eBike build here is my story

Tuckshop

Active member
UKGSer Subscriber
Joined
Aug 2, 2018
Messages
101
Reaction score
1
Location
STEVENAGE
Well you asked for it, so here is my story..............

Both my daughters are all grown up now and in their thirties. I bought these bikes new as they grew into them and I got one for myself to ride out with them.
So these bikes have been languishing in the back of my shed for at least 15 years and I had been reluctant to get rid of them as I had quite a history with them. Also had the intention of going back to use them - yea right!











They all needed a good clean up and service which I did. This was to make sure they still worked fully as a bike before I started the conversion. They all needed tyres and new tubes but until I purchased the conversion kit I did not buy any tyres or tubes as I knew the kit came with at least one set.

The pink little bike I left as is intending to pass on to one of my Grand Nieces. Well my Grand Nieces were a bit bigger than I seemed to remember so only the blue one got fettled and passed on.

That left me the two red bikes.
I decided to convert both of them, keep the Gary Fisher model and sell the Raleigh model.

I bought a 500w, 36v, 26 inch front wheel conversion kit and a ready packaged lithium battery and a stand alone 36w and/or 48w controller. Yes the kit did come with a controller but I had not decided what route to go with the battery.


A small aside..................... I was doing all this with my brother at our workshop in Welham Green and as customers were coming and going quite a few showed a great interest in the work.
In so much as we ended up converting five other customers bikes during the process!
Our bonus in this was that we got the opportunity to try out different power levels and configurations. We also watched as the price of these kits increased as more were sold.

here are some pictures of one of the customers own bikes we converted.............









This one was built with a 500w motor kit, a 36v 15Ah lithium battery. The control gear was put into the small bag inside the frame and we bought a case-less battery, put it into a bag and repurposed the water bottle carrier to hold and easily take the weight of the battery mounting it to the points provided on this particular frame. It worked well, no movement or sway. We did it this way as the customer didn't want a rack fitted and the style of frame meant we could not hang a sufficiently large bag inside it to take the battery and control gear. We also fitted a 2 way switch (250 / 500) together with a power on / off switch (on the battery) and the throttle came with a power level indicator and a secondary power on / off push button.

I keep digressing but from the e-bike forums we gleaned a lot of info.
Supposedly, new e-bikes for the road can only be pedal assist and not have a throttle unless they are of a certain age, 15 I think, or thereabouts.
Are only supposed to be 250w and limited to 14mph.
Well for off road bikes these limits do not apply.
As each of the controllers we bought had a 250w connection and a unlimited connection we fitted a switch to change it back and forth officer, and of course we would only use the higher setting off road.
I was concerned that the brakes, being only centre pull type blocks would not be up to the job but I was pleasantly surprised when they proved to be more than enough and no problem.

So the "first" build of my bike had a 1000w motor and a 36v 17Ah battery and a three way power level switch.









After building a few of these to customer's own bikes we converted my red Raleigh bike and that now gets used as a demo bike although it is for sale. My brother converted his bike too so we do have another for demo if needed.

I then looked closer at my bike and made a few changes.

I now have a 1000w motor and a 48v, 36 Ah lithium battery. The battery is smaller than my previous one so I can now use a smaller frame bag which also takes the controller.
It has a three way speed switch, I think the power / torque is available at all setting but the controller limits the speed. The controller also has connections for front and rear lights and a brake light which then can be run off the lithium battery.
I think there are two or three other connections on this particular controller but I cannot bring them to mind at the moment. I think it was built with more than a push bike in mind.
Using a upside down, painted over horn momentary switch I can engage or disengage cruise control. Switches fitted to the brake lines also cut off the cruise.
My throttle is a twist grip with a on / off button and low, med, high power level indicator.
As I have a soft pack battery - one without a hard case, I also fitted a big 100amp kill switch to isolate the battery from the controller and wiring. You generally get something similar on a hard cased battery.













One thing I did discover is that you cannot use a wireless speedo with a front hub motor. I suppose the induction messes up the signal.
It is ok for a rear wheel motor but I have now fitted a wired version. I carry a small tool kit and puncture repair outfit with a small pump in the bag on the rear rack and it is big enough to also fit in a decent takeaway and 6 cans of Bud!
At first it was a great gimmick to only use the electric motor and piss off "normal" cyclists in the leotards as I wizz by! But I find more and more than I am only using the minimum speed setting and "feathering" the throttle until I find it doing most of the work but with some pedal input from me.

As I said I have not done much on mine yet apart from three or four trips to the local shops, about three quarters of a mile away. It hasn't left the green, full level.
I do mean to do a longevity test for duration and distance on this bike but need to arrange for a "following" car to pick me up when it runs out or all goes wrong.
So I cannot really say how far or for how long a charge will last. My brother lives about a mile from the workshop and if he uses his e-bike 6 days a week to and from work he gets down to the second, orange power level out of the three levels showing. Green (full), orange (half full), red (nearly empty).
Like you, everyone who has tried one of our conversions has come back with a big grin on their face.

It does allow you to get more use out of something you may well have fond memories of.
At around £550, getting someone else to convert your bike, it costs a little more than a very basic entry level e-bike from Halfords and provides much more.
 
Looks an excellent project and a much lower cost than many e-bikes, it would be good if there was a way of fabricating disc brakes on the bike too.
 
