I recently installed and took my first successful test ride on a road bike that I had converted to a hybrid electric bike via the Swytch eBike Conversion Kit. This was a project that took me eight months—two-thirds of a year—to complete, and was sometimes hugely demoralizing along the way. My sister suggested I write a blog post about my experience to help anyone thinking about “making the Swytch” (I promise that’s the last time I’ll say that), and I agreed, feeling like it would give me some welcome closure around the project.

So, was the Swytch eBike Conversion Kit worth it?

Background

My interest in ebikes started when I test rode a Faraday Porteur at one of San Francisco’s Sunday Streets events. It was September 2014: I still have the business card from the salesperson at The New Wheel who was offering the rides. Fulton Avenue was closed to traffic, and I blew up the hill by Alamo Square, passing a family of four who were chugging up laboriously on trikes and a tandem. The sheer thrill and joy of it was fantastic: I wanted to yell in their faces.

Cyclists on Fulton Avenue during Sunday Streets Western Addition in 2011. Photo: Bryan Goebel.

The downsides: a Porteur would cost a pretty penny (US$3500 in 2015), I already had a road bike, and I was especially uninterested in the idea of lugging the 40-pound Porteur up and down the two flights of stairs to my walk-up apartment. Doing more research on ebike conversions, I found Superpedestrian’s Copenhagen Wheel; however, it seemed to be a prototype, not yet ready for the mass market.

Over the following years, ebikes became more common to see on the streets. Red JUMP Bikes were a thing, and then the Bay Wheels (née Ford GoBike) city bikeshare program caught up, too. I enjoyed renting these electric cruisers (such an improvement over the plodding non-electric ones) and powering up hills with ease. Though I felt silly using bikeshares when I still had my road bike, there was something compelling about bikeshares’ casual on-off, breezy locking-unlocking business that did get me biking more overall, even if it meant I rarely wore my helmet.

Fast forward to 2020. The pandemic hit, but I had a new job, and it was in biking range. The cost of commuting via bikeshare would have added up, so out came my neglected Cannondale R900. And, since it seemed like this job would keep me in San Francisco, and there was no way to get to my local climbing gym without cresting a giant hill, maybe it was time to revisit the ebike idea.

February 2020: Enter Swytch

Since I last looked, some new integrated ebikes had entered the market, like the VanMoof X3. But the X3 weighed 45.8 pounds, even more than the Porteur! It seemed any off-the-shelf ebike would weigh comparably.

That was when I found the Swytch kit. Billed as “the world’s smallest and lightest ebike kit,” the marketing materials promised that “anyone can fit it to any bike” and that it would add “just 1.5kg” of bicycle weight. And pre-orders would be 50% off! (While I know that sort of discount is often just a marketing ploy, it did hook me.)

Buying a Swytch kit would be a gamble, but hopefully not a huge one: they had already released a v1 kit to extremely positive reviews. Still, I had some questions before I could commit, and I lobbed them over to Swytch support:

Hi there. I'm interested in buying Swytch when it launches soon, but I want to ensure compatibility before I commit to buying, so I've been reading your FAQs to understand exactly what setup/options I will need (please note I have very little bike maintenance knowledge -- I can change a tube but that's about it). I have a carbon fiber fork, drop handlebars, and caliper brakes on my road bike. I'm concerned that due to the way the power pack attaches to the handlebars, it may conflict with my current brake cable setup, which runs close to the stem. Also, it seems I will need a torque arm and the hydraulic brake sensors, but I'm not certain. Can you please confirm/advise? I attached two photos of my headset for reference.

The response came within a few hours:

Hey Amy,

Thank you for contacting Swytch!

You are right that the torque arm is reccomended. Brake sensors are not really necassary, when you stop pedalling the motor will stop so the increase in efficiency from brake sensors is very small. Up to you but i would reccomend not bothering with them.

Looking at the picures the mount will fit fine, your current cable will be able to flex around it. You will need to remove your light mount. The powerpack has slots on top that you could clip a different light too.

