These dual suspension bikes always are a little tricky to convert. Problems being the bottom bracket size and also the limited room for battery in the triangle. This customer was very pleased with the outcome even though the battery couldn’t fit in the triangle and had to be mounted on the top tube. Apparently still handles extremely well.

The standard distance across a bottom bracket is 68 – 73mm. Most mid-drive kits are manufactured to work with this distance. Dual suspension bikes are often different and have a distance of around 90mm. It’s possible to get specific Bafang kits for this but the alternative is to get an adaptor kit that extends the difference. The one picture below is such a kit, from Lekkie, that was designed to both extend this distance and work with the larger diameter press-fit bottom bracket originially on the bike.

Chain line and teeth number can also be a problem once you mount a mid-drive kit on certain bikes. The angle becomes a little extreme when using the lower gears and can result in the chain coming off. This is somewhat negated but using a Lekkie bling ring, that has the narrow/wide tooth pattern. In addition, we regularly lock the derailleur from being able to engage in the lowest gear. When you have so much extra power it’s really not not needed anyway. You often have to work to the limits of the bike frame size. With a motor you often increase the number of teeth on the front chain ring as you’ll typically be travelling at higher speed but you can hit limits with the ring bumping on the chain stay. It’s possible to space the motor across a little as well if you are looking for an extra mm or two.

Unfortunately, there was no room to mount the battery within the frame of this bike as the customer was after the larger capacity battery for greater range. The best option left to us was to mount on the top tube. To achieve this we tapped 3 x holes with riv-nuts into the top tube and purchase some battery mounts. A satisfactory results and proved stable.

This is a regular Trek mountain bike that has been fitted with a 1000W Bafang HD mid-drive kit.

It’s a relatively easy setup with just a few hitches. Firstly, due to the geometry of the bicycle, you need to use a couple of spacers to push the motor out a little further than usual so that the chain ring clears the chain stay. Once you do this, the chain line doesn’t run beautifully straight so you have to lock out the lowest gear otherwise the chain will jump off. Other than that it all works well. The Bafang 1000W HD motor is a very powerful motor. Definitely designed for off-road use only. Great addition to a hard tail mountain bike for some fun trail riding. The Marlin 5 and 6 work equally well if you prefer a slightly higher end mountain bike to convert.

This is a review sent in by Rob. He purchased this for use on his farm. It was an Avanti Montari fitted with a 1000W rear hub motor and 10.5Ah 48V battery.

“Thanks for the bike and service. I’m loving riding it around. It’s much easier than the petrol bike for my odd jobs and hasn’t faulted at all. If I were to do things again I would have chosen the larger battery as I find with this setup and on the muddy trails then the range is a little less than ideal. Usually only a bit over an hour of riding, and that’s with me pedalling a little bit as well. All up I’m very happy and have highly recommended you to my mates.” Rob

This is an Avanti Monza with the Bafang 250W mid-drive kit on it and 14Ah tube battery. The customer was wishing for a long range light bike that he could customise a little. There were a few issues with setting this bike up. Firstly, throttle not easily possible due to increased diameter of drop bars. Then blade spokes made it tricky to find a place to mount the magnet for the speedo. However, the finished produce rode very nicely. It’s not common to convert a racing bike to electric but this one worked suprisingly well.

We’ve just put a few extra step-through electric bikes on our floor to offer a more complete range for all riders and budgets. The models we have added to our display this week are from XDS and include a model called the E-Conic S2. It’s a stylish retro-looking bike that has a battery integrated into the frame and a small rear hub motor. It looks very “non-electric” and comes in a cute mint colour and a rose gold colour.

The next model also from XDS has been labelled the E-Spresso S2. It has a well integrated battery into the frame but differs from the above model by having a mid-drive motor. The motor is from Bafang – probably the biggest manufacturer of mid-drive motors in the world. Extremely reliable.

Both of these models are extremely well-priced. Ranging from around $1500 – $3000 depending on the day. Please come in and take for a test ride. 33 Adelaide street, Fremantle.

Trek have just released the latest model hardtail electric mountain bike. This is the Generation 4 model of the Powerfly. This is one of the top of the line hardtail electric bikes you can find. It’s running with the Bosch Performance CX line. A new feature that is found on this model and should be seen more commonly on ebikes running the Bosch system is an application that allows you to adjust motor settings and track your riding activity and navigate.

Part of the fun of having an electric bicycle business is developing and trialing new products. We’ve had a few bikes that aren’t worth a mention here but the latest model was rather impressive. This hybrid model uses the Ananda mid-drive motor with Alivio gears and Tektro hydraulic brakes. It is available as a step-over or step-through model. The two defining features of this model are it has a mid-drive torque sensing motor with a throttle and it also has a very high capacity – 36V 20Ah. This is a model for someone wanting a mid-drive hybrid bicycle designed for comfort and who wants to ride a very long way. You could expect around 100km on this bike even riding it near top power level; much further if you were to tune down the power a little.

This is an Avanti Discovery low step model that was converted into an electric bicycle in our shop last week. The customer was a little fussy and wanted a few things: a mid-drive kit, a range of around 100km, a throttle and a few other little things. He was extremely happy with this job. It has the Bafang mid-drive kit on it and we put a large 21Ah tiger shark battery on the frame. Whilst this will not win any beauty prizes it is a highly functional bike. It is still easy to step through the frame and the customer is claiming there is still range left on his display after 120km! That’s quite phenomenal.

Converting a road bike with drop-bars requires a bit of tinkering and thinkering to get it to work. You generally wouldn’t want to put the motor on the front forks as they are too thin, sometimes carbon as well. The rear dropout is generally around 130mm so requires a bit of stretching to get the 135 and sometimes 140mm motor axle in. That leaves a mid-drive electric conversion kit as probably the best option.

Second problem is the width of the handlebars. Standard on nearly all bikes with flat bars is 22.2mm in diameter, whilst on drop-bars it is 23.6mm. This creates a problem for putting on a throttle. Can’t be done without some very retro placing. So then you have to have a pedal assist system and forget about the throttle. Not a great problem and one you soon get used to. There is a little bit of playing around to get the toggle switch sorted but not too difficult.

Here we put on a mid-drive kit (crank driven kit) with an lithium ion tube battery within the frame on this lovely old Kona Honky Tonk touring bike. Worked a treat!