He said the fella was gushing about it and kept on about how cheap it was.
Not sure he's going to get away with it for long as he lives in Bromley.
Add-on e-bike conversion kit - Swytch or eBay kit?
Re: Add-on e-bike conversion kit - Swytch or eBay kit?
Forget electric I am getting one of these. My son spoke to the owner & took the photo.
He said the fella was gushing about it and kept on about how cheap it was.
Not sure he's going to get away with it for long as he lives in Bromley.
He said the fella was gushing about it and kept on about how cheap it was.
Not sure he's going to get away with it for long as he lives in Bromley.
Re: Add-on e-bike conversion kit - Swytch or eBay kit?
Old Bill will stop and nick you if they see you, most likely points on your licence and a fine.
The bike will definitely be classed as a light moped needing number plates, insurance, tax and a proper helmet.
Above all the noise will be a give away.
The bike will definitely be classed as a light moped needing number plates, insurance, tax and a proper helmet.
Above all the noise will be a give away.
Re: Add-on e-bike conversion kit - Swytch or eBay kit?
hemo wrote:Old Bill will stop and nick you if they see you, most likely points on your licence and a fine.
The bike will definitely be classed as a light moped needing number plates, insurance, tax and a proper helmet.
Above all the noise will be a give away.
hemo Definitely. I'd be very surprised if he hasn't got nicked yet.
Re: Add-on e-bike conversion kit - Swytch or eBay kit?
I ordered my SWYTCH kit (£540) last August and am still waiting now in February with an anticipated delivery mid March. This is a long long time. There are UK based outfits out there who supply kits within days. It is obvious that this startup company is underfunded and makes to order rather than builds up stock which is fine if you are prepared to wait and wait. When it arrives, in March, this will be a lead time of eight months!
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Re: Add-on e-bike conversion kit - Swytch or eBay kit?
Swytch is operated I believe by the same people who retail as Panda Bikes UK kit bike supplier, at least two of the directors afaict are the same people. Oliver Montague is the main man behind it.
On both accounts contact can be abysmal in the fact of any replies, not enough staff and a massive bank balance going by the numbers of orders placed. I think last I saw at end of 2017 nearly 400K was raised on a crowd funding site.
On both accounts contact can be abysmal in the fact of any replies, not enough staff and a massive bank balance going by the numbers of orders placed. I think last I saw at end of 2017 nearly 400K was raised on a crowd funding site.
Re: Add-on e-bike conversion kit - Swytch or eBay kit?
Mine (Swytch 250W 50mile 700c) arrived via DPD on Tuesday (ordered in May) and immediate impressions were extremely positive.
There has obviously been a lot of thought given to the design, i.e. the controller integrated with the battery pack on a QR handlebar bag resulting in a very minimalist layout - just the bar bag, motor wheel and the crank mounted pedal sensor and cable. The packaging was also first class.
Installation was very straightforward apart from the PAS disc which wouldn't fit between the LH crank and the axle due to insufficient clearance (it needs >5mm) - I believe this is common to other e-kits. My solution (as recommended in the very throrough online installation guide) was to enlarge the central hole to 37mm to fit over the crank boss itself. I then secured it with Silastic RTV which seems to work and the disc is firmly held.
Swytch replied to my web helpdesk query about this (in 1 day) and they offer a slightly thinner (4mm) disc, but I think that would also be too wide.
I built it up on my Spa Touring as it was my heaviest bike, so the additional 5kg would seem less of a penalty. The battery bag is very quickly removable so in human only mode the penalty reduces to a couple of kg. Replacing the front wheel reduces it further to a few 100 gm though not being QR (has 17mm axle nuts) I doubt whether I will bother.
It had it's maiden outing yesterday, 23km around Exmoor with 600m or so of climbing. I used the assistance only for climbs, it is very easy to adjust the power setting as there are just 3 buttons on the top of the battery bag, + and - to cycle through the 7 level (this is adjustable somewhere in the menu structure but seemed fine to me) where 0 is Off, and the mode button to cycle through the ride data. All very easy.
There were 3-4 bars out of 5 left at the end, so range anxiety reduced here.
The motor was surprisingly quiet, certainly much quieter than I was expecting and I doubt it was louder than a hub gear, certainly not a Rohloff on it's nosiest ratio. The power delivery was very smooth and the bike seemed well balanced. On an aesthetic level, I kept my Ortlieb panniers on the rear rack and at a quick glance it looked just like another touring bike with a bar bag, the cables mostly hide behind the bar bag - just the motor gives it away!
The build quality (IMHO) is first rate, the fixtures and cables are sturdy, and mating the connectors requires a very firm push so the waterproofing is probably pretty good.
Subject to a long term reliability test, my opinion is that at £375 this was an absolute bargain, at the full RRP of £749, maybe not so much.
HTH
There has obviously been a lot of thought given to the design, i.e. the controller integrated with the battery pack on a QR handlebar bag resulting in a very minimalist layout - just the bar bag, motor wheel and the crank mounted pedal sensor and cable. The packaging was also first class.
Installation was very straightforward apart from the PAS disc which wouldn't fit between the LH crank and the axle due to insufficient clearance (it needs >5mm) - I believe this is common to other e-kits. My solution (as recommended in the very throrough online installation guide) was to enlarge the central hole to 37mm to fit over the crank boss itself. I then secured it with Silastic RTV which seems to work and the disc is firmly held.
Swytch replied to my web helpdesk query about this (in 1 day) and they offer a slightly thinner (4mm) disc, but I think that would also be too wide.
I built it up on my Spa Touring as it was my heaviest bike, so the additional 5kg would seem less of a penalty. The battery bag is very quickly removable so in human only mode the penalty reduces to a couple of kg. Replacing the front wheel reduces it further to a few 100 gm though not being QR (has 17mm axle nuts) I doubt whether I will bother.
It had it's maiden outing yesterday, 23km around Exmoor with 600m or so of climbing. I used the assistance only for climbs, it is very easy to adjust the power setting as there are just 3 buttons on the top of the battery bag, + and - to cycle through the 7 level (this is adjustable somewhere in the menu structure but seemed fine to me) where 0 is Off, and the mode button to cycle through the ride data. All very easy.
There were 3-4 bars out of 5 left at the end, so range anxiety reduced here.
The motor was surprisingly quiet, certainly much quieter than I was expecting and I doubt it was louder than a hub gear, certainly not a Rohloff on it's nosiest ratio. The power delivery was very smooth and the bike seemed well balanced. On an aesthetic level, I kept my Ortlieb panniers on the rear rack and at a quick glance it looked just like another touring bike with a bar bag, the cables mostly hide behind the bar bag - just the motor gives it away!
The build quality (IMHO) is first rate, the fixtures and cables are sturdy, and mating the connectors requires a very firm push so the waterproofing is probably pretty good.
Subject to a long term reliability test, my opinion is that at £375 this was an absolute bargain, at the full RRP of £749, maybe not so much.
HTH