Blog

Some links may be affiliate links. We may get paid if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these.

SmartBikeWheel Review, 2021

SmartBikeWheel Conversion kit Review: Overview

Electric bike conversion kits have always seemed a little complicated; the domain of tinkering hobbyists more than happy to solder wires and precariously strap batteries to traditional bicycles.

So when I unboxed our review model of the SmartBikeWheel e-bike conversion kit, I was pretty sure some pieces were missing.

Instead of a mess of wires and a modular drive system, the SmartBikeWheel is just a wheel. Aside from that, all I pulled from the box was a small clutch of tools, a 160mm disc rotor and a small handlebar phone mount. That’s it. A little less than what I was picturing.

The SmartBikeWheel may seem minimalist, but inside its oversized hub shell is a 36V, 8.7Ah (313.2Wh) battery wrapped around a 250W geared hub motor. There are no external wires or cabling, no display, no controller box and no throttle. Instead of an external cadence or torque sensor, the nervous system of the wheel is a gyroscope and tachometer (also inside the hub) that use changes in pitch and speed to determine how much power should be applied and when. The only equipment you need outside the hub is a smartphone and the SmartBikeWheel app, which functions as the control center for the kit with your typical display readouts — including speed, trip time and distance — plus additional functions and access to settings.

We installed the kit on a 2002 Gary Fisher Wahoo donor bike we bought for $100 from our local bike nonprofit, the St. George Bicycle Collective, a bike that proved fitting for the low-cost and low-effort conversion kit.

To say my expectations for our SmartBikeWheel review were conservative might be an understatement. E-bike drive systems are typically complex and spread out across an entire bicycle, so it was tough to imagine how such a condensed and simple kit could compare to its more elaborate competitors.

Boy was I wrong.

The SmartBikeWheel performed as good or better than many entry-level e-bikes we’ve reviewed at Electric Bike Report. Not only does it climb well, get up to speed quickly and boast stellar battery life, it’s remarkably cheap and simple to install. The SmartBikeWheel is touted as a transportation solution designed to take almost any traditional bicycle — including our tired 20-year-old donor bike — and turn it into an affordable, efficient and capable e-bike.

Sponsor

E-bike News: New E-bikes from Ride1Up, Fiido, Crowncrusier, MV Augusta and Blix

The relationship between e-bikes and motorbikes figures strongly in this week’s news; whether it’s the influence of very old motorbikes on current designs like the Crowncruiser or the trend for current motorbike companies to get into e-bikes, of which MV Augusta are the latest.

There’s also more e-bike news from the likes of Ride1Up, Fiido, Blix and Rad Power and details of an intriguing move to restrict car speeds in Paris, plus questions about the use and misuse of rental e-scooters.

In this week’s news:

Ride1Up’s new highest spec yet model
Fiido X specs revealed
Crowncruiser – is the future affordable carbon fibre?
Motorbike brand MV Augusta gets into e-bikes
Blix announces major e-bike upgrades
Rad Power rentals across Europe
Bosch Tour + riding mode
New drivetrain options
Paris clamps down on motor traffic speed

LEVA: U.S. e-bike sales should top 1 million in 2021, 3 million in coming years

Guest post by: Ed Benjamin, chairman of the Light Electric Vehicle Association This post was previously published on LEVA’s website and is being reposted here for our audience.

The United States tends to make changes slowly until a tipping point is reached. And then, change can be startlingly fast.

That tipping point has occurred with electric bikes in the last two years. We are on our way to becoming the most profitable and largest western market for electric bikes.

For nearly 23 years, the U.S. electric bike market was tiny compared to the Asian and even the European electric bike market. For each of those years, I would assure my clients, readers, and peers that the U.S. will — eventually — be one of the largest markets for e-bikes and pedelecs.

Growth was slow, partly because the bicycle industry of the U.S. is focused on sport, fitness and recreation, and for years the electric bike has been regarded as primarily a transportation tool. Two wheelers as transportation has been a very small business.

But now… the limit on the U.S. market is the performance of the supply chain. U.S. brands will take almost any electric bike they can get and sell it almost as soon as it is received. Unfortunate lead times — as much as two years — are the problem.

E-bike News: Pole Voima, Convercycle Extendable E-cargo, Ducati E-folder & More

Once upon a time Ducati meant just one thing; motorbikes and not just any motorbikes – very, very fast ones. So it’s perhaps a sign of the times – and the way two -wheeled power has become slower and electric in many ways – that this week’s news sees the announcement of another Ducati e-bike. Well, it’s not exactly Ducati, but we’ll get to that later…

Perhaps more innovative are the hugely powerful looking new e-bike from Finnish e-bike company Pole and the amazing extendable e-cargo bike from Germany’s Convercycle, which really do look to be pushing the bounds of current bike technology.

