Has anyone bought an e-bike conversion kit to retrofit to their bike? If so, which one did you go for? I'm considering doing this to my hybrid commuter but there's a variety of kits out there. There aren't many UK companies that manufacture these (swytch comes to mind) but plenty in the far East!
From the other cycling forums Whoosh are supposed to be excellent with good customer care.
I don’t know how good your hybrid is but there are some good deals on lasts years models of e bikes.
I bought a bafang mid drive from eclipse bikes. Easy to fit to my Surly Troll. I’ve been very happy with it. Just purchased an eggrider to accompany it.
This is mine from another e-bike thread on here.
I purchased a mid-drive TSDZ2 from the PSW-Power factory in Germany, so no extra duty.
They also sell the batteries, but I patched together my own.
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Originally Posted by Tooks
I just couldn’t bring myself to spend the kind of money a lot of these e-bikes are asking, so I converted one of my mountain bikes using a mid-drive Tongshen TSDZ2 motor, and made up my own battery pack from some 5S RC modelling batteries.
It’s a pedal assist setup rather than an ‘electric bike/moped’, it’s a nominal 250w so road legal and makes me feel like I’ve got bionic legs! Hills are no longer an issue.
It’s a 36v 5.2Ah battery pack, and I get an easy 15 miles of pedal assist without stressing the battery.
Cost was about £400. I’ve got the batteries in a small frame bag now rather than under the seat, and I’ve changed the crank chain wheel for something a bit smaller to suit the off road riding I do.
Sorry for the links, I’ll embed the pictures later when I’m on a tablet/computer.
E-bike Conversion by iaintookey, on Flickr
E-bike Conversion by iaintookey, on Flickr
E-bike Conversion by iaintookey, on Flickr
E-bike Conversion by iaintookey, on Flickr
E-bike Conversion by iaintookey, on Flickr
E-bike Conversion by iaintookey, on Flickr
Thanks all. Were the mid drives easy to install? Or did they require a lot of modifications on the existing bike? The mid drives look better than the hub ones.
Very easy on the Tongsheng and Bafang, as long as you’ve got a standard 68 or 73mm bottom bracket, just screw straight in.
I think there are adaptors out there for non standard bottom bracket sizes too.
With a mid-drive, and assuming you only want pedal assist and not an e-moped, then you don’t need any special brake levers either, nor a thumb throttle switch. That’s how I wanted mine setup, but both the Bafang and Tongsheng have options if you do want a throttle etc.
I've been having a good read up on doing a conversion for my mountain bike, and prices don't look too bad for the TSDZ2 at £300 give or take, but a battery pack at around £150 seems to be taking the p.
Sort your own battery pack.
Thanks, any info how?
To be fair, there’s more money required to build a decent battery pack than the motors.
£150 for a factory battery with a battery management system and charger isn’t that steep when you consider the DIY route.
I chose to use RC batteries, but then I have balance chargers to keep them healthy and that’s all that would fit my frame anyway. Even then they cost about £120 for the two batteries.
You could build your own from 18650 cells, but you need something to put them in, and you’ll need some kind of BMS still, as well as a battery spot welder to build it safely. You can get some Arduino based spot welders for not much cash, but after all that you won’t save much over that £150 battery when all is said and done.
I've gone the TSDZ2 route but have not fit it yet. Regards thumb throttle drive option I think I read somewhere that they are now not legal unless you had one fitted before a certain date.
£150 for a battery depending on quality of batteries used and ah seems a very good price. I'm looking at a Samsung cell battery with about 12ah for £250ish.
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