Carrera Subway Conversion

[conv-fused]

Hi
I am looking to convert to electric my partners Carrera Subway Hybrid Ladies bike, as she finds hills and constant cycling difficult due to health problems, so some electric assistance would be handy.
I have been reading up a lot but just have a few questions
Do I need torque arms?
I have been looking at various kits, I would prefer to get a kit from a UK supplier as its my first conversion, and would like to stay legal, so 250W, preferably 36V.
The kits which have found there way to the top of my list are the 8fun kit, Juicy Bikes kit, and the Alien Conversion.
Although I am most tempted by the Alien conversion it is the most expensive of the 3, although I get the feeling I would get good service.
Has anyone experience of the kits and can they offer any advice, what makes one more expensive than another, as they appear to have similar components.
Its a lot of money to spend, so I just want to make sure I get it right without any regrets.

 

[banbury frank]

Hi Have you looked at The Ezee kit £750

Cyclezee has some very good feed back Top Quality Front or rear motor

Shop - Cyclezee Ltd







Frank

 

[Scottyf]

I'd try select a kit from the most local supplier if there is one near you.
The kits you've suggested all come with the same / similar components and there won't be much difference.

Pricing comes from the service and warranty.

You shouldn't need to run torque arm's with 250w kits. But as a safty means its always better to have them. At least for peace of mind.

8Fun or Juicy would have my vote.
Ezee if you want a better made kit. But there's nothing wrong with the small 8fun kits. Many memebers have put 1000's of miles on them with no issues.


Oh and welcome to the forum. We are glad to have your company.

 

[conv-fused]

That looks like a nice kit, but its just too expensive for me at the moment

 

[PhilYerBoots]

Hi and welcome.
+1 for the eZee kit, but I would say that as I've just fitted one to my bike...
Cyclezee also got some good value full bikes with virtually same spec but ready-built and selling for the same price as his kits.
I'd also have to rate the Juicy kit highly as my wife has one of Bob's Classic bikes, which is apparently the same spec as his kits, and she's very happy with the strong performance of her bike.
Good luck.

 

[jerrysimon]

Yes welcome to the forum.

I started with an Alien kit two years ago and found the after sales support excellent when I had a problem with the motor after I first got it. With any kit you will still find you have to fiddle around with them to get them right.

They have gone up a little in price since then.

There are other ones on ebay based in the UK. Others who have tried them bay be able to advise about support.

The alternative is to order from China. Cheaper but all the associated risks with after sales support/returns. Basically little to none!

For safety I would fit a torque arm. Either make one yourself or buy one.

PS I see you mentioned the 8Fun kit already. That's about what I paid for my Alien kit two years ago.

Regards

Jerry

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You don't need torque arms on a 250w motor. I've never seen them on a ready-made bike with the same motor as in the kits you're considering. The kits provide anti-rotation washers which are sufficient to resist the torque without damaging your drop-outs provided you remember to tighten your wheel axle nuts properly.

All the kits that you mentioned are similar and will do the job nicely. From memory, the Alien one is more expensive without any gain, so that wouldn't make much sense unless they were local. It's not much cheaper buying the same stuff direct from China, but that option does give you the opportunity to mix and match components to your specific requirements.

One other option would be to sell your Careera and buy a ready-made bike where you can choose maybe a more suitable bike. These ones have basically the same kit fitted.
The Sirocco | Electric Bikes from Woosh | Tel 01702 435566 | electric bike sales and hire
26" New Light Aluminium Electric City Bike -- SL-MTB26S | eBay
26" New Light Aluminium Electric Folding Mountain Bike -- SL26EF02S | eBay
I bought one of those folding ones off Ebay and it was pretty good - just had to change the BB bearings to cartridge type like you would on most cheap bikes/ebikes.
For a bit more money you can get good bikes from Kudos, 8Fun, Juicy and others - saves a lot of messing about and gives you everything working properly. Most people that fit kits seem to leave off something because it's difficult to fit. e.g brake switches, throttles, pedal sensor, etc

 

[Cyclezee]

You don't need torque arms on a 250w motor. I've never seen them on a ready-made bike with the same motor as in the kits you're considering. The kits provide anti-rotation washers which are sufficient to resist the torque without damaging your drop-outs provided you remember to tighten your wheel axle nuts properly.

Hi Dave,

Sorry to be pedantic, but eZee use the same motors on bikes and kits. Both are fitted in the case of bikes or supplied in the case of kits with a torque device or plates to prevent axle rotation within the dropouts.
They may not be strictly essential, but we do recommend them in the intrests of safety.

An example is shown below on an eZee Forza

 

[jerrysimon]

My Alien seemed to have a lot of grunt/torque and I too felt much happier fitting one.

Mine was home made and cost pennies/nothing.

On the Tongxin's I would not bother even more so with mine which is only 180watt. Then again the Brompton kind of has built in torque arms

Regards

Jerry

 

[Scottyf]

On front forks there more essential. But again on a 250w kit on cromo forks it never caused an issue.
I then had a rear motor and ran up to 1500w, again without torque arms. Again no issues.
I've then ran over 2500w on the rear and it's been ok but opted for torque arms.

I may have been lucky. But as I've stated above it's better to have them for the sake of a tenner. It will cost more to replace the fork if something did happen.

In hind sight I would have got some much earlier.