In this week’s news:

The Pole Voima – an e-mtb unlike any other
Convercycle now shipping – it’s both a regular e-bike and an e-cargo bike
A new, more affordable Modmo e-city bike
Ducatic extends its e-bike and e-scooter range
Blubrake’s new smaller, lighter ABS braking for e-bikes
Ridepanda bags big investment

Are Electric Bikes Cheating? We Asked the CEO of Bianchi USA

Though they’ve been embraced by nearly every major bike manufacturer and have all but saturated every corner of the U.S. cycling market, the debate over whether electric bikes are cheating is alive and well.

Bicycling has long been a sport with an elitist bend; tradition is sacred and it’s a staunchly held belief among many that you must suffer — at least a little — on the bike in order for your experience and effort to count. E-bikes don’t mesh well with that ethos, as if adding a little help to a person’s own pedaling somehow degrades the simple pleasure or utility of riding a bike.

Sound melodramatic? It absolutely is. Cycling is a sport full of people confusing endorphin highs with philosophical enlightenment; people who’d rather indulge in a morning of self-flagellation via bicycle than go to therapy.

But that view of e-bikes is slowly changing. In Europe, where e-bike sales are quickly encroaching on sales of traditional bicycles, e-bikes have gained considerable traction as an alternative transportation solution and as a more inclusive way to get more people of more backgrounds and fitness levels interested in the sport. There’s strong signs that the U.S. bike market is just a few steps behind. In 2020, fueled by the COVID-19 bike boom and a renewed interest in getting outside, e-bike sales in the U.S. grew 145 percent and outpaced traditional bike sales which were up 65 percent, according to market research figures published in the New York Times.

Many industry insiders all-too familiar with the bike industry’s boom-bust cycles are holding out hope that e-bikes, and the non-cycling public’s interest in them, hold the keys to a more economically sustainable future.

It would seem that e-bikes are here to stay.

Ebike News: Fiido X, Nukeproof and Veloretti plus Bird’s New E-bike

What’s important on an e-bike to you? In the early days the answer might simply have been a motor and battery that work well and last. For the vast majority for reputable companies these questions are really taken as given.

Nowadays the focus has moved to a whole host of new questions and really it boils down to how many ‘extras’ you want or need, as exemplified by new e-bikes featured this week. Do you want a quick fold and good size battery, like the Fiido X has? Or maybe off-roaders want top performance form the latest mid-drive out there and tech specs that will stand up to toughest mtb performance, typified by the Nukeproof’s new Megawatt e-mtb….then again you might want a low maintenance but high tech city bike with retro chic and anti-theft technology, typified by Netherland’s sleek looking Veloretti machines.

In this week’s news:

Fiido to crowdfund innovative e-folder
Nukeproof’s new Shimano EP8-powered e-mtb
Veloretti combines e-bike chic with high-tech
First Indian e-bikes come to Europe
Bosch’s new and quite pricey domain name
Bird gets into e-bikes
E-bike share boom in the US

Bianchi E-Omnia Premier

TUSTIN, Calif. — In electric bikes, Bianchi this week went from zero to 100.

The 133-year-old Italian bike manufacturer on Monday formally released its full lineup of e-bikes to the U.S. market, a lineup centered around the e-Omnia triad of e-bikes that includes a touring model, city model and full-suspension eMTB.

Bianchi dropped a total of six new e-bike models during the premier event, including several high-end performance variations that you’d expect from a company known best for its thoroughbred race bikes. Those included an all-mountain eMTB called the T-Tronic, the ultralight (~26 lb) E-Aria electric road bike and the aluminum-framed E-Impulso electric gravel bike. But, while the company’s heritage of competition and speed was on full display, center stage of it all was the E-Omnia family and its focus on form, function, safety and sustainable everyday transportation.

“This is the beginning of a shift at Bianchi,” Pat Hus, CEO of Bianchi USA said at the event. “We are a company that’s been a road race company for years and years and years. We’re not stupid though; we know the market is changing and we know we need to be in the e-bike space, and this is just the beginning of that.”

