Decathlon Town Bikes Conversion

mcgres

Finding my (electric) wheels
Mar 23, 2020
11
4
I've been using the gTech for a couple of years now as my round town bike*, I bought it as a minimal maintenance commuter then covid stopped by commute a week before it arrived. The motor really does take the sting out the single speed however it is a bit limited. The motor is little weedy for my fat arse so maxes out at ~13.5mph**. Seems to be a bit of a shortage of town ebikes, mostly focused on sport, but I was thinking these decathlon*** bikes look quite good and converting one to a ebike should be fairly simple.

It's only used for fairly short trips to shops/office, I've got a gravel and mtb for when I'm touring (I use term loosely)

So anyone had any experience with this bike or its brethren either converting or ? Or an OTS model I've not noticed but without too many proprietary parts, the £300 gtec battery makes me nervous!

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/elops-520-step-over-town-bike/_/R-p-168450?mc=8378493&c=GREEN

*still only done about 500 miles
**this is fine most of the time but the single gear is about right for 15mph so can take a bit of effort to bridge that gap. Personally I find 13.5mph a bit slow in moving traffic.
*** not seen much I'd like used
 

Bonzo Banana

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 29, 2019
801
461
I've been using the gTech for a couple of years now as my round town bike*, I bought it as a minimal maintenance commuter then covid stopped by commute a week before it arrived. The motor really does take the sting out the single speed however it is a bit limited. The motor is little weedy for my fat arse so maxes out at ~13.5mph**. Seems to be a bit of a shortage of town ebikes, mostly focused on sport, but I was thinking these decathlon*** bikes look quite good and converting one to a ebike should be fairly simple.

It's only used for fairly short trips to shops/office, I've got a gravel and mtb for when I'm touring (I use term loosely)

So anyone had any experience with this bike or its brethren either converting or ? Or an OTS model I've not noticed but without too many proprietary parts, the £300 gtec battery makes me nervous!

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/elops-520-step-over-town-bike/_/R-p-168450?mc=8378493&c=GREEN

*still only done about 500 miles
**this is fine most of the time but the single gear is about right for 15mph so can take a bit of effort to bridge that gap. Personally I find 13.5mph a bit slow in moving traffic.
*** not seen much I'd like used
If you scroll down on that Decathlon page it says 100kg total load including bike weight, accessories. luggage etc. So leaves about 80kg for the rider and I guess any ebike conversion would take a chunk of that too depending on the kit you use. Many bikes have a 120kg rider rating with up to 160kg total load. Of course you can risk overloading the frame and forks but the stated loads are there to allow you to make an informed choice regarding your own safety. Of course I don't know how much you weigh but you did say 'fat arse' above.
 

mcgres

Finding my (electric) wheels
Mar 23, 2020
11
4
If you scroll down on that Decathlon page it says 100kg total load including bike weight, accessories. luggage etc. So leaves about 80kg for the rider and I guess any ebike conversion would take a chunk of that too depending on the kit you use. Many bikes have a 120kg rider rating with up to 160kg total load. Of course you can risk overloading the frame and forks but the stated loads are there to allow you to make an informed choice regarding your own safety. Of course I don't know how much you weigh but you did say 'fat arse' above.
Oh damm. I'd be way overloading that frame before I even added the conversion kit.

Thanks- good spot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bonzo Banana