Why You Should Not Convert a Bike to an Electric Bike | E-Bike Questions

Hey guys, Dustin here, CEO of sixthreezero. Today. We're going to talk about converting your standard bike to an e-bike and why you shouldn't do it. Stay tuned.

All right. So today we're going to talk about converting your standard bike to an e-bike, why you shouldn't do it, but before we jump in, don't forget, hit that subscribe button below, stay in touch with all the content we're releasing and be in the know about weekly contests we're doing giveaways for accessories and bikes.

All right. So let's jump into this. So converting a standard bike to an e-bike and I added the extra sentence why we shouldn't do it. Now, we get this question a lot about converting a bike to an e-bike, can you do it, what's necessary to do it. And long story short is yes, you can convert a standard bike to an e-bike. Why I'm going to advocate to not do it, two reasons. One, the complexity of it. Actually, I'm going to give you three reasons. One, the complexity of it. Two, a standard frame is not built to house electric bike components. So it's not going to look that great. And three, the cost of it.

All right. So step one or piece one, let's talk about why you shouldn't convert a standard bike to an electric bike, the complexity. Now, in theory, converting a standard bike to an e-bike could be simple. Now, I'll say there are different ways to convert a bike to an e-bike. You've got three different motor types. You have a rear hub motor, you have a mid-drive motor, and you have a front hub motor. In terms of conversion, I would say the front hub motor is probably going to be the easiest, especially if you're going to use a very simplified sort of wheel as a wheel motor.

Now, there are different types of front hub motors. Some motors are actually just contained in the wheel and you could literally just swap out the front wheel and have a wireless system. Now, that's pretty easy. However, the cost of that is still going to be several hundred dollars at least four or 500, and you're going to be left with a wheel that's not going to perfectly match your rear wheel.

Now, moving into the other conversions like the rear hub, the mid-drive. There's going to be a lot of wiring you're going to have to contend with to get it all set up correctly. And then once you actually install the rear hub or the front hub motor or the mid-drive motor, you're going to have to find a place to put the battery. Now, the easiest way would be to either buy a bag and you can strap it onto the frame, or you can put it onto the rear rack. But after you start to do that, now you're really turning your bike into this sort of clunky mess of wires and cabling. And it's really not going to look that great.

I've seen e-bike conversions where they use a frame bag and you put the battery into that. I've seen the rear rack. Now, the rear rack is actually going to be what I believe to be the cleanest way to convert a standard bike because you can put the battery on the rear rack, and it's not going to add anything to the frame. And it looks like more of a natural extension of the bike. But my belief is if you're going to do any of that just by a normal e-bike.

So the other piece of that is just the cost of it. Buying the battery separately, buying the motor separately, it's going to be expensive. Now, the batteries are going to be several hundred dollars. The conversion kit, there's a lot of them out there. If I had to estimate, I'd say, they're going to be anywhere from 100 to $500, depending on the motor size, whether it's mid-drive or rear-drive. And then there's either the time to install it or the actual cost of the labor. And if you're going to have somebody do the conversion, it's not going to be done in the snap of a finger. It's going to take at least a few hours for them to install the motor, install the battery, and make sure everything works.

And once it is all said and done, in my opinion, it's just not going to look that great for the time, effort, and money that you've put into it. Let's say that you've bought a standard bike and you paid $500, the cost to convert that if you were to think about labor, the battery, the motor, it's going to be close to a thousand dollars, if not more. And the reality is, is now you're putting a motor onto a bike that wasn't built to have that, you're going to run into issues, whether it be tire issues, spoke issues, frame issues, just wear and tear on a bike that wasn't designed or developed to have a motor on it.

So if you're in the market for an e-bike and you're thinking about converting, my suggestion is just to buy a brand new e-bike straight out of the gates. I believe it's going to save you money upfront and also save you a lot of frustration if things start to go wrong with a converted bike. Now, with that said, if you are a tinker and you love to do your own upgrades, and this is a fun project for you, by all means, take it on. But if you're somebody who just wants an e-bike that works and you're thinking about getting an electric bike and in your head, you're thinking you can save money by converting your existing bike to an e-bike, I would strongly advise against that and I would just look to buy a brand new e-bike. I think in the long run, it would be a much better choice.

So if you have any questions, comments, thoughts around converting a standard bike to an electric bike, please comment below. I'd love to hear them. And if you're in the market for an e-bike, please visit our website, sixthreezero.com. Check out the electric bikes on the top. We've got a huge selection of men's and women's and we have a proprietary body fit quiz. Take this quiz and our proprietary algorithm will recommend a bike perfect for your lifestyle and your body. And that's proprietary to us at sixthreezero.com. And the kicker. We have a 365-day return policy. If you don't love your bike within 365 days, send it back, zero questions asked, no money out of your pocket.

And lastly, download our app, track your rides and be a part of our community. We're doing weekly ride tracking giveaways for the top riders mileage-wise each week. So download and join it. All right. So thanks for listening. Thanks for sticking around. And don't forget, it's your journey, your experience. Enjoy the ride.

DISCLAIMER: The 365-day return policy mentioned in the video above is no longer valid. Please refer to www.sixthreezero.com/pages/30-day-test-ride for the updated policy.