With all the noise currently being made about electric bikes, you might be thinking, ‘That’s all very well, but I want to keep my existing bike’. Well good news – ol’ faithful can be rigged up with an e-bike conversion kit.
There are a number of ways to electrify your existing bike and start zooming up those hills: you can fit a powered wheel, either front or rear; you can attach a drive unit to the bottom bracket; you can fit a motor above the rear wheel and drive it via friction; or, most sneakily, you can conceal a motor in the seatpost. (If you choose the latter, best you don’t go racing it.)
None of these options are particularly cheap, nor easy, but they’re viable with most bikes, whether you ride a hybrid, mountain bike, tourer or road bike. Many can even be done by the home mechanic, if you’re feeling handy and have an afternoon spare.
ADVERTISEMENT
So what are your options? Let’s take a look…
Powered e-bike wheels
This is probably the most practical option for many people – swap out one of your normal, non-powered wheels for one with a special hub that contains a motor, battery and the gearing needed to turn it. Sounds simple, but the main downside is that it adds rotating mass to your bike (which feels harder to accelerate than non-rotating mass).
Rear-mounted friction drive e-bike conversion kit
Concealed e-bike conversion kit
Mid-drive e-bike conversion kit
Folding e-bike conversion kit
You can read more at BikeRadar.com
via BikeRadar All the latest from BikeRadar.com http://ift.tt/28Q8Ivx
No comments:
Post a Comment