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vfr400 · Nov 28, 2019

Show us a picture of your bike. There are different versions. The latest ones would be tricky to convert.

vfr400 · Nov 28, 2019

OK, that one's not so bad. There are a load of kits that will work. whichever you choose, make sure it comes with an LCD control panel that gives 5 levels of assist. Also, a throttle is very useful.
The ones I'd recommend are the Yose Power kits, which you can get from Ebay or direct from their website, or from Woosh if you want UK support.

YOSE POWER E-Bike Batteries and Conversion Kits Online Store

Yose Power is a manufacturer of electric bike batteries and conversion kits with more than 10 years of experience since 2011. Our goal is to make the safest batteries, not the cheapest. We hope that more people can enjoy the fun of electric bikes with the lowest cost.

www.yosepower.com

36V350W 28"(700c) Wheel E-bike Rear Hub Motor Conversion Kit E-bike Kit Upgrade | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 36V350W 28"(700c) Wheel E-bike Rear Hub Motor Conversion Kit E-bike Kit Upgrade at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

Woosh hub kits | Electric Bike Conversion Kits from Woosh

Woosh range of hub kits with choice of front or rear hub motors. Convert your bike into an electric bike.

wooshbikes.co.uk

The Yose kit says 350w, but it's the same motor that others sell as 250w. It's unmarked, so nobody would know either way.

vfr400 · Nov 28, 2019

When you fit the battery, swing the rack forward so that the battery ends up as close to the seat-post as possible and adjust the height as low as possible. That will make a big difference to the bike's handling. You can feel even a couple of inches difference.

The one below is not too bad, though much too high. Could go another inch forward and two inches down. The crappy rack design doesn't allow downward adjustment. if I had that bike, I'd cut the bottoms off and drill new holes further up.

The one below is terrible. Too far back and too high. The designer should get a different job, like stunt rider. I've seen some daft rack designs, but that one takes the biscuit. It looks more like an art school project than a practical design. (Sorry Bob!)

vfr400 · Nov 28, 2019

Skyb87 said:
Could you also recommend a battery to go with the conversion kit? Appreciate all the advice.

It depends what you want and where you're going to buy the kit from. You can have light weight, long range, nice looking, long life, low cost, smart, etc, but never all from one battery.

Woosh · Nov 29, 2019

you could use either XF07 with rack battery or front BPM with 15AH or 17AH rack battery:

http://wooshbikes.co.uk/cart/#/product/uid-183-frontbpm-rackkit-15ah/front-bpm-rack-kit-with-36v-15ah-battery
http://wooshbikes.co.uk/cart/#/product/uid-221-xf07rackkit-15ah/xf07-front-hub-kit-with-15ah-rack-battery

they are well proven products. The BPM being beefier pulls much better than the XF07.

JuicyBike · Nov 29, 2019

vfr400 said:
When you fit the battery, swing the rack forward so that the battery ends up as close to the seat-post as possible and adjust the height as low as possible. That will make a big difference to the bike's handling. You can feel even a couple of inches difference.

The one below is not too bad, though much too high. Could go another inch forward and two inches down. The crappy rack design doesn't allow downward adjustment. if I had that bike, I'd cut the bottoms off and drill new holes further up.

The one below is terrible. Too far back and too high. The designer should get a different job, like stunt rider. I've seen some daft rack designs, but that one takes the biscuit. It looks more like an art school project than a practical design. (Sorry Bob!)

Before my time! But to be fair the seat does adjust the full range...

flecc · Nov 30, 2019

vfr400 said:
The one below is terrible. Too far back and too high. The designer should get a different job, like stunt rider. I've seen some daft rack designs, but that one takes the biscuit. It looks more like an art school project than a practical design.

As utility cyclists the Dutch and some others often use large, deep panniers and this carrier is very sensible for them, since the heels won't foul the panniers when pedalling.

The low, forward mounted carriers on many of our UK bikes are completely useless in this respect. To try to cope with this some pannier bag makers angle the leading face of their bags sharply rearwards, seriously reducing what they can carry.
.

vfr400 · Nov 30, 2019

flecc said:
As utility cyclists the Dutch and some others often use large, deep panniers and this carrier is very sensible for them, since the heels won't foul the panniers when pedalling.

The forward mounted carriers on many of our UK bikes are completely useless in this respect. To try to cope with this some pannier bag makers angle the leading face of their bags sharply rearwards, seriously reducing what they can carry.
.

