If you own a bike and keep getting frustrated with the recent hike in gallon rates, you may want to consider converting your bike into an ebike. In countries like China and Thailand where bicycles have traditionally sold in large numbers, the concept of ebikes is fast catching on. In fact, this trend is on the upswing in the U.S.A., Australia, Greece, Holland, Brazil, England and Germany to name a few countries. Of course, this trend could be as a result of the recent hike in gas rates or the facts on how ebikes are fuel efficient and safe to ride does the trick.

There are several electric bike conversion kits readily available in various parts of the United States. These kits are meant to help you convert your bike into ebikes. When you purchase a conversion kit, you get several things along with all the instructions to convert your bike easily. The electric bike motor is the most efficient drive system for your bike. It is located at the center of your bicycle’s wheel and is the cheapest as well as cleanest component. The best thing about the electric bike motor is that it produces no noise, hard to believe, right? So, no one can actually guess that you have converted your bike into an ebike. Furthermore, the conversion process does not change the way you handle your bike. So, you can keep riding the way you like.

Types of motors
There are mainly three kinds of motors that are available in the market – 200 W, 350 W and 500 W. 250 W is the most common electric bike motor which is easiest to handle. It is apt also because conversion in most cities does not require a lot of power.

Handling a kit that provides 500 W or more, requires some extra consideration since they are powerful and have a lot of torque. If you are looking at installing this type of motor, you need to make sure your bike can support the motor, translated that reads steel dropouts (the place on the forks where the axle goes into the forks) for front conversions. Not sure about your forks?  Use a magnet to test your dropouts; if it sticks then your forks are steel! If you want a 500w motor on your bike and you don’t have steel forks consider a rear conversion or maybe changing the fork.