garyf

Hi, I'm a student at Cicero North Syracuse High School. We're trying to work on building an electric bike frame from scratch and use a conversion kit for the rest of the parts we need. The problem we have though is our schools budget got frozen so me and my partner are having to come up with all the money on our own. Would anyone be able to help us find a company that would sell us an electric conversion kit for cheap or one that would possibly even donate it to us? Thanks.

JinbaIttai

You have to think from the vendor's point of view. What's in it for them?

If I were a vendor, I wouldn't be giving out free stuff unless I knew I could gain the same amount and more in free advertising/publicity. Your communication to them needs to show they will gain from this donation.

You could make a thread chronicling the project. I'd suggest lots and lots of pictures, this forum seems like a good start. It has to attract both readers and participants in the project, in a way that makes them want to build an ebike too. If you're smooth, you might attract a vendor from the forum post alone. I'd also suggest writing vendors individually. There are many on this forum, and tons on this one: endless-sphere.com/forums

Good luck!

Noobzter

check out my website, highdeserthybridcycles.googlepages.com (no www.). I might give you one for my cost.

garyf

Thanks a lot! I'll get to work on getting pictures of what we have and doing a write up. I'll look at you site too Noobzter thanks!

Naister

write grants/ ask companies

I'm on my high schools solar bike team (electric bicycles with solar panels) and we have had great success with just asking places

the companies benefit as we make jerseys and t-shirts that have all the sponsors listed on the back

raevyn

My store has a few refurbished motors that we need to sell. they would be cheaper than the kits we have on our website.
www.itselectric.ca

if you email info@powerinmotion.ca, we could definitely work something out with you!

garyf

Well, we've managed to raise $300 which is not even close for a rear wheel hub motor kit and battery. So we still have a bit of a ways to go. My partner is working on a web site. So once we can get it hosted and not just hosting from our own computer I'll put the link on here. Thanks for your help guys.

raevyn

what kind of battery are you thinking of getting?

garyf

We're looking to keep the bike from running over 20mph. For safety reasons and so we won't have to register it. so were trying to find a kit and battery we can afford, but we can only pull about $400 from the money we raised plus whats in the schools account. So that's causing a lot of problems for us.

raevyn

if you didnt mind the weight, you could go with SLA batteries. where are you located? in calgary maybe?

garyf

The states. New York actually.

raevyn

that wouldnt be a problem at all. My work will ship internationally. if you are looking for more low cost, and dont mind extra weight, go with some SLA batteries. all of the kits that we sell go an average of 32km/h. i guess that would be about 20mph? something like that. were you wanting rear or front wheel drive? I am really interested in your project, and I would love to help. let me know what your total funds will be when you get everything finalized, and i will help you as much as i can.
I have already spoken to my boss about selling you the referbished parts, and he is pretty ok with it.. if you do go with the SLA batteries, we can send you a diagram of how to wire everything up as well. for the prices on the referbished items, email info@powerinmotion.ca
My Boss, Ken, will be able to give you finalized pricing on those.

garyf

Were looking to do rear wheel drive. Sadly we only have about $320 dollars as our budget. and I'll send him a message. Thanks a lot!

raevyn

well, you will need to let me know when you have your site up and running. I would love to see it!