If you've been waiting for electric bikes to finally become affordable, then the wait is almost over

 

Panda is proud to announce its support for the SWYTCH conversion kit launching soon on INDIEGOGO

 

 

 

The RRP for this ground breaking new ebike conversion kit is $699, and it will be available by pre-order for $375 (About £300!)

 

 

However - for those that pre-register the campaign page will be released a day early with an "early-bird" price of $299 (£225) with limited availability

 

 

 

Those interested should register ASAP to be added to the list for pre-pre-order notification

 

You can sign up here:

www.swytchbike.com

Edited September 29, 20178 yr by Swytch Bike

It's really horrible. It's like a tumour.

Bit wary of crowdfunded projects, after the Kanoa wireless headphones fiasco

 

http://fortune.com/2017/08/27/headphone-startup-kanoa-youtube-review/

I think it's ok, the handlebar mounted battery/control unit is very much like that on a model which was sold by Sun bicycles a few years ago. It's a simple way of adding the necessary and can avoid the bending cable from frame to forks that conventional builds suffer.

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Bit wary of crowdfunded projects, after the Kanoa wireless headphones fiasco

 

http://fortune.com/2017/08/27/headphone-startup-kanoa-youtube-review/

 

Yes there is some bad press out there for crowd-funded projects run by companies that are good at marketing and making nice photos, but not very good at engineering.... they end up having to hire engineers at the last minute, or they don't bother and they fail.

 

 

SWYTCH is the opposite, we are a group of engineers who have developed and built a patent pending product that is already ready for production. The purpose of crowd-funding is to offer our customers a better price.

Yes there is some bad press out there for crowd-funded projects run by companies that are good at marketing and making nice photos, but not very good at engineering.... they end up having to hire engineers at the last minute, or they don't bother and they fail.

 

 

SWYTCH is the opposite, we are a group of engineers who have developed and built a patent pending product that is already ready for production. The purpose of crowd-funding is to offer our customers a better price.

I wasn't knocking the product, which looks to be very well thought out, just the companies that promise so much but don't deliver.

 

Hopefully they achieve all the goals set out in the list on the website, and it becomes a raging success.

Why not mount the battery pack lower?

Looks like a giant magnet. Get behind a car or truck and the magnet will reward you with a tow.

Any bike ? Even fatbike? I have the feeling not. I might be interested if it could be an option

Why not mount the battery pack lower?

I know what you mean - it does look (and handle?) a bit strange but, according to their website "...when you reach your destination, you simply take our cleverly designed battery bag with you, so there's no temptation for anyone to 'borrow' your prized possession..", which I suppose might be useful.

If you've been waiting for electric bikes to finally become affordable, then the wait is almost over

 

Panda is proud to announce its support for the SWYTCH conversion kit launching soon on INDIEGOGO

 

 

 

The RRP for this ground breaking new ebike conversion kit is $699, and it will be available by pre-order for $375 (About £300!)

 

 

However - for those that pre-register the campaign page will be released a day early with an "early-bird" price of $299 (£225) with limited availability

 

 

 

Those interested should register ASAP to be added to the list for pre-pre-order notification

 

You can sign up here:

www.swytchbike.com

I know someone who might be interested. The website seems to be wholly focused on dollars though. How would it work for someone from UK registering interest? (postage etc....)

A lot of things to like about this kit and Panda eBikes have been around for quite a while, so know their stuff.

 

Looks simple to fit and is even lighter than the Cytronex kit at a fraction of the price.

 

Could you tell me the two battery sizes available with the kit?

I know what you mean - it does look (and handle?) a bit strange but, according to their website "...when you reach your destination, you simply take our cleverly designed battery bag with you, so there's no temptation for anyone to 'borrow' your prized possession..", which I suppose might be useful.

 

But it could be mounted lower and still be removable.

But it could be mounted lower and still be removable.

 

Though true, very many utility bikes have a headlight mounted lower down in front of the headstock, which could prevent that.

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Any bike ? Even fatbike? I have the feeling not. I might be interested if it could be an option

Yes, even a fatbike, there will be an upgrade option for about $50 extra that upgrades to a fat tyre wheel with tyre

A lot of things to like about this kit and Panda eBikes have been around for quite a while, so know their stuff.

 

Looks simple to fit and is even lighter than the Cytronex kit at a fraction of the price.

 

Could you tell me the two battery sizes available with the kit?

 

 

Thanks for your kind words. We definitely want people to know that it's a serious piece of engineering backed by the 4 years experience Panda eBikes has given us

 

The "25 mile" battery is 5.2Ah, and "50 mile" is 10.4Ah

I know someone who might be interested. The website seems to be wholly focused on dollars though. How would it work for someone from UK registering interest? (postage etc....)

