DIY Electric Drill-Powered Bike vs $2000 E-Bike: Who Will Win? 

Even though he wasn’t in this video, Oscar did a great job.

Being a bike Mechanic for a good portion of my youth, I was dying watching the removal of parts. Makes you appreciate having the right tools for the job no matter a Car or a Bike.

Dang was thinking he was gonna take the drills apart and build a throttle with a variable resistor. But this is actually hilarious and still reversible.

Back in the day before they invented sportscars we built the sort of the same kind of bike, but we used a chainsaw... It went like stink, way too fast to be safe... Big fun!

you should buy 3 or 4 pedal go karts and do a similar thing but have a team wide build off. Do a few competitions like top speed, a slalom course, braking test, and then a time trial or parking lot head to head race. some could do electric conversions, others do like a lawn mower or string trimmer gas engine. that would be really cool to see.

Over 20 years as a bike mech. This is one of the most junky and hilarious videos I've seen in a while. Watching you bend that 22.2mm brake lever over a drop bar 😂😂

I admit that it did better than I expected. The Hercules 1/2” high torque impact would do better. Especially if you can lockout the hammer mechanism.

one way sprocket clutch would allow you to retain the pedals... I love the concept and the diy nature of the build

That was a fun episode :) Wonder how it would have turned out if Oscar designed and made it. Head to Head.... next time :) Great job Chris, that was entertaining

For anyone that was wondering, the official name for that brake cable is "Bowden cable". Named for Frank Bowden who owned the Raleigh Bicycle Company all the way back in 1902.

That Porsche in the back is not a spoiler at all :)

I see a nice Porsche Easter egg lol hehe

This was definitely worth the watch just for the pure entertainment of seeing Chris bang and thrash the bicycle apart without the inexpensive special tools.😂

Hey chris, if you did this a couple of months ago this bike could have been to SEMA

Yes!! Pumped for a 911 build! Got my money on an offroad rally throwback.

The addmotor bike has a speed governor. 20mph is the top speed allowed by law for class 1 and 2 electric bikes. With a 750w motor it could probably do 40+mph with the governor removed

Keep pedals, mount 1 drill on each side of tire with a cable "clutch" to put pressure on/off tire when you need e-assist.

I have gotten sick of seeing these e bike reviews. BUT, trust B is for build to actually turn one into a build. Great one. I’ll never look at my cordless drill the same way again😂 can’t wait for the next episode and build.

There are old mopeds that essentially used a drill motor with a rubber roller attachment that went directly against the outside of one of the tires and turned the wheel that way. Probably a lot simpler than this but I’m not sure which way would be more efficient.

Finally, a Porsche 911. I’m so happy 😃.

Just a Porsche casually sat there in the background, accidental next build reveal?

You could use 2 drills and the pedals with one way clutching gears. When one drill cuts hit the other or pedal. I bet you could get some respectable speed out of it.

If you used a larger sprocket on the drill side, the gear ratio would be better.

So now... B is for BIKE!! hahaha

Look at the gas powered bikes. Power it with a rubber wheel on top of the back wheel. There are some kits that bolt a sprocket on to the wheel itself. That way you Can still pedal it when the battery dies

This episode's build/review was just hilarious😂 The next review should have Oscar, he would've just build an e-bike.

The thing I love about brushless drills is that over current feature. I've killed many brushed drills in my time even the best money can buy! Solid hack though Chris!

*Making money is an action. Keeping money is behavior, but “growing money is wisdom”. I found this out a week ago after getting a $33,400 return from my 5k investment in 21 days*

Very informative Dr. Buildemall, I think more R&D is needed here. Which is probably what Admotor did. 😉

This is how you make reviews fun On the drill, is there button to change the power mode? Maybe its on the wrong setting if it has multi mode choices? Just a thought since some of mine have adjustment modes even on my milwaukee 1/2 impact has some torque limiting modes or full send modes.

Next iteration with a starter motor and some deep cycle 12v batteries… would be a cool Optima sponsored episode. In HS I worked at a boat shop and one of the techs had a 3-wheeler he electrified using a SeaDoo starter. The thing ripped around the yard as a parts runner.

Should have done it with an angle grinder or two. More torque and less slippage on the clutch

Did you hate building the drill bike... looks like you did.

