The freehub check you did demonstrates that the wheel did work, and was not locked, with no power going to it, so it really should have done the same when the battery ran out of power, suggesting some kind of fault with the unit.
I think they burnt it out by riding in on level 5 for 2 hours. I guess the manufacturer expects people to use lower levels during the ride to let the thing cool down.
Yeah. Ultimately it has crappy quality control. I'd be pissed if I paid that much for something that just dies after a few or even one serious ride. Maybe the manufacturer was hoping they'd just ride it around the block a few times and give it glowing praise.
This is a test I've been waiting for. At 73 years of age, I've been moving towards ebikes. My road bike is a Giant Defy Advanced Pro 0, and I've been looking for a kit to transform it into an ebike. What's stopped me so far has been the bike's carbon frame. I'll be following this build to see if your serious problem can be resolved. As for the price-it's expensive, but have you priced a light e-road bike lately. They're EXPENSIVE! Anyways, well done lads!!
Agreed, to make my nice bike into an ebike, it's still coming out a little high but if the kit is easy to swap on and off, then I can have one bike to do it all, saving on saddles etc
A few of the older chaps in our town run these kits on their bikes and they do 100+km rides on them every day, its an excellent choice to allow everyone to come to the group ride.
Fitted a Bafang mid drive and battery to my bike after suffering a stroke, added a fair chunk of weight but makes up for the poor power in one of my legs. 750miles so far with no problems to report
Interesting. This could be a solution for injured, broken or older riders. A kit like this would help my wife get out on her bike again so I'm intrigued how this goes.
I'm 8 years into an injury and almost every day I struggle on my road bike only able to barely do 1/10 the distance I used to I think about getting an ebike. The problem is the battery just don't last as long as Id want to ride for. So id end up riding an ultra heavy bike making it even worse. Especially when I imagine these things take a whole to recharge?
hi guys. i started watching your videos 6 months ago. als a mtb dude not my usual content. i general was not into roadie things. you made me curious. now i have an old trek 1.9 from 2009 and loving it to ride it. i got it dirt cheap with a damaged bb and fixed it easily. i am now riding much more time on the road bike than my mtbs. next thing is to build gravel bike. you are a "bad" influence. :D love your content. keep going. sending love from germany. c.
My strategy when I had an ebike was to either turn it off or on the lowest setting until I needed it for a hill. You need a geared hub motor or a mid-drive kit if you want to turn it off completely, or you'll have that "braking" issue like this kit suffered from. I don't think there are any mid-drive kits that are legal in the EU/UK, and a direct drive hub is generally reserved for high power "motorcycle" style ebikes, so I'm really confused to see one in use in a legal product unless the kit was sold with regen-braking as a feature. Regen braking geared hubs don't have a clutch like mid-drives or most geared hubs. The downsides of a geared or direct drive hub outweigh the minimal upside regen braking provides. You only get a few percent more miles with regen, but you risk having a big pain in the ass if your battery goes flat.
I installed a "BionX" 500w kit on my wife's Giant Escape. It is an all aluminium bike that we fully kitted for loaded touring. With 4 full panniers, she was consistently able to get 110 km of riding at about 20 kph (touring speed). She rode the bike on level 2 of 4. Unfortunately the BionX system is no longer manufactured. A really cool feature was that it had regenerative braking, so some charging occurred on steep mountain roads. Since we live in the interior of British Columbia, this was a real advantage.
It's the bit with Jimmi "it says Error and it's flashing" could of been a hint that something was wrong. Nice looking kit though be interested to hear what failed.
The torque sensor is not very good. As far as I can figure out, for each of the four power levels, it gives half power as soon as you pedal, then full power when you cross some pedal torque threshold, which you can feel as a big step in power. It''s not proportional at all, but it works OK and you get used to it.
This kit is similar to the Boost conversion kit sold in the UK. 540 (British pounds) looks to be a much cheaper alternative (but only comes with one aluminum wheel).
I used a front hub ebike conversion kit on my hybrid commuter bike. I usually have it on 1 or 0 and crank it to 4 or 5 to help with hills. Main thing to watch out for in kits is that the battery is reputable. I bought a kit from a local supplier thinking they'd done due diligence, but it was actually a generic battery from China. For context, battery fires happen mainly with poorly made batteries, and noname batteries can be a mixed bag. I replaced it with a battery that uses Samsung cells and that made me feel better safety-wise.
