This is what im talking about. A cost effective conversion kit. Like with electric cars, the best thing for the planet is surely to convert it rather than scrap it and build a whole new one. Great video, more of this please electroheads.
Purchased this a few weeks ago and fitted to my 6ku single speed. Fitting process is very simple for anyone who does their own bike maintenance (as long as you get an assembled wheel). Very impressed with the kit so far. Done a 60km cycle yesterday (mostly flat, some hills equating to 80m elevation gain and in some not inconsiderable wind speed). Wasn't sure what range I would get so stayed in eco mode for 70% of the journey then switched to boost mode when I realised I still had plenty battery left. Had over 50% battery left by the time I got home. Would assume the stated 50km range is based on using the bike in boost mode as I recon you could easily get double that in eco mode. Seen some reviews saying the motor isn't very powerful. I have only used an ebike before this whilst in Canada where the regulations are different - The ebike used over there basically done all the work for you. With this you still need to pedal, especially in eco mode which I would say just reduces your own effort by 30-40%. I purchased this to allow me to go longer trips in worse weather conditions without getting too exhausted while still getting some exercise, so for me it is perfect. The superboost button is also a great help to take off at lights or tackle a sudden steep incline (major drawback of a single speed bike). My only negative comments would be that it feels like it's doubled the weight of my bike (to be expected but I live in a 3rd floor flat) and that the quality of the packaging & instructions supplied isn't the best. Haven't used the mobile app yet.
I bought I boost kit for myself for Christmas..... absolutely brilliant. Easy to fit yourself and minimalistic design most people don't even notice my bike is electric.
Supporting this claim: Been riding about 70 miles a week for about a year and a half and I can say my stamina hasn’t been better than it is now, I got a good amount of leg muscle from it too. Had a few years of knee pain before I started and that’s gone so win win 💯 e-bikes are a pain with weight, battery changing costs, legality issues etc.
Honestly if you can get a giant escape 1 disc as you have in this video for 200 British pounds then that's a steal since they go for nearly 500 British pounds equivalent where I live. I actually have a 2023 Escape one disc and I absolutely love it. I got it as a commuting bike so I can spare my Giant Defy that I use for a weekend rides. The ride quality is absolutely incredible and blew me away to be honest when comparing it to my Giant Defy advanced 2. Honestly, I would wholeheartedly recommend the Escape one disc Even at full price for anyone who's looking at getting it a great riding bike but isn't really sure if they want to go road bike and want to just do flat bar. It rides just as quick to some degree and you get less fatigued. I usually cruise along on mine going 30 km an hour like no problem on City roads that aren't always the smoothest. It's just great to have those 38C tires even though my road bike has 32C which is nice. But you don't have to worry about too many punctures with 38C.
My old GT Avalanche got electrified for a grand total of £402 and about two hours of work fitting it. One year of daily commuting later and the only issues have been the cadence sensor on the crank wearing out (which was fixed by putting a couple of turns of duct tape around the crank) So I have never even fitted the £10 replacement I ordered. It doesn't have to cost a fortune.
I fitted a front hub electric wheel conversion kit in the UK, only 250Watts permitted, that's the law on the road, to my full suspension Marin mountain bike. Yes, it make a great difference to riding a bicycle. Although you can get mid - or rear conversion kits ie, motor where pedals are, or in rear wheel, the front wheel motor hub, to me is the best. Here are a few reasons why the front hub motor is the best application; 1) it means that you effectively have two wheel drive bicycle( rear wheel pedalling + front wheel electric motor), this was very useful in the winter just gone by, in the snow and mud. 2) If something happens to your gears or the chain snaps, etc. you lose your rear wheel drive! unless you can fix it "(very messy job) on the side of the road! You can use the front motor on its own to get you home! 3) If like me you, are old and have dodgy knees, that sometimes get inflamed from the pressure of pedalling, you can use the front wheel motor on it's own, to get you home! Thus to me the front hub motor makes the best sense for normal riding on the road, in all conditions. I bought my 250 volt kit online from a UK company called Vandervolt, and they were very helpful when I fitted it myself. They don't know I am saying this! But I am very happy with the kit!
