Sales of electric bikes have spun into high gear this year — some merchants like Amazon are reporting a 6000% increase this summer from last year. This is good news, because, for short trips, the efficiency and convenience of electric bikes is hard to beat.
Here are some statistics that still amaze me: 40% of all trips are made within two miles of the home, and 50% of workers commute five miles or less to work.
I recently heard about an inexpensive electric bike conversion kit that appears to be of good quality. It’s offered by a family-run company called AmpedBikes.
The founder, Danny L. Ray, was unhappy with the quality of the kits he was getting from China, so he visited China and found a company that were willing to build a kit to his specifications, using the parts he chose. The result is a $360 kit that he sells from his website. By comparison, other conversion kits such as the Crystalyte, the Wilderness and the Bionx cost between $500 and $1800.
The AmpedBikes kits incorporate a brushless 36V 500W electric hub, and can be installed on almost any bike with 26″ wheels. Ray says the kits can be installed in about 20 minutes, and he an installation video on his website to show how it’s done.
You will have to provide your own batteries — here’s a FAQ page with some suggestions for finding them (scroll to the bottom).
Read more! Related stories:
- Schwinn Electric Bikes Now Available
- Powerful Combination: Montague Folding Bike + Bionx Electric Conversion
- Schwinn’s New Range of Electric Bikes
- Turn Your Bike Into A Powerful Commuting Vehicle: StokeMonkey
- Electric Bikes For Commuters
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
I like that you can fill in your own battery pack. That allows you to customize the capacity to your specific needs. I could see folks in hilly areas wanting more amp-hours than others.
There’s no reason you couldn’t build this into a 700C rim too, but you might have some issues w/ the width of the dropouts (assuming it’s 135 mm OLD) on older road bikes.
You know what’s more efficient than electric bicycles?
Bicycles.
They’re cheaper too
Electric bikes are actually more efficient than standard bicycles. See this book for more details:
http://tinyurl.com/679wpv
Electric bikes are especially useful for those with kids in tow, or elderly people.
Great commuters!
We have been using ampedbikes conversion for over a year now as commuters, I have 12 mile commute and my wife has a 6 mile commute. We ride them on the average of 4 days a week, we get to work sweat free and together we saved close to $6,000 last year on fuel prices.
We also have standard road and mountain bikes we ride on weekend for recreation and exercise, but during the week we commute for about $.01 per mile beat that!
Its fun, it gets us outside and gives us a different outlook on the day.
Jamey K.
good post Jamey,
I want to buy one. How much did you pay in the end for yours?
thanks
Hi Ras. I paid $80 for batteries locally for 3 12V 10AH batteries. So I have a total of about$440 into it. But to be honest at this point cost is not a factor.
My next thing is I am upgrading to one of the new lightweight batteries.
Im sold.. I just ordered one after reading excellent forum reviews. I had to get on a waiting list for the 15th of September.
I went out and bought a nice comfort bike for the conversion at Wallmart for $120
If you drove that on a British road, you would be classed as a criminal.
BionX is made in Canada.. comes with batteries too!
Also, it fits many different sizes of wheels, (in both black and silver), it fits your REAR wheel.. has Li-Mn batteries..
By far, worth every penny.. I have one on my hybrid, and I love it!
Rightfully so roger, in Britain there are lots of pedestrians the last thing they need is crazy people going around on electric bikes. Be environmentally friendly and walk, take the bus or subway. Save electric bikes for Americans. Don’t really even see what you would need them for.
BionX is a good system if you have the cash. On the other hand, if you use it every day, it will pay for itself. Find a local dealer to install for you, it will cost about the same and you get the warranty.
Jamey K. stated that he and his wife saved close to $6000 last year on fuel prices. Using his numbers for commuting, I came up with about 3744 miles between the two of them. If you figure their car gets about 20mpg (low guess?) and gas costs $5 a gallon (never got there) it would still only be $935 in fuel in a year. Now add in all the other costs of car ownership and they could have easily saved that $6K… if the cars went away. Insurance, registration, repairs etc… but fuel costs? Come on your giving electric assist a bad name with bogus claims on the savings.
I’m interested in converting a recumbent to electric assist for commuting, I already rode over 4600 miles this year without any assist, but want more speed and not to sweat up during my commute going to work. But I’d like a system that drives through the chain so I can use my gearing with the electric. If anyone has some good suggestions… email me.
Thanks
I’m also looking for an electric kit for a recumbent with a 16in wheel. Have you found anything? I’ve found a Cystalyte 36V kit, but I do not know if it actually would work.
