Looking for a good, but cheap conversion kit

[procreator]

I am looking to convert an old Schwinn Frontier women's bike to an e-bike. I don’t want to spend a boatload of money doing it.

I am concerned that there is not enough room between the top and lower tubes to put a battery there. Also, the bike has rim brakes. Should I be concerned about having too big of a motor?

I welcome any suggestions you have regarding components, kits, etc.

Thanks!

BTW – The bike looks like the one pictured below.

 

[harryS]

Happy with pedal assist plus throttle at 16-18 mph? A 36V kit will work. You can put the battery on the top tube with or without drilling it for mounting holes.

 

[procreator]

Happy with pedal assist plus throttle at 16-18 mph? A 36V kit will work. You can put the battery on the top tube with or without drilling it for mounting holes.

Any suggestions for kits or components?

 

[m@Robertson]

Do a small hub motor for the front wheel. You will end up with a 2-wheel-drive bike that will be surprisingly effective thanks to the rider's ability to add oomph by pedaling the back wheel. Front wheel drive also lets you leave the drivetrain entirely alone. No fooling with the complex stuff necessary.

A bike like this is not suited to anything big and bad. And a front hub motor is also not suited to a powerful build. So its a good fit for a light duty fwd bike. It looks like you have a chromoly fork which is what you want (NOT alloy under any circumstances).

Disk brakes should be considered as required basic equipment, but with that said, you have cantilever brakes on that bike and they should be fine for a light duty like this. If anything they will be more than enough. Especially after you go out and find new, aggressive pads.

One of the small Hailong-style cases should fit on that bottom water bottle bracket. Batteries on the top are in the way of feet trying to mount the bike. Also you will have to drill the frame to do a decent job of a mount. Before I mounted it up top I would bite the bullet and put a rack on and mount the battery there. Rack mounts are sort of a sin among the hot rod DIY community, but reality is on a bike like this you'll never feel any difference with the pack's weight on the back and up high. This isn't a singletrack bike.

 

[EMGX]

I bought one of these geared Bafang front hub motor laced into a wheel on ebay. They are unused surplus from a defunct bike rental "jump bike". $36 plus $28 shipping, a year ago I offered $30 plus the shipping and it was immediately accepted. It is meant for a roller brake but I put it on my wife's bike with V-brakes which work well despite it not being machined for rim brakes. It seems to be very good quality, it even has an internal temp sensor if that is of interest to you. Add KT display/controller/throttle and/or PAS as desired and you have a high quality "kit" for a couple hundred. Your frame looks like a small water bottle battery would fit between the down and top tubes, just measure and compare to product listing dimensions for the battery of your choice.

 

[harryS]

A traditional hub conversion will cost around $300 for a rear geared 500W motor. You can buy the direct drive 1000W-1500W kits for a little less, but they are heavier and require a bigger battery to support the motor. It's a trade off. The bigger motor goes a lot faster, but you don't have the brakes. Batteries vary in price. Spend more for less worry.
.
Here's my first conversion from 2015, on a steel mountain bike. Geared 500W motor, which has never been off the frame in all that time. Cost $200 from ebikeling then. Cost about $330 today, but u\you get an LCD display now. I normally have a $280 36V12ah battery on the frame, but I was sporting a used 36V9Ah scooter pack in the rear rack. That cost me $30. Gives me 20 miles easily. The forks can take a disk brake, and I have the components, but I don't need them. Bike stops really well.

s

 

[harryS]

I also bought the same front motor that EMGX showed you. Mine was also about $50, but came with a good Schwalbe tire, rotor, and decent calipers (Aries MD300). I put it on a cruiser bike. The lectrics cost me about $100. I wrapped up those $30 scooter batteries in a bag, strapped them to the frame and was riding around a year ago like this.
.
It may only be on my bike, but the front drive has a squawky resonance with the fork/fender that has been hard to quiet down. Irritates me. I want it silent, Since then, I've spent money pimping it out, including buyb\ng a $300 48V battery, but that then it was a $200 kit.. Brakes were a weak point. They worked but i wanted better. I've got disks brakes on it now. Full hydraulic on back.

 

[indianajo]

My bafang 500 w front geared motor from batteryclearancehouse.com is extremely wimpy but would be okay on the flat with no cargo and a medium to small rider. Note rotation is backwards from most hub motors. Has tamperproof screws that must be drilled out to remove. Hub motor cover screws must be retightened about every 1000 miles, IMHO. Jump surplus motor has juli connectors so reversing phase & hall effect wires require conversion to .157" bullet connectors and rectangular white connector. Or cutting wires & soldering which I find a possible failure point I don't need. My motors make no undue noise. The schalbe marathon tire came with one had a bump in the cord that wore out 2 tubes in 500 miles each before I found it and cut the tire up.
750 W geared hub motors both front & rear available from ebikeling.com in Chicagoland. I had one, motor lasted ~4500 miles before gears wore out. The controller lasted ~4 years, 8000 miles. I like front conversion, loads the light end of the bicycle and leaves my sprockets 8 speed at 32 to 11, which range I couldn't buy in 7 speed freewheel that would fit the rear hub motor I used for about 4 months. 8 speed clusters + motor were too wide for the frame. I don't recommend DD motors ebikeling & others sell. Even 1000-2000 W. DD motors accelerate too slowly and use double or triple the watthours of a geared hub on a hilly trip. Use a torque arm on a front motor installation. Mine is 4" long made out of bed frame rail.
You see my battery in white hanging off the front of my bike in the avatar. Supported by 1/4-20 screws through the frame mounts for the breadbasket yuba sells. AL angle cage with white foam insulation around battery & plastic bag overtop, in cool green to match the frame. I use .250 insulated flag terminals from Dorman (Oreillys auto) for the battery connector to controller. Reverse sex for + & -. Beware imitation ****ese made crimp terminals could melt at 25 amps. Did on a car conversion I bought with Radio Shack crimp terminals on the ignition: solved the problem by using Thomas & Betts terminals (US).
Rim brakes are fine for dry weather but are useless in the rain after you've ridden through a puddle. I hit the side of a car that ran a 4 way stop after I had stopped and restarted. Probably at 1 mph and no cargo, just 175 lb me.