Most ebike vendors provide range estimates based upon ideal conditions: ~80kg rider, flat terrain, little to no wind, pedal assist 3 (out of 5), and for their highest range values they assume pedal assist level 1
First, my advice for anyone considering this gizmo is to spend another 2500 and get a Bianchi E-Oltre with Shimano 105 and MAHLE X30 e-assist. Yep, the WHOLE E-bike ready-to-ride with warranty from Bianchi/Shimano/Mahle in case of issues. Mahle X30 system should work great based on my experience with X35 and X20, though I have yet to try one. Second, you guys are clueless as to the value and reason for e-assist like this. It's NOT to create an e-moped to race against your friends, seeing how far you can go with the assist set to max. Instead it's like having a strong pro to ride with you...a nice one who will give you a gentle push if/when the climb is too steep or a strong, steady wheel to sit on should you overdo it and be fried before the ride is over and you're back home. Guys like you don't need this of course, but there's no cure or the common birthday..so old-farts like me who still want to ride need a bit of help...otherwise we're limited to rides short enough or flat enough that we know we can do 'em. Where's the fun in that? E-bikes (not e-mopeds) put the fan back in!
Agree. Running it at max for so long probably isn't good for the motor or battery. The usual use case is adjusting the power as needed so you can keep up with whoever you're riding with / get some help on the hills.
ok so one thing, This thing is absolutely illegal if it is not limted to 25 km/h and 250W of total output. If it is still giving power at 29 km/h, as it showed. This would definately be illegal
The soul crushing moment, they call an ebike that only weights 100g more than your normal bike heavy 😂 Then you remember the thru axled, shimano sora, carbon forked disk braked bike plus the few minor upgrades costed, less than half the cost of just the e bike kit 😂
I was feeling properly tempted until it seized at the end. Looked good, went well, acceptable range. The follow up will be interesting. But the real issue is whether Joe Punter would get the same service on failure as Cade Media?
I think, this is geared motor (36V, 250W) and most common fault is: planetary gear fail. Usually, one of nylon cogs tear apart under load. Brushless motor - usually is trouble free for its lifetime. But, I will wait for any update....
@@MylesHSG I like the Swytch in principle. But not keen on it being a front hub drive. Or the battery being on the bars, which is a really weird choice. This system’s design was much slicker. Warranty and support, yes, you’re certainly likely to be right.
I have a eMTB Orbea Rise but i ride a road bike, a Titanium Sabbath with Chorus rim brake . I am 65 and live i West Yorkshire. The kit looks great but you would get more range inf you used the power settings properly.
This kit actually looks quite interesting to me. I have an older road bike which I use for commuting and I wanted to buy carbon wheels for it. For 2k this is not far off from a set of carbon hoops and it will convert my bike to ebike.
One major issue if true, but it appears this kit is illegal because the assist doesn’t cut out at 25kph. Given all issues currently with unregulated e-bikes, I’m surprised there was no mention of this.
We need someone to build this with a cruise control and a power meter. Imagine how good that would be for testing aero positions, tires, tire pressure. Tell it to hold a speed and see the power over a given course. It would be way more consistent than a human tasked with holding steady power or speed.
That's pretty cool. As a youngish, fittish person I'm not particularly interested in ebikes, but I can certainly see how quickly this technology is developing and how this could be useful to people who aren't as young or fit as I am. Will be interested to see what actually caused the problem you're facing, since that definitely doesn't seem like normal behaviour.
It was all going so well... Conversion kits that work - yes. Conversion kits that mean you can't ride when something goes wrong - not a chance. Great video but don't expect a shop to touch one and for £2k, I'd rather buy an eBike with a reputable comapny's motor on it.
Definitely interested to see what happens with the 2nd wheel, as this seems like a very tidy design with a decent bit of tech in it. Quite a bit expensive for what I'd be looking at it for, throwing it on my commuter for longer riders to get heavy loads and have some assistance on the way back when loaded, but as you say, the tech is improving. Other than that though, yeah, keep the motors on cars, truck and motor cycles, bicycles are human powered vehicles if you're riding them recreationally for fun or exercise.
