- Off-the-shelf E-bikes are not cheap, that's very true,
but that does not mean to say you cannot build your own
using a kit whether you've got a mountain bike, a road bike,
a cruiser, or a BMX.
- Yep, so today, we'll take a look
at a few different options,
and the pros and cons of each system.
(machine beeping)
- Now, before we dive into the different systems
on the market, let's have a look at some
of the key considerations you guys need to be thinking about
before you start building your own E-bike kit.
(upbeat music)
- I think you really need to take into account
whether you want throttle assist,
where you twist the grip or push a button,
or you want to pedal assist.
Also the terrain you're riding, is it hilly, or is it flat?
Whether you want that kit for commuting,
or plain mountain biking's a big difference.
- Yeah, there's a big difference there, Chris.
And also there's the hardware issues
to take into account, as well.
Now, can the bike you're converting,
can it actually deal with the added weight of a motor,
and a battery, and a control?
Second thing is such things as the bottom bracket
with now some of these motors only suitable
for certain widths such as 60 to 73.
And also think about the chain line on your bike.
Can it actually deal with, say,
a hub drive or a mid-drive motor?
- And also the frame type that you're going to be using.
Now, a traditional hardtail is quite easy to swap across
to an E-bike motor kit, 'cause you can fit the battery
inside that front triangle quite easy.
But if you've got a full suspension frame,
you might struggle to fit that big bulky battery
inside there, as well.
And also think about the axles that your bike runs.
Now, a traditional old school mountain bike's
135 mm dropouts, and that back wheel should slot
in there quite nicely.
But if you're using a newer school bike,
something that may outboost or bolt your axles,
then it's not going to be compatible.
And lastly, are you technical minded enough
to put that kit in? - Ooh, that's a big one.
- Or we cannot take it to a shop and spend even more money.
- In fact, Chris, I think that is possibly
the biggest consideration of all, and has a massive impact.
Is the bike you're about to build,
is it suitable for the purpose
that it's going to be intended to be used for?
Because if it's not,
then maybe you should think of an alternative.
Now, earlier this year, we bumped into a couple of guys.
They bought some mid-drive kits.
They spent about 500, 600 pounds,
and then they mounted them.
They were really good, but they found that they did
actually fall down in certain technical conditions.
It wasn't what they expected it to be.
And so they ended up actually going for
a off-the-shelf E-bike,
and they had to sell their custom build kit.
And also, like you say, Chris,
don't underestimate the technical know how needed
to put a kit together,
because if you're not electrically minded,
I'd probably go elsewhere, right?
- Yep. (upbeat music)
- So you've got the bicycle that you're going to convert
using your E-bike kit,
what then are the main types of kits on the market?
- Well, first up, you've got your front hub drive kit,
which obviously powers the front wheel
clamped in the front forks, propels the bike forward.
- Yep, very straightforwards.
Then of course, there's the mid-drive kit,
which is centrally located on the bike
and is actually powered off the cranks.
- And bringing up the rear, you got the rear hub drive unit,
which bolts into the rear dropouts of the bike,
and again, propels the bike forward pretty simply.
(upbeat music)
- Right, Chris, let's start off with the front hub drives.
Now, it's amazing, isn't it,
how many companies there are now
making these kits for E-bikes?
- Yeah.
- We went to Eurobike in Germany earlier this year
and we counted 156 different brands making motors
from the Far East, from France, from Spain, from Italy.
Today we're going to be looking at a few systems
from actually from Cyclotricity which is a small UK brand,
and they make front, rear, and mid-drives for E-bikes.
- Yeah.
So the great things about the front hub drive motor, Steve,
is that they're small, they're great for commuting,
and of course, you can fit them fairly easy
at your own home if you're a confident mechanic.
- Yeah, and obviously there's a lot of these motors
where there's throttle assist drive,
but you might want to go to a pedal assist system.
How can you do that?
- Well, a lot of these kits are actually upgradeable
to a pedal assist sensor.
All you need to do is just add a ring to the bottom bracket
and a sensor that clips onto your seat tube usually,
and it just detects our crank movements,
meaning you get a lot more range,
and a lot more natural feel to that ride.
- And that doesn't cost much, right?
- No, it's not a lot.
The upgrade, you can get all sorts of things,
LCD screens, pedal assist upgrade, you name it,
usually it's going to come in that kit.
- I think what you guys need to be aware of is,
a lot these kits do start from maybe 150 pounds
for a front hub drive, but you've also got to get the battery
on top of that, and those, what are those, Chris?
From 200 pounds upwards? - Yeah, upwards.
Yeah, usually kind of doubles the price
of the kit, to be fair.
So they range in lots of different sizes.
Watt hours and amps, and things like that,
so just make sure you're getting the right sized battery
to see that kit.
