Post #1865928
2026-04-30 15:34 UTC
Replies (8)
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@jackeric@beige.party 2026-04-30 15:58
@billgoats@bitbang.social would recommend following International Ebike Guru @broadwell.eu but not sure if you'd need a Bluesky account to interact
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@FlatFootFox@hachyderm.io 2026-04-30 17:27
@billgoats@bitbang.social When considering the cost efficiently, don’t forget to check and see if your local city or energy company will give you some sort of rebate on a new ebike. Mine took a few hundred dollars off.
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@juddy@mastodon.social 2026-04-30 21:55
@billgoats@bitbang.social are you truly a bike mechanic? Like do you have more than one Park tool? Even then, are you you electrically inclined? Do you already have disc brakes? 52V or nothing. Class 3 isn’t wise without discs.
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@alexhelvetica@toot.cat 2026-05-01 12:24
@billgoats@bitbang.social my thought of them is probably a used bike that's good and is in good condition, that's suitable to use as a commuter, where the geometry works for you, and the seat and handle bars are adjusted correctly, will result in a be better experience than shoving an ebike conversion kit on the 26" mountain bike you might have in the back shed. I feel like a lot of the buzz on ebikes, is just people have had inadequate bikes, so think riding bikes is hard. I definitely see the need for ebikes, but the problem with cheap ebikes is, they are objectively terrible bikes with a motor slapped onto them. So a good bike would probably be a better overall experience. Also, the batteries and chargers in those cheap conversion kits are often fire hazards. And a lot of them probably aren't even legal in Australia or Europe, because they'd be following the US guidelines which are way less strict.
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@Frantasaur@mastodon.ie 2026-05-01 12:25
@billgoats@bitbang.social in most parts of Europe it wouldn’t be road legal unless the kit includes a speed limiter (not that far bike sellers seem to care of course).
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@feijoa@mastodon.org.uk 2026-05-01 12:38
@billgoats@bitbang.social I bought a Swytch kit for my wife's bike a few years ago. Easy to fit, works great. Would recommend.
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@elebertus@eigenmagic.net 2026-05-01 14:00
@billgoats@bitbang.social the bike in my pfp has over 1k miles with a bafang bbs02. Tons of miles off road and on road, lots of cargo, none. Absolutely zero problems. Completely flawless.
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@tpuddle@mastodonapp.uk 2026-05-01 17:22
@billgoats@bitbang.social I bought a Swytch kit, in the UK, a few years ago. This gives you a replacement front wheel, with a hub motor, a handlebar-mounted battery box & controller, together with a pedal sensor. I fitted it all myself, I was happy with its performance, and used it fairly extensively. But I have since bought a full ebike. I passed my Swytch kit on to a friend. Swytch have more recently changed their line-up to use smaller batteries. However, Swytch has a weird commercial setup. Most of the orders are build-on-demand, with a long waiting list and/or delivery times. They are not very responsive to customer emails, etc. I no longer recommend Swytch. I believe that there are similar companies making similar offerings who would be more worthy of your money, and less frustrating to deal with.