Recommendations for a cheap conversion kit.

[Computernaut]

Hi, I have recently become quite interested in ebikes and since I've started biking to school quite a bit I thought it would be really nice to have some sort of powered bike. I didn't think it economical to buy a full ebike since then I'm paying for a brand-new premium bike AND all the electrical components. I'm looking for something very cheap (not "budget", not "affordable", but "cheap", I really don't have very much money). I would prefer one with a throttle so I can use it without the pedals, but I'm really not too picky about this. I don't need a lot of power (even 200 W would be plenty) and range is not too big of an issue either (15+ km would be great). I would be converting a fairly standard road/mountain bike. I prefer hub motors, but that's really not a major issue for me either. I'm not picky, but I can't afford to be either with a budget of around $200 CAD. I know that's pretty pitiful considering most of you probably spend 10 times that much on your ebike, but we teenagers don't exactly have money coming out of our ears.

 

[Dewey]

No, you’ll need more like CDN$600 if you’re buying new from Canadian vendor, something like this. You might be able to buy individual used components over time but then making everything work together is going to be hit or miss. You might consider buying direct from China if can wait several weeks and pay the shipping and customs, the reddit ebikes wiki has a list of vendors eg a 36v hub kit and battery from greenbikekit.com was US$300 plus shipping and customs.

 

[Computernaut]

No, you’ll need more like CDN$600 if you’re buying new, something like this. You might be able to buy individual used components over time but then making everything work together is going to be hit or miss.

At that price I'm getting close to being able to buy an entire ebike. There are some cheap ebike kits, are they all terrible then?

 

[Dewey]

Avoid anything 24v it’s simply not strong enough. I linked to the reddit ebikes wiki in my post above, check out some of the Chinese kit suppliers listed there. Beware AliExpress Chinese vendors, triple check their reputation on endless-sphere. If anything goes wrong you need a reliable parts supplier. Getting anything from China is difficult since COVID. IMO you would be better off saving more to buy from a reliable supplier located in Canada. If you decide to assemble a kit from parts, for example this Bafang motor laced into a 26” wheel likely came off a JUMP ebikeshare bike, you’ll then need to buy a Bafang wiring harness, controller, programming cable for the controller, display, controls, and a working 36v battery, cradle, and charger. The motor wheel might be only CDN$150 but the rest of the parts could be another $350 and you’ll be keeping your fingers crossed it all works together. Better to save for a complete kit.

 

[harryS]

If you haven't much money, then you need to acquire knowledge which is free, and wait for someone without it to sell his busted e-bike for nothing.

We see those posts here. Someone gets a bike for a hundred bucks. Bad battery connections. Easy fix. Not common, but they happen.

Having built a few bikes using lit motors, the quality of the $500-700USD off-the-shelf ebike has really improved, and I know it's cheaper for me to buy one of those vs building a kit. You do need knowledge of bikes and electrics to maintain one of those $700 ebikes. If you're lucky, you find some owner letting one of those go for half price becasue it won't run.

I can't see wasting money on a MY1018 kit. Noisy and flakey. Only saving grace s they will run on a small battery pack.