- Yeah, but yeah, you're right.
If you're looking for a very straightforward system,
you're going to be using fire roads or commuting to work
and I think front hub drive is a great option.
(upbeat music)
Right, mid drives.
- Mm-hmm. - Our favorites, right?
- For sure, yeah. - Yeah.
Now, the advantage of a mid-drive over a hub drive
is they're actually better suited
for those really hilly conditions.
And that's because they're operated through the cranks
and the gears, rather than that rear hub,
which means you can get the optimum cadence
for the bike involved.
- Yeah, not forgetting you're removing the weight
from the wheels and transferring it
into the middle of the bike.
Therefore, the suspension's going to work better
and the grip of the wheels.
You're not lugging those big hub motors up the steps
and down routes, things like that.
- But it is a hugely complex area, the mid-drive market.
You're thinking about such things as the weight,
the power, the legality, throttle or pedal assist,
it's a total minefield, right?
- [Chris] Yeah, for sure.
- Right, let's have a look at some of the systems
on the market.
This one on the screen now is from Cyclotricity.
It starts at 350 pounds.
Really easy to fit but doesn't include the battery,
but it's a really good starting point.
Moving on to something a little bit more expensive.
This is now from Dillenger UK.
It involves a Samsung unit.
771 pounds, so a little bit more expensive,
but remember, that's the whole kit you're getting there
to get your E-bike going.
- Yeah, some good buys there for sure.
And of course, there's those crazy high-powered kits,
like the type of kits we see from Lift MTB.
Now, these start at around 1,000 pounds up to 3,000 pounds.
Simply bolt onto your bottom bracket,
twist to throttle, you get to the top of the hill.
- Yeah, but again, there's a lot involved here
in fitting these motors and batteries.
And like we keep saying, you need to be pretty cute
to be able to fit there.
But it gets even more insane, right?
- Monster batteries like this.
- Now, Martin Ashton went to Whistler
and he had an Eagle kit on there.
The power, the price, you're looking at about five kilos
for the motor on your bike,
which is a significant weight.
- Yeah. - And they're not cheap.
About 3,000 euros for a kit like this.
So at this point, you got to be thinking,
well, actually, should I just buy an off-the-shelf bike?
- Definitely, at that kind of price,
and the speeds that these bikes can go, as well.
We went out to Croatia recently, rode the great G12.
And that thing was restricted to 110 kilometers an hour
just on a hop drive motor, so they can propel the bike.
Crazy speeds, crazy money, it's down to what you want to do
on the bike at the end of the day.
(upbeat music)
Right, Steve, rear hub drive motor kit.
- [Steve] Yeah, well, I've actually got one here
from Cyclotricity, this is 1,000 watt unit, I think.
- Yeah, well, it comes in loads of different prices,
they tend to start at around 150 pounds.
So that's going to get you the motor and all the components
you're going to need to get it, minus the battery.
These is a pretty simple to fit.
They're a plug and play kit,
so fairly simple if you're fairly mechanically minded.
Loads of different options.
They do tend to come in throttle only,
but you can get pedal assist sensors and LCD screens.
Lots of different options in that package.
- [Steve] Talking of the package,
this actually is the package.
You've got the wheel and the motor in here,
you got the cables, you got the battery,
you've got the display. - Speed control.
- And you get the speed controls.
So it's pretty much just a matter of just putting
all this together, right? - Yeah.
Connecting it all together.
Twist the throttle and off you go.
Simple as that.
- I think if you're riding fire trails
and not a hilly ground, it's a fantastic option, right?
'Cause you can convert your bike
which you might even have it in the shed for 20 years
and away you go.
- And some of these kits are restricted from the factory,
especially if you're in the UK.
It can be 25 kilometers an hour
or 32 if you're in the States and Canada.
But a lot of those kits you can actually de-restrict
if you want to, you're legal and you got the right place
to ride it.
They can be a pretty powerful unit.
- So how that works is actually comes as, say,
you can have a mix.
You can have like a 250, 500-watt mix,
or a 250, 1,000-watt mix.
So, you simply switch on and off between the power levels.
It's a very simple system.
- [Chris] Easy, it's good.
(upbeat music)
- Chris, let's move on to batteries.
Now, I want to pick you up on something you said earlier
about the different type of bikes you've got.
Obviously with a triple triangle hardtail,
you can fit that onto the down tube--
- [Chris] Very easy, yeah.
- There's bottle mounted bosses there, that easy.
So I think the key consideration is,
get the measurements of the batteries
and the type of battery to get on the bike.
But you still can fit batteries
to full suspension bikes, right?
Such as the Lift MTB. - [Chris] Yeah.
- It's got the thin Panasonic batteries,
you can bolt those on.
