no more drag then a hub dynamo.

Good News!