E-bike News: Ribble Lightweights, Mokumono Innovation, Igogomi Shaft Drive, Colorado Solar Charging and Much More

Ribble hit the headlines a few months ago after producing an ultralight e-bike with a claimed weight of 10.5kg / 23lbs. Their two new e-bikes, at 17.5 / 38.5lbs and 19.5kg / 42.9lbs are much heavier but for fully-equipped e-bikes for more utilitarian use they are pretty light. Mokumono are a Dutch firm who also look like they enjoy doing things their own way and this week we detail the unique design behind their latest e-bike. And talking of unusual designs you can also learn about a funky looking shaft drive e-bike from California in the shape of the Igogomi range.

In this week’s news:

Ribble launches two new lightweight, fully-equipped e-bikes
Mokumono’s unique new e-bike
Igogomi shaft design
Colorado’s new solar-powered e-bikes
Manchester’s large new bike and e-bike share scheme
Bikmo lowers insurance costs
Lyft’s new share e-bike unveiled
E-scooter share from Unagi and Lift in Europe (Superpedestrian)

Ebike News: Gazelle Class 3 Belt Drive, Rose Lightweight, Wayel E-fat Bike and Much More!

We have speed for you this week in the form of Gazelle’s new class 3, 28mph belt drive e-bike, lightness and versatility with a new German e-bike from Rose and a great value looking folding e-fat bike from Italy. There’s a deep dive video into the role cobalt plays in e-bike batteries and plenty of e-micromobility developments are afoot too.

In this week’s news:

Gazelle’s fastest belt drive launched
Rose launches lightweight range with Shimano’s powerful EP8 mid-drive
Wayel’s new e-fat folder
Extra large battery from BMZ and background on cobalt in batteries
Spin’s new share e-bike launches in Providence, Rhode Island
Helbiz e-sccoters get Italian styling from Pininfarina
Swedish subscription e-bike raises US$11 million

Bike Mechanics Should Become LEVA Tech Certified, Or Risk Being ‘Left Behind’

Why You Should Become LEVA Tech Certified

E-bikes are selling like hot cakes. But are bike shops prepared to service them when they break?

Ed Benjamin shouldn’t be surprised anymore when he sees an electric bike cruise down his quiet south Florida street, but he is.

When COVID-19 gripped the world last year and sent nearly everyone home, Benjamin, who founded the Light Electric Vehicle Association in 1996, said his neighbors flooded out of their homes and into the outdoors.

As the world ground to a halt, he watched from the window of his home office as his historically empty suburban neighborhood came alive: People were going on socially-distanced walks; they were spending time in their yards; and, most notably for Benjamin, they were riding e-bikes.

Benjamin has sat at the helm of LEVA for the better part of three decades. The trade association of about 400 members spans 29 countries and is the loudest voice championing e-bike mechanics, dealers and manufacturers. From day one, Benjamin’s job has been to spread the good word about e-bikes to pretty much anyone who would listen. Even back in ‘96 when e-bikes were little more than an odd novelty, Benjamin knew they would one day change the entire world’s relationship with bicycles.

But it has been a slow burn, especially here in the United States.

Before March 2020, the sight of just one e-bike cruising down his street would have caused enough excitement for him to point and shout from his desk, calling “honey come see!” to his wife across the house.

Now, of the roughly five bikes a day he sees roll by his window, at least three are e-bikes. He still has a hard time containing his excitement.

“I think they’ve woken up to electric bicycles,” he told me on a late-March phone call.

It would seem his neighbors aren’t the only ones.

SmartBikeWheel Review, 2021

SmartBikeWheel Conversion kit Review: Overview

E-bike News: New E-bikes from Ride1Up, Fiido, Crowncrusier, MV Augusta and Blix

LEVA: U.S. e-bike sales should top 1 million in 2021, 3 million in coming years

E-bike News: Pole Voima, Convercycle Extendable E-cargo, Ducati E-folder & More

Are Electric Bikes Cheating? We Asked the CEO of Bianchi USA

Ebike News: Fiido X, Nukeproof and Veloretti plus Bird’s New E-bike

Bianchi E-Omnia Premier

E-bike News: Ribble Lightweights, Mokumono Innovation, Igogomi Shaft Drive, Colorado Solar Charging and Much More

Ebike News: Gazelle Class 3 Belt Drive, Rose Lightweight, Wayel E-fat Bike and Much More!

Bike Mechanics Should Become LEVA Tech Certified, Or Risk Being ‘Left Behind’

Why You Should Become LEVA Tech Certified

About

Guides

Reviews

What’s Trending

Blog

SmartBikeWheel Conversion kit Review: Overview

Why You Should Become LEVA Tech Certified

Don’t be a stranger, stay connected

Subscribe to our newsletter

About

Guides

Reviews

What’s Trending