john1234567

Was looking at the crank mounted kit you linked to above. Doesn't that cause problems with gears and chains? Accelerated wear, skipping teeth, broken chains, ect.. ?

Ok, it turns out after de-restriction this thing is an absolute animal. The long off-road hill section which it was struggling with on Monday was no problem today. The hill is at least a mile long and very draining unassisted on a normal pushbike. This is exactly why I bought the kit and it turns out to have worked well, despite initial reservations. My advice to anyone reviewing options and in a similar situation to myself is that the 1000w 48v kit is awesome as long as you can use it de-restricted, both legally and technically the kit has to be capable of doing it. i.e. if there is no de-restriction option then go for the geared 250w options being recommended elsewhere.

Naa, the motor is 2 or 3 pin. I looked into the connector when I was fitting it but I forget now. It senses speed so I'm inclined to say it is 3-pin rather than 2.

Ok, many of these replies came 'after' I bought the kit so it isn't the case that I wasn't listening. I started this thread asking for advice in the first instance. So after a bit of a wait for parts I've got the kit installed and it's pretty good. I'm just a bit disappointed with the hill climbing performance at the moment. I don't know if that is because it is restricted and not able to provide full power or if the limit is the ability of the motor as per cautions posted above. I've found you can pretty much leave the bike in 21st gear and use the motor to blip you away from the line, as you get above 5 or so mph it is possible to pedal as normal. Overall I'm pretty happy, I was able to overtake some professional cyclists going up one of the hills on the local trail on the test ride. Does anyone know how possible it is to change the rear wheel for something better suited to hill climbing if I find in the end that it isn't good enough? The battery is 48v. Would I have to change the whole kit or could I just fit a more suitable rear wheel?

And I should add, I'm glad that your bike is capable of the sort of performance I'm hoping to get from my kit. If it's the sort of thing you can do with an eBike then I'm reassured that I've made the right decision to invest in this technology and that I've not wasted my money.

Price though... I think that's the difference. The CX3 is more than a £1000 pound cheaper than any of the KTMs I could see the price of. As with any other sort of electrical appliance there are other variables which will affect the overall performance of the product. So both would be 250w rated but there will be other differences elsewhere which mean the guy who reported in a review that his bike struggled with some hills and you who say you've no problem with any hill are both correct at the same time. I definitely can't afford a KTM.

I did do some improvements to my existing bike in preparation for fitting the kit. As mentioned above, I wasn't happy with the condition of my bike. I had the headset changed and new brake pads fitted. It rides a lot better now and is ready for the upgrade to electric.

I wanted to buy the eBike linked to above but found it isn't back in stock for a long time. I think they quoted end of May or something like that. I looked around at some of the other bikes and there aren't any which are as cheap as the CX3. I liked the idea of a lightweight aluminium frame, disc brakes and suspension forks at the price. However, since the CX3 wasn't available I had to do more research to try and find out what I wanted and started to get worried that the 250w motor isn't up to the job. I read a review of a 250w bike (it might have been the CX3 but can't remember) and the guy said it struggled on hills. Given that I wanted an electric bike specifically for hills it became obvious that the 250w motor wasn't going to cut the mustard. So I went for the 1000w motor. That also requires a step-up in battery voltage to the 48v battery and I recognised from other themes I'm more familiar with that the requirement for a stronger battery meant the 1000w motor was in a different class to the lower powered 36v 750w kits. The legality of a kit like this is questionable but it can be legally sold as long as it is restricted to 15.5mph. I'm actually fine with that speed and won't be de-restricting it. My reason for buying the more powerful kit was to ensure that it could deliver within the legal limit under less than ideal conditions. i.e. on a very steep incline I am hoping for 7+ mph. I read that the 250w kits aren't really up to the job. I'll add more details when I've tried it out.

That pre-converted electric bike looks very tempting actually. I know I said I thought I'd be ok converting my old one, but my old bike isn't in fantastic shape anyway so I could just scrap it and go for the electric option. The components look cheap on that bike, but I guess over time you could upgrade.

I'm ok with messing around. My bike is 25 years old and has been rebuilt several times during that period. I guess there's no point in having a conversion forum if people only recommend replacing the entire bike.

I'd have to estimate my weight as I don't weigh myself much. I reckon a fairly average 12 stone would be a good guess. I googled the BBS01B but there are two things which don't seem great about that kit. Primarily the fact that they're experiencing supply problems so aren't able to offer the kits currently. It also seems to involve many more moving parts compared with a brushless motorised rear wheel. It would be great to see links to kits people have already bought which would be good for what I'm trying to do. It is a very big hill so I'd rather overspecify as it would be a pointless exercise if the motor wasn't powerful enough.

Hello, Cycle every day to work but there is a very large hill that I have to ascend in either direction and after a hard day at the office and at the end of the journey I have to do the Matterhorn and I just don't like it. My commute is about 15 miles round trip. So my question is what would be the best starter kit for converting my old bike to electric rear wheel. I'm a very good engineer so can make stuff work without being spoon fed or when things aren't ideal I know what to do. So I guess what I'm looking for is to decide what my specifications should be. I just want to be able to climb the hill and I can peddle for the rest. Of course I also want quality and reliability. I've seen the kits on eBay ranging from £200 to £600. I could build my own from parts. Are the brushless hub motors the best thing these days?