Swytch Kits

[Philg93]

I have the 700c 50 mile kit ordered with the Indiegogo 50% offer. I sent off my £375 and waited 9 months until February 2019 when it eventually arrived.

I have been very happy with it, minor quibbles aside - i.e. if the front wheel loses traction on a steep slippery hill then the controller throws a noisy fit which sometimes needs a soft reset to recover from.

I'm not sure if their current offering is great VFM though, as it seems to be more expensive for a smaller battery. That said it is a very neat package but I too would investigate more recent wireless kit before jumping in again.

Also I'd be more cautious about going with another crowd funded purchase as I believe you lose your money without Section 75 compensation should the company fold?

 

[Bob Bending]

Something else we've noticed with the kit... The WiFi trip computer on the bars near the Swytch battery goes mad when the power is on. It's obviously picking up interference from the system somewhere. We have put a sensor on the back wheel and mounted the unit on the crossbar, near the seatpost (not ideal) and this works ok.

 

[Bob Bending]

My wife has an auto-immune disorder which has left her with 60% lung capacity and she's no longer strong enough to ride solo for long, hence me fitting the Swytch system. After a few rides it became apparent that a throttle would be really useful for pulling away at junctions, and in particular, hill-starts. Although they are listed on the Swytch site, there's no way to purchase one, and they are very expensive at around the £20 mark. I bought a bar throttle off Amazon for about £8 inc postage. Fitted it this morning. The kit has a connector which I cut off to expose three wires, red, black and grey. The throttle lead was long, so I trimmed it. Three wires again, red, black and green. Soldered the matching colours (after checking it worked) and the grey to green. She loved the drops, so I used a Minoura Space Mount to locate the throttle in a place where she can get to it with her thumb.

I realise that this addition is not legal, as the bike can now be powered without pedalling, but without the throttle, hill starts would be a real struggle for her.

 

[vfr400]

Nice solution.

There's a thread running at the moment where a guy is asking about turbo trainers. maybe you could say a few things about yours.

 

[Bob Bending]

Nice solution.

There's a thread running at the moment where a guy is asking about turbo trainers. maybe you could say a few things about yours.

You spotted that. I put it on the front wheel so I could test the throttle.

 

[ChrisMeBike]

Infopete,
I purchased two Swytch kits. One for my mountain bike and one for my wife's 700c hybrid. I have an issue with her kit. I think it's the motor. I've swapped powerpacks and get about the same symptoms so I think it's the motor wheel. I experience intermittent power from the front wheel. It will stop and start up randomly. It even has driven the front wheel briefly with no pedaling and I am walking the bike.

What symptoms did you have with the motor wheel on your two 700c bikes? Anything similar??

Thanks,
Chris

 

[matthewslack]

Infopete,
I purchased two Swytch kits. One for my mountain bike and one for my wife's 700c hybrid. I have an issue with her kit. I think it's the motor. I've swapped powerpacks and get about the same symptoms so I think it's the motor wheel. I experience intermittent power from the front wheel. It will stop and start up randomly. It even has driven the front wheel briefly with no pedaling and I am walking the bike.

What symptoms did you have with the motor wheel on your two 700c bikes? Anything similar??

Thanks,
Chris

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