DIY E BIKES WITH EMBN MODEL OF ELECTRIC BIKE CONVERSION KIT OPTIONS

After the shelf. Ebikes 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 brake cruiser or a BMX. 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 Ebi kit. I think you really need to take into account whether you want Throt lysis where you twist a grip or push a button or you want pedals. Also, the terrain you're riding. Is it hilly or is it flat? And whether you want that kit for commuting or play mountain biking?

Yeah, different. There's a big difference there, Chris. And also there's hardware issues to take into a cab as well. Now, can the bike you're converting? Can they actually deal with the added weight of a motor and a battery and a control? Second thing is such things as a bottom bracket with now some of these Motors are only suitable for certain width, such as 60% industry. And also think about the chain line on your bike can actually deal with, say, a hub drive or a mid drive motor and also the frame type that you're going to be used.

And now a traditional hard tail is quite easy to swap across to an ebike 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 cool mountain bikes 135 mode dropout and that back wheel should LD slot in there quite nicely. But if you're using a newer school bike, something that may have boost or Bolt or axles and it's not gonna be compatible. And lastly, are you technical minded enough to put one kit in?

That's a big one. And you can read for convert a normal mountain bike into an ebike in previous article. We're gonna have to 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 middrive kits. They spent about five £600 and they mounted them. They were really good, but they found they did actually fall down in certain technical conditions.

It wasn't what they expected it to be. And so they ended up actually going free off the shelf e bike, and they had to sell their custom bill kit. And also, like you say, Chris, don't underestimate the technical knowhow needed to put a kit together, because if you're not electrically minded, could I totally see wear? Right. So you've got the bicycle that you're going to convert using your Ebike kit. What, then, are the main types of kit on the market?

Well, first up, you've got your front hub drive kit, which obviously powers the front wheel clamped in the front Forks, propels the bike forward. Yeah, very straightforward. Then, of course, there is the mid drive Quick kit, which is centrally located on the bike and is actually powered off the cranks and bringing up the rear. You've got the rear hub drive unit, which Bolt into the rear, drop out to the bike and again propels the bike forward. Pretty simply.

Right. Christa, start off with the front hub drives. Now. It's amazing, isn't it? How many companies there are now making these kits electric bikes. We went to Europe bike in Germany earlier this year, and we counted 156 different brands making Motors from the far east, from France, from Spain, from Italy. Today we're going to be looking at a few systems from actually from Cycle Tricity, which is a small UK brand, and they make front, rear and mid drives for Ebikes.

So a great thing about the front hub drive to Steve, is that a small great for commuting. And of course, you can fit them fairly easy at your own home if you're confident mechanic. And obviously a lot of this was a throttle assist stride, but you might want to go to a pedasus system. How can you do that? Well, a lot of these kids are actually upgradable to a publicist sensor. All you need to do is just add a ring to the bottom bracket and a sensor that clips onto your tea tube. Usually. And it just detects that crank movements, meaning you get a lot more range, a lot more natural field to that, right.

And that's not that doesn't cost metric. No, it's not a lot. The upgrade you can get all sorts of things. Lcd screens, PED Lisist upgrade you name it usually is going to come in that kit. I think what you guys need to be aware of is a lot of these kits do start from maybe £150 for a front tab drive, but you've also got to get the battery on top of that. And those what are those questions? £200 up. Yeah. Upward. Usually kind of double the price of the kit, to be fair. So they range in lots of different sizes. What hours and amps and things like that. So just make sure you're getting the right size of battery. Yeah. See that kit.

But yeah, you're riht. If you're looking for a race straightforward system, you're gonna be using Fie roads or committing to work. And I think it, uh, is a great option, right. Middrive no favorites, right. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Now the advantage of a mid drive over a hub drive. Is it actually better suited for those really hilly conditions? And that's because they're operated through the cranks and the gears rather than that rear hub, which means you can get optimum cadence for the bike involved. Not forgetting you removing the weight from the wheels and transferring it into to the middle of the bike. Therefore, the suspension is going to work better. And the great of the wheels, you're not lugging these big hub Motors up the steps and down roots, things like that.