 

[rich c]

Doesn't break the bank, boatload, and cheap but good are personal qualifiers. No idea of a "NUMBER" for your budget?

 

[procreator]

It's a 15-20 year old bike with a value of about $15 at Goodwill. Still solid, but was never close to top of the line to begin with. If I could electrify it for <$500 I'd be really happy.

 

[indianajo]

Good batteries are $300 for tiny ones & $650 for decent size. Ebikeling is one of the usually reliable sellers. Renentron in Shanghai is one, Em3ev in HK is also respected. I paid $221 for the original ebikeling 1300 w geared kit with controller, PAS pickup display brake handles no battery, but they are up to $350 now without battery. Eunorau carries bafang hub motors with US stock sometimes. If I was going to the trouble I wouldn't buy any geared hub below 750 watts. 20 to 25 amp controllers give better performance.
If you're very heavy or carry a lot of cargo up steep grades (>12%) lots of bafang mid-drive conversion threads on this forum. Requires some tools to rework the crank. Requires a new chain every ~1000 miles, whereas my 8 speed chain with hubmotor lasts 5000 miles. If you drop the chain off the derailleur (happens to me 2-3 times a year) & a mid-drive you push the bike to pickup or maintenance base, or lay on the ground & fix it right there. With a throttle I just motor home & re-route chain at my convenience, in my already dirty work clothes. Bafang mid drives with the power off, you drag the motor with your feet. My geared hubs don't drag without power even when the gears are worn out.

 

[m@Robertson]

I forgot about those surplus rental ebike hub wheels. Everything I have read about them says they are a solid buy. You will just have to do a little bit of extra legwork to put together a total solution.

 

[m@Robertson]

Requires a new chain every ~1000 miles, whereas my 8 speed chain with hubmotor lasts 5000 miles.

No. 2700 miles on my Bullitt's chain as of today and it still hasn't been replaced, although it will be I think soon. 2500 miles is more like it for a normal replacement cycle on a thoughtfully-built bike that sees heavy use.

A mid drive is the wrong solution here in any event.

Hub motor chains last forever because they aren't needed by the drivetrain to do any work. You can take them off if you like and the motor will still drive the bike just fine.

 

[kev123]

Here where I live it's a lot cheaper to buy a used E bike then to buy most kits , on Craigslist or marketplace

 

[gromike]

I just put a Bafang bbs02 on my old Trek 7.2. It's a 52v battery powering a 750 watt crank motor. That was about $900. One fast bike though, so I'm happy with it, but the better value might be a good price on a quality store bought ebike.

 

[HillAversion]

People don’t usually talk about needs and expectations in these threads.

How much do you weigh? A 240-pound rider needs a more powerful motor than a 170-pound rider. How fast do you want to go? How far do you want to go? Do you want a motor that will pull you up steep hills or do you mostly ride on flat terrain?

You can probably get a Swytch kit for around $500 to $600. That may or may not be enough power for you. It’ll give good assist on level ground if you’re not a heavy person. I wouldn’t expect to zoom up steep hills but it’ll certainly help somewhat. You’ll probably be breathing hard when you reach the top of the hill. It’s a 250 watt front hub motor and a relatively simple installation.

A 750 watt Bafang motor with enough battery voltage to take a 15 mile ride will probably cost you around $1,100 with a battery and charger. Plus, you’ll need to buy a few bike tools and accessories. It’s a mid-drive motor and little more complex installation. But it’ll make hills melt and give you thrills on level ground.

Both systems have received good reviews. It’s a matter of needs and expectations. There are also lots of other choices, but these two are pretty indicative of your range of choices.

Someone suggested buying a used ebike on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace. That might be a good bet if you really want to keep your costs down. But by all means consider your needs and expectations. A good deal that doesn’t meet your needs isn’t a good deal. Good luck with your choice.

 

[kev123]

I got this felt versa from someone on the Oregon coast for $600 it's a good bike it's got life in the battery definitely climb hills, pedal assist so I get a bit of exercise with it it's 2016,

 

[harryS]

BTW – The bike looks like the one pictured below.zz

View attachment 140208.

The Hailong2 battery case will probably fit, except you'll have to redo the mounts. You probably have the water bottle holes in a different spot, so the battery cradle can be drilled to use them. You probably to use the existing cradle holes for extra strength,

You can get 48V14Ah in that case. Plenty of power, in my opinion.

.

 

[kev123]

Yeah I already ordered a an original or an aftermarket through Shimano because this is a from a place in California called bikebling I have a pre-order for an extra batteryYeah thanks for that information yeah they're supposed to get And get them in in March so I had to pre-order and Shimano is going to be sending them the batteries, I tried ordering them from overseas but a lot of shipping companies don't want to ship because of the hazard of shipping lithium batteries some people get them but I mean I will figure out how I tried to do it through eBay that's the only place you can find them but trying to get them over here from Europe so this Bike Company bling bike it's got my pre-order but thank you