I was shocked at how much the kit cost but then I found out that it doesn’t come with the battery. My dad just started up an electric bike store called EZ Green Bikes and we’re selling them for $850 with lithium ion batteries.
All I have to say about electric bikes are that they are great and for those complaining about how people should just ride regular bicycles…it’s difficult for someone that has a zero to low activity lifestyle to hop onto a bike and commute to work or school. Don’t discourage people from electric bikes…it still requires some physical activity and it’s better than using a car which equals better health and a better environment. As for the cost I guess all I can say is…gas prices can’t stay low forever.
i dont mean to cancle the warrenty on perpus but livining next to a moter sports machean shop plan on takeing it astep ferter i have a w.w.2 serplus dynamoter 6 v step up to 300 unreguated volts @ so so amps i might try it ive teted it idealy might work its like a moter w bult in genorator thay r still
around mostly in railroad eqwipment nowa days but if you bump into a w.w.2 tube mureen radio and know your stuff i hope any body can look up dc dynamoter on google today they come in 12v to who knows !a 16 ”
moped or dirtbike tire will fit a 20″bicycle rim i garontee ..the brushless hub i guss
migt need a more beefy and fool proof design on a moped frame an im wondering if ishuld power front and back too you can fit alot more power on
a resonably small cycle fram sligtly heavyer duty than a peddle bike
hi
can i hav this e bike kit available in india
looking for bike electric about 500 watt
how much for 500 watt or 800 watt and 1000 watt
?
I am an american so for you guys in the UK who think its a way to be eco friendly to walk. think of a coworker who walks to work and shows up hot, red faced and sweaty so he can save on gas. by hour one he’ll stink. i walk four miles to work ever day. i tell you id rather dole out the 400$ so i show up smelling fresh and not with sweat stains and blisters. that and it would cut my commute from an hour and a half to about twenty minutes. ive been the guy no ones wants to be with in ten feet of. its not fun, by the way i have a Aluminum PK7 21 speed and i use it but sweat is for the dogs
My commute is 7 miles each way. No way that I can walk that in a reasonable amount of time. A bicycle is the solution. An electric bike is even safer b/c instead of a 3 mph hill climb I can do a 10+ mph hill climb. Perhaps even 15 mph hill climb. I would not worry about my relative speeds but I must mix with cars…
My husband and I both bought conversion kits from http://www.e-bikekit.com and we absolutely love them. We got the E-BikeKit Complete Conversion Systems with the -BikeKit 36v 10ah LiFePo4 battery option. We have commuting on electric bikes in one form or another for 10 years:) By far this is the best conversion kit we have used. They sell 500w motors that are strong and durable. The top speed is 20MPH and the range with the LiFePo4 is about 26 miles with the way we ride (we pedal along most of the time). The people at E-BikeKit are extremely helpful too.
So these guys are doing it right and making a very appealing product for the conversion crowd. I just wanted to come on and recommend them myself. If you want a great electric bike conversion kit at a fair price from good people, buy from E-BikeKit.com.
electric bikes are legal in the uk ..i ride one and they’re sold here ..i’ve had 2 heart attacks and i think it;s great
What I don’t get is why you can’t figure out the specs of electric bike motors. I have a cheap Currie bike that would be fine for flat terrain, but I need something that will climb steep hills for several miles. I was talking with a local electronics shop to see if they had recommendations and they said no, they don’t even work on them because of the quality of the motors. Which leaves me wondering, why can’t you find out if these kits are any good? I don’t want to buy a motor that’s only going to last 2 years. There are so many kits, motors, and electric bikes out there but I’ve yet to see a comprehensive rating system. It’s just a wild frontier of start ups as far as I can see. Any suggestions on where to get good information?
And to save comments from the “purists”; yes, I understand I can ride a bike without a motor. But, I use my electric bike for commuting to and from work and don’t want to be covered in sweat. Hence the electric bike. As a bicyclist, car drivers, walker and electric bike rider I get the pecking order: cars drivers don’t like bicyclists of any kind, bicyclists don’t like people using electric bikes, and walkers don’t particularly care for any of them.
kevin,
Call E-BikeKit.com at 1.866.882.EBIK (3245). Their complete system is great for tackling hills. My husband is 225 pounds and goes up hills in the highest gear on his commuter bike. And they offer a 2 year warranty on the motors.
Also check out independent forum sites like http://endless-sphere.com/forums/index.php to get reviews on electric bikes. That’s how I found e-bikekit. The people at Endless-Sphere really know e-bikes and e-bike batteries.
