Standard Bike Accessories Ebike Kit?

[Caph]

I've modified my Galileo with a new controller housing and battery housing and I think it's worked out pretty well.

I bought the Specialised Mini Wedgie waterproof seat pack (£10) for the controller and it fits it so perfectly they may as well market it specifically for the purpose.

Then I got hold of the Topeak Quick Release Beam Rack MTX (£34) along with the smallest (8L) MTX Trunk Bag EX (£38) and the Beam Rack muguard (£5). The EX trunk bag is a good fit for my battery and has a large velcro separator allowing me to segment the back in a section the perfect size for the battery and have another compartment for storage. At long last I can now pack all my breakdown bits and bobs and my lunch without having to wear a backpack plus, as a bonus, it has a fitting for a rear light.

The only other thing I needed to do was extend the power lead to the battery which was pretty simple once I'd got hold of some Japanese bullet connectors, some twin core 10A electrical cable, some heat shrink tube and a two way waterproof electrical connector from an excellent ebay store called Autostar for £13.

The new setup means I just unplug the connector situated under the seat then press the quick release button on the trunk bag, slide it off the rail, and walk off with my battery and other stuff in the bag which has its own soft carrying handle. It even comes with its own shoulder strap for even easier carrying.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with it, but it has got me thinking about how easy this would make converting a normal bike into an ebike allowing you to choose your own battery without any restriction on battery size/shape or attachment - it's perfect for Ping shrink wrapped LiFePO4 for example (half the cost of my battery and has 3 times the life expectancy). The beam rack even comes with different sized shims so it fits most seatposts perfectly.

Here's the finished product:-

Here's the quick release in action:-

Here's what you can fit in the bag:-

I really like the way the colour and shape of the setup match up with the rest of the bike so well.

[EDIT] There seems to be major problems with the image embedding. It's finally decided to render them as anchor tags for some unknown reasons but at least the links are good so I'm not wasting any more time on it.

 

[saneagle]

Very impressed with what you have done with the bag for all the bits & bobs.I have done similar,as i have got two batteries and have taken them out of their aluminium cases then put direct into a football boot bag which is a perfect fit.Once i fitted batteries into the bag,i then made 4 holes for the charging outlets & power outlets.All of the holes were then sealed.

 

[Caph]

I hadn't thought about holes for charging. At the moment I have to lift the battery out of the bag to charge it which isn't as easy as it was. I've been looking out for a right angled single pole connector so I can fit an extension cable for the charging socket but I haven't found one yet.

The football bag sounds a lot cheaper than my solution!

 

[NRG]

Neat solution Caph, I like the quick release Topeak bag idea.

 

[Caph]

Yes, it was the quick release that was the deal breaker for me. If I couldn't have had that I probably wouldn't have bothered. If I was more adventurous I'd have tried extending all the wires and used a single connector, then I could have put the controller in the bag too. A single 15 wire connector however was a step too far for me! It's also handy being able to operate the quick release on the rack itself to convert my ebike in to (almost) a regular bike in just a few seconds.

I'm still amazed at how well suited this setup is to convert any bike in to an ebike. This particular rack is for full suspension MTBs but they do regular racks too which connect to the rear wheel axle and take a lot more weight. It's very quiet too even over rough terrain. I usually put the spare inner tube on top of the battery which suppresses any vertical movement.