How Do You Build An Inexpensive Electric Bicycle?
• Find a bicycle in good working condition to modify. Make sure it is comfortable and has good brakes. Any problems the bike has when you start are going to be magnified once it has 40 pounds of electric “stuff” added to it and an extra horsepower pushing it around. It’ll be harder to stop and the ride will be rougher. Full suspension department store bikes actually work well, but you’ll probably want to change the low-pressure knobby tires to some higher-pressure street tires (going from 35 to 65psi makes a huge difference! This is a cheaper way to get extra range rather than buying more batteries). For this bike build, you want a bike with some space in the triangle between the rider’s legs. • If your bike doesn’t have multiple sprockets on the cranks (the part that your legs spins), you’ll need one that does. Alternatively, you can get the crank and sprockets from another bike and transplant them to the side of *your* bike that has no sprockets. • Get a rear rack for the bike. This