You probably could have made your first setup work by adding an adjustable chain guide to “push” the chain against the sprocket. That would also tension the chain and remove any wobble. I hope my suggestion makes sense, English isnt my best 😅

OMFG, that was absolutely hilarious😂 As a bike guy i was absolutely losing my sh!t watching you struggle with really easy tasks, and cutting the cc ranks off🤣 And your description of that POS ebike had me epically cringing, google Specialized Turbo Levo. And i can do 30mph+ on the flat on mine😉 And then there is Surron... I still love you though😉

i actually bike that bike is actually like 700 bucks resale with the components and all. it hurts to watch it get boned but i get it. 10 years in the closet make use of it

Cool build. I was thinking, what if the original pedal sprocket (larger) was used on the rear, or maybe one larger than that? I'd think that would give the bike more torque and be easier on the drill, which probably has a lot more power to give (not that specific drill)

Yo Dawg That Bike Doesn’t Have Peddles So It’s Disqualify Because The Other Bike Is Electric But It Also Has Peddles Just It Stay’s With Out Power !!!

A larger drive sprocket would reduce the torque and perhaps it will be sufficient that the motor doesn't shut down. I thought you said you were going to weld foot pegs onto the bike. That would help. Also, you need a holder for your cell phone so you can track your speed without sacrificing one hand to do the filming.

now let's see Oscar's version of the drill powered bike and then a race each other

Bike

Me the whole time: “PUT THE DRILL ON THE FRONT WHEEL & KEEP THE PEDAL FUNCTION OF THE BIKE & USE THE DRILL AS AN ASSIST”

ok this vlog was too funny. Chris, you looked out of your element?? 🤣🤣 back to da drawing board...Mahalo for sharing!!

Do more videos like this fun and not that hard , do some go kart fast not to expensive, and e-bike whit proper motor 💪👋👋

whats the actual drill setting though? I low key always forget 1 and 2. Ive worked with drills and power tools since i was 10

Addmotor: "Can you review our products in exchange for keeping said product?" Chris: "Do you understand what we do here on this channel?" Addmotor: "......my question remains"

If the rear wheel already had a sprocket on both sides, why not run a second chain and save your pedals?

My first impression about using two drills is that you don't want them on the same wheel, as they will fight each other if not perfectly sync'd. I would have suggested put one on the front wheel, and one on the back.

Ooooo ebikessss 🫶🏽

Hey remember how you started this channel with a damaged brz? I think it would be cool if you found a damaged new gen brz or gr86 and brought back to life.

I think a skill saw might have been a better option. Overall a fun episode, love the channel!

B is for Build, B is for Boat, now B is for Bike! Next year do we have B is for Blimp? I feel like just maybe... being airborne is a bit riskier with DIY.

Why not start with a right angle cordless drill?

What if you had went from the rear sprocket over the top of the drill sprocket to the front. That would of given you more contact on it

So when we building an electric three wheeled lambo?!? #sema2024

Pathetic but thanks for showing the next build is a Porsche

Why not take the drill apart, remove the motor and battery and design a way to mount it that way?

Couple of things: Between Black & Decker and Hart, neither of my drills in full torsion will just shut-off under load. Seeing Harbor Freight drills do this just teaches me to avoid them outright. The other thing is that I'm surprised you didn't do a bevel gear pair into a reduction to give them more torque and drive the crankshaft sprocket. You could've even done a mini differential to compensate for trigger variance and have both drills flush with the frame on opposite side of the bevel gearing. It's amusing to see that drill motors can indeed make the torque needed to make a bicycle go reasonably fast. With both, some throttle control, and at least a 7-speed shifter I feel those small battery packs could get maybe a mile or two of range.

It's $1700. (Since he never mentioned.)

I am a random watcher of this channel and wondering what I've got myself into watching Chris and electric bikes, Let's get going :)

You “could” have tanken those pedals off

This is one of my favorites. I don’t think I’ve chuckled so much watching a B is for build episode lol. Just fun, comedic and having a great time!

Colin furze is not worrying after this video 😂

I got back onto a bike recently and yeah i can't remember the seats being so hard. Sore is an understatement i even got one of those "uncool" gel seat covers, and it does literally nothing to help. I now just drive everywhere again it's not worth the damage to that area.