But, yeah, a key consideration is the type of mounting.
And there are a few different mounting types, right?
- Yeah, you can obviously fit that onto,
Steve mentioned the water bottle bosses,
if it will fit in the frame.
We get seat post-mounted racks that the battery
simply clips onto, and also panniers as well.
So, there's lots of different options out there
if you can't fit it in the front triangle of the frame.
But it definitely needs to be super secure
because it's a heavy unit,
you don't want it bouncing around.
- Yeah.
And finally, a lot of the higher powered mid-drive kits
actually come with a battery pack which you carry around
in your backpack, and they can range from two or three kilos
up to maybe six or seven kilos depending on the capacity.
So what you're going to bear in mind with those
is you got a backpack with a battery in it,
and you've also got a lead which comes down
and plugs actually into the bike rather,
to make that connection. - Yeah.
So, yeah, lots of different options out there,
but just make sure you're using the right one,
for the type of riding you want to do.
- And also that you've got the technical know how
to be charging and putting those batteries together.
Not easy.
(mellow music)
Okay, so we've looked at the motors,
we've looked at the batteries.
What about some of the other parts involved
in these home build kits, Chris?
- Well, a few different items, Steve, in the box.
You're going to find the LCD unit.
Now, this is obviously a display,
it mounts on your handlebars.
Can be an optional extra on some kits,
but this displays your speed, what power mode you're in,
what speed you're going at, and how much range
you've got left off the batteries.
Now, lots of different options on those,
and I think you were talking about Bafang--
- Yeah, being the Bafang one that comes with the BBS01 kit,
another kit, really quite a detailed display on there.
You got those nine power modes on that bike.
Swaps between different outputs 250, 500, or 1,000 watt.
And pretty high tech actually, again, for the money.
- Yeah, exactly.
And over home you're out finding your kit,
well, you definitely will find in your kit,
is going to be the speed controller.
Now, this regulates not only the motor's speed,
but it's the absolute brains of the bike.
This regulates like when you're braking,
it will cut the power off to the motor,
and literally is the brains of the bike,
so you don't want to be without one of those.
(upbeat music)
- Big question is how much are these kits going to cost you?
Well, we've actually built up a kit from Cyclotricity.
We've built up a rear hub drive, 250 watts, obviously,
making it street legal.
We've got the speed sensor on there, as well.
We've Chris's hardtail for, what was it, 100 pounds?
- [Chris] Yeah, it wasn't a lot of money.
It's been kicking around in the back of the shed
for a while. - Yeah.
But we've actually built up this kit,
and here's a shot of the bike before,
and here is what it looks like
after we've put this kit on it.
I've been for a spin down the road on it, Chris hasn't.
And, well, I'm just going to tell you something,
it's pretty cool.
- I'm looking forward to ride on it.
- Bottom line on the cost, I think we managed to get in
at just under 500 pounds, right?
- Whoa, now that is an absolute bargain
for a bike like that. - It is.
So if you're looking to ride fire roads or commute,
or maybe just make your first journey into the countryside,
because this is what these bikes allow you to do, right?
- Yeah, dip your toes into the E-bike world,
is what it's about. - Yeah.
(mellow music)
But then when you start going up the scale,
you start spending a bit more money,
like I said, you can you can spend maybe up to 3,000,
4,000 on these mid-drive kits.
You've got to be asking the question,
should I be buying an off-the-shelf bike?
Now, there's this rear hub drive bike from Decathlon,
which comes in at 799 pounds.
So if you're not technically, mechanically,
electrically minded, that might be a good alternative.
- Yeah, I'm sure, yeah.
- Earlier this year, we rode the Focus Whistler,
and that was a good bike. - That was a good bike-
- [Chris] Out of the box.
- Out of the box, 799 pounds.
Or maybe a mid-drive bike.
Now this is from Decathlon, the Rock Rider, 1,599 euros,
I think it is.
It's a great setup.
So, if you are thinking about making your own homemade kit,
I think there's so many considerations
you're going to bring into mind.
- Yeah, definitely.
I think budget, what you want to do with the bike,
and how capable you are, can you even build it,
or do you want something safe
as maybe you can have a warranty,
and it's going to all be brand new components
on that bike, as well.
It's not a second-hand bike, you're putting a new kit
onto it as well, so it can make a difference.
- So there you go, that's our overview of homemade DIY kits.
If you want to see about mid-drive kits,
done a video just about that there.
I've actually done a motor fundamentals
which did on the national mid-drive motors
like off-shelf ones just down over there.
I think in the meantime, Chris,
we need to get out on your home belt.
- Yeah, I'm looking forward to this one.
- Do some technical challenges.
- Yeah.
- And see what it's up to. - For sure.
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