Bike-E Fan from Monterey, CA

[DougieDouglass]

Hello, everyone!

I’ve been a long time, recumbent enthusiast, and absolutely in love with my Bike E, which I’ve had for over 20 years. I call it my flying couch, because it’s so comfortable! Between the 3 inch gel grandfather seat and the shock absorbers, it’s a dream to ride!

I’ve been wanting to turn it into an electric bike for a long time, and I saw some posts on this forum about others who have converted their Bike ease to become Electric. It sounds like a complicated job, and I’ve talked with a number of Bike shops locally, none of which are willing to do the job for me!

So, I have a couple of questions for anyone willing to respond:
1) How difficult is the conversion process for someone like me who does not currently work on bikes and has no experience in that area? I’m handy with things, and can follow instructions, but don’t know how much prior knowledge would be required for something like this.
2) Would you know of anybody in my neck of the woods (Monterey, Santa Cruz, SF Bay Area) that might be willing to do the conversion for me if I purchased the parts?
3) Do you know of any Bike Es that have been converted to electric that are for sale?

 

[EMGX]

Hello, everyone!

I’ve been a long time, recumbent enthusiast, and absolutely in love with my Bike E, which I’ve had for over 20 years. I call it my flying couch, because it’s so comfortable! Between the 3 inch gel grandfather seat and the shock absorbers, it’s a dream to ride!

I’ve been wanting to turn it into an electric bike for a long time, and I saw some posts on this forum about others who have converted their Bike ease to become Electric. It sounds like a complicated job, and I’ve talked with a number of Bike shops locally, none of which are willing to do the job for me!

So, I have a couple of questions for anyone willing to respond:
1) How difficult is the conversion process for someone like me who does not currently work on bikes and has no experience in that area? I’m handy with things, and can follow instructions, but don’t know how much prior knowledge would be required for something like this.
2) Would you know of anybody in my neck of the woods (Monterey, Santa Cruz, SF Bay Area) that might be willing to do the conversion for me if I purchased the parts?
3) Do you know of any Bike Es that have been converted to electric that are for sale?

If you want a conversion that anyone who can change a wheel could perform in a few minutes a Keyde rear hub motor laced into a wheel might be what you're looking for. Simply replace your wheel, there is only one wire to the battery. Control is by cell phone app or wireless display and control button. This assumes your bike has a regular rear derailleur rather than internal hub gearing and your dropout width is 135mm which is pretty standard. They also have front hub motors which I don't have any experience with. Other brand hub motors that I'm aware of require additional wiring to display, cadence sensor, brake cutouts, an external controller etc which can be a hassle and messy with all of the extra appliances and wires. No throttle that I'm aware of available for Keyde which is a requirement for some. I like mine, not that you would necessarily.

 

[DougieDouglass]

Thank you, EMGX! I'll take time to digest your information. It's all Greek to me at the moment, but I'd really LOVE to convert my Bike E!