@@brekerr I have some really steep hills on my daily ride, and yes, it's not so much the motor assisting you, but more like you helping the motor! Again, because I need the daily cardio, I end up putting a lot of effort up the steep and long hills I have where I live! It is quite possible to burn out the motor if you don't pedal up the really steep hills, as you can hear it struggle! With the system I have, I only ever need to use the second power of the five I have! Thus its perfect for me, that can now power up the hills assisted, as I said, its a bicycle , and I pedal all the time. Another thing I did, was not install the pedal speed sensor, so that the moment I pedal, the motor comes on, instead when I need some power, I use the hand throttle for some help! Pulling away in first power makes it easy on a slight incline, so all in all I can say, that my bicycle is now fun to ride, provides me with some cardio, and I never worry about going up the steep hills anymore, but I do have to put some effort in, but that's the whole point of it!
@brekerr No, my mistake I only have 4 levels of power, and never need more than level 2 even on long steep hills, again with some effort from me legs Level 3 is just faster really, and too fast for my bike 's brakes! As I said the motor is only used for the hills or going up against a strong headwind!
Love the intro. If you a fit, muscled, honed, young woman, and experienced cyclist having energy/risk problems riding a normal bike, then heaven help the rest of us. Very pleased to see such a big difference between the two. Your confidence levels, in traffic, seemed much higher with the extra power to get out of trouble too. This is definitely the way to go. Many congrats on your "Best Reviewer in the world" award. Thoroughly deserved. Love your stuff.
I have nothing against ebikes but I thought the intro was silly. Cycling and getting exercise every day doesn't leave you drained at the end of the week... if anything you have more energy! And "acoustic" riders have just as much ability to get out of dangerous situations. For example we don't have speed limiters. Again, I'm not against ebikes, but the presenter is clearly overselling their advantages because, well, she works for an ebike retailer.
@@nbartlett6538depends how far you cycle, I used to do 40k each day in my 20's, I ended up really fit, but that meant I went faster.. still ended up falling asleep on the sofa at home pretty regularly. It was physical work as well mind you.
@@nbartlett6538 Fully agree i tried my friends for a week and found it so frustrating that it throttles you at 18mph... I ride at 20mph with no assist. just put the training in and get fitter!
@@robatkins6432 You obviously have no need of an ebike, but wait until you are a bit older and you may reconsider. I hit 90 last year and finally went electric - opened up my rides again. I wasn't 'getting fitter' any more.
@@vincekerrigan8300 100% agree with you, continuing to ride any kind of bike at 90 is fantastic! I'm happy riding non-electric at age 47 because I like the exercise, but I'm glad that ebikes exist for when I need them later. The presenter of this channel clearly doesn't *need* the electric assist... but I guess it must be nice occasionally to go somewhere without sweating.
would like to see a direct comparison with Cytronex's one. Good vid. I like the rear wheel drive. My only concern is they're a brand new company pretty much, compare to Cytronex who have been established for 10 years at least and have a very good after care service. The difference is always in the customer care. Also, this video is clearly promotion sale and not a true review. Best to look for an independent who's bought one and hasn't been sponsored by them.
Why does our good old Halfords never get a mention - complete electric bikes for under £600 with one even under £500. I did have a folding model from them in 2019 for under £500 but sold it in 2020 as my job changed, worked well, and built well.
I agree, I've got a Halfords Carrera Subway Ebike and it's fantastic for the price. The equipment on it is way better than other brand Ebikes around that price range
Great concept but the reality has been very disapointing. I got one of the recomended shops to fit the kit to save time. The time estimate was about a week and a half to fit, in the end it was about a month. Since fitting, the wheel has detentioned twice, meaning which seems to take 2 or 3 days to fix, plus finding time and method to get the bike to the shop (my tiny car now has many scratches). Also when the wheel fails I am left stuck having to find another form of transport home. I started the process with a functioning bike, since I then I have been able to cycle about half of the time. The boost seems to stop assisting at 40% battery which I am getting the impression from the support is what they would expect. It's quite noisy. The handle bar unit fails to connect every so often, requiring the battery to be removed and put back in. The unit also comes with a flat battery that I had to replace the day after I bought it. All of this seems to be of not much suprise to the support team and I get the impression they think I should be happy with this situation.
