Conversion Kit Basics? suburb of Vancouver, Canada.

[IronMongoose]

Recently switched over to electric, ditching my mountain bike for a Raleigh Detour IE 2015 ("new"), and bought a Thule Easyfold that can handle it. My wife has a Specialized Sirrus which she loves, and we're thinking about throwing a conversion kit onto it so that we can keep pace with each other. Both are set up as city commuters. Fenders, racks, hybrid tires.

Intention is to use them for little day treks like farm circle tours, waterfronts, paved trails, both within our city and on vacation, and of course fair-weather commutes. We also live on a hill, and the engine takes the pain out of the return trip.

I should also say that we're really mechanically ignorant. We can scarcely unclog a toilet, and don't intend to do anything but the absolute simplest maintenance on our bikes. We're pretty sure we'll take our stuff in to a shop to have anything installed or serviced.

We don't want to give up the disc brakes she has, so those sexy part-time conversion kits like Copenhagen Wheel or Geo Orbital, so beloved on social media, are out of the question.

I hear good things about BionX and Hi-Power.

What's good quality and good value in conversion kits? What are the meaningful differences among them? What do I need to know?

 

[harryS]

Some people say that if you have a bike you really like, why ruin it with a conversion? Keep it as a regular bike. I don't know if I fully agree, but I left my best one alone and converted three old ones that were hanging from the rafters. It's good to still own a nice pedal bike.

Jf mechanicals are not for you, I'd stay away from conversions, even the higher end ones like a Bionx where you only have to fit a disk brake and adjust it. For the kind of money that a Bionx costs (plus labor to install), there must be a nice turn key ebike your wife would like, for not too much more?

Otherwise, in the dirty world of conversions, we're cutting and soldering wires, dropping wrenches, jiggling cables, making sure the motors won't fall out, and running to the hardware store a few times to get stuff.











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[IronMongoose]

Thanks, good thoughts.

Well I was going to have it done at a shop.

I figured a conversion would save money and storage space.

I'll have to look at the final ledger to compare options, but right now I'm trying to explore the whole conversion kit thing. Something no-hassle where I'd just take it in to the shop the way I do with my own.

EDITED: SWEET MERCIFUL MOTHER, I just looked at what BionX kits cost. No wonder what you said.

 

[Jolly]

take a look bafang BBS02 kit with battery. Easy to install and easy to uninstall as a very affordable bike. Plus you will learn alot by asking people on here about the kit and how it works.

 

[IronMongoose]

Jolly, for my education, could you articulate why that model rather than others? When I google it it sounds really good, but I can't do generate a side-by-side comparison in my mind since I know so little about these motors.

 

[Shoestring]

Mr IronMongoose, I don't know if you've made a decision yet but check out Grin Technology. They are in Vancover and have ALL the info you'll need.

 

[JRA]

Shoestring is right, you are lucky enough to be able to go to Grin for your needs. Bike fit is important and if your wife likes her bike and is comfortable with it a conversion is a solid way to go.

My conversions I have been doing are front hub motors which if done correctly won't rip your fork in half as some people think. I can take off the motor and replace it with a stock wheel, remove the battery in a matter of minutes and the bike is only slightly heavier due to the controller/battery mount/display and wires which isn't much if the need arises. Grin knows how to do this type of conversion as well as anyone.