Best wishes,

Simon
Customer Service Manager

I replied:

Thanks for the information!
I have another question. On this site https://www.cyclist.co.uk/reviews/6026/swytch-e-bike-conversion-kit-review there is mention of "Swytch is also working on an alternative smartphone-controlled micro battery that could fit in a handbag."
Are you able to provide any more details about this product or how it compares (weight, power, price) to the Pro and Eco kits? I have a very short commute so if this is coming down the pipe soon, it might be a better fit for me.

The response, again within minutes:

Hey Amy,

That is in the pipe, but will be a couple of years. Early stage atm so no specs available

KR

Simon

All right. With my questions answered satisfactorily, I was ready to commit. I paid $675 to preorder the “Pro” kit (including $25 torque arm add-on). I was informed that I would later pay VAT, to be invoiced upon arrival of the kit at US customs.

March 2020: Waiting and weathering

Communication from Swytch during the campaign was good. In March they sent a “backer survey” of sorts to get my specifications / add-ons. I selected the option for the 700c wheel size.

Further updates kept me apprised of their manufacturing and shipping ETAs. I was notified when the precise shipping container that contained my kit arrived in the US. Some shipping delays occurred, but the reasons for the delays were always carefully explained.

In the meantime, I took my road bike to a local bike shop to get its first tune-up since I had bought it secondhand from Craigslist in 2010. (I had probably only put 5,000 miles on it in that entire time.) When I mentioned that I was considering doing an ebike conversion, the shop owner seemed… skeptical, sharing his philosophy that human power should be sufficient to operate any bicycle, provided the bicycle was appropriately equipped. To facilitate this, he suggested that I replace the rear cassette and chain with a setup that was a little more “commuter” and a little less “speed demon” than appeared to be the preference of the bike’s previous owner. I agreed because I was interested in anything that could help me climb the Presidio Boulevard hill without wanting to shoot myself. They also put a Third Eye Chain Watcher on my seat tube to resolve an issue I’d had with the chain dropping off the chain ring.

The bill for this work (which included a surprise rear derailleur replacement to accommodate the larger cassette) was $232, more than the $135-175 estimate I had been given. I hadn’t been notified of the increased cost before being presented with the bill and was unhappy with the experience, though the work seemed solid and the shop tried to make it right.

Finally, in September 2020, after several delays, the shipping container with my Swytch was due to arrive in Los Angeles! I paid $35 in VAT/duties. Then it was processed and FedExed from Bloomington, CA, to San Francisco. It arrived in one piece shortly thereafter, but the giant box was daunting, and by that time I was no longer with the job I’d expected to be using the ebike for. Plus, I was majorly depressed for associated and unassociated reasons. The unopened kit sat around for a while, but I finally unboxed it on October 16.

October 2020: The trial begins

Little did I know what was in store for me.

My first task was to determine, in consultation with the manual, whether the box contained everything I needed. It did, though I also discovered I would need an adjustable wrench, which I would have to borrow from a friend.

The size of my apartment meant that I had to strike the whole operation if I wanted to use the kitchen for any other purposes, so I took out the battery to begin charging it and repacked the box until I could get the wrench.

A few days later, I resumed the installation, setting about removing the tire from the old front wheel. It’d been a while since I’d had a flat, so I'd forgotten how annoying this is to do. After some effort, I got the tire off…

…only to find that the new ebike wheel didn't fit in my fork. According to Swytch’s website, the solution was to file down the flats on the axle (10mm) until it could fit into the fork ends (9mm, presumably because the frame was built in the 90s). Once again I had to put the project on hold until I could borrow a tool, in this case a hand file from my sister.

Maybe everything would have gone faster if I’d had a Dremel or a bike stand, or if I simply wasn’t depressed. But as it was, I probably spent on the order of three or four tedious hours going back and forth between (a) filing the axle shoulders down and (b) checking the results against the fork ends—all the while feeling like a prisoner in a cartoon, filing interminably at their window bars. At least I could tell that the file was working because I could see iron filings adhering to the (slightly magnetic) file. But the filing took me several work sessions, and was so demoralizing that it took me months to recover. It wasn’t until February 2021 that I had put in enough time and motivation that—with a magical, tear-inducing clunk—the wheel seated itself properly in the fork.

But my trials weren’t over.