@@Electroheads I think the main issue is they don't get what is like to use a bike to commute. It was my main form of transport and since 'up grading' I've effectively lost my main way of getting to work.
Great info about the Boost kit Eilish, thanks for sharing. But I gotta thank you even more for something else - it's been a while since I thought about Buffy's Mum 😁😁😁. 😎
6:50 in the vid brought her to mind Tom mate. And without breaking some Community Guidelines, I wasn't thinking about what she did on the show 😉. Now, back to the Boost kit dude. That's why we're here 👉👉👉. 😎
@@6ettinold my dolphin is about 3 times the weight of my mini . people ask where is the battery?" . Been a downtube batt guy since Bionx days but for Daily trips under 20 miles i'm sold on the mini now
I recall another startup company offered a rear wheel replacement to convert a normal bicycle to e-bike, with regenerative charge on braking and a wireless controller, but I don't remember the name, the wheel was solid with no spokes. The cost was around $1000AUD though at the time
@@joetheslugable Similar to the Boost kit here but motor is in front wheel hub which gives an unusual sensation of being pulled along. That's fine once you get used to riding it.
Looks interesting, but too little info... - it's not mentioned in the video what the wattage of the hub motor is...? - it's not mentioned how it works without a cadence sensor on the crank...? - not mentioned how one can change the mode without a control of some kind on the bars, perhaps a Bluetooth smartphone app..? - Not mentioned how one orders the correct rear wheel size, width & OLD from them...? - not mentioned what kind of rim and spokes they use... I'm not sure really that the rider can physically tell the difference between a front drive motor and a rear...
From someone who builds ebikes I can tell that this will not detect when your breaking. There is also no throttle so you would only be able to use it's as pedal assist. If your looking for just a pedal assist ebike with low to mid range that it would be a good option. (Dont listen to mileage claims, they are in the best conditions and are usually about half the range in the real world) If your looking for something with more range, more power, and/or a throttle then I would look into other options. They will be more expensive but are definitely worth it.
@spacedogo2968 the question was more for the video maker-if they read comments. Probably they will see only positiv one.They should answer almost all question from startbut as I said -big advertisements
I would like to know how this product will do in the British weather, especially heavy rain and I think it's a good question if you're using this as your (say) work bike. I've looked at the design of the waterproof cover they sell for the battery and because of its back open design I can't help but think water will collect at the bottom of the cover where the sensitive electronics are. I think all that could of been mitigated by using a potting medium to incase the electronics and thus not allowing any water to get in. Just my opinion.
clever conversion kit! Since I have a Copenhagen Parts front wheel porter on my single speed, there wouldn't be any room for the Swytch conversion battery. 👍🏻
But there are loads of powerful rear and front-wheel kits even on Amazon that cost £200-£300 without battery and £450-£550 with a 10-15ah battery - and most of them have throttles. But oddly few reviewers ever mention these let alone put them together and try them out... Paul G
Really interested to try this!! i'm still in the mind that electric bikes need to come with hydraulic disc brakes for saftey. Like that you can put this on a road bike with an 11speed cassette.
I don't know about the hydraulic brakes, I've lived in a hilly city for 30 years, mainly riding 'acoustic' bikes and while sidepulls are a bit sketchy on 30+mph descents, V-brakes are fine. Electric only adds about 6-7kg so in terms of 'system weight', for me that's like going from low 90s to maybe 100kg. Not a huge difference. I mean they're obviously nice to have but I wouldn't say it was essential...
@@ianmangham4570 I remember reading mountain bike magazines in the early 90s and they were raving about the 'new' V-brakes. They were saying stuff like "take it easy on your first couple of rides or you could find yourself going over the handlebars"! This was compared to the old-style cantilevers... Safe to say that expectations have moved on but they're powerful enough if set up properly.
