Help! Advice on this conversion kit ?

[kilo-echo]

I've ordered a front wheel conversion kit from China. A friend advised me against installing a front hub motor on an aluminum suspension fork, slightly late because my kit arrives in a few days

this is my 2013 bike - https://bit.ly/2lG6Hvu
this is the kit from china - https://bit.ly/2k1ELlz
this is the battery from china - https://bit.ly/2lE16Go

I'm not a mechanic, if I do need to replace the fork I will seek out a local repair shop. Any advice greatly appreciated. I'm in the UK.

 

[sjpt]

Those high power direct drive motors aren't very efficient, but can give quite a kick. I would definitely make sure you fit torque arms whatever front forks you have. Try it with those and see how it goes, but go gently. You may find the handling a bit awkward; the motor is probably a pretty heavy rotating mass.

 

[kilo-echo]

thanks, I will be trying the suspension fork first adding a torque arm on each side if possible, any advice on which ones to buy in the UK appreciated, most of them don't look too sturdy ?

 

[Nealh]

I hope you are not too disappointed with the front D/D kit, they are heavy hubs and might be bit of a hand full and will make your suspension forks feel heavy.
Tbh you will be better with steel forks, ali fork dropouts even with T/A's will eventually crack so make sure the T/A's are secure and not by jubilee clips.

A geared rear hub motor like the Akiema Q128c would have been a better motor, a 48v 260rpm one with 22/25a controller would give as much if not more power then the D/D and also have better climbing ability.

 

[vfr400]

Are you sure the forks are aluminium? The ones in the photo look like steel. Test them with a magnet if you're not sure.

Those kits work, but they're pretty awful compared with alternatives that don't cost much more. The main problem is that you only get one power level with the pedal sensor, and that's maximum, so I wouldn't bother fitting the pedal sensor, but that makes it illegal, not that it was legal with it anyway. A controller with 5 levels selected by an LCD would have been better.

 

[kilo-echo]

looks like your right, spec says the lower fork is steel, thanks ... https://bit.ly/2klb7rK
Youtube videos posted by people who have this kit, or similar, indicate I will probably need to file the dropouts in order to fit the motorized hub. Then I have to buy torque arms and get those fitted correctly. Everything arrives on Saturday so I'll know better then. It's a cheap kit I know, maybe later if this is a successful conversion, I'll be looking to upgrade. Thanks everyone for the advice and for the heads-up on my forks, I will post back here as things progress

 

[Benjahmin]

I've used these on a few conversions, they're robust.

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They fit to mudguard or rack bosses, you may have to fabricate a fixing.
TBH I wouldn't do what you're doing. A DD hub like that will be gutless on hills. It adds a load of unsprung weight to the forks rendering them pretty useless. The battery has no name cells so will probably suffer from the low speed high current demands of that motor. Lastly the motor is in your face obvious and illegal.
However we all have our own learning curve and I hope you enjoy the conversion process and come out of it with a better understanding of your machine.

 

[vfr400]

Generally, you don't need torque arms on steel forks for a motor like that, though I'd fit one on the brake side for added safety. In the photo, it looks like your drop-outs are 5mm steel plate. Have a look at them to see if they look strong enough. It also looks like you have a 10mm bolt-on axle, so the 14x10 mm axle should fit, but it probably won't go in deep enough. That will make the centre of the axle 3mm lower. You might have to do something with the brake caliper to put it in the right position relative to the disc, otherwise file the drop-outs deeper as long as that doesn't weaken them.

 

[kilo-echo]

Thanks for the torque arm info, I'll take a look at them after the kit arrives tomorrow, I'm sure they will be perfect. (hammer-ebikes.com) I never knew they existed, looking at their site they sell a completed e-bike similar to the one I'm converting.

Perhaps I should have said earlier, I live in London, so my bike only sees city streets and I avoid hills passionately. I'm 70, at this stage in life any assistance getting up hills is most welcome.

If I'm honest I did little to no research regarding this conversion, I'm learning as I go. Everything I'm reading tells me axle fit to dropouts and torque arm installation are things to get right. I'm extremely thankful for the posts in this thread to date, they've been really helpful.

 

[kilo-echo]

I received the kit, got the front wheel installed, the axle fitted into the drop-out without issue. My only issue is fitting the battery on the down tube, only one of my bottle bosses aligns with the battery holder, so the battery is not secure yet. Connected everything up and happy to say it works, The torque arms have been ordered, overall I'm very positive.

 

[vfr400]

You have two choices to fit the battery. You can take the plastic cover off the receiver and drill through the aluminium in the right place for the bottle fixing , or you can add your own 5mm rivnut that you can buy on Ebay. For the latter, you have to drill your frame to fit it and you need a couple of strips of steel with 5mm holes in the end and a 5mm screw to rivet the rivnut in place. Personally, I'd do both to have three fixing points.