Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
If you buy an e-assist kit from Leafmotor or Crystalyte or MAC or Bafang you get exactly what is in the Swytch kit and the installation difficulty is the same. The only difference is that ALL the kits I mentioned can be had in less than 2 weeks time. Maybe under one week. Possibly the same day if you have a local e-bike retailer in your neighborhood. And cost is the same. I'm not seeing the advantage of crowd funding a commodity like e-assist. It is no longer innovative or niche. 14 months? Seriously? But, nice touch with the enhanced tracking of the order even if they get the name of the ship wrong. You do know stacking containers on the deck like that is not only illegal, it also means that in a storm (likely) those containers wind up at the bottom of the Pacific. This isn't to say that anyone else's motors couldn't be lost in transit, but that if it is, you don't pay for it.
No, it's not the same. I went to Leaf just to see and you have to pick your components separately from what I saw. That's often the case with those providers. A non-techy person is not going to want to pick out the individual parts and they aren't going to know if they will work together well either. With the already made kits like Swytch, it's simplified to a single choice or maybe 2 sizes max. Everything is included so you don't have to pick out bags, mounting, motor, controller, battery or anything. It's dumbed down for a reason - there is a market for that. There's also a market for folks like you, who are more knowledgeable. And it's all coming from China, anyway, As to crowdfunding, people usually get a substantial discount on pricing that way.