AmpedBikes.com - High Quality e-bike Conversion Kits

Well, What the heck are they?
The electric hub kit came about in China to utilize existing aging bicycles as people needed to commute further and further for work.

Range??
I often get asked what kind of range I get. The large companies and some ebay'ers will tell you that you will get 20 miles from 12AH batteries without pedaling at all. This is just a flat out lie, unless you weigh 60 lbs and happen to live in a vacuum. I weigh 240lbs and I get between 14-15 miles on a 12ah pack on every hub kit out there if with wide open throttle and no pedaling.

But ,if you use the kits as they are supposed to be used "pedal assist" is the key word here there is really no limit on the mileage you can get out of a pack (within reason). The other weekend my wife and I headed out to the Santa Ana river trail and did a round trip of 35 miles and had juice to spare. But this is going to vary with all conditions.

Front wheel kits= easy to install, easy to maintain. This is the best for balance if you are using SLA batteries on a rear mounted rack because of the weight.

Rear wheel kits= harder to install, Installation only for the very mechanically inclined or professional. Only enough space for 7 rear speeds max (we ship with 5 speed). Bad balance if you are using heavy SLA batteries... Good for wheelies lol but bad and unsafe balance with SLA. Good points are that they are a slightly more natural feeling ride when using lightweight Lifepo4 batteries.

Will it fit on my bike? (updated) We have added various new sizes to front kits. On the order page.

Read the writing on your bicycles tires. for 26" to make sure (a 26" rim is actually about 22 1/2" if you measure across the rim, they call it 26 because that is the overall diameter after the tire is installed). For front wheel kits you will need a minimum of 3 3/4" between the dropouts. For rear kits you will need minimum of 5 3/8" between the dropouts. (side note rear kits come with a 5 speed cluster, they are capable of accepting a 7 speed but it is a tight squeeze.)

Why do we use a Double Walled rim and heavy duty 12Gauge stainless steel spokes??

In the beginning we tried various kits and many of the brushless motors were very good motors. The problem with kits like Wilderness energy, Golden motors, some of the Crystalytes and even some of the Bionx is that they use a $3 Chinese made light gauge rim on incredibly weak spokes. These will never, ever stay true, a bicycle rim and standard light gauge spokes were not designed for this type of torque and they will always fail over time. It is unsafe to say the least. We spared no expense (although it was not much to simply upgrade to something that will last a lifetime.)

What's the big difference? The main differences are that a brushless motor is close to 30% more efficient than a brushed motor. This means 30% more range/distance. The main reasons that brushless motors are more efficient is that they are microprocessor controlled in the same way that the magnetic levitated trains are, the microprocessor reads where the motor is and tells the next electro magnet to push it along. Also brushed motors lose much of their power due to heat loss at the brushes that rub on the shaft.

Now with us in a gas crunch and to be honest I'm not a tree hugger or anything but I see pollution in many many forms all day long and I am really tired of it. The hub kits added on to your bike will drive you about 1,000 miles for the same price as a gallon of gas and not produce the gasses your car or truck puts off.

I am 38 a little out of shape and about two years ago I went to the bike shop and bought a good mountain bike to ride around on and get more exercise, I got it home and ride it for a week or two, then rode it again a month later then 6 months later it was in the garage, tires flat and dusty.

I realized that the ups and downs of hills, wind and stuff that didn't bother me as a kid DO now. But I dearly missed riding down the street on my bike , going on long rides, smelling the different trees, seeing different type of terrain that you cant see from your car. So I set out to find a solution.

I tried many different types of electric bike kits and to be honest they were all very similar but the price from one to the next was insane!

All of the designer brand name brushless hub motors are all basically the same with the exception of the windings and bearings. The windings inside the motor simply determine torque or speed, much in the same way gears do and the only other thing was the bearings, but the kits vary in price from $400 all the way up to $1300.

I tried them all and settled on the kits I am selling now. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Your kit is covered bumper for 90 days. These kits are flawless and will last you a lifetime. What we do not cover is over voltage, we do not cover if you spin out the axles inside of your dropouts. We do not cover if you burn the speed controller by connecting backwards. We are unable to be there when the kit is installed so it is up to you to understand the high torque involved at the dropouts and install them correctly. These kits are over designed to put up with the harshest conditions and are completely over engineered. The motors are tank tested and designed to be run completely submerged while running for 6 days! I don't suggest using it as a boat motor, but if the odd situation came around you can feel confident that it could lol... Also these kits are capable of running at higher voltages with no modification. Although we will not warranty anything over 36V. At 36V it runs at the correct and safe speed that it was meant for. Soo if you are running at 48V and tear out your dropouts don't try and return to me. If you are running at 72V and fry your controller, also don't try and return to me. If for any reason you do not feel confident about installing our kit then you should have it professionally done as you may harm your kit, you may harm yourself.

You cannot use aluminum forks with ANY electric hub kit. Aluminum forks are "cast" aluminum at the dropouts and are not malleable (they will not give) the twist force generated by the axle WILL break them . Its a simple test. If a magnet sticks to your forks you are ok. Steel, Chrome moly etc are malleable and can take the stresses at the dropouts. aluminum forks are primarily cast at the dropout points and are not malleable at all and unfortunately will break. I learned this the hard way by ruining a set of $700 suspension forks.

Aluminum frames are predominantly standard aluminum and not "cast" aluminum and should be fine.

At best regenerative braking restores 3% (that's 3 miles for every 100) in mild hilly areas and 5-6% in very hilly mountain areas. But the problem is that it will ruin most batteries by forcing too much amperage into them, also weakens the dropouts on the bikes by twisting the axle back and forth. So at this time regen braking is basically a gimmick and in my personal opinion it is not worth it because it can harm a $700 Lifepo4 battery pack and work the dropouts loose.

I though hard on this, crunched the numbers, asked every vendor, talked to many people with regen systems and we decided against it until a new generation of regen with a soft engage and a better system for returning the amperage to the batteries.

Currently we are not supplying batteries as there are just too many options. We are planning on offering a low end kit complete with SLA batteries as a starter kit. I really did not want to do this because 90% of customers that buy a low end kit usually end up back in the garage within 3 months. But customers continue to ask. So the reason we are adding the low end kit is that some customers simply want to get their feet wet at a low price and see how they like it.

There are many different options for batteries these days. So I will make a list from high end to standard.

For a wealth of information on e-bikes/ scooters, where they come from how they help us in our daily lives and how they are doing an incredible job reducing Co2 emissions please checkout this website.