great article for DIY !
Seriously, I have done enough kit conversions now, and sold more than my fair share of regular ebikes, to be thoroughly convinced that doing a kit conversion on your existing regular bike is most times the way to go. If you don't feel up to doing it yourself, then have a shop do it for you, and you'll still come out money way ahead. Besides that, you can pick and choose the battery capacity you want with the motor size you want, along with where you wish to mount the battery, etc. You can get beautiful color displays like the one from APT (TFT 850C), which offers the option of up to 9 levels of assist, AND, you can put a far more efficient sine wave controller on your ebike, getting the most out of the motor, and extending battery range. It's easy to increase the amperage rating on the controller, so you don't burn that out, and you can mount the controller in an area where its easy to service or replace if needed, and keep it cooler than the ones on factory ebikes which are typically in areas where they will get hot, fail sooner, and be harder to service. Also, your replacement costs for any given component will be a LOT cheaper than having to buy from the ebike OEM. You can go the route of rear hub motor, front hub motor, both hubs powered by motor, or mid drive motor. If you have a higher end bike already, you are miles ahead, and dollars ahead, because you have quality components. You're extending the use of your existing bike, and not sending it to the garbage heap or Goodwill or wherever, thus keep resource use to a minimum and being a good steward for the planet. (you already are a good one, if you are using a regular bike anyway for commuting vs a car). You can easily get and many times EXceed the performance of Haibikes, Pedego's, Stromers, Easy Motions, and do so for less than a third the cost of those bikes.
If you are in the Chicago area, I offer FREE DIY seminars that you can sign up for, on how to do it yourself, and can show how and where to source top quality components. (
http://www.mikese-bikes.com/schedule-appointment). I'll also let people use tools there at my shop, if they don't have the right ones for a particular task, as long as they bring the bike in. I've done trikes, fat tire bikes, and mountain bikes, in addition to regular bikes. If you are into very low step throughs, for easy mounting, I recommend the Biria Easy Boarding series, which also comes now in larger 2.3" balloon style tires. They are excellent for conversions because they already have very sizable throughways for the wiring to be mostly hidden within the frame tubes. Super easy to wire up, and very clean looking. You can also keep your rims if you love them, and typically have a local bike shop 'wheel build' and re-spoke in a hub motor for less than $75. Great for fat tire bikes, especially Salsa's which have some awesome (very strong) Surly fat tire rims.
.https://www.electricbike.com/hub-motor-pikes-peak/
