This morning I rode up Ralph Allen Drive using my new electric power on my old ‘Ridgeback Supernova’. It was amazing. Obviously the amount of manual work can be varied by using the gears on the bike. For my first ascent I just wanted to do it with the minimum of effort. I did move my power to the maximum just to see how easy it would be, so I didn’t have to work very hard.
This image shows the battery on handlebars the motor on the front wheel.
This new innovation will ensure that I ride my bike to and from the city on a more regular basis. The conversion is very light and shows how battery power for bikes has come on over the years. I could have purchased a new electric bike, but that would seem to be a bit extravagant considering that I already have three bikes and it would certainly have been heavier than this conversion.
Other than the motor and the battery there is very little extra weight on the bike, which allows riding on the flat without the electrics turned on, no more difficult than before any weight was added. I have documented some of the problems I had with Swytchbike earlier on this blog., but all was sorted in the end. Obviously there are other conversions for bikes, where you don’t have to wait as long as you do to receive the Swytchbike conversion package. However in the end it was worth the wait.
Hello, I'm Roger Symonds and I have created this blog to highlight local and wider cycling issues. Given the incredible interest and increase in cycling we must not miss this opportunity to provide the the infrastructure that gets even more people out on bikes in a safer environment.