E-bike conversion kits are a solution that allow you to add a motor, battery and electric controls to a non-electric bike to make it into an e-bike. Chosen with care and installed correctly, the resulting e-bike lets you ride with electric assist just like a ‘regular’ e-bike. With the range of readymade e-bike designs larger than ever, kits have some competition from off-the-peg, ready to pedal e-bikes. However, they still offer positive advantages as well as some drawbacks which are considered first-off.
E-Bike Conversion Kit Pros:
You Like Your Current Bike: You might want a bit of power assistance on a cherished non-electric machine that fits you like a glove.
Unique Bikes: The type of bikes you prefer may not be available in electric versions (folders and recumbents are cases in point, though more are appearing on the market, especially e-folders). Electric bike conversion kits can be useful at the ends of the power envelope less catered for by off the peg e-bikes, that is to say moderately powered but very ‘bikelike’ machines or at the other end of the scale, power hungry beasts.
Swapping: E-bike conversion kits can be swapped between bikes, giving the option of trying electric-assist on several different machines. Similarly, if the kit is a very easy to remove front hub wheel kit (for example as is the case with Leeds, Cytronex,Swytch etc.), you can use your bike unassisted at any time by simply swapping the wheel back to the original and leaving the battery off (the bike then weighs just a few hundred grams more than before). With such systems you can also choose at any time to electrify more than one bike and fully utilize your battery, just by swapping it between bikes.
Greener: If you already have a bike you want to make electric, e-bike conversion kits are generally a ‘greener’ option than a brand new e-bike, for the obvious reason they don’t need another brand new bike to be manufactured to replace the one you have bought!
Tinker or Do Something Totally Different: Those who love fiddling with bikes may be intrigued by the endless permutations of motor kits and bikes – the performance of a kit will be affected by the bike it is fitted to. Hub motors are usually geared for a specific wheel size to ensure they stay within the speed limit set for electric bikes in the territory in which they are sold. However, to take one example of how you can play with the design characteristics of motors and bikes, if you fit a hub geared for a larger wheel into a smaller one it will give excellent pulling power at low speeds, producing an excellent hill-climber or load-hauler.You even have the chance to design an e-bike radically different to anything any mainstream manufacturer offers. To give one example, Canada’s Grin Technologies have a range of solar panels and associated devices that allow for solar charging of your e-bike conversion kits bike as you ride along.