“Taint destroyer” was great man haha!

1 big problems It looks like the gear ratio is 1:1 the drill spins somewhere from 1200rpm-2000rpm with only less then 100Nm for my project i need 300-500nm to hull me and the bike so my drill was 1500rpm at 90Nm i did a gear ratio somewhere from 1:5 or 1:7 worked flawless got it to go at 25+mph or 40+kmh so i say dont go lower then a gear ratio of 1:5 depending on your weight

Needs to be at least 36/40 volts drill.

B is for bike

When I saw him cutting off the pedal cranks with an angle grinder I couldn't watch any more. Could have just removed them... But then I wouldn't have written this comment I guess. There are perverse incentives on RU-vid.

I love watching the build. The only problem with the build is an ebike must have operable pedals to qualify as a bike. You wouldn't be able to ride this on public streets without possible ticket from police. Bike trails would also not allow you to ride on them either since it doesn't qualify as a bike.

Can we have some infos on the porsche 997.2 on the background ? Seems bit rough around the edges... Futur project (will love to follow) ?

This channel has changed so much over the years to honestly something where I maybe watch 1 out of 4 videos just due to the content. I used to love this channel. Boats bikes, and that ridiculous "overlander." Just not my thing anymore. As someone who has my name on the top of the Lotus. Hopefully this channel moves into a direction I used to love in the future Chris. Unsubbed.

I think an electric chain saw would be a better option. People have been making gas chainsaw powered bikes forever, so you could copy design layout and just use the electric chainsaw Instead.

Did you by chance set the chuck(torque) speed to drill? And also the motor speed to the highest setting?

With all the car projects you have that aren’t finished you’ve gone to road users nightmares? An E-bike? Did you fall down and bump your head?

you should genuinely try to make a good ebike/emotorcycle. That would be super cool and I think you're more than capable of a more serious effort than this!

Miss not seeing Oscar in this video. 😮

The best drill for a ebike conversion, is the Dewalt 20V/60V drill, the battery is fully charged in one hour. And the battery has 12 amp option.. that drill would make a long range, fast charging ebike.

on your reguar bike with classic tirangle frame..aliexpress has 2 stroke bike engines with an automatic clutch for 100 bucks. In my neighborhood.. my 1500w monster only has one eye to eye friend..an old two stroke ten speed custom built. I have had a blast with my electric. I am 50 yrs old..30 years no bike at all. go bigger than 1000w with all pedals.. all good.

Here's a tip for anybody with an electric bike. I have an electric trike (incredibly practical, I have hauled a load of more than 90 lbs of groceries) and I reduced my maintenance expense and time 90% by replacing the bicycle chain with #420 light motorcycle chain. You can't use the heavier duty #428 chain because the roller diameter is too large for the bicycle sprockets. A standard bicycle chain was never meant to handle the torque delivered by a 750 Watt (~1 HP) motor. I had that trike in the bike shop where I bought it about every 10 days, and they hated to see me coming.😀 It's been five or six months now on the motorcycle chain and nobody has laid a wrench on that trike since then.

Hey Chris! Great news about you cancer shit! But I remember a few years back when you had people guessing your next project by reviewing a past video, think it was the Burntacan. I'm guessing B is for RWB styled Porsche.

Lol. Now in all seriousness buy a Bafang mid drive BBSHD 52v 1000w kit and put it on that road bike. I have one on an old Trek mountain bike and can hit 40mph with my 220lbs on it and ride for over an hour without pedal assist. (I have basically the same battery the addamotir has.)

Chris! Wile I love the hilarity of this video, I’m also pretty disappointed. I was hoping your 1-day build would surpass the top speed of the other bike and embarrass them with your ability to use budget parts to create a fun 10/10 e-bike. The is your first build that I wouldn’t want to drive/ride/buy or build myself… Try again please on a future episode but go all-out and make the best drill-powered e-bike on the planet! Make one people would want to build themselves so we can see how it’s supposed to be done!

A note about the complaint of the 20mph max speed. In the US, that's the fastest an electric bike is allowed to go for "throttle assist only", known as Class 2. To go faster than that, you have to move to Class 3, where both pedaling and throttle are used. Those bikes have a max speed of 28mph. Anything higher than that will require a license.