"why would you wanna ride over 2hrs?".....crazy question. where you live you should be heading right out over the pennines as far as alston or barnard castle and loop around the fantastic roads and climbs via stanhope. cant beat that. 4-6hr rides for the true weekend riders👌
Very promising! If the wheelset is carbon, then a good wheelset OEM costs 500 bucks. I d have to check the specs they offer. Then there's the price of the hub motor, the battery and the head unit. The head unit looks pretty neat, they bothered to make an adapter for cockpits, so that's easily 50 bucks. 2k sounds spicy, at 1500 it's becoming really quite attractive. I can do 100km rides unassisted but I can see myself doing more such rides with such a kit, especially in a bike holiday context like a cycling block. Could be a great way to do a monster Z2 block in the canary islands for example.
that locking up was weird! definitely some issue with the stators or something in that hub because yeah, when not powered, it should just be a heavier wheel
China cycling have tested this set. It's probably the most highend china set you can get. The price is too high for me, I would love to try it on my steel gravel bike.
That's pretty mad I have a bottom bracket mounted ebike motor (Bafang BBS), and it once turned my pedals into fixie style ones when the prawl clutch teeth got stuck. Being more DIY designed, it was easy to replace. Think I prefer that to the rear locking up randomly.
While i do agree with most of the sticker shock comments to a certain degree, you have to consider it's a kit that includes a matching front wheel. Most other kits do not sell as a matched kit.
nice test.. for the pricing though, and if your bike is new enough that the warranty matters, maybe best to splurge on a whole bike. Looking forward to a re-test and see what happens with the defect feedback from the manu.
If you look at most e bikes they consist of a head unit, controller and motor. Looking at that kit the controller must be in the rear hub so is more likely to overheat, add to the fact that the disk is connected to the hub more heat will transfer to the hub. I doubt is can deal with hilly environment as its to small. i suspect its a controller failure. As motors and batteries are far more robust. A midddrive unit like the Tongsheng TSDZ8 which has a torque sensor pedal assist is a muck better solution. A road bike is pointless as there is no benifit using a light weight bike as the motors have a high torque rating.
Actually really interesting. I can see some value in having more versatility with my current bike - maybe go electric for commuting or when you have a zone 2 day but want to ride with a faster group - instead of buying a dedicated e-bike. Interesting concept, hope it continues to develop
Would love to see the 50 watt e-road bike. Can't remember the brand(you gesturedythem recently). But a 2 kg system to assist you up hills sounds like a great compromise.
Here's the problem I have with e-bikes: First, if you're older or somehow disabled in some way and you want to get out and enjoy the sun and fresh air and an e-bike helps you do that, I'm all for it. But this is the minority of cases. What I see when I ride the local bike path is a bunch of people who just want to take advantage of the fact that there are no traffic lights on the path and they have e-bikes that do nearly 40mph (64kph), so they're just a hazard to everyone walking or riding actual bikes. They're basically just electric motorcycles, and as such should not be permitted on bike trails/paths. Also, and this is a small percentage, I have a few older friends who have electric road bikes and will actually claim KOMs on them. I immediately flag those rides, because that's cheating. So while there are circumstances in which I agree with the use of e-bikes, they're basically just electric motorcycles these days and they're just making them faster and faster.
Just out of curiosity where are you living? Because where I am from, there aren’t any e-bikes that can do those speeds. Most only assist up to 25kph and some people get e-bikes that assist up to 45kph but you have to get insurance and actual license plate for it, so these are the exception
@@SirBrass I’m not sure on the app, I have only done it on my pc. But let’s say you see a segment that has a KOM or any time that is bogus. You click on that person’s time for that segment, then on the left side of the page you’ll see Overview, Analysis and Best Efforts, and underneath those there are three dots. Click those three dots and then choose Flag. It’ll give you choices as to why you’re flagging the ride. Choose the correct one and then scroll down and click Flag. Done.
@@MylesHSG That's not true at all. There are plenty of legal ebikes that will do 25mph with some assistance. I've ridden them on test rides just to see what they were like.
when the battery depleted, further force overwhelmed internal gearing and caused teeth to shear. no amount of recharging could realign or reforge them.
