Swytch Go electric conversion kit

[Windhover]

Just completed this attachment to my Giant Escape bike. The kit comprised of a 28inch front wheel with motor; a battery power pack; a charger; pedal sensor and cabling. It is neat enough and fitting was easy and for £299 + shipping £30 it represents good value. The bike weight is now 19.5kg (43 lbs) compared with the original 12.8kg so it’s an extra 7kg, heavy enough to struggle lifting it onto the bike stand or camper van bike rack, but just manageable.
It has no throttle control so it kicks in at level 3 (of 5) regardless of gradient or pedal speed just as long as you are pedalling. It cuts out at 15mph. It kicks in at the first turn of the pedal and the assistance it gives is very obvious. You need to use the gears to get uphill but the assistance is still there and this is the great benefit for me. The battery life is short. A week of town journeys with hills. Not suitable for long distance touring unless you switch it off and only use it up hills. Great fun though and you can still use the bike just as normal when the battery power runs out.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I have a second -hand review of these: A friend of mine fitted one to his hybrid. He had some initial problems fitting it but Swych sorted him out with a different adapter or something and he's very happy with it. I asked him about range and he just said he hadn't gone far enough to find out yet.

 

[TheDoctor]

I have a Swytch Go kit too! It's the Go ++ version, which has a quoted range of 97km, and a tested-by-me range of about 57 hilly miles. I've used it on a French tour to visit @wafflycat (formerly of this parish) and also on my Epic Welsh Tour. Had to charge it each night, but I didn't run out of electricity at all.
Total cost £509, including the OLED controler which lets me choose 5 different power modes.

 

[bonzobanana]

It's a shame that fitting a throttle is made more difficult legally. In the UK the Department for Transport made the exception for ebike kits but whether the police will accept this and you wouldn't be able to use the ebike in mainland Europe.

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/dft-pedal-cycles-converted-twist-go-exempt-type-approval/

It's just such a easy way of controlling power, you just ride the bike as a normal heavy standard bike everywhere you can and then you decide when you need assistance and how much of it for the hill you are tackling or maybe you are in an urban situation with a lot of traffic and want to focus more on the traffic than pedalling or lastly you simply are exhausted and need assistance just for a short period. Most ebikes in the world are controlled with throttles. It's the norm across Asia, Africa, South and North America. They are also widely used in many countries despite the legislation not allowing it because ebike laws are not enforced the laws were written with pedelecs in mind but they don't actually have a safety objection to throttles.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

It's a shame that fitting a throttle is made more difficult legally. In the UK the Department for Transport made the exception for ebike kits but whether the police will accept this and you wouldn't be able to use the ebike in mainland Europe.

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/dft-pedal-cycles-converted-twist-go-exempt-type-approval/

It's just such a easy way of controlling power, you just ride the bike as a normal heavy standard bike everywhere you can and then you decide when you need assistance and how much of it for the hill you are tackling or maybe you are in an urban situation with a lot of traffic and want to focus more on the traffic than pedalling or lastly you simply are exhausted and need assistance just for a short period. Most ebikes in the world are controlled with throttles. It's the norm across Asia, Africa, South and North America. They are also widely used in many countries despite the legislation not allowing it because ebike laws are not enforced the laws were written with pedelecs in mind but they don't actually have a safety objection to throttles.

I quite like the concept that an ebike is treated exaclty as a normal bike as long is it complies with the rules

which includes not having a throttle.
I used to have one witha throttle - it was pre-2016 so that was legal - and I found that I seldom used it because I could "soft pedal" and keep the speed up to the limit quite easily
Overall I would prefer 2 things
a) an intermediate step for registered ebikes that could have a throttle
b) far more enforcement of the rules as they are because there is no point in having rules if they are not enforced
and this includes making it difficult to sell a not-legal ebike - even on line


I have no clue how to do any of that BTW!!

 

[bonzobanana]

I quite like the concept that an ebike is treated exaclty as a normal bike as long is it complies with the rules

which includes not having a throttle.
I used to have one witha throttle - it was pre-2016 so that was legal - and I found that I seldom used it because I could "soft pedal" and keep the speed up to the limit quite easily
Overall I would prefer 2 things
a) an intermediate step for registered ebikes that could have a throttle
b) far more enforcement of the rules as they are because there is no point in having rules if they are not enforced
and this includes making it difficult to sell a not-legal ebike - even on line


I have no clue how to do any of that BTW!!

In the UK you can have a throttle if;

The ebike was bought before 2017
It is individually tested and approved like the Pedibal and Wisper models
It only operates up to something like 3mph
It operates at up to 15.5mph but is only activated by pedaling
It is part of ebike kit where the bike was originally used without the electrical assistance.

How many policeman are going to know all that? It just feels simpler to just say legal throttles to 15.5mph especially as it can really help the disabled, elderly and injured get back into cycling and can improve safety in many situations.