@@The1trueDave Definitely, I bought an old mint condition Marin 1999 and the V brakes had more power than my hydraulic discs 🤣👍⚡ my discs brakes need bleeding but there's no doubts about a correctly set up V brake 💪
hi I watched your clip on the new switch max, which would you recommend out of the two, Swytch max or boost e-bike conversion kit, which is a better ride and lighter? Your help will be greatly appreciated Thanks
@@grahamdrysdale8933 You can hear the hum of the motor depending on the amount of support it is providing so it varies of course but it is not noisy in any way.
Thanks for the review. How does it compare to the Swytch? Pros and Cons of each…maybe topic for your next video? Which would you choose based on performance
Yeah, £645 plus the cost of the donor bike plus fitting for those not inclined to do it themselves. The thumbnail is just clickbait which isn't really surprising though given that this channel has become a cross between The Fully Charged Show and QVC. Every notification I get from RU-vid for them is just another marketing video. Time to unsubscribe I think which is a shame because some of the presenters are really quite engaging.
@@shawing I'd of thought the majority of people who seen the actual price on the website compared with what price they state on this video and thumbnail... thought 'sneaky lying kittle fookers' .. I did and ill buy elsewhere because of it
Lol chill out guys it was a genuine mistake by the person who makes our thumbnails. We tried the kit out and subsequently arranged to have it on our store because we believe in the product. We're not twisting your arm to buy anything, just sharing alternative options to help people make an informed choice.
Disappointed with my boost kit. Wheel has detentioned twice in four weeks, resulting in taking the bus home. Stops functioning when the battery goes below 40%. Wireless display ships with a flat battery and has trouble connecting. And it's quite noisy.
Great idea ,but reading on their website it is not suitable for cycling in the rain , it is okay for light drizzle but any damage from water will void the warranty . It also says it is not warranty covered for use of over 200 miles a week. Totally useless for anything other than dry days and going to the shops that are 2 inches away . I`ll save my money and buy a proper ebike that works in all weathers and has a decent range on it .
Electric assist. Which mean I need to keep pedalling for it to work. No mode for it to keep running? No regenerative charging of the battery just in case I go down hill. My ride to work is 50% downhill and the rest is a little up hill and flat road.
@@richerathernotsay427 I know, I'm more into track bikes and have even converted my cyclo-cross into a single speed drivetrain. It's no fun going up against headwinds though.
Look up Geeko from 100G or maybe it's the other way around. They do 20" wheels, at least for the front, but I think they have several options. I came across them when someone did a review comparison between them and swytch . . .
How can you possibly notice a difference between front or rear wheel drive? Maybe if you are turning sharply... But under almost all conditions no difference is discernible in my experience. Is it truly 250 W or is it 250 "Nominal Watts" to get around regulations. Having the drive built into the motor (I assume) makes it neat... and I really like the wireless control panel! Range? Battery capacity? Some key info missing from your review.
Front or rear wheel drive that's the question, if you've ever tried using a wheelbarrow you'll know its far easier to pull it than push, car manufacturers know this hence the preponderance of front wheel drive vehicles. So for me it's got to be front wheel drive every time.
My experience with Swytch has been awful. They've had my money for 2 years and still haven't supplied me with a wheel that fits my old 9mm MTB. Having to threaten legal proceedings to get my money back. They just keep saying I'll get my wheel soon😮
3:22 It's sad to find out that the conversion kit loses the quick release for the rear wheel. This is a huge letdown and a total deal breaker, I want to always be able to quickly fix a flat, specially when commuting.
I don't know, my other half has been riding a 36v 250w bike in the hills around Sheffield for 3 years now and it's been like night & day, she just couldn't ride hills at all before. Also 250w is the legal limit so if you want to go higher you have to (a) go DIY and (b) hope you don't get hit with a liability claim :-/
@@The1trueDave The 250 W limit is not respected by the manufacturers, IMHO. They print it on the motor but you find that the 250 W motor is pulling 10 A at 36 V = 360 W! Ha Ha!
