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Add-e Next friction drive kit from Austria

Ughetto

New here
Joined
Jul 25, 2025
Messages
9
Location
France
We bought two kits from : Startseite - add-e - der E-Bike Nachrüstsatz für dein Fahrrad
We have the Medium battery 300Wh 1.6kg. Motor is 0.7kg. It adds less than 2.5kg to the bike. Power limited to 250W (UE rules) but power can be increased to 600W. Speed max 25km/h (UE rules ).
PAS, speedometer and button ON/OFF communicates via bluetooth.
The motor is under the crankset on a pivoting arm. It goes up to "bite in the tyre" automatically and falls down if you do not rotate pedals or if speed is > 25km/h.
Velo_D.jpg
The "bottle battery" is on the front rack, my choice, no room on the frame.
As long as the road is flat, we do not use the motor. On a 4-5 % climb we use the level 100W wich (for us ) is enough to climb at 12km/h. At such wattage and rotation speed after a 20km climb the motor is lukewarm.
The kit comes with a detailled manual. Installation is easy, you have to check the position of the rotation arm... Correct it if not ok ...and the motor will engage and disengage every time.
Pro :
Good concept.
Well engineered.
Lightweight. We travel by train, the bikes remain light, loading them in a train is ok.
Did the job during our 450km trip in Ardêche with 13kg of luggages on each bike.
Con :
Pricey, 1300€ 😠 (but quality is expensive).
All the spare parts have to be bought from the factory... Nothing is "standart."
If you want some more pictures, feel free to ask.
Joël UGHETTO
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ah, the kepler drive's legacy lives on!
I totally agree :
Motor_up.jpg
Motor_down.jpg
The top plate with 9 holes is used to bring away or bring closer the motor from the tyre.
The straight line from the rotation arm and the axle of the motor should arrive 1cm above the center of the wheel.
This reminds me really some Kepler's drawings.
 
It's too bad he didn't make some money with it.
These guys clearly are!

But i think this 0.7kg drive is cool though. 600w is a good max for friction drive too.

Edited your thread title fore more visibility btw
 
Too bad! Kepler seemed to optimize his system (even for MTB) then fade. I'd like to see what he's up to now.
 
Been waiting wait waiting for this style to drop in price. Lightweight, all in one, easy to install system that can do ~200w.
Now just need to remove a zero from that price tag for a motor/controller only kit...
Thank you for the write up!
 
Been waiting wait waiting for this style to drop in price. Lightweight, all in one, easy to install system that can do ~200w.
Now just need to remove a zero from that price tag for a motor/controller only kit...
Thank you for the write up!
did you see the thread in the link below?

 
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