Doing an Ebike Conversion

[Vaf513]

Absolutely! I don't get bashed here for not spending 5k on an ebike!

Excellent!!

 

[HillAversion]

I've been very happy with my conversion so far. I went with a Bafang BBS02, a 52V 8ah battery and an 860C controller. The battery fits in the pannier with room to spare for other junk. I started with a very solid, well-built bike in good condition and I think that really helped. The only issue has been that gears 1-3 are now a bit squirrelly because the motor pushed the chainring slightly out of line, but I knew that could happen. I'll probably order a Lekkie chainring to address the issue.

I don't think I'd chance taking a motor off a pre-made E-bike and putting it on a different frame. You never know how a proprietary motor and other parts will fit on a different bike. I think I'd stick with kits that are made for that purpose. I probably could have bought a cheap pre-made E-bike for what this kit cost me with bike tools and accessories, but I'm not sure it would have been as good. This bike is smooth and powerful. Hills have ceased to exist. No more hill aversion. I'm a happy camper. Besides, I learned a lot about how a bike is put together through this process.

Kudos to the Electrify Bike Company for all their support. They're great people to deal with and it's nice to have somebody to call if you get stuck with a conversion. There's also a wealth of information on their website.

 

[socialfilter]

Thanks for the reply and link. I'll check out EBC. I think I finally got through to Rattan and they say they'll be sending me a new battery and display. I think some of it was a language barrier issue, both me not understanding Chinese and them not recognizing my curse words lol

 

[kmccune]

Thanks for the welcome and for the input.

I don't expect to do super long rides. I imagine 10-12 miles with a single hill will be about my limit.
Still think I'll need more than 15 AH? At this point it's a WAG for me.

15 Ah should be plenty, I do a 16 mile loop with a lot of Hills and the display still shows full after this ride-but, it depends on how much you put in and how fast you try to go( 500 watt motor) the fattire bike with 750 watt and 12.5 Ah battery will drop to 2 bars at the end of this loop. Speed kills range and level of assist makes a big difference.

 

[HillAversion]

15 Ah should be plenty, I do a 16 mile loop with a lot of Hills and the display still shows full after this ride-but, it depends on how much you put in and how fast you try to go( 500 watt motor) the fattire bike with 750 watt and 12.5 Ah battery will drop to 2 bars at the end of this loop. Speed kills range and level of assist makes a big difference.

I decided to go with a 750 watt motor and a 52V 50 amp 8ah battery. So far it’s working out fine for me. And it saved me $100. I doubt I’ll ever ride more than 10 miles in a single day and I always pedal. Speed isn’t my thing, so I can milk some pretty good mileage out of a battery

 

[Bohemoth]

I did three ebike conversions using our old Trek MTBs and a more recent Motobecane 29er for myself. I used BBS02 mid-drive motors, P850C Displays, and 52V 13A batteries. I am very happy with my conversions. Myself, my wife and sister-in-law all rode quite a bit this summer on both pavement and dirt/gravel trails (not MTB-type single track trails). We rode in all kinds of conditions all the way from flat paved trails in Idaho (Cour De Laine) to steep hills in Western Montana (Trail of the Hiawathas/NorPac, etc.). The bikes worked very well. I am an older rider (68+ yrs) and found our bikes more than adequate to handle those types of rides. On flat trails the 52V battery would take my wife about 50 mi with moderate assist levels (30%). I never ran out of juice on any of our rides. The rides with moderate to steep hills that we did were 25-30 miles. We pedaled on all of our rides and didn't use the throttle.
I am admittedly a DIYer and did tinker with my bike quite a bit to get it right. I even re-programmed the Flash for all of our bikes to get a good workable ride for all three of us.
It depends upon what you want and whether you buy or build. As another individual mentioned, there are some very good ebikes for reasonable prices if you just want to ride. And there are many fantastic MTBs and specialty bikes that you can purchase for a pretty penny. We are happy with our choices based on our riding style, budget and the fact I am a DIY guy.

Any pics of the Motobecane 29? I have Motobecane HT529 I am considering converting with that same kit I think. What type of tires did you use? Mine has Maxxis Hookworms which are awesome. And a fat boy seat from Lectric.
Thanks