But it is a hugely complex area. The mid drive market. You're thinking about such things as the weight to power, the legality throttle of pedal assist. It's a total minefield, right? Yeah, for sure. Right. I look at some of the systems on the market. This one on screen now is from Cycle Tricity starts at £350. Really easy to fit. Our member doesn't include the battery, but it's really a good starting point moving on to something a little bit more expensive. This is now from diling, UK. It involves a Samsung unit, £771. So a little bit more expensive. But remember that's the whole kit you're getting there to get your E by going.

Yeah, good bye there for sure. And of course, these crazy high powered kits like the Suffocates we see from Lift MTB now at least start around £1000 up to £3000. Simply Bolt onto your bottom bracket, twist a throttle and you get to the top of the Hill. Yeah. But again, there's a lot involved in fitting these Motors and batteries. Like we keep saying, you need to be pretty kind of cute to be able to fit it, but it gets even more insane. Right. Monster batches like this. Now, Martin Ashton went to Whistler and he had an ego kit on there. I mean, the power, the price. You're looking at about five kilos for the motor on your bike, which is a significant weight and they're not cheap. But you €3000 for a catalog is at this point. You got to be thinking, Well, actually, should I just buy an off the shelf biker?

Definitely. That kind of price. And the speed that these bikes can go as well. We went out to Croatia recently read the Rape G Twelve, and that thing was restricted to 110 km an hour just on a hub drive motor so they can propel the bike. Yeah. Crazy speeds, crazy money is what we're down to, what you want to do with the bike at the end of the day, right, Steve? Rear hub drive motor kit. Yeah. Well, I've actually got one year from Cyclooct. This is 1000 what you need, I think.

Yeah, well, it comes in loads of different prices. They tend to start around £150, so that's going to get you the motor and all the components you're going to need to get it minus the battery. These are pretty simple to fit, push the plug and play. It so fairly simple if you're fairly mechanically minded. Loads of different options. They do tend to come and throttle only, but you can get Pelias sensors and LCD screens, lots of different options in that package.

I mean, you talking to package. This actually is the package. You've got the wheel and the motor in here. You got the cables, you go, the battery, you got speed control, you get the speed control. So it's pretty much a matter of just putting the old altogether. Acting together to the throttle and off you go. I think if you're riding 512 and not so hilly ground, it's a fantastic option, right? Because you can convert your bike, which you might have been having in the shed for exactly 20 years where you like.

And some of these kits are restricted from the factory, especially if you're in the UK can be 25 km an hour, 32 if you're in the States, in Canada. But a lot of those kits you can actually derestrict if you want it, you're legal and you've got the right place to ride. It taking a pretty powerful unit. So how that works? It actually comes as say, you can have a mix. You can have, like a 200 and 5500 Watt Me X or a 2500 Watt mix. So you simply switch on and off between the power level. It's a very simple system.

It's good crisis. 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 the obviously with a triple triangle hard tail. You can fit that onto the down tube. This bottle mounted bosses there is dead easy. So I think the key consideration is get the measurements of the batteries and the type of battery to get on the bike. But you still can fit back. Yes. Two full suspension bikes. Right. Such as the Lift MTB. It's got the thin Panasonic batteries.

You can both those on, but yeah, a key consideration. There is a type of mountains, and there are a few different mountain types, right? Yeah. You can get obviously fit that onto. Steve mentioned the water bottle bosses. If it will fit in the frame. We can get seat. Post mounted racks that the battery simply clips onto and also panniers as well. So there's lots of different options out there if you can't fit it in the front triangle of the frame, but definitely need to be super secure, because that's a heavy unit. You don't want it bouncing around.

Yeah. And finally, a lot of the higher powered middrive kits I can 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 depends on the capacity. So what you're gonna bear in mind of those is you go backpack with a battery in it, and you've also got a lead which comes down and plugs into you or I see into the bike rather make that connection.

So, yeah, lots of different options out there. But just make sure you're using the right one, the type of writing you want to do. And also that you've got the technical know how to be charging and putting those batteries together. Not easy. Okay, so we've looked at the Motors. We looked at the batteries. What about some of the other parts involved in these home build kite? Well, a few different items.

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