Throttle on drop handlebar road bike conversion

[RMW]

I am contemplating adding a front wheel motor to my old 18 speed road bike. How would that work regarding putting a throttle on the drop handle bars? Do thumb throttles have enough gradual resolution to adjust speed, or are thumb throttles just an On/Off switch?

 

[6zfshdb]

Most thumb throttles vary the motor output and are not just on / off switches. You should be able to find one to fit your drop bars.

 

[JRA]

Very easy to do by using a chunk of 25.4 handlebar, drill a through hole through it and zip tie it to the side of the right brake hood where it falls readily to hand. It is nice if you can figure out a controller with cruise control so that you can set it and forget it however but not too bad if you ride in the hoods mainly. And yes it is not just on and off you can control the amount fairly easily.

 

[RMW]

Do you use just your thumb to rotate the lever of the throttle? Pushing forward to go faster?

What are the red button and red knob controls mounted on the left-hand side?
And just out of curiosity, what is the round thing with "L" and "R" markings to the left of the stem?
Is that a bell just to the right of the stem? A headlamp to the right of the display?

 

[JRA]

Yes, as it falls easily to your thumb in that position. It is a downward motion to activate and the throttle has a spring return so with no pressure on it it will shut off.

The red button is a momentary switch that activates the regen feature and the other is a bell. The L/R is for my taillight that has turn signals. Every bike needs a bell and the light runs off the main battery as set up.