Lastmohecken

Hello,
I live in NW Arkansas which has a lot of avid bike riders, trails, etc. But I have had trouble finding a shop that would help with and Ebike conversion. Some sell new ebikes but don't seem to do conversions. I may have to just get everything online and do it all myself, but was hoping to find a shop that would lend me some support if i needed it , locally but so far no luck. Does anyone know of a shop in NW Arkansas that does ebike conversions?

kevmcd

I'm not any help on your local bike shops but I can give you a data point on buying a kit online and doing the conversion yourself.


I converted my old Bridgestone MB-2 mountain bike to a mid-drive ebike 5 years ago using the Bafang kit from Luna Cycles. It was pretty staightforward with no surprises. I had a local bike shop pull the crank arms on my bike because I didn't have the tool and I didn't expect to need to use it again so it was no more expensive to let them do it. Your bike is probably newer and may not need a special puller.


One caution is if you have something other than a steel frame. I met a Canadian on Vancouver Island who had done more than 100 e-bike conversions and he would no longer do conversions on anything other than steel frames because some of the aluminum frames cannot handle the torque. I think it is probably safe to do aluminum frames but you may need to add supplementary bracing in the rear dropouts and make sure to program a soft start on the motor.


I also converted my wife's tadpole trike to electric using a hub motor in the rear wheel. I prefer the mid-drive because it is hilly where we live and I like having the extra gears and the well centered weight distribution. Mid-drive wasn't an option on the trike but the hub motor handles the hills well.


At the time I did my conversions Luna Cycles had the best price and good communications. I don't know what the latest situation is on which mail order house is best.

Lastmohecken

My fat bike is aluminum but looks heavy built. I think it would hold up for me if I converted it. I just wish I could find a good brick and mortar shop, locally that could provide support for or if I get into trouble and need some troubleshooting, etc.

I did some checking on Luna, thanks for the info.

kevmcd

Like I said I really haven't kept up on the options and there might be something better than Luna today. I find it frustrating that the kits cost as much today as they did 5 years ago. They should have excellent margins at 1/3 the price of what they are charging but I guess we are still in the early days of electric bicycles and there is crazy money to be made.

My guess is that the local shops would be happy to help you disassemble your bike and probably show you how they are doing it. I can understand that they don't want to be responsible for a third party kit assembly so you will be on your own putting it together but hopefully you choose a kit with good youtube videos

Everyone I know who has an electric bike loves it. I still love my old vintage (non-electric) bike as well.

Lastmohecken

Just FYI, if anyone stumbles onto this thread, I did find one shop that was open to helping me convert my fat bike to an ebike and that's Lewis and Clark Outfitters in Springdale, Arkansas. They also have a bunch of ebikes, mostly class 1 mountain bike style, without throttle, just pedal assist. They sell mostly class 1 bikes because that's what's legal on the Greenway in NWA.