# Conversion advice



## MichaelW2 (15 Oct 2018)

My wife doesn't like cycling as much as she should, even to get around town. I think an ebike conversion for her Trek ladies hybrid might help. It is a mixte style steel frame with steel forks and 3x7 speed on 700c wheels
What are the options for conversions ?


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## Pale Rider (15 Oct 2018)

As regards propulsion, a hub motor is simpler and means you can keep the gears as they are.

The bigger question is where to mount the battery, particularly on a small/mixte frame.

Some people reckon a rear carrier battery is top/tail heavy, but experience suggests it doesn't feel as bad as they expect.

Almost endless combinations of battery/motor/controller from Chinese retailer BMS.

https://bmsbattery.com/


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## Laser Man (17 Oct 2018)

Any conversion is going to add 6 to 8kg to the bike, which will make it feel very heavy.
Front hub motor - simplest conversion but can make the front feel unbalanced and the possibility of wheelspin in the wet.
Rear hub motor - not much more difficult, but you need to transfer the gear cassette/freewheel over which needs some special tools. Bike feels "normal" once you've got going.
Crank drive - most sophisticated, but you need to be happy pedalling fairly fast and you loose the front derailleure (just a single chain ring).

I'd recommend Woosh. 
They aren't the cheapest, but the kits are well thought out and include everything you need (apart from thousands of cable ties). Their motor controllers are hidden away in the battery housings, so the visible wiring is kept to a minimum.
Best of all their manuals are on-line, so you can see ***before purchasing*** whether it will be suitable for you and your bike. They also have superb technical support - even to the point of wanting a photo of the bike so they send the right bits!
They have front and back hub kits as well as crank drive with some advice about which would be best.

A popular and significantly cheaper option is Yosepower (Chinese stuff - from Germany so no VAT/duty problems to worry about).
Currently they don't seem to have any UK road-legal kits (all 350W or more) and you don't get to see the instructions until you've paid you money over.
Not so good for a first attempt at a conversion.


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## dieth34 (7 Nov 2018)

Are you sure about Yosepower/ Germany ?, the only address i could find on the Website are from China.


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## videoman (7 Nov 2018)

They are/were on eBay and I purchased a rear hub kit from Yose earlier this year direct from Germany and found fitting it quite easy, just needed to fit a wider bottom bracket to clear the PAS sensor.


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## Laser Man (7 Nov 2018)

Yes - they have a warehouse in Berlin supplying Germany, France and the UK.
3 - 5 day delivery to the UK.
Their more popular kits frequently go out of stock, so you might have to wait a bit.
They also sell through Amazon UK (and possibly ebay?).

Yosepower will be fine for someone who has done a conversion before and is converting a fairly standard bike (square taper BB, V brakes etc.).
For a newbie or for a more modern up-market bike I still recommend paying the bit extra and going to Woosh - they are just so helpful. 

I'm getting ready to transfer my existing Woosh kit to another bike - although I only need £25 worth of bits to complete the changeover Woosh are just as helpful as if I was spending £500.


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## dieth34 (8 Nov 2018)

Ok, thanks for the info, have done conversion before so this should no be a problem


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