[SA Chris]

Anyone got any experience of these?

How hard are they to fit, and how reliable?

Dropping £2K or so for a whole bike has limited appeal, but if i can convert my full susser to one occasionally for long approaches to routes or bouldering for a few hundred quid it is worth considering, but there is an overwhelming amount of options.

[gme]

I think Carlisle slapper and a few other lads in the county have done this. I will be interested as well.

[lagerstarfish]

I've been thinking the same re not spending out for a new bike.
I borrowed an ebike for a month last year and loved it, but can't justify spending a couple of grand to compensate for my weedy legs.
I'd need a rear hub motor at least (half my cycling is up hills) and front hubs seem like a bad idea for that.

[Paul B]

I've been thinking the same re not spending out for a new bike.
I borrowed an ebike for a month last year and loved it, but can't justify spending a couple of grand to compensate for my weedy legs.

There was a Ribble SL-e for sale second hand on FB for a much reduced price this week (£1600 and I think they start at £3300).

[colin8ll]

I bought a Voodoo hybrid with a Bafang BBS01 250W mid-drive conversion kit already installed by the previous owner. I was using it for my daily commute back when I had to go into the office. It was great for my 20 mile round trip and meant I had enough energy to do things like climbing instead of being too knackered from the long uphill slog home. One reason some people like the Bafangs is because they are easy to derestrict so you can have assistance above the 25kph legal limit. Obviously this has implications should you get caught or have an accident but having tried it both ways it does feel pretty frustrating when you are riding around 25kph and you feel the motor assistance coming and going.

If I was buying again I would still get a mid drive kit over the hub drive for their increased efficiency, but I would upgrade to a 48V battery (currently 36V). It's definitely worth investing in a decent battery. The install is probably at the level of difficulty of building up a frame as it requires you to remove the old bottom bracket and replace it with the mid drive kit. Not everyone will have the tools for this job. A common problem with the Bafangs is that the alloy is quite soft. This caused my to strip a couple of threads so if you're doing this kind of conversion be gentle on the bolts and use plenty of threadlock.

I've not had any significant reliability issues but I do get range anxiety if I forget to charge the battery or just head off for an explore as the thing is heavy and inefficient to pedal without the motor's assistance.

[lagerstarfish]

I switched off the electric assist a few times whilst going uphill.
I was very surprised by how hard it was to keep going.
I think the gears weren't as helpful as I am used to on my normal bike.
I regularly have a couple of panniers full of shopping on the hills home, so have a reasonable feel for weight.
 I think the ebike I had weighed 24kg or something.
I wouldn't want to get stuck in the wrong part of the Peak with no charge left - I understand the range concerns.
I'm rambling and can't remember what I was saying

[carlisle slapper]

https://www.electroncycles.co.uk or lunacycle.com are the places to look for kits.

A decent unrestricted BBSHD with the right battery will see you well over 30mph for a lot of miles (at least 20), dont bother buying any standard ebike stock or the crap on ebay if you are looking to essentially have a bridleway motorbike for crag access. hub motors are crap as your back wheel will weigh a tonne and pinch flat on any large rock. also a pain to lift over gates etc.

1k is about what you'd need to spend to get something half decent. I've had mine for 5 years now and its one of the best purchases i've ever made. a crap tonne more useful for getting outdoors on projects when timepoor with kids and family life and far more productive than a winter on the comp scene would do for me anyway. I never knew there were so many bridleways until i bought one, have had it up some random places and always been met with smiles and nice chats with walkers (i usually slow down and twiddle a bit and puff loudly). I can get the 4 miles out from Christianbury in 15minutes if im on my own and can speedway drift the forest road corners with a foot out so its hardly boring either. I would be careful if getting one that does over 50mph as you'll be wanting motorbike protection really incase you cock things up, surprisingly easy on bumpy ground especially with a gearless throttle.

Get a 20 or 26tooth front ring for steep hills too, if you can physically stay on the bike it'll get you up it!

Discs and tyres over 2.5" are a must

[webbo]

Do you carry pads on it.

[SA Chris]

I was thinking for carrying ski kit too, a lot of back county stuff like Lochnagar has long approaches on jeep tracks. Last time I used my hardtail for an approach was to get to Creag a' Choire Etchachan and I think cycling out with a heavy pack on collapsed my spine.

[carlisle slapper]

I take an Organic big pad in most of the time. i have a panya to rest it on in theory but i took it off this year as i never use it. Sat up with the pad on the drag makes it horrible at 20mph but if you tuck forward like Graeme Obree then you can hit 28mph on the forest tracks on my set up. It's basically why you want a powerful set up as when you add pad+ drag + really steep hill then you need 40mph power to get up a steep gravelly hill at 8mph.

1300w bafang BBSHD and a 52volt pack with at least 14ah and you cant go far wrong. I bought my kit from Luna as 6 years ago they were way ahead, i still think their throttle mapping is smoother than the stock UK kits so if you are on tecky single track approaches it might be worth considering them (or buying one of their throttles). Two of my mates have newer UK bafang kits from electron and they're defo faster than my setup due to better batteries on a 52V set up. Again though 42ish MPH will feel fast enough when it goes all Mika hakkinen on you. Interestingly you can power both wheels on an Ebike but i've only just started to see some of these come out on E trials bikes, 2 wheel drive would get you almost anywhere though.

My setup can be seen at 4:26 on the vid i made about heading round loch katrine to the massive block there. https://www.flickr.com/photos/beastmaker/49143000898/in/photostream/ It was so cold that morning bombing in the 6 miles on my bike round the lake that my hands properly cramped onto the bars. did the road park in 20mins though, although the slog up the hill was still classic scottish pathless steep boggy crap.

[Schmiken]

Do be careful with derestricting them, a few guys got caught in Leicestershire before lockdown and got points on licence - a derestricted ebike is according to the law an electric motorbike. Which means it must be taxed, insured, licenced and you must wear a motorbike helmet.

If you are going to use it in that manner, just buy a motorbike and stay on the correct side of the law.
Otherwise, keep it under 25kph and don't fit a throttle.