@@HughCStevenson1 True, 250w is just the 'continuous rating', they can pull more power than that, it's just how they're classified. I think a lot of 250, 350 and even 500w motors are basically the same motor, just 'chipped' but the point was whether a (nominal) 250w motor was adequate for general use...
It depends on if you want a motorcycle or just a little help to get over that hill. And still have a manageable bicycle. I have been an electric bike fan for over 15 years. I have tried 250w at 24v, 250watt 36v, 250 at 48v. I have mid drive DIY. Factory made mid and hub drive of all sizes up to 1500w. My favorite is 250watt 36 volt front drive. Using the tiniest motor possible it makes it un-noticeable on how the bike rides normally. I can use my favorite normal bike. Powerful enough to pull me home if I cannot pedal anymore. Anything bigger is fun for a few minutes but with lots of power I may as well ride my motorcycle.
I bought a Dutch electric bike, made about 20 years ago, which had a lead acid battery - long before Lithium came along. That battery is so small, looks like the range isn't great
Ths tiny, no way range is more than about 15 miles .. I have a few DIY ebikes and first one was 9ah 36v, 20 miles on minimal assist was longest I ever got. I built with 20ah 48v after that AMG easily get 50 miles and go faster.
It's okay. But you sacrifice the mount for the water bottle cage to mount the battery. Also. Rear wheel drive means it's pushing. Ot pulling. So there may be less stress overall on the motor. Would love to buy this and review it. Unfortunately it doesn't come in a 27 inch wheel.
@@HughCStevenson1 inertial weight transfer means that when accelerating grip on the rear wheel is increased & on the front wheel reduced, the extreme case is called a "wheelie" in which the front tyre has no grip at all because it's not even touching the ground.
That kit looks good but no mention of price or battery size - particularly the latter as that battery looks pretty small. I'd guess 250 - 300Wh but it would be good to know...
I’m enjoying the bike so far ru-vid.comUgkxMesz3KOGEmwmvyKQfLfrRSUXLFzfVHZA My only real complaints are the brakes and the pedals. I feel like a bike designed for bigger people should have much larger pedals and more heavy duty brakes. I’ve only gotten two really good rides out of it, minimal downhill action, and the brakes feel like they’re already going out. A larger person has more momentum, so I think this wasn’t thought through very well. Also, I wear size 13-14 wide shoes. My feet cramp up on these pedals that are clearly made for smaller feet. Since I’m not a pro rider (and I don’t think many are who purchase this bike) I don’t think that the straps on the pedal are necessary at all. None of this takes away from the enjoyment I get from riding, however. I’ll just head to a bike shop to improve on a few things.
£650 Is still wayy too expensive i think,I know E-bikes are not cheap,But £650 is a lot of money you may as well put that towards getting an Ebike with it already installed and it will look much better and actually be a frame/chassis designed around the use of been an Ebike.
Thank you for your great review. It is really helpful How noisy is the motor? Does it beep / pay a tune when it connects? Is that annoying and can you turn it off?
@@andyyoung5248 The motor is pretty quiet; we're working on a software update is due to make the motor even quieter and all existing Boost kits can be upgraded over the air by phone.
I would love to know how does it drive without the assist? This is what I think is a big problem with e-bikes. They are useless when the battery is dead, becomes way too hard to bike.
When free wheeling with the system turned off any drag that might exist is negligible. I think the issue is having the added weight of motor and battery, so you either manage this by making sure you have enough juice in the battery or just leave the battery out for those unplanned quick dashes to local shop etc.
No good for me, I have two bikes I would consider using this on but both have hub gears and drum brakes, it would take too much modification to accommodate discs and derailleur gears
Missing some pretty basic info: motor size, battery voltage & capacity, etc. Is it pedal assist compliant and what about availability of spares like additional battery pack?
£645 for a 216Wh kit😂 what a rip off! 50kms, I doubt that with a 216Wh battery, 25kms max. You can convert a bike for £400 with a 450Wh battery from Ali.....
