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I am working on a really nice project
I am converting my usual bike to an electric bike.
Converting your bike to an e-bike is actually pretty easy.
What you need is a conversion kit.
You can find those kits online everywhere, a lot of companies sell them.
I ordered one from the UK and it's even just a prototype.
I have the conversion kit from a company called Swytch.
And they say they have the lightest conversion kit.
The Swytch kit adds only 3kg to a bike.
Most conversion kits are 6kg to 8kg, so that's indeed very light.
The weight is not really surprising, because this is the battery and the brain of the whole kit.
And it all fits on the palm of my hand.
This is only 1,5kg.
The rest of the parts: the motor and the sensors also weigh 1,5kg.
So all together it's 3kg.
But the weight also brings some drawbacks: a smaller battery als means a smaller range.
But I will explain that later on.
First, I will finish the conversion of this bike.
I already installed the sensors at the bottom bracket.
I also installed the bracket on the handlebar, for the battery.
The only thing left is installing this included frontwheel, with the electric motor in it.
It took me about 45 minutes to do this.
The hardest part was buying a new tire and a disc brake, because those where not included.
If I did everything right, a should now have an electric bike.
I already biked a bit yesterday, with the new Swytch kit installed.
But it wasn't immediately pleasant.
Because I had to adjust the magnetic sensor a couple of times.
That sensor controls the pedal support and it needs to be exactly on the right spot
Otherwise it registers the pedaling only some of the time.
That is not nice while cycling, but I've figured it out, so it's working well now.
My first impression is that it does a really good job while cycling.
It's also a very easy package.
The control is just 'on' or 'off' and than it shows,
on the battery itself,
with red LED's, how much juice is left in the battery pack.
And it shows one of five stages of pedal support.
It's now in stage 5.
It works quite smoothly.
The first stage supports up to 5km/u.
Stage two supports up to 10km/u.
Stage three up to 15km/u pedal support, etectera.
I don't like those kind of stages,
but the creators told me that the final version will have the usual way of pedal support.
Just five stages, all supporting up to 25km/u.
And that's how it should be.
The Swytch has a small battery,
that also means it has a small range.
It's available in three configurations: ECO, PRO and TOUR.
ECO has a range of just 35km.
PRO has 50km and TOUR has a range of 100km.
I now use an early prototype and I could not really test its range yet,
So I must take their word for it.
At the moment, it's a crowdfunding project on Indiegogo.
But I really trust them, because they have made Swytch kits before two years ago.
Those were very popular at that time, so they have to come with something great again.
I do have some comments on that 50km range.
Because you can't reach that range with full support, only in stage 3.
I mostly cycle with maximum support, because it feels like you have the wind in the back.
With that maximum support, you would only get a range of about 30 to 35km.
And that not a lot of range for an electric bike.
Is that a big drawback? Not for most people.
A daily commute to work and back home is about 20 to 25km for most people.
And of course it a very compact battery!
Very easy to carry with you, into a supermarket, against theft.
But also easy to carry up to the office and charge it.
It depends on if you really want to cycle long distances, than this thing won't be great for you.
Yack! Very bad weather.
But it's a great opportunity to look back at my experiences with my own bike
that I converted to an e-bike with the Swytch kit.
It cycles really nice.
The pedal support is quite smooth.
You do have to take the sensor in mind, that needs to be adjusted really precise.
My biggest issue is that I used to have a frontwheel hub with a built-in dynamo.
And very expensive lighting.
I had to change to this frontwheel with a motor,
so now I don't have a light anymore.
But I don't like to bring separate lights every time.
There needs to be some cable that I can attach to this battery and to my previous light.
That's a real bummer for me.
But actually my biggest issue is the price.
You can get the Swytch kit for different kinds of bicycles.
For instance, a kit for a Brompton folding bike.
At this moment, the price is pretty cheap at the Indiegogo website.
During the crowdfunding, the PRO-kit is 40% off.
That's the one with 50km range that I have. That's just €540.
But if you order it online after the crowdfunding, in a couple of months.
Than the price will be €900.
I think that it just a bit too much.
Online you can find so many more conversion kits, which differ in price from €370 to €1300.
€900 is really at the expensive segment of that list.
And you also need a bike of course.
I also needed to buy an extra disc brake and a new tire.
So in the end 900 euros might be too much.
On the other hand, you do get a really cute removable battery pack.
That you can easily carry everywhere you like.
Do you plan to convert your old bike to an electric bike?
Let me know in the comments, give a like and don't forget to subscribe to this channel!
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I'm going home, because it's raining!