We saw rode and bought 3 ampedbikes kits yesterday. They were at the car show, very helpful, knowledgeable and we are all up and running today. We saved about $4,000 as we were going to buy schwinn electric bikes.
The ampedbikes have more power, no noise, easy to install and a blast to ride.
Danny Ray was very knowledgeable and helpful throughout the whole process.
Thanks Danny!!!
Sharon,
Can you tell us what you paid? We are looking at the E-BikeKit conversion system from http://www.e-bikekit.com and trying to decide between this and amped kit. The amped website is not that good but the e-bikekit site is pretty impressive. Does anyone know what the differences are between the two kits?
The E-BikeKit kit seems to offer a lot more out of the box and also a nice LiFePO4 battery. What kind of batteries are you using with your kits?
Would love to see pictures if you can post them:)
Best of luck to you. If you’re new to the electric bike you have a lot to look forward to. These things are so much fun!
The reason we chose the amped kits, was first off we rode them at the show, then did some research and found that they are just about the best on the market. There are alot of knock offs of the amped kits so we decided to simply buy the origional. We bought at the show so we paid around $320 each kit.
Thanks Sharon! We called Amped and we called E-BikeKit.com and we eventually decided to go with E-BikeKit. Amped actually didn’t answer the phone the first time so we called E-BikeKit and they couldn’t have been more helpful.
We bought 2 of the “E-BikeKit Complete Conversion System with 36v10ah LiFePO4 Battery” and we were very impressed with the whole package. They even included a couple t-shirts, zip ties, a professional manual, a spoke wrench for maintenance and a universal torque arm($30 extra from Amped) with each kit which is a really nice touch. based on our experience with other conversion kits in years past we were surprised by everything that was included.
The LiFePO4 batteries are amazing. My husband and I have been riding whenever we get a chance and have gone on 20 mile trips with no sign of losing power. I have used lead acid batteries before on a bike we had years ago and this is a whole new world.
We posted pictures of our bikes in the “E-BikeKit™ Owner’s Club” section of their website: http://www.e-bikekit.com/shop/index.php?p=gallery
They are the two black Schwinn Sidewinders on the second page.
Thanks for your advice and we’ll see you on the road!
Overall we would recommend E-BikeKit.com and their complete electric bike conversion offering to anyone interested in converting their existing bike into a really nice electric bike.
I took the plunge this year and bought an electric bicycle conversion kit. I’ve been wondering about doing this for ages and I’m sure glad that I did. I looked around for a bit but found this website:
http://electricbicycleconversionkits.net
It had loads of information and was updated often.
The http://www.e-bikekit.com Has incredibly bent spokes that will cause failure, broken, loose spokes and you may even hurt yourself.
The Ampedbikes.com kits are all straight spoked to prevent this from happening. The http://www.e-bikekit.com kits are simply off the shelf Nine continents kits that anyone can buy for around $130
http://www.cnjzdj.com/e_index.asp
Do your research people…
It really is unbelievable how low some business owners will sink to promote their products.
Jeff Sterns above is a most likely a fictitious name used by Ampedbikes to increase their web presence. This has been done repeatedly at several places online recently (see example: http://www.scooteringusa.com/2009/08/e-bike-kit-released-in-portland/) by the Ampedbikes in an attempt to win business. They choose this sort of negative marketing instead of concentrating on making their own product better and their customers happy.
There is no problem with the spokes on the E-BikeKit. They are safe and they are backed by a real company and real people that stand behind their work. Every wheel is professionally “trued” in our New Jersey facility. And we do encourage people to do their research. There is a vast amount of OBJECTIVE information on the E-BikeKit, the Ampedbike offering and many other e-bike related products at the Endless-Sphere Technology Forum: http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/index.php
This is where you will find real product reviews and real advice from real people with real experience.
Ampedbikes is a sad company that had a falling out with the nine continents manufacturer (they claim to have sold over 3000 nine continent wheels before failing to meet sales quotas) and they are obviously bitter. This is well documented (see another example: http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5407&p=164179&hilit=ampedbikes+jason+justin#p164179). In that thread they even use my name (jason) as the fictitious poster as an added personal jab. You’ll notice the registered user “JsBoss” registers just in time to say how good the Amp’d kit is and how he and the wife love them(never to post in that forum again). Here is another example of a recent post by fictitious poster “HighVoltage”: http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12669
This is what you can expect from the people behind Ampedbikes.