 

Because we are using Indiegogo , an American crowd funding platform the price has to be in $

 

The price includes all shipping and VAT and duty etc. Delivered to your door

 

When you pay the price will be converted into £GBP

Thanks for your kind words. We definitely want people to know that it's a serious piece of engineering backed by the 4 years experience Panda eBikes has given us

 

The "25 mile" battery is 5.2Ah, and "50 mile" is 10.4Ah

Hmmmm, I'm no expert but 50miles on 10.4Ah?!.

Because we are using Indiegogo , an American crowd funding platform the price has to be in $

 

The price includes all shipping and VAT and duty etc. Delivered to your door

 

When you pay the price will be converted into £GBP

OK, thanks - but just remembered, he has a very steep hill to negotiate so he would need rear wheel or crank drive.

Hmmmm, I'm no expert but 50miles on 10.4Ah?!.

 

Almost all successful marketing campaigns for eBikes and ebike kits are claiming 50 miles for a 10.4Ah battery, we are aligning with those other campaigns. To be fair, I've personally ridden 35 miles on one of our kits at full power (minimal pedalling), and over 65 miles when conserving power. So 50 miles isn't unrealistic

 

As an example of another well marketed product. Take UrbanX, they have sold over $1m worth of eBike kits and claim 30 miles from a 110Wh battery (less than 5Ah) so on that basis we could legitimately go to the mass market saying it is 60 miles on a 10.4Ah battery

 

If we had our way we would call for an international standard to bring all ebike marketing inline with consistent claims of range but I think that is a way down the line.

Come on be fair! Let the car companies get their mileage sorted first, they have bee around for longer...

 

You have some competition:

Almost all successful marketing campaigns for eBikes and ebike kits are claiming 50 miles for a 10.4Ah battery, we are aligning with those other campaigns. To be fair, I've personally ridden 35 miles on one of our kits at full power (minimal pedalling), and over 65 miles when conserving power. So 50 miles isn't unrealistic

 

As an example of another well marketed product. Take UrbanX, they have sold over $1m worth of eBike kits and claim 30 miles from a 110Wh battery (less than 5Ah) so on that basis we could legitimately go to the mass market saying it is 60 miles on a 10.4Ah battery

 

If we had our way we would call for an international standard to bring all ebike marketing inline with consistent claims of range but I think that is a way down the line.

Do two "wrongs" make a right? Surely the correct approach is to claim for only what is possible (based on experience/testing/etc) not on what others are claiming.

Do two "wrongs" make a right? Surely the correct approach is to claim for only what is possible (based on experience/testing/etc) not on what others are claiming.

 

Trouble is that what Panda claims is perfectly possible. I've personally shown that 50 miles is possible on a Kalkhoff Agattu with a 26v 10Ah battery, in the hilly North Downs at the age of 71.

 

My average though on that bike was 35 miles, while some others often much younger subsequently only managed 30 miles or even only 25 miles in a couple of cases.

 

And therein is the problem, range depends more on the cyclist's ability and inclinations than any other factors. To compete in the market a company feels the need to quote the best, rather than the worst. The seemingly most honest approach of quoting say 25 to 50 miles can't work for two reasons. First, most potential customers won't understand why something more definite isn't being quoted. Second, many will just assume the worst.

 

To show how ridiculous this issue can become, Kalkhoff using the same motor unit and battery on Pro Connect models had a team of three professional riders cover 100 miles riding together, each using one 10Ah battery!

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Trouble is that what Panda claims is perfectly possible. I've personally shown that 50 miles is possible on a Kalkhoff Agattu with a 26v 10Ah battery, in the hilly North Downs at the age of 71.

 

My average though on that bike was 35 miles, while some others often much younger subsequently only managed 30 miles or even only 25 miles in a couple of cases.

 

And therein is the problem, range depends more on the cyclist's ability and inclinations than any other factors. To compete in the market a company feels the need to quote the best, rather than the worst. The seemingly most honest approach of quoting say 25 to 50 miles can't work for two reasons. First, most potential customers won't understand why something more definite isn't being quoted. Second, many will just assume the worst.

 

To show how ridiculous this issue can become, Kalkhoff using the same motor unit and battery on Pro Connect models had a team of three professional riders cover 100 miles riding together, each using one 10Ah battery!

.

Fair point but, if we can get a man on the moon, surely we should be able to devise a test that accurately compares the maximum range of various battery/motor set ups? Or is it like golf shoes - impossible to manufacture any that stay waterproof for more than 12 months!

surely we should be able to devise a test that accurately compares the maximum range of various battery/motor set ups?

 

Unfortunately not if the test results are to be understandable to customers.

 

As I pointed out, rider abilities and indeed moods are so variable that consistency isn't possible. Test bike "A" this week and get a result. Next week bike "B" is for test, but the first rider is on holiday so comparisons using another rider will be invalid. Weather too changes and cold affects batteries and even rider performance.

 

Perhaps the only answer is to theoretically check for maximum range in identical circumstances, but the industry will reasonably want those to be based on best conditions. Like the car tests and just as useless!

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