Electric Bike Conversion Kit

It’s a tough one isn’t it? You’ve invested in a good quality bike that’s comfortable and has all of the features that you need but, for whatever reason, you’ve now decided that you really want an electric bike. What to do? There’s still plenty of life left in your bike and you really don’t want to part with it just yet…but you really want an electric bike to help with the hills; or to help with the commute; or just because you really want one.

We’re finding that more and more of our customers find a compromise solution to this dilemma – in fact it’s not really a compromise but just a good financial and practical solution. They convert their existing bike to an electric bike!!

Converting a bike to an electric bike is potentially cheaper than buying a “factory electric bike” and when done properly the quality is at least as good. So, what’s involved, what bikes are suitable to convert to electric power and what choices to you get?

What bikes can be converted to an electric bike?

The only bike that we’d recommend not to convert is a folding bike – in this case it’s usually more cost effective to buy a pre-built folding electricbike. Other than that most sports bikes; trekking bikes; mountain bikes and touring bikes will be suitable for an electric kit conversion.

What’s involved in an electric bike conversion?

A typical electric bike kit will consist of a motor (usually a front wheel motor); a battery; ECU controller; crank mounted speed sensor; handlebar mounted computer; throttle; and auto-shut off brake levers. We won’t go into the detail of how to fit all of these components now – maybe that’s a topic for a future blog entry – but what you need to check before commencing a conversion on a bike is the width of the dropouts (it needs to be 100mm); the type of gear shifter and arrangement on the handlebars to ensure you’ve got room for the throttle; whether you have integrated shifter/brake levers; whether you have a bottom bracket lock nut; your seat height (if using a seat post battery); whether you have square taper bottom bracket; the type of callipers if you have disc brakes; and where you intend to run the cables so that they don’t interfere with the steering or pedals. Once you’ve established whether your bike is suitable you can then start the conversion – in some cases there are ways of getting past some of the problems above but it’s worth checking before starting.

What choices are available?

There are lots of electric bike conversion kits available in the UK – we’ve tried a few of them and have found that the Cyclotricity kit offers the best value for money. They also offer a good warranty and friendly support. The choices available within this kit allow you to have throttle only; PAS only; PAS and throttle; 3 battery choices (pros and cons of each – again, perhaps a topic for a future blog post); and a choice of controller – either a simple LED controller or a more complicated and informative LCD controller.

Prices start from £399 for a basic kit, rising to £650 for the most advanced kit including fitting by one of our ebike team.

For more details about this kit; fitting options or any of our factory built electric bikes go to www.ebike-superstore.co.uk