It is absolutely pathetic that any competitor would waste their time throwing insults and hiding behind fake names and bogus posts instead of focusing on making their own product better.
As a consumer reading things like this it’s important that you ask yourself, if these are their marketing tactics what can you expect if you actually make the mistake of buying something from Ampedbikes?
I personally encourage Ampedbikes and Danny Ray (owner) to work harder and concentrate on customer satisfaction rather than wasting your time with obvious and slimy marketing tactics.
Sincerely,
Jason Kraft (real person and owner of The E-BikeKit™ and E-BikeKit.com)
i just read this comment from jeff stearns and i find it totally false. i have five, yes five 9 Continents hubmotors i got through e-bikekits.com and not a single motor had a defective spoke, not one. 180 spkes, count em, not one!
if jason at ebikekits is correct and this is slander deliberately used to damage his reputation because he has undercut the price on hubmotors so much then the site moderator here should do something to edit the sources of these defamations.
if you wanna see how people feel about the 9C then go over to the sphere and see how many people talk about their builds using a 9 C hubmotor they bot from jason at ebikekits.com because he was so much cheaper.
i think his kits are great too because the 9 FET controller can be used at 48V and i figured out how to modify them to run safely at up to 72V lifepo4, and because the motor is direct drive with seals on the axle to keep out water. i did not want a geared hub because i want to use regen for braking and the large direct drive hub motors can handle the heat over longer periods of heavy use. just everything about my 9C i think is so neat. but i don’t sell bikes or kits, i just like to build my own.
Folks. you shouldn’t trust some of these comments since they are planted by the competing manufacturers. All of the equipment for both of these bikes kits are made in China in the same factory under the name 9C and then rebranded here in the US.
that is an insult. i have 5 of these ebikekit motors and controllers. what i was responding too is the delberate lies spread by that phoney eric guy about how the spokes are bent, and how it is dangerous which is a total lie. the wheels came in perfect shape, and i have a park truing stand to establish that, so i can say for certain they are not bent or have bent or damaged spokes or dented rims, which i have seen on other bike kits that get shipped direct from china since i help out other guys here in portland with ebike problems from buying the ebay special ebike kits.
9 continents makes a buncha different motors for sure, but they don’t put the kits together and this kit from ebikekit i feel is so much better for the money because of the 9 FET infineon controller and i was able to buy a kit so cheap from ebikekit that i bot 4 more for a community ebike sharing project i am starting in portland. if you something about ebikes you would know what i mean, and who i am.
i thought it was amazing that jason would actually pay the conversion fee for newbies to have their motor and controller installed at the bike shop if it was too difficult. which it really may be for people who are totally green in terms of tinkering. but for anybody who likes to build bikes like me, then the deal was the cheap price from ebikekits.com, so that’s why i bot from him. i wanted to buy a 9C kit from justin but it was just outa my price range until jason offered them so cheap.
the difference between the direct drive and the geared motors is the ability to use regen for braking with the direct drive motors but you cannot get regen out of a geared hubmotor.
also the ability of direct drive hubmotors to shed more heat than a geared hubmotor, from the large amounts of power that get pushed through the motor, is why i wanted to use a direct drive 9C rather than the geared type hubmotor.
for someone like me who has to fight the rain then one of the most important features on the 9 continents motor is the seals on the axle to keep out the moisture because that is how the hall sensors get shorted out and die. even C’lyte is now using seals like 9C has on the axles. this is so important in the pacific NW. a lotta of us up here like our electric assist, in large doses. but rain is the enemy of ebikes everywhere and so i think the seals are proof of their just overall higher level of quality.
power was why i did the 72V upgrade thread on the 36V 500W 9 FET Infineon controller that jason includes with his ebikekit and posted it up on the sphere. this controller can be reprogrammed to adjust the regen and power so they provide a useful platform for those of us who want more. and cheap too. i know a lot of other ebikers on the sphere that bot hubmotors and kits from jason at ebikekit.com too. we weren’t swayed by lies from fake phony guys.
we bot the best we could get for the least amount of money. same as anybody would. that’s what jason offers.
I am also a member of endless-sphere and while I don’t have a kit from 9c, I can stand behind dnmun’s posts – he is not a vendor, is a truly objective consumer, and has always been honest and forthright on the boards. The Jeff Sterns post, in my opinion, is a complete smear campaign by the ampedbikes people, which is unfortunate – up until this point I had thought ampedbikes was a reputable company, but I’m reconsidering that. I have heard nothing but good things about Jason e-bikekits.com