How To Convert Your Bike To An E-Bike

If you have been thinking about converting your regular bicycle into an e-bike, you’ve come to the right article. We’ll show you a quick and straightforward Electric bike conversion procedure.

The good news is that you don’t need much time, because all the hard jobs can be done in about an hour.

Step by step, you’ll see how a dual suspension mountain bike transforms into a high-powered electric bike. After these steps, the new e-bike will be capable of traveling 25 miles on a single charge while reaching up to 30 mph’s unassisted.

In order to complete the project, you will need the following:  A lithium-ion battery, geared hub motor, and motor control electronics.

You’ll also need the proper tools to make this happen.  Here is a list of the tools you’ll need:  A soldering iron, voltmeter, jumpers, screwdriver, hall sensor tester, wire stripper, metric Allen wrenches, pick set, diagonal cutters and flat wrenches (8, 10, 15, 19mm).

First of all, you will need to remove the rear wheel. This is a simple changing of the original wheel with the hub motor equipped wheel.

A lot of hub motors on the market are sold as “built wheels”. so binding the wheel is necessary.

E-Bike Conversion – How To

The second step is inserting hub wheel. The hub motor has a strange axle shape with two flat spots that fall into the rear drop out. It may be necessary to extend the drop out with a flat file so that the motor axle could drop down entirely.

The third step is crucial, and that is installing torque arm.

The fourth step is aligning the axle; The power of the hub motor acts on the bicycle frame. It happens to spread or break the drops outs amid high acceleration. But if you add torque arm, then you’ll keep the drop out safe and undamaged. So using a torque arm is always the right choice.

Now you have to tighten the axle nuts firmly. You can use a larger wrench to get better leverage, but you need to be careful not to strip the axle nut. Important – if you feel you can’t accurately determine how much power (wrist-strength) you need to use, then just use a torque wrench and tighten it up to 50 ft-lbs.

The next step is tricky; you need to connect the wires. The wires exit on the “non-drive” side of the wheel. There is a difference between a hub motor with sensors, which has three thick (phase wires) and five thinner (fine) wires, and a hub motor without sensors which has only three thick wires.

You need to pay attention to wires and plugs colors, because they may not match if they are made by different manufacturers. But if you acquire a whole kit, then you should have no issues.

Installing a rear rack to hold the battery pack isn’t overly difficult. You will need to get a seat post clamp type rack. Next, bolt on the rack – this makes the bike more practical because it can handle additional weight, but it needs to be custom fabricated so it could be fitted to a dual suspension frame.

Next, tighten the clamp sharply. If you take bumpy roads, the rack may swing forward if the clamp isn’t tight enough.

Building in the rack and a padded bag is very simple – as they they are often sold as a set. The padded bag serves as a holder of battery pack and controller.

The ninth step is placing the cells into a padded bag. An ordinary 48-volt Lithium-ion battery will propel the bike for around 20 miles, with minimum pedaling. It doesn’t even require a lot of time to recharge; it’s full in about 2 hours. To stop it bouncing too much, just insert some foam blocks around the cells.

Adding the controller to the bike bag, first of all, requires good airflow. Also, it could be mounted practically anywhere on the bike, since it is waterproof. The best option probably is a netted backpack because it allows good airflow, but at the same time hides the controller.

After that, you need to cut a slit in the bottom of the bag to allow the wires to connect to the central compartment of the pouch. Then, repeat the process with the bottom of the main chamber of the bag, and pass the wires beneath the rack.

Next, get familiarized with the plugs. It doesn’t hurt which plug does what if a problem appears.

Plugs should be tied together since they could easily be disconnected, in which case the system lose power instantly.

When it comes to the throttle, first you need to remove right-side handlebar grip, and then install the throttle grip. Use the Allen wrench to stiffen the set screw to prevent the grip from moving around. Run the shifter and brake cable with the throttle wire to the rear of the bike. Tie the wires to the bicycle.

Finally, insert power into your bike. Connect the charger to the battery, and wait for a couple of hours until the cells are fully recharged. New made e-bike is a powerful vehicle that can take you anywhere you like. Enjoy the ride.

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