The next stumbling block I discovered was that the pedal sensor didn’t fit. For some context, the Swytch conversion kit works by clipping a circular disc dotted with twelve small magnets to your crank. As you pedal, the magnets pass by the pedal sensor, a small magnetic pickup that transmits the signal to the motor and tells it to activate. The pedal sensor attaches to the frame via adhesive, and should be arranged so that it is radially pointing to the center of the magnetic disc, as close as possible to the rotating magnets without actually touching the disc.

Given these requirements, the pedal sensor could be installed along one of three axes: the down tube, the chain stay, or the seat tube. It did not fit in any of those locations. The best option seemed to be the seat tube, but the added bulk of the Third Eye Chain Watcher meant that the pedal sensor would touch the disc if I couldn’t slim it down somehow.

Once again, Swytch did have a proposed solution for the issue, which I found hilariously dry: “if there’s no [viable] surface, […] simply remove the hinge mechanism attached to the sensor.” It took me until May to find the time and energy to try and implement that solution, but once I undid the hinge mechanism with a hex key and snipped the remaining plastic nubs with a nail clipper, I was able to mount the pedal sensor properly with some command tape (on the down tube, in the end).

(Side note: I think someone with actual wirecutters, not to mention an actual tool kit, and throw an actual garage in while you’re at it, would have had a much easier time with this conversion kit.)

After the pedal sensor was installed and connected to the motor, I thought I was done. After all, I loaded up the battery, turned on “walk mode” (where the motor turns the wheel so long as you have the button depressed), and the wheel spun!

But it was not to be. After mounting the torque arm and inflating the tire, it went flat within minutes. This was the second time it had done so, indicating a possible systemic problem. Was it the tire? the tube? the rim tape? my mounting technique? Was I looking at another issue that would take me hours or weeks to diagnose and remedy?

I adjourned that day’s work, but laid out a plan for the next work session, in consultation with my sister:

- Pumped the front tire to 90psi. Deflated after 5 minutes. 2nd time this has happened.
- Rule of thumb - 100 psi for 55kg (120lb) rider: https://www.cycling-inform.com/what-is-the-best-tire-pressure-for-bicycle-tires
- https://swytchbike.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360016779118-How-to-install-your-old-tyre-and-inner-tube-on-your-new-Swytch-motor-wheel
- NEXT STEPS:
Have to take the wheel off, take off tire and tube, replace tube. (Can try using new tube if don't want to repair old tube.)
Check tube. [KH: If you can find the hole in both tubes, maybe see if it's in the same area relative to the wheel's valve hole, and then see if that points to a pointy culprit]
Check tire. [KH: I would give the tire a shake out/wipe out and then run my hand along the entire inside of the tire to check for pokey things (carefully)]
Maybe get new tire if see any exposed wire.
Check rim tape [KH: I would just check that there are no faults there or like, overly sharp spoke areas]
Inflate it off-bike, a little at a time, following the instructions.
Mount tire. [KH: it's possible that when you're mounting the tire, you're pinching the tube. kind of easy to do in when mounting that last bit of tire bead, if the tube isn't clear of the bead and gets caught. related to this #5 step, when you mount the tire, you're basically holding it out kinda braced against you and horizontal to the floor and just pushing in the bead to make sure it's evenly distributed, but also visually looking for any bit of tube that may be pinched. kinda have to peer between the bead and rim as you push in the bead … oh I think [the "dip"] is like, if part of the tire is seated far more "inward" towards the hub, aka a dip, and in some places the bead might be seated very "outward" from the hub]
- https://www.roadbikerider.com/7-ways-stubborn-bicycle-tires/
Next steps after that:
- See if the tube remains inflated
- reinstall the torque arm
- Adjust the bolts and make sure that they're flush with the fork
- Tighten everything
- Connect the power source
- Buy new tires from a local bike store once the bike is operational and can take us there

This level of detail, while exacting, was the only way I could stay motivated to work on it again.

…And so I did. On May 22, a day marked on my calendar as “Bike day #3” (but was really something like #7, if we’re counting back to October). I slowly and carefully seated a new tube in my old tire—not repairing my old tube because it had punctured on a patch—pumped it to 100 PSI, and waited to see if it would deflate.

It did not. For days it did not.

