Link to where you can buy it: https://shop.prakashganesan.net/
The story of building my own electric bike is quite a long one. Not to mention expensive. I initially got this idea due to troubles I started getting from my regular bike. It causing some serious issues to my commute. This when I first started thinking about making it electric.
Fast forward a few years and it’s finally done. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me present to you, my DIY Electric Bike.
This is a homemade e-bicycle that runs on a 24V, 350W system. Its really fast with a top speed of up to 23 Km/h and range of 7-8 Km. It’s also a surprisingly comfortable ride. But these benefits came with their struggles. Many struggles. Here goes…
The bike itself is an old Hercules 6-speed geared racing bicycle. I bought it new for around Rs. 7000 when I started polytechnic college. Over the next 3 years, it served well right up until the last few months. This is when the gear system, brakes, seat and a bunch of other things started to give me trouble. After this, I decided that at some point I had to electrify it.
It all started when I first got the components. My dad ordered them as a kit from some supplier in Bangalore. The components are the ones you see in the video. But in case you would like to buy them yourself, here are the affiliate links:
24V 250W Motor: https://amzn.to/3amo4ao
If you want to go the hub motor route: https://amzn.to/3cFjXsT
Controller: https://amzn.to/3rhKII1
Lithium Battery: https://amzn.to/3tfUoEC
Throttle: https://amzn.to/2O55EUt
Brakes: https://amzn.to/39GvdTW
Power locks: https://amzn.to/3rieVGR
The rest of the mechanical components can be easily bought at your local cycle shop for cheap. Check the video to know about them.
In case you want to buy the entire kit: https://amzn.to/36AjYuc
Just so you know, these components are not the same as mine and are not the exact same price.
Let’s get started.
I initially thought I would be able to easily convert it to electric. It looked easy enough. But, boy was I wrong. The electrical aspects were pretty simple. But the problems arose when I got to the mechanical aspects. The freewheel was the worst of all. As I mentioned, I initially attached the freewheel for the motor on the left side of the bike. Now, this is a problem because as I accelerated, the motor would rotate in the direction of loosening the freewheel.
And so I tried using thread locking glue. It worked for a while but ended up loosening as usual. So I just had to bite the dust and put the motor on the right side. I explained this in the video.
I thought there was a lot to write but… honestly, that’s pretty much it. The video sums up everything quite nicely.
If you have any questions, you can reach me via Instagram, Twitter, this website’s contact page or the youtube video’s comment section.