greenspark

Go to em3ev.com (where I shop) or depending on your location, use Google to find a vendor in your country (or if lucky in your area) who sells bolt on, mid-drive kits. Remove (or have a shop remove) your bottom bracket, install the kit, battery and handlebar accessories. You now have power assist. You still pedal. You decide how much assist you want. Your tires do not change. Unless you get a silly-power motor (like 5,000 W) it is an assist. Normal riders put out 100W. Lance Armstrong reportedly put out 450W. Add a 350W motor is not quite the same as giving yourself a Lance Armstrong body but it does develop a completely new riding experience.

If you go up the hill without moving your legs (5,000W) then you have changed from a bike rider to a motorbike rider - different experience and not my cup of tea (besides it means a lot larger, heavier, more expensive battery). Do note however, that your bike does gain dead weight. About 6KG for the motor and more for the battery, (depends on size). If you want to start with less weight and power or want to limit your spending, go with the 36V. If you want all the power you will need go with the 48V.

I would advise against starting with a bike-store e-MTB as your first ebike. The motor should be fine, because it is made by a small group of huge manufacturers, but the bike frames tend to be a way-overpriced afterthought. Bikes are a complex assembly of geometry and components, and too many are copy-cat products - like putting an aerodynamic body kit on a secretary's Toyoto as if it is ready for the Nürburgring. Once you have come to understand how the motor changes the experience, then begin to educate yourself on what you want in a bike where the motor is nothing more than a check on the check list.

As for the views of your fellow riders, think of this like the 1920's. Horse riders come in two breeds - conservative and liberal (as the words meant before red/blue states). A liberal says "let's try something new". A conservative says "let's not, what we have now is good enough for me". They will argue like conservatives and liberals have always argued, but like the era of horse riding, in areas where gravity or wind is not your friend, the motor will win. Who rides horses today except pre-teen daughters, rich rural gentry and Amish? Not many.

My own experience? As a kid, I lived in a hollow with a steep road up and then a steeper switchback down before one gets to the village. But in the summers I went to an island where we were given green English 3-speed sports bicycles. Utter freedom - just come home for dinner. We rode everywhere. As a teen I rode a Schwinn Continental from that island in New England down to Virginia along the coastal highway, but as soon as I got my drivers license, the Continental rusted in the garage until I tossed it. Even my Peugeot PX-10 never got used. I still have it with probably 100 miles on it since new with the moderate corrosion that comes with age. That was the sum total of my bike romance until 2011 when I was in Italy and was given an Italian city bike to ride to the next village on back roads among olive trees and ancient farmers to have our cappuccino every morning. Memories flooded back of my first love, the green Raleigh 3-speed in the warm summers on our island. We went to a bike store in Lecce to check out Bianchi's city bike offerings, but my wife spotted a really well-designed Italian ebike. Reminding me that where we live now has a 10° hill just outside the driveway, I bought it and took it home on the plane. Going up that hill was a game changer. No screaming legs pumped with lactic acid. No pain in the lungs. No sweat soaking my shirt. Thus began the adventure.

At that point the only ebikes I could find were awful. Really bad, horribly overpriced frames, cheap components and an uncomfortable ride. So I ordered the most powerful hub motor I could find and bolted it on to my 20-year old Gary Fisher hardtail that had been slowly rusting in the garage because the hills where I live were just too hard. Big mistake. Unlike my wife's Italian ebike, my kit was a rocket ship. It truly wanted to kill me, allowing me to break automobile speed limits and having this annoying habit of suddenly giving it full throttle at a red stoplight trying to throw me into oncoming traffic (some sort of bug in the system that I eventually sorted). So, I bought a second kit from a Chinese vendor where I had to solder all the joints - disaster. Finally I started buying from Paul Lynch an Englishman in China (em3ev.com) and have remained loyal because he has good prices, excellent customer service and sorts any problems. Eventually I settled on the kit that I am recommending to you. The first kit bought in 2013 began to get tired this year (batteries lose their capacity), so I decided to buy the most recent version, which is said to be stronger and more durable. I run it on an Italian city frame just like the bikes we used in Lecce.

I am sure there are many other alternatives by now, and if you like researching on line, lot's of advice. But if not, you might benefit from what I learned. It's a whole new world, if you have the funds, give it a try. And if you don't like it, keep your old bottom bracket and revert. But, I'll wager you won't revert.