Buy or convert?

[aliasrichmond]

Hi, new to the forum so be gentle....

In 2 minds about buying an ebike or converting an existing pushbike....

In the first scenario, can you guys suggest good donor bikes...ie with the clearance to retrofit....looking for sit up & beg/roadster/dutch style
Total budget up to £500
Hilly journeys...so 36v min?

Rgds
Jim

 

[oigoi]

Hi Jim, if you've got to buy a donor bike then for the cost of a kit on top of that you can likely buy a complete ebike and save yourself the trouble of fitting the kit.

For example here is a decent quality kit on ebay:

8Fun Ebike Electric Bike Conversion Kit 36V 250W | eBay

There are kits available for less than this and considerably more, but hopefully you can see that the costs can quickly add up to a point where it would be easier for you to buy a complete ebike.

for example here is a popular budget ebike on amazon:

Cyclamatic Power Plus Electric e Bike: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Leisure

and here is the 8fun kit but already built up as a complete bicycle

8Fun 26"New Aluminium Electric Hybrid City Bike-26C12Y | eBay

Hope this is of some help for you. Regarding hill climbing, a crank drive machine like a tonaro or kalkhoff would be a better hill climbing machine but they are £1000 +

 

[NRG]

I have an alternative view. Decide if you like crank drive or hub. If you like crank drive then by new. If you like hub buy a bike you like and fit a kit, the base bike will be better spec than 90% of the manufacturers offerings and you'll be able to customise it more readily to suit you...

 

[Willin']

I think your budget limit of £500 will severely limit your options here. You can get a 8Fun kit for just over £400 which is probably the least you will pay unless you go direct to the chinese suppliers (as some have on here). If you want a donor bike at a reasonable cost then look at ebay - plus if you can find out when your local police force have auctions of recovered stolen bikes there are often bargains to be had there.

If you can stretch your budget for a complete bike then the Juicy Bike Classic fits your criteria above for a roadster/dutch style at £749. This will save you a lot of time and trouble unless you are mad keen to DIY.

If you are prepared to lower your sights a bit then the Cyclamatic Power Plus at £499* is a decent enough starter bike but is only 24 volt and not great on steep hills - I've got one and it's OK if you don't need to go more than about 15 miles between charges.

* don't buy a Cyclamatic direct from Amazon. Join a site like topcashback and go through them to the supplier SportsHQ. This way you will get a 10% discount (49.99 eventually as it takes a few weeks to come through) and also 5% cash credit (24.99) to spend on the site. Also keep an eye out for special offers from SportsHQ as they often knock off 20% on a 24hour special (but still go through the cashback site).

 

[cwah]

For my first electric bike, I decided to purchase a complete bike for the warranty and to have someone that can help you when you have problems with your bike.

But I think (when I'll have more knowledge) later I'll purchase a small folding bike and build it myself.


For £500 budget, you may prefer to purchase a complete bike because with a kit you'll need a lot of customisation. You'll have to purchase the tools to install it, and purchase complementary spare part (ex: cables tie) that will increase the total cost.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

It would be better to buy a complete bike for your first one unless you want a proper full suspension bike. Your budget is too low for the reputable lower cost bikes from Juicy, Kudos and 8Fun UK. My choice would be this one:
E26M03S | 26" Electric Aluminium Mountain Bike | 36V Lithium Bottle Battery with Panasonic Cells,21 SP SHIMANO, DISC Brake
You can change the handlebars on any bike to the Dutch type for less than a tenner. I have some of these and I can recommend them as being good for touring.
Amazon.co.uk: Used and New: Moon Cruiser Humpert

 

[aliasrichmond]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your replies, retrofit option was always going to be secondhand (to stay in budget), and as someone already stated, you can get better quality than a Chinese made frame, I was thinking about: Kettler, Pashley etc... as the basis for a retro fit, but was unsure if the drop width/other diamentions would allow.....and wondered if there was a list of great donor models in circulation

 

[Cyclezee]

Hi aliasrichmond,

I would agree with most of what has been said already. For £500 you would be at the very bottom of the complete electric bike market, even used ones that are in good working order.
As for recommending a good donor bike for a kit, that is matter of personal choice and I would suggest that you find a bike that you really like and check if there is a suitable kit to fit. I think you have possibly already done this. To fit an eZee kit for example you need to have 100 mm between the front dropouts for a front wheel motor hub installation and 130 mm for a rear wheel hub motor, other than those dimensions, an eZee kit will fit any bike with 20", 26" or 700c wheels.

A third solution could be to buy a used electric bike with a dud battery and simply fit a new battery to bring it back to life. There are many perfectly good examples like this sitting abandoned in garden sheds.
The best example I found cost only £80, a bit of cleaning, new battery and I had a virtually unused bike that retails for £1500.

 

[mike_j]

I took the conversion route because I had a decent bike that I liked and didn't think that I would get the same quality from a completed ebike within my price range. If I hadn't had the bike to start with I would have bought a complete ebike.

The description of the conversion is here.

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/9468-8fun-conversion-story.html

There is quite a lot of fiddling around and compromising on layout, I'm sure that a ready completed bike would have neat concealed cabling and less fudges on the pannier and control box installation. It would also have better resale value.

However I am very pleased with my bike which rides almost as well with power off as before the installation and so far has been very reliable and easy to ride with power on.

 

[indalo]

I'm sure that a ready completed bike would have neat concealed cabling and less fudges on the pannier and control box installation.

I wouldn't count on it Mike. Some of the ones I've looked at are appalling. You can tidy up the cables yourself with various types of wrapping but you shouldn't have to; the manufacturer or retailer should sort all that spaghetti evident on some bikes.

Indalo

 

[Cyclezee]

I usually spend more time over routing cabling and making the installation look tidy and discreet than the rest of the operation of fitting a kit. I am however loath to shorten cables, because the owner decides at a later date to transfer it to another bike, having cables that are 1 cm too short would be very annoying.

If anyone does decide to shorten cables, please remember the old carpentry tip, measure twice and cut once.

 

[JuicyBike]

It may help readers of this thread to know Juicy Bike kits are now reduced in price:
£495 for either 20", 26" or 28", with, except for the battery carrier, the same components as on our built bikes.