How Easy Is It to Upgrade an Entry Level Ebike?

[roadandmtbebikes]

I'm interested in buying an entry level model like the rad city or radrover (or maybe radmini?) I like the price and customer service. However, at some point I'd probably want to upgrade the brakes and cadence sensor.

How easy is it to upgrade from mechanical disc brakes to hydraulic disc brakes? These brakes usually have a power cutoff feature; so how do you retain this feature when replacing brakes?

What about upgrading the cadence sensor from 6 or 12 magnet to a 24 cadence sensor? Will this void the warranty? Are these easy upgrades?

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I'm interested in buying an entry level model like the rad city or radrover (or maybe radmini?) I like the price and customer service. However, at some point I'd probably want to upgrade the brakes and cadence sensor.

How easy is it to upgrade from mechanical disc brakes to hydraulic disc brakes? These brakes usually have a power cutoff feature; so how do you retain this feature when replacing brakes?

What about upgrading the cadence sensor from 6 or 12 magnet to a 24 cadence sensor? Will this void the warranty? Are these easy upgrades?

Instead of spending time and money for upgrades, it is far easier to pick the right bike from get go.
Here are 2 very good options that will be hard to get even by upgrading any cadence sensor bike.

(Link Removed - No Longer Exists)
(Link Removed - No Longer Exists)

They will ship the bike to the nearest dealer and have them build it. Hydraulic brake upgrade is easy but going from Cadence sensor to Torque sensor is hard and needs a lot of work with the controller.

 

[harryS]

To me, an entry level ebike is 1/3 the price of a Rad.

Hydraulic or mechanical brakes has little to do with the electronics. There is a switch inside the brake lever that signals the controller to shut off. Some people mount them externally. You can buy magnetic switches and glue them to your levers, and use magnets to activate them. I built a cheapo ebike last year and an ebrake would have meant scrapping out the combo shifter/brake so I glued a switch to the assembly. Cheap, huh? . Sure, it's ugly, but no one sees it under the handebars.


If you were thinking that doubling the magnets on a cadence sensor makes the bike go faster or pedal smoother, the answer is no. Many controllers want you to program the number of magnets on the disk when you do do, so nothing changes.

It doesn't cost that much to add a rear axle torque sensors to hubmotor bikes, but you need a frame designed to hold it, plus a compatible controller. A Rad has neither. You would have mount a bottom bracket torque sensor, and get a compatible display/controller. This is about $250-300, I believe.

A good seat. A nice bell. Better tires if your bike came with bad ones. Those are upgrades that make sense to me. The seat on the bike in my photo cost more than the bike, which someone had thrown away.

 

[AHicks]

My vote would be go ahead and buy the Rad of your choice. Ride it as equipped for a bit, then start working on the sore spots. I think it will teach you a ton!

For starters the 180mm mechanical brakes work pretty good as is! I find the need to improve on that performance unnecessary, and I ride in a lot of hills. Worth mentioning is I'm 315lbs. I would suggest the brake focus be spent on getting the brakes adjusted properly.

I agree the cadence sensor is going to be a difficult place to improve. I've had a couple, and find no notable difference in the number of magnets either.

I hated the electronics on my '18 City. I pulled them all off and replaced them with a 1500w dierct drive conversion kit. Price for the kit was less than 300, so the bike is still solidly in the "economy" bike class. Super happy with the bike now, but still considering going with a 1500w Mac 12t geared hub for better low speed stop and go and hill climbing performance.

In addition to that work, I've changed the handlebars and seat to make it more of a "comfort" bike with an upright riding position.

I think, for what they cost, they make an excellent foundation for any direction you want to take them in to make one YOUR way!