Well, the "new" electric front wheel comes with provision to mount a disc, the rest of the gubbins you can get on ebay!
 
Great projects and E bikes are fantastic.

If you are charging "customers" to convert their bikes, you might look at the legalities more carefully, in case one has an accident or gets stopped and points the finger at you.

When you say "off-road", you mean of course on private land, not anywhere open to the public.

I doubt the switch to lower power will be relevant if caught using an un-approved, untaxed and un-insured mode on transport on the highway.
I don't want to be a kill joy, and I would happily ride a bike like yours. But if you are selling them to the public....
 
I take your point but so far all I have done is work asked of me by an individual and as with any other work carried out in our workshop it is carried out to a high quality. Should the worst happen, like any other garage we have business insurance.
Their request to me and me carrying out the conversion is not an illegal act.
What they do with it, how they do it and where they do it cannot be attributed to me. Just as selling a shotgun does not make the salesman a murderer.
Nor does it if a customers asks me to fit a tyre they bought elsewhere and instead of paying me £2 to dispose of it properly then they dump it down some lane make it my fault for fly tipping.
 
That's great Tuckshop :thumb2

Hoping to get mine sorted in the next week as the battery finally arrived on Thursday!

Was there any reason you prefer the front wheel conversion over the rear?
I was warned off front wheel ones due to the wear and tear on the tyre.
Whether that's a valid idea is beyond me at the moment.
 
I converted my MTB about 4 years ago with a Bafang crank drive kit and it is still going strong.
Far better option for me than paying many times more for a ready built one.
 
I converted my MTB about 4 years ago with a Bafang crank drive kit and it is still going strong.
Far better option for me than paying many times more for a ready built one.

When I get to the point when I need an 'e' in my bike that's what I'm going to do.

I have a VERY nice Van Nicholas/Rohloff which will get the 'e' treatment....:)
 
Can I ask why you opted for the front drive option as opposed to the mid or rear?
 
Has anyone gone the whole hog and converted to 2 wheel drive with a front and rear wheel drive unit
 
Has anyone gone the whole hog and converted to 2 wheel drive with a front and rear wheel drive unit

Dunno about the practicalities but it would be taking the piss to ride on the road. A big sign saying pull me over!

Given the max legal motor is 250W but I've seen single wheel kits with a motor of 3500W.........
 
I did the front wheel as IMO it was the apparent easiest route.
I did not want to mess around with the gears and such I wanted to keep the bike also as a bike.
My brother and I have converted a rear for a customer and it turned out to be no more problematic than a front one, i.e. none!
the crank conversion meant fitting bits and pieces the the existing crank, maybe, or maybe a new crank would be required so we plumbed for the front kit.
It feels better to me with the front kit even though you can get the wheels skipping on loose surface.
The rear kit felt heavier and more sluggish as you were being pushed rather than being pulled.

Shame either of you are not closer as you would be welcome to try them both out!
 
Has anyone gone the whole hog and converted to 2 wheel drive with a front and rear wheel drive unit

Yes, I have. About 15 years ago. Resurrected it again during lockdown.
I started with a first generation Giant LaFree which has a crank driven motor and added a Heinzmann electric front wheel with a twist and go. The range wasnt great but was enough to get to and from the pub. Then added a very small Honda generator to keep the battery charged on longer runs, a sort of electric hybrid bicycle.
Lithium batteries were not readily available then and NiMH were the type supplied.
This time round I have gone without the genny and have a big Lithium battery, it works very well
 
Any links to the conversion kits.?
I have a spare kona hoss deluxe which is ripe for conversion as has hydraulic brakes and decent front suspension

500w would be enough

Sent from my SM-T510 using Tapatalk
 
Any links to the conversion kits.?
I have a spare kona hoss deluxe which is ripe for conversion as has hydraulic brakes and decent front suspension

500w would be enough

Sent from my SM-T510 using Tapatalk

Just go on ebay and search for 500w ebike conversion
 
WOT 'E SAID!

plenty there.

You just need to consider the size of your frame and how large a storage bag you can fit inside the frame rails. Ensure it is wide enough - some are too narrow.
Then the physical size of the battery you want to use and ensure it can fit into the bag also ensuring there is enough room left for the controller and the spare wiring. "Soft pack" batteries are smaller physically (and you can actually have one built to your specs and shape and size) than those fitted into a hard case (generally of a similar size but you can open the case and cut off / trim back any excess casing) but you may need a cut out switch if one is not fitted. Ensure the battery you buy has a controller board build in to regulate over charging and discharging and buy one already with a charger.
Check what way the bag zip goes to match up with your wiring direction to the front or back if you are exiting the bag in that manner or if it has a grommeted hole pointing the right way - although you can buy and fit 20mm grommets.

Consider carefully those battery packs with a hard case and a fitting rail which is supposed to be bolted to the frame rail. Have you enough room to unclip and slide the battery up and out?
They generally can be a bit wobbly too so you will want to apply additional fixing of the battery mounting rail to the frame.

Generally I would consider the conversion splash proof but not rain proof or in any way waterproof. Some of the bags may well be of a plastic material and offer some rain protection but I don't think I would take mine out in the rain. The same with using it off road across muddy streams - were I so inclined I think it would be best to avoid fording streams.
As I said mostly a splash or two would be my limit.

There, a few pointers for you.............
 


Back
Top Bottom