What are some of the better conversion kits out there?

Anyone use this otherwise what are your recommendations?

all conversion kits suck, because of battery mounting options and high level of diy. Also most conversion kits are just old and dated kits from china.

also not allowed on the road because of it.

coming from the conversion kits myself i recommend you look into a bafang m510 /m560 / m820 bike frame.

the battery will be much better attached so less noisy and less change it will break offroad. and it will give you a much better platform allround. also road legal if you keep the EU m510 limited in speed. also has some resale value

most conversion kits dont have torque sensors which you want riding offroad mtb trails, also less power is more in these bikes

it all depends what you are looking for
tsdz8 or something bafang is still decent but you are still dealing with lots of cables and poor battery mounting options

I used a Tongsheng TSZD2. I was very happy with the result. I used the Open Source Firmware OSF which makes a huge difference in the performance. You should be very comfortable working on a bike and know how or willing to learn how to flash firmware. The Tongsheng is cost effective and easy to get spare parts. Not worth doing a DIY conversion if the motor is too expensive. I would not even consider a hub drive.

I have had a TSDZ2 which I did cooling mods and open source software on. It ran great, battery and motor for 450 eur or something. No problems at all with anything, battery stayed put (I did rivnut a 3rd bolt for the holder). My main reason for moving off the TSDZ2 are the rumours about the pedal axle breaking, I could never ride completely uninhibited knowing that

Then I had a CYC Photon with a bigger battery, also ran great but the CYC sprag clutch died after 2-3 months of hard riding, replaced it, happened again. Cant recommend that if you ride mtb. The motor itself was fantastic

I agree with the above that the best budget / DIY option seems to be m510 or similar. Or if you want to just try emtb on an existing old frame, the cheap TSDZ2 is still a ton of fun

I also did the cooling mods and I added the extra bearing eliminating the axle issue. But it brings up the point of needing to do even more homework for a good outcome. If you are fundamentally a DO-IT-YOURSELFER it can be a fun and satisfying project but if you are simply trying to save money, not so much.

Check out CYC Motors. Recently came out with Photon Gen 2, that's supposed to address all the issues (including sprag clutch) of the gen 1, with a redesign.

John Kacob Kingleheimer S said:

Check out CYC Motors. Recently came out with Photon Gen 2, that's supposed to address all the issues (including sprag clutch) of the gen 1, with a redesign.

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Thats cool, they even officially mention the sprag clutch. Highly recommend the photon in that case. It does overheat and downthrottle when running max power, but its great overall

I converted my 2009 Santa Cruz Nomad using a Bafang 1000W motor back in 2019 (based on all the information available back then, if you were doing a lot of climbing the 1000W was less likely to burn out). I was able to fit the battery under the bottom tube without the front end hitting it when compressed.

I had to detach the throttle (the system just came with it all wired in). Back then there was less fuss around "ebikes" as I was an early adopter. I pretty much use it exclusively to ride single track, however being a 26'er I am in the process of "upgrading" (currently waxing between the Forbidden eDruid or eDreadnought, Velduro Rogue or the Atherton offer).

Just had to make sure the bottom bracket matched the width of the motor (they come in a range of widths, from memory went with the 100mm model). Also had to make sure the BB wasn't bespoke (which in the 09 Nomad wasn't). Had to grind some tabs off.

I'm really happy with the outcome, given what was available at the time. I'll probably use it as a city bike path bike once I've upgraded.

Joakim said:

case. It does overheat and downthrottle when running max power

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Is this statement for gen 1 or 2?

All motors overheat at peak power, so I assume you're talking about the sustained power limit.

This doesn't appear to be true for gen 2, with people claiming sustained power of > 1100W on cool days. Gen 1 did have problems, which could supposedly be solved with some thermal paste between the motor and housing (crazy it wasn't included)

John Kacob Kingleheimer S said:

Is this statement for gen 1 or 2?

All motors overheat at peak power, so I assume you're talking about the sustained power limit.

This doesn't appear to be true for gen 2, with people claiming sustained power of > 1100W on cool days. Gen 1 did have problems, which could supposedly be solved with some thermal paste between the motor and housing (crazy it wasn't included)

Click to expand...

I would think the gen 2 has the same outrunner design as the gen 1. There is a youtube video about it on the high voltage channel explaining why it overheats (and lowers the output automatically)