Was I done?

Was I finally, miserably, done?

June 2021: The test ride

I did not dare hope. It could not be true that the kit was installed, that it would work, that it would give me any fraction of the joy I’d once felt on that Faraday Porteur. I had to shield myself from the psychic distress of knowing that, if it did, I could have had that joy eight whole months earlier.

But as my partner reminded me, “The second best day is today.”

I put the torque arm on. I tightened the bolts. On a beautifully sunny June Saturday, I took the bike to the DMV parking lot, put my helmet on, and began pedaling.

And it worked. Dear reader, it worked.

I cruised around the parking lot, feeling the pedal assist kick in, feeling the zoom of the extra go from the motor. I smiled. I even giggled.

While I have yet to test the ebike on any monster hills or longer rides, I feel optimistic about the results. I feel hopeful about getting back on a bike that sat inoperational for nearly a year. I’m starting to imagine a new, reopened me with new, reopened access possibilities.

The converted bike in Alamo Square Park.

Conclusion

Despite my harrowing installation experience, the final product does seem like it will offer me the benefits I originally purchased it for. I grant that my biggest barriers arose from my particular circumstances of having an older bike with narrower fork ends, and not enough dedicated workspace to keep the project active/available between work sessions. I think someone with a better setup (garage, tools) would have a much easier time installing the Swytch kit. But I don’t think my experience is necessarily all that unrepresentative: plenty of people looking to do an ebike conversion might have tiny apartments and old bikes. And, while investing in a full toolkit would probably have been worth it, I’m a little proud that I turned every bolt I needed to with the combination of a hex key set, needle-nose pliers, a screwdriver, and the borrowed wrench.

As for the mental and emotional toll of this project—y i k e s. In addition to “the pandemic” and “wildfire season,” I was in my own particularly bad place last fall. The Swytch conversion might have been a fun “quarantine project” if there hadn’t been so many unanticipated challenges, all of which had wildly uncertain times-to-resolution. I’m hopeful that the finished conversion will let me get out and go places more regularly, including to the gym, all of which should help my mental state recover from this wallop. But it’s clear that I could not have completed this project without the steadfast encouragement and moral support of my two partners, or my sister’s loving technical assistance.

And make no mistake that, if you are considering the Swytch, it will be a Project, no matter how smoothly it goes.

Technical Notes

Bike Specifications

Cannondale R900 (1990s) road bike
Aluminum frame with carbon fiber fork
16-speed

Known build details at purchase:
Crankset/front derailleur: Shimano 105
Brakes/shifters: Shimano 600 STI

Modifications after purchase:
Pedals: Wellgo, metal platform
Rear rack: Blackburn EX-1
Rear cassette: Shimano CS-HG50-8 11-34T
Rear derailleur: Shimano Claris RD-R2000-SS

Pricing

Bike, purchased used: $425 in 2010 ($524.67 in 2021 dollars)
Pedals and rear rack parts/labor: $63.50 in 2014 ($72.21 in 2021 dollars)
2020 standard tune-up and parts/labor: $232.24
Swytch eBike Conversion Kit, “Pro” version plus shipping: $650
Swytch torque arm add-on: $25
Swytch VAT and duties: $35

Total: $1,519.12

Weight

Bike: appx. 22 lbs (9.98 kg) [I’ll update this if/when I verify it]
Swytch motor: 3.31 lbs (1.5 kg)
Swytch Power Pack: 3.31 lbs (1.5 kg)

Total: 28.62 lbs (12.98 kg)

Handlebar Bracket

It’s worth noting that contrary to what Swytch support told me in the above email exchange, only one of my brake cables (highlighted in green on the image to the right) was able to flex around the Swytch handlebar bracket. The other brake cable (highlighted in purple), the one I had been worried about, ran too tightly against the headset to flex much. Thankfully, the handlebar bracket had enough internal clearance that I was able to clip it around the brake cable without putting undue stress on the cable. As a result, though, I didn’t install the rubber handlebar spacers that came with the bracket. I have since noticed a bit of “bounciness” from the bracket/battery as a result (e.g. when riding over bumps), so I might try to add them in, but notch/modify them to give the cable some extra space.