Been commuting by e bike for a few months now and I have been loving it (for the most part). Car insurance in my country is ridiculous and so are the terms for mortgages on first time buyers so I figured I'd switch for a couple years to save for a down payment. I bought a bike from Fafrees and it's a good thing it looks like a normal but beefy mountain bike because it tops out around 55km/h for me (after some rather light modification) and that makes it legally a moped in my country and I don't have my moped licence. (Transport is transport, if it has wheels and can be modified I'm happy)

Given how this review went - I would definitely NOT recommend that you EVER do a comparison of retail versus home-built BODY-ARMOUR!!!

Big sprocket at the front small sprocket at the back=max speed . Small sprocket at the front big sprocket at the back=slow speed lots of power . If both sprockets are the same the same size you have 1 to 1 gearing . You should build a front-wheel drive bike to demonstrate just how stupid front-wheel drive actually is 😂

i'M 11 minutes in the video so maybe you figure it out later but.. it would make more sense if the chain goes under the drill sproket, probably would make more tention on the chain and less slipping, also if that was me, I would try to connect both drills to the same trigger! And... if you wanna go crazy, cut off the drill handles, fasten the 2 battery sockets on a plate fitted as a luggage tray over the back wheel! ... Easier said than done i guess!

When your very smart person but dumb it down the build so the product review will result in favor of the one that pays you😅.

The most diy hacky bike power tool mod I've seen is where someone takes an angle grinder. Connects it to a bank of 18650's, and then sticks a rubber cylinder to the end of the grinder, and uses a lever to push the rubber into the wheel. It was genius for its simplicity on how to apply it to a bike. Because you didn't need to modify the gears, chain or main functionality of the bike.

I like these left of field vids from Chris once in a while. But as a bike nut first and car nut second, I was cringing watching the destruction of the bike. The Q did one of these about a year ago, "Incredible "Studded & Drill Powered Bike" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aRSsMhIpTXQ.htmlsi=CWmE0ztyGqrlDbim&t=180

you can just get a bafang conversion kit and still have a usable bike. My mini dirt bike has a massive motor and 48v li-po battery that does about 30mph. Used a Razor mx650 as the base and swapped all the power train.

Well I must say you have maneged to put E Bikes back by a 100 years Lol but fun project

i geeked out so hard when i seen your leader 721 lmao, a blast from the past. i used to have a rare ass leader 780TT frame that i converted to fixed gear. it had carbon fiber rear chainstays. my good friend also owned a 735TT that was also converted. i even have my og videos of me riding fixed back in the day on my channel still lol. sorry for the paragraph but i just love bikes

So here's the thing: i hate this video. Watching you hack and grind and destroy a bike and probably a drill or two just got my blood boiling. Then i sat here and thought about it. You're clearly having fun. You didn't take this build very serious in terms of engineering and it feels like a fuck it we ball kind of video and i can appreciate that. You've still got out there and built something. You have used your brain and skills to make something and that is good enough. Thank you for what you do Chris.

Can someone fill me in on the deal with the Porsche in the background?🤔 I know it's not the focus of THIS video but if that's a future project... they have my undivided attention

Well that was Very Funny I dint think you would even get the Drill Bike to Work and after watching your B is for Build from the Start I should of Known better Good Job but I Don't think ill buy a Drill Bike some How Great Vlog Thanks lol

Top speed is limited do to compliance with laws. The E-bike I have. The version of it sold in Canada has a lower Watt motor for that exact reason. A big issue in a lot of places is laws that say if its faster than a certain speed or too powerful Its a motorcycle not a bike. This really needs to change. More people would use them daily. That would be a big benefit to peoples heath. Improve road congestion issues. Plus other problems

We did something similar a few years ago (and by a few years I mean back when cameras on phones were not great). Our solution was to add a second large sprocket to the left side and then mounted the drill in the triangle of the frame (between the legs) and ran a second chain on the left side. We too ran into chain tension issues and put the drill on a slider and used a long bolt to get the tension. The only other difference was that we used a couple of motorcycle batteries as the 12V drill batteries (yeah, drill batteries were only 12V back then too) couldn't provide enough power for the torque.

Well, as painful as that was to watch you sure made that Ebike look good... Next time use an electric chainsaw. Maybe diy electric bike MKII video is in order