I think the best thing about throttles is you can activate them when you need them so you just ride until you are struggling and activate the throttle to as much power as you require, simple, efficient and extends the battery life massively and also reduces risk of fire as likely to be discharged at a lower rate overall. Many cadence sensor ebikes provide full power as soon as you pedal and the power settings are just linked to speed. I.e. 3 power settings might be 8mph, 12mph and 15.5mph. These are legal but much harder to control and less safe. There are strong grounds to ban cadence sensors due to safety concerns.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

In the UK you can have a throttle if;

The ebike was bought before 2017
It is individually tested and approved like the Pedibal and Wisper models
It only operates up to something like 3mph
It operates at up to 15.5mph but is only activated by pedaling
It is part of ebike kit where the bike was originally used without the electrical assistance.

How many policeman are going to know all that? It just feels simpler to just say legal throttles to 15.5mph especially as it can really help the disabled, elderly and injured get back into cycling and can improve safety in many situations.

I think the best thing about throttles is you can activate them when you need them so you just ride until you are struggling and activate the throttle to as much power as you require, simple, efficient and extends the battery life massively and also reduces risk of fire as likely to be discharged at a lower rate overall. Many cadence sensor ebikes provide full power as soon as you pedal and the power settings are just linked to speed. I.e. 3 power settings might be 8mph, 12mph and 15.5mph. These are legal but much harder to control and less safe. There are strong grounds to ban cadence sensors due to safety concerns.

The 2016 rule which allows full power throttle up to 15.5 mph also includes rules about power limits only to 200W rather than the 250W as now
in as much as that matters due to the problems determining the difference between peak and mean power levels

WHich only makes it more difficult for the average copper at the roadside to work out if a "bike" is legal or not

which all makes the rules rather pointless and the only option is to confiscate the bike and take it back for inspection by an expert
but to do that (Drago may be able to correct me here, as may others) they need to have reasonable cause
and I have no idea what that could be except with a device that is like one of those Sur-Ron things that look like motorbikes

They do have to have a plate on them - which is basically a sticker - but you can get them off ebay!!!

 

[welsh dragon]

In the UK you can have a throttle if;

The ebike was bought before 2017
It is individually tested and approved like the Pedibal and Wisper models
It only operates up to something like 3mph
It operates at up to 15.5mph but is only activated by pedaling
It is part of ebike kit where the bike was originally used without the electrical assistance.

How many policeman are going to know all that? It just feels simpler to just say legal throttles to 15.5mph especially as it can really help the disabled, elderly and injured get back into cycling and can improve safety in many situations.

I think the best thing about throttles is you can activate them when you need them so you just ride until you are struggling and activate the throttle to as much power as you require, simple, efficient and extends the battery life massively and also reduces risk of fire as likely to be discharged at a lower rate overall. Many cadence sensor ebikes provide full power as soon as you pedal and the power settings are just linked to speed. I.e. 3 power settings might be 8mph, 12mph and 15.5mph. These are legal but much harder to control and less safe. There are strong grounds to ban cadence sensors due to safety concerns.

I have a throttle on my Wisper. I can use the throttle going slower than 15 miles an hour. It's quite speedy. If I'm stuck behind cars at traffic lights its great. I don't get stuck on red lights. I can use it in conjunction with the ordinary assist.

 

[bonzobanana]

The 2016 rule which allows full power throttle up to 15.5 mph also includes rules about power limits only to 200W rather than the 250W as now
in as much as that matters due to the problems determining the difference between peak and mean power levels

WHich only makes it more difficult for the average copper at the roadside to work out if a "bike" is legal or not

which all makes the rules rather pointless and the only option is to confiscate the bike and take it back for inspection by an expert
but to do that (Drago may be able to correct me here, as may others) they need to have reasonable cause
and I have no idea what that could be except with a device that is like one of those Sur-Ron things that look like motorbikes

They do have to have a plate on them - which is basically a sticker - but you can get them off ebay!!!

The 250W rating is just that the motor operates at 250W its really strange certification, this is why a e-mountain bike can delivery over 1000W peak for some models with Nm over 100 but is still legal and classed as 250W. You may be disbelieving of this and I can't say I'm surprised but its well documented on the pedelecs forum. It's ridiculous certification when it comes to wattage. I have no idea how the older UK ebike certification deals with wattage. If its the same as EU certification there isn't really a high limit on wattage as long as the motor works at 200W. Back then direct drive hub motors were common and those motors can work at 200W up to 3000W, they cool better and they don't have internal gearing so have a very wide range of current they can work with the very same motor. Geared hub motors and mid-drive motors are not the same they typically are designed around a more closely controlled wattage but writing that, it still means the can operate at over 1000W for many models. I was a compliance officer for a few years and never saw anything as ridiculous as EU ebike certification in my time.

 

[Mike_P]

Wiltshire Police didn't have problem identifying this one

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkhGvawl_cM#t=6m51s