The very first thing to do is define exactly what you want it to do for you, under exactly what conditions, worst-case. Meaning, does it have to do 60 miles at 80mph? Or only 20? etc. Do you have hills? What speed must it maintain on those? Is there stop-start traffic, or only highway use? Offroad? Or only on pavement? Etc. Make yourself as complete and detailed a list of the actual requirements you have for it, and note which are deal-breakers and which you can live with less (and how much less). This will help you later in the process.
Then your best bet is to read up on all other conversions similar to what you want to do. If there arent' any really similar, then check out all others that are at least required to do the speeds, terrain, etc., that you need to do, and their range, etc. I've posted in a number of them on how to figure out power needed to do the work you need it to do, to then figure out what size motor, controller, etc. you'll need, as well as how to determine what battery capacity you'll need. And whether you want to use a hubmotor, or prefer chain drive/etc.
Some of what you want to do will be limited by the specific bike you're converting, along with exactly what you need it to do. If you haven't already got a bike, then figure everything out first, and *then* go find a bike that will let you do what you have to to it to do the work you need it to do. For instance, some people end up needing a bigger bike just to hold the battery necessary for instance, and can't fit it all on teh one they get.
The threads for others' conversions will help you learn what you don't even know you need to know yet, too,
which is probably a lot, if you've never done any of this before (took me a long time to get where I am now, but I'm not the fastest learner). You may even want to try converting a bicycle to electric first, just to get the hang of things cheaply, so you don't end up spending thousands of dollars on your motorcycle conversion and then find it still can't do what you want, or get in too deep for your skills and budget *after* you already spent thousands of dollars on some of the stuff you would need.
Regarding skills, if you can't weld/etc and those end up being required (likely, but not necessarily), you can either learn or just take the stuff to a shop that does that sort of thing when you get to that point, and have them do it. It's not as cheap to outsource, but at least you could do the project. Learning various DIY skills like welding isn't usually difficult, but if you know you can't do it, then hiring the work out is your only option. Note that welding some metals needs more than just welding, it also requires post-weld treatment to ensure proper strength of parts so they don't break in use--mostly that's aluminum stuff, but many (most?) MC frames are made of that nowadays, from what I've seen.
There's going to be a fair bit of DIY of various kinds needed on something like this, so if for any reason you can't do that work (or learn how to) or have it done, you're probably going to have to buy a prebuilt motorcycle that fits your needs.
It's probably going to be cheaper to do that than convert one, anyway, given the tools and parts you'll likely have to buy to do the work with (and if you have to pay someone else to do any of the work it will nearly certainly be cheaper to buy a prebuilt bike). If there are no bikes that do what you want and look the way you want them to, then either you'll have to spend the money, or the time, or both, to build one, or compromise on something you want, to get what you need.
Elfin10 said:
First off, I apologize if this has been made before. I tried searching for newbie help, but I couldn't find anything that quite helped me.
What I'm looking to do: I'm trying to better gather information on how a conversion works. I'd be looking at converting something with ABS already, and replacing with an electric engine. Ideally, I'd like a top speed of 70-80MPH, with around 60 miles range (to and from work is ~10 miles RT). I've read a few threads and it appears that welding may be involved? I am NOT a welder, so this would be completely out of the realm of possibility for me.
Does anyone have any advice on where I can start so I can better understand all the skills needed for this? For that matter, how do I "shop" for an electric engine? I'd assume they have some "off-the-shelf" electrics. By the looks of it, it appears alibaba is a good place to start for that?
I'm mostly looking to do this as, living in the US, I can't really find already made electric bike in the cafe racer style that's actually available for purchase.
Appreciate all the help!
