Conversion Help

[DaveTheChef]

Conversion Help

Hello you beautiful people,

So here's the rub, I'm in London and I'm looking at doing an ebike conversion on a budget, but she's got to come out pretty.

So as a basis I'm looking for a bike with a flat top bar and a rear hub motor (very illegal but very sexy to the other delivery boys).

Ideally an old mountain bike where I can replace the stem and get nice flat handlebars put some panniers on the back to use as a battery bag, 26x2.2 inch road tyres. Everything nice brown leather, black frame, very classy.

However, for some reason they're now worth their weight in gold and it's tough to find one at the right price.

So here's where you absolute stunners come in, here's the options:

1. I can go for a fixie which are everywhere, problem is dropouts so I'd have to go mid drive (there goes the budget). Lack of grip because of the 700c tyres
2. I've seen some internal hub geared bikes, I know nothing about how to convert these and worried about dropouts again.

Anyone with some good suggestions?

Whisper in my ear your sweet knowledge oh wise ones.

Help me ebike community you're my only hope.

 

[matthewslack]

Conversion Help

Hello you beautiful people,

So here's the rub, I'm in London and I'm looking at doing an ebike conversion on a budget, but she's got to come out pretty.

So as a basis I'm looking for a bike with a flat top bar and a rear hub motor (very illegal but very sexy to the other delivery boys).

Ideally an old mountain bike where I can replace the stem and get nice flat handlebars put some panniers on the back to use as a battery bag, 26x2.2 inch road tyres. Everything nice brown leather, black frame, very classy.

However, for some reason they're now worth their weight in gold and it's tough to find one at the right price.

So here's where you absolute stunners come in, here's the options:

1. I can go for a fixie which are everywhere, problem is dropouts so I'd have to go mid drive (there goes the budget). Lack of grip because of the 700c tyres
2. I've seen some internal hub geared bikes, I know nothing about how to convert these and worried about dropouts again.

Anyone with some good suggestions?

Whisper in my ear your sweet knowledge oh wise ones.

Help me ebike community you're my only hope.

Sounds like you need to find your bike first.

If you end up with rear hub gears and can't stretch to a Bafang/TSDZ2 then it'll have to be a front hub, which means looking carefully at the forks.

Either that or decide on the motor setup you prefer and use that to guide your bike search.

 

[Waspy]

Older mountain bikes with square taper bottom brackets and 26" wheels are fairly easy to convert to rear wheel motor and plenty of used ones on the market.

A 250w geared rear hub motor is not at all illegal.

Short stem with flat bars is an easy job.

Brown leather seat, grips etc. another easy job.

Finding one with a black frame could be tricky, but you could always re-spray it, or get it re-sprayed.

You could get a kit with the battery on a rear rack, I'm not sure about putting the battery in the actual pannier bags but I've no doubt someone here knows how to do it though.

 

[sjpt]

I'm not sure if most mid drive motors have a freewheel of sorts. If not use on a fixie would put strains on the motor for which it won't be designed.

You say 'other delivery boys'; will delivery be your main use of the bike? As Waspy says above, a 250w geared rear hub motor is not illegal. Also, it tends to be a lot more efficient and easy on the battery than a large direct drive motor. If you went for one of those you will need quite a hefty and expensive battery to ensure you get a days worth of delivery out of it. Also the large direct drive motors are almost all illegal, and very obvious to spot as such. Most people are getting away with it, but I think it quite likely the police will have a clamp down campaign at some point.