Covert vs New

[AEB]

I had major back surgery and thought I would have to give up cycling for good. I started looking at very expensive e-bikes (5K+). I have 2 custom fitted bikes and decided to covert them into E-bikes. I bought a mid drive kit and put it on my titanium Sycip. The cost was about $1300. I bought a front wheel drive kit and but it on my carbon Guru. The cost was about $700. Both work very well. If you have a favorite bike I highly recommend you convert rather than get one new. If you don't have a favorite bike, go for a new one. E-bikes can get you back into biking or help you to continue to cycle for years to come.

 

[rich c]

Covert? Must be a 007 spy eBike.

 

[Browneye]

Glad to hear it worked out for you.
Did the same on wife's bike and while it works really well, it did fail, and took 5 weeks of troubleshooting and waiting for parts to get it going again. In the meantime we bought a 'factory' bike so she could ride.

I would caution anyone contemplating a conversion to do a thorough assessment of their own mechanical, electrical, and troubleshooting skills, should there be any component failures. For a lot of people the parts could potentially become an expensive door stop. Getting any kind of warranty coverage for imported parts from China can be hit or miss, an effort in futility.

 

[harryS]

I've converted many. Still, carbon bike forks with front drive scares me. Be careful.

 

[AEB]

I've converted many. Still, carbon bike forks with front drive scares me. Be careful.

Thank you. I was sceptical about converting a carbon frame as well. I don't race and I am not reckless. I don't go off road. It seems to be holding up very well. The motor is not super heavy and I only use power assist 1 or 2. Hindsight tells me I wished I had tried a rear wheel kit.

 

[JRA]

I've converted many. Still, carbon bike forks with front drive scares me. Be careful.

I have about 2500miles on a 9c front hub on a Bikes Direct carbon fork with no issues. Carbon dropouts to boot. The trick is to supply a bomber torque arm set up, use flat, not serrated washers and keep an eye on the nm of torque on the axle nuts, especially if you have regen.

Unlike the OP's intent I have ridden that setup in all conditions including single track btw and use regen all the time....

 

[Sierratim]

Small world, my ebike conversions also used 9c front hub motors. I replaced the entry level suspension forks with rigid steel forks and went to BMX headset bearings to take the added stress of the hub motor. It all worked well. I got a kick out of them spinning both front and rear wheels in gravel when I'd stand and crank on it. After ~9 years the batteries 'aged out'. After looking at the new ebikes that were available we elected to go with new rather than putting more money into new batteries on aging bikes.