Bikes have the ability to remove cars off our roads. Bike secure parking, better batteries, cost are the three big issues for these really taking off. The first almost the most important strangely enough.
2000 euros??? That's nuts! I have bought an ebike conversion kit from Aliexpress and the kit was under $300 with a 700x30 rear wheel with a 1500W in-hub motor. I also got a 48V 24Ah battery for around $360 so this 2000 euro price is just crazy!
@@timoma6620 My actual point is that lower wattage hub motor kits are even cheaper and the lower Amp/hr batter would also be cheaper than the prices I paid. So once again a price of 2000 euros is really way out of line.
Aside from the locking up issue you experienced, I'd consider something like this for my gravel bike. It has alloy wheels now so maybe the weight penalty would be less as an upgrade and could probably go all day on level 1 or 2 assist. Historically I've had issue with the assist kicking in and bucking the bike or making you surge at the start, did you experience this with this kit? How easy is it to change wheelsets and take off the wheel and battery?
The dodgy wheel aside that would be a no for me. When I am riding normally, my rides do on occasion go longer than 2 hours and up to 70k. And that is nothing compared to the serious riders around the place. Further, to get more distance/life out of the battery, you restrict your speed? I think my bike runs better with just my locomotion on it.
How would the state even enforce the legality though? The person could always just say they're planning on using it on private property only. Unless cops are going to start pulling people over lol.
I would have liked some indication of what it was like up steep climbs. How muxh did the motor offset the extra weight (presumably completely?), what were the lower power settings like? The test didnt really use the motor like most road cyclists tend to uae ebikes, in my opinion
Know what you're saying SqungyO :) Out on the "horse" for a longish ride, get caught up in a "monsoon". Incessant downpour, H20 kicked up from front wheel & passing vehicles. Splash status only going in one direction. Personally, not into electric bikes anyway, but l can see the appeal & benefits for those that are in the market for suchlike.
Really need to see the range when set to level one. I have a geeko conversion kit on my touring bike that lasts 95 miles on a flat route. I'd like to see how this compares. Also what is the battery capacity? Max speed motor power etc
I saw that Geeko kit on another channel. I love how they have 3 options. Front, rear or both. I'm tempted to do the dual kit but that's also around $ 2,000 USD....if I'm remembering correctly. I'd only put it on my longtail conversion, and maybe one of my other cargo haulers.
No, not sure would go for it with this high cost. But if i still wanted to try it I am not sure why someone would not test this in a controlled environment first? I think the test should be done on the cycling trainer first. Beats a lot of hassels. I would rather have a talk with the manufacturer if they have tried this. Many e-bikes are built very heavy. Why heavy grip tyres and bulky frames, only? Why should we not benefit from the negative research results from the manufacturer? People want to serve different purposes with e-bikes. Some wants longer battery 🔋 with very small amount of assistance through the day, while some wants burst of power. Results would very for different style of riders and over different duration of ride. I would definitely like to get more information. But burning up the curious researchers is not the best way. I would rather associate with manufacturers with a team of bike riders and get paid for your involvement and professional opinion. It will have more safety aspects covered as well for you and others. I am not sure if i am qualified to suggest any these things professionally. Good luck with the next step.
I've rebuilt far too many of these types of E-bikes wheels, and it's not uncommon for the hubs to freeze and unfreeze whilst in the wheel jig, winding itself out of the jig in the process. I hate them.
I tried a conversion about 20 years ago. I used minimum assistance (hills only) and it still ran out too soon. OK old tech but then yours only has 2 hours? Jimmy's a wimp if 2 hours is enough for him. For me a day out is 5 or 6 sometimes more so one of these would be a down grade! How fast were you going? UK law is 25 kph max assisted. 25 kph is a lot for me but for you ex pros?
It's €2000 bloody euros though. And I've seen e-racer bikes (whole bikes brand new) on eBay for £650 and they weren't those Deliveroo JustEat delivery guy types.
Definitely a defective motor, but I wonder if it failed due to the continuous and intense testing you put it through, not that it should have but I reckon that’s what happened. The motor basically realised it was you two and said naa I’m out! 😂
Could someone explain to me how this viids the warranty please. Technically youre hust sticking a different pair of wheels on. Albeit those wheels come with a few extra bits.
