Electric Bike Conversion Kits
Not as tough as you might think
 | If you are not a bike mechanic, you can still convert your bicycle to electric with one of these kits. You'll need a little motivation to learn a few ins and outs, but without any serious setbacks you can expect to be riding your electric bike in under an hour. Your primary job prior to buying a conversion kit is to carefully measure the diameter of the wheel to be replaced and be sure your frame can handle the torque. The details of each conversion will be specific to the conversion kit. For example, apart from the obvious rear or front mounted motor question, your conversion kit will be designed to go on the left or right side. Because of this, a step-by-step explanation here is rather useless. Front wheel or rear? |
The rear wheel conversion kits require a bit more expertise when it comes to installation and maintenance. And since the mechanism gets in the way of the gears, you are limited in the number of gears you'll get. Ideally, if you go for a rear wheel conversion kit, you should have a lighter weight batter such as a Lifepo4 (lithium iron phosphate), Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) or the like.
Which bikes cannot be converted?
You'll find that nearly everyone will discourage you from converting an aluminum fork bicycle to a front wheel powered electric bike. Aluminum forks are designed to not be malleable and as such will not give under the torque created by the motor. In short, you'll crack your fork pretty quick. Aluminum frames (not the forks) are crafted a bit differently, so they should be fine. Not sure? Get a magnet. Does it stick? If so, you're in the clear.