Conversion kit or Complete Bicycle?

[alexamillion]

hi,

I tried to get this thread in the focus group section but i cant post there! anyway...

I would very much like to find whether cyclists on this forum have gone down the route of 'electronic motor conversion kits 'for their bicycles, or have gone out and bought a 'complete electric bicycle'!

could i also get peoples opinions why they have chosen each one?

thanks, this will help me with my study into electric bicycles for my university project

 

[flecc]

I use complete e-bikes, mainly because the battery is integrated and in a sensible location with it's weight low. Battery placement is always a problem with kits fitted to normal bikes since batteries are bulky and heavy items, even the smallest and lightest batteries being a quarter of the weight of a good normal bike and the majority twice that.

In addition, kits have often been out of date designs, bulky and heavy, and when up to date designs, the availability has been a problem in some cases. After sales support on kits is generally inferior to that on complete bikes, though even on complete bikes it's often not good.

Front hub motor kits also need the forks on a standard bike widened, sometimes by a considerable amount being impossible by stretching, meaning an engineering solution.
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