Does anyone here add electric kit to standard M/bike?

j_robi

I bought a gt avalanche 1.0 off here about 8 years ago and love it.

I now have a bit of a dicky knee, but would love to do a charity event in a couple of weeks.

Have considered going electric for a while.

Would it be a bad idea to convert a much loved bike to electric? ie would the balance be all out etc?

Does anyone on this forum do these conversions/be prepared to do it for a cost?

PhilipPirrip

I've a Swytch conversion kit fitted to an old mtb. Great for commuting and just getting out for a few hours on days when I don't fancy going out on the road bike.

Easy to fit; front motor wheel, handlebar mount for battery/controller and power assistance sensor at the left crank. Connect the cables and you're good to go.

It does add nearly all its weight to the front of the bike but you soon get used to that.

j_robi

Hi

Thanks for the reply

So with this:

https://www.swytchbike.com/p/2018-swytch-50-mile-250w/

How complex is the installation process?

Is there much to go wrong? Do you know the durability of the kit?

PhilipPirrip

That's the one. Not sure what the difference is between the 2018 and 2019 models is but I could forward a referral link for a 20% discount on the 2019 model if you're interested.

Fitting is easy. Front wheel slides into dropouts only one way and then you tighten up the bolts, mount handlebar bracket, fit magnetic ring to left crank and attach sensor adjacent to ring on down or seat tube. Connect the colour coded connectors between motor, bracket and sensor, attach battery to bracket and you're good to go. I added a thumb throttle to assist with starting off which again just plugs straight into a colour coded connector.

I was an early supporter of Swytch through Indiegogo so had one of the early models and after a couple of months constant use the gear box/motor in the hub did develop a fault, possibly shredded/slipping of gears. Swytch were good with support and we worked through what could be wrong replacing various components until, by a process of elimination, the wheel was replaced.

This may sound technical but one issue with my kit was to do with the hall sensors in the hub causing the control unit to switch off the kit whenever I hit a bump but they supply a hall sensor bypass cable which overrides the hall sensors and prevents accidental shutdown. Suffice to say with the bypass cable in place everything is fine.

j_robi

thanks for the informative reply. I find the ease of installation particularly appealing. Is this comparable with others to fit, or are most the same?
Reliability and company follow up support is really important to me, so just want to make sure I make the right decision

PhilipPirrip

The only other well packaged conversion kit I looked at was BionX but they've gone out of business. There are plenty of sellers on Amazon and Ebay of kits they've put together so not as well packaged and how easy they are to install and what support they offer I couldn't say.

Have a look on the pedelecs forum for some further ideas for what's out there;

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/

Interestingly, it appears from that forum I wasn't the only person to suffer a problem with the first batch of Swytch front wheels. They subsequently changed to using different motors and so far no problems with my new wheel.

Dawn Balfour

Thanks for the info' Philip. I'm also looking into the possibility of a conversion rather than have two fairly expensive bikes on the go. Especially as space is at a premium right now.