I guarantee that if you put panniers on that bike and go up a steep hill in first gear, it'll wheelie or flip. Remember the guy who's Big Bear kept wheelying. He had a heavy front motor and his battery wasn't nearly as far back. If you want to have rearward panniers, it doesn't mean that you have to have the battery rearward too. Aluminium struts hardly weigh anything, but a battery pushed back that far will completely ruin the bike's handling.

Why does the front strut/member have a kink in it?
Why is the rear strut welded half-way up the front one, when it could have been welded to the bracket at the bottom?
What's the purpose of that rear member that the other one rests on?

flecc · Nov 30, 2019

vfr400 said:
I guarantee that if you put panniers on that bike and go up a steep hill in first gear, it'll wheelie or flip.

Not in the intended use it won't, you always seem to have the UK cycling blinkers on.

On my bike with a 20" hub motor wheel and similarly rearward carrier and huge Dutch panniers which I heavily load, of course I can make it wheelie, even flip, but I don't since it's not necessary, not even up a 20%. It doesn't even flip when towing with a high nose weight on the rear of the wheel ball coupling.

The intended rider for that style of utility bike isn't going to be doing any wheelies ever, especially not with all the shopping on board. Most of them in their millions will be in countries like The Netherlands and Denmark where they don't do hills.

As for the carrier design, you need to know more about such utility cycling to appreciate why it's like that. The angling of the forward strut is to provide support to keep the rear face of a soft and possibly bulging carrier bag away from the wheel. The strut welds being high allow the adjustable strip below to have the row of holes with two bolts above which allow it mounted at various heights for differing bikes and preferences. Mine has that feature too which I put to good use. And the angled transverse loop both provides support away from the wheel for the back of a soft pannier bag while providing a handy rear lift handle.

Plus as said by Juicybike, the full range of saddle movement.

All sound and sensible features on a utility bike.
.

vfr400 · Nov 30, 2019

flecc said:
Not in the intended use it won't, you always seem to have the UK cycling blinkers on.

On my bike with a 20" hub motor wheel and similarly rearward carrier and huge Dutch panniers which I heavily load, of course I can make it wheelie, even flip, but I don't since it's not necessary, not even up a 20%. It doesn't even flip when towing with a high nose weight on the rear of the wheel ball coupling.

The intended rider for that style of utility bike isn't going to be doing any wheelies ever, especially not with all the shopping on board. Most of them in their millions will be in countries like The Netherlands and Denmark where they don't do hills.

As for the carrier design, you need to know more about such utility cycling to appreciate why it's like that. The angling of the forward strut is to provide support to keep the rear face of a soft and possibly bulging carrier bag away from the wheel. The strut welds being high allow the adjustable strip below to have the row of holes with two bolts above which allow it mounted at various heights for differing bikes and preferences. Mine has that feature too which I put to good use. And the angled transverse loop both provides support away from the wheel for the back of a soft pannier bag while providing a handy rear lift handle.

Plus as said by Juicybike, the full range of saddle movement.

All sound and sensible features on a utility bike.
.

A bike with 20" wheels doesn't flip because the battery and the C of G is much closer to the ground.

I'm telling you, that bike will wheelie in first gear. I've ridden enough similar bikes to know that. I don't care what happens in Holland.

flecc · Nov 30, 2019

vfr400 said:
A bike with 20" wheels doesn't flip because the battery and the C of G is much closer to the ground.

Nullified by the mechanical advantage of the high powered 20" wheel, my high mounted rearward carrier for the deep pannier bags and even heavy towing with trailer nose weight well behind the rear wheel. And all this in the hilly North Downs.

vfr400 said:
I'm telling you, that bike will wheelie in first gear. I've ridden enough similar bikes to know that.

And so have I for many more years. It will only wheelie or flip if you let it, riding in a way that provokes it. It's not necessary, millions ride that sort of bike without ever doing a wheelie.

This country is clueless about utility cycling, bike after bike I've come across where it's impossible to have large capacity panniers without the feet fouling the pannier bags when cycling. They also almost never have a stabiliser spring to stop the front wheel flopping about, never have a parking brake for steep hill parking, and the provided stands are often near to useless in all but optimum conditions. And as for the hopelessly inadequate mudguards and absence of mud flaps, need I go there?

Utility vehicles are often wide open to the criticism of purists like yourself, and your criticisms are in part well founded. But they are designed to do a necessary practical job for particular users, not as an exercise in good engineering design. In those users hands they work just fine.
.

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