Swytch Universal eBike Conversion Kit 2023 - fitted and tested

[@cambridgemart2075]

I detest companies who sell products they have yet to manufacture!

[@monkeyboy7981]

I got my missus one of these as it's the only ebike conversation that will fit her tiny 13" mountain bike. I got her the Max battery pack and hoped for close to 20 miles range but on our first outing we managed 14 miles before the power cut out. The overall climb on that 14 mile trip was around 1000ft. Overall I'm happy with the fitment of the swytch kit but disappointed with the range. And I'm not sure if you know.. but you can tweak the speed limiter with your control panel. Hold the button for 5 seconds and then you can increase max speed and if you set your wheel size to 16" you get an extra boost, it'll get you over 20mph 👍 (note: if you set the smaller wheel size your Speedo will be incorrect)

[@DavidMcLuckie]

The fit and finish of the kit is great. It's just not as assistful as you would be led to believe.

[@monicasanta-teresa4592]

I’ve had mine for 6 months now and I’m pretty happy with it. I’m a work commuter and it really helps with the hills. My tip would be to get the longer range battery pack though. It’s worth the extra cost.

[@KristoKorps]

What kind of mileage do you have on your trip? Do you find the battery runs out around the time you get back or beforehand?

[@romanzownirowycz9284]

Thanks for making this video. I was concerned about the mileage and how it handled hills. No one has really said it like it is. Glad you did. It is what I wanted to know.

[@saintsscholars8231]

Tried to fit this kit to a Cannondale and the sensor even when modified protruded too much past the magnetic disk that I had to scrap the conversion and try it on an older bike. Finally got it installed after some fiddling. If I had have known the battery was less than impressive, I don’t t think I would have proceeded with my purchase. Need to test it out more. Perhaps an even higher capacity battery can be designed in the near future

[@jaybee258jb]

Thanks for the review. These are advertised quite relentlessly and I suspected as such. For well under £800 you can get a torque sensor Tongsheng and 17ah 52v battery that will take you up Snowdon non stop.

[@neiladcock8382]

I've fitted 15 bikes with the Voilamart rear kits/ Yose power batteries. None of em skip a beat. My own ride is a 1500w Fat Tyre bike. About 35 MPH and about 25 mile range. It takes about 3 hrs to fit. What I would say to anyone installing any make of hub motor - is design, manufacture and fit your own torque arm. The ones that come with the kits are shit. And dont think you can get away without a decent one, the hubs will make metallic porridge out your dropouts in a heartbeat and rip out the control wires. As a slight aside, the Carrera 29ers aint a great cycle in the great scene of normal cycling, but they are perfect for an E-conversion as they have a very long and wide chainstay. This enables you to fit a whole host of tyre sizes to your rims. HTH.

[@Simon_Rafferty]

A lot of people ask me about how they can convert their bike to electric, having seen mine (I use a Trampa 100A 48V VESC to control a hub motor on a Moulton APB) - but most of them get bamboozled as soon as you start to talk about it! To me, this looks an ideal kit for them. Obviously very simple to install & requires little technical understanding. I'd bet that if you've never ridden something decent, this would appear magical! I was kind of hoping you were going to hack this! Add a worthwhile battery to see if it's capable of being decent - or if the whole thing is pony!

[@cragmc8386]

Thanks for the very informative video. Might be worth checking out imortor 3. Same kind of set up but 350w motor (earlier versions have a 250w motor if you're worried about legality) and the battery (crescent shaped) sits in the motor hub itself. Simple front wheel swap out. They're about £450. Lots of videos of them on yt. Nice looking solar array btw! Should do a video on that!

[@twocvbloke]

For £800 you could buy a car, not a great one, but one that's already been manufactured and works... :P

[@GnrMilligan]

Thank you Sir. Very helpful to a noob like me!

[@LRSTFJ]

Thanks for the honest review, Swytch have been around for a while now, seems very expensive and not very good for what it is. Also doesn't seem to be very many other Swytch reviews on KZbin.

[@Bokooda]

Love your stuff. A full E-bike conversion/explanation video would be great

[@kbron3250]

Swytch battery range is best suited for short distance commuter trips of less than 10 miles. If you want to go 20+ miles don't get a Swytch battery as you might at best get 18 miles when the battery is brand new on power level 1 on the current MAX battery. With this most recent rollout Swytch has been plagued with poor customer service and production problems on the alternate down-spout/bottle mount as I did not want to mount the battery on the handle bars. So bad were the delays on the alternate mount (6+ months) that I did receive a refund minus shipping to the US and I ended up buying a Geeko g100 kit which is similar to Swytch but with a larger water bottle type battery that gets around 50+ miles per charge on power level 1 and I am very pleased with Geeko. Stay far away from Swytch.

[@raggyrnmba]

You are right. Very poor customer service until I filled a dispute to my Credit Card provider. Then they responded but it was too late as summer is almost over to use my bike.

[@collision1988]

Just got mine, i got more then 32km range.. if i can trust my phone.. it was 35km when i lost power. BUT.. i only used speed p1 and only assist, without throttle, so idk. But i also received error 26 when power cut out and i tried the throttle. It didnt show me an error when i was pedaling

[@billienomates1606]

I think this kit is going to appeal to those with no knowledge of what is available on the markets for an😁 e bike conversions. Firstly just having the motor on the front wheel is not the best, but as this has the power of a one legged mouse i assume it is not an issue. The battery, even the larger one, is fairly useless for any decent range at any power consumption. Overall there are much better cheap kits out there with more power and versatility although you will be coughing up as much for a decent battery as this kit costs. I expect those who live in flat area's and just want to do a couple of miles will be quite happy with it. Good vid.

[@musicotensai]

My town is hilly. I need this :). I do about 7 km a day.

[@garythegopher]

Great video I’m glad I watched this will go chinesium I think.

[@jamesemery1]

fit a bafang bbshd with a 52v battery it will climb anything

[@zacurrya9485]

Swytch looks slicker though

[@somecyclist]

The big battery is actually advertised at 30km. I thought it was 50km as well, maybe they changed the information on the website? Because I expected more range as well then I realised oh, I only get 20 miles from this, after my ride being cut short. I thought I just remembered or read it wrong, but since you had the same thing in your mind, I'm pretty sure they had false information on the website.

[@ChubbyChecker182]

I thiught this looked rubbush. Thanks for confirming 👍

[@Shifytee123]

Put an affiliate link in your description good Sir. I was curious to check it out and you may also get a little kick back!

[@84parsons]

Like to see and hear about your other ebike

[@dazednconfused31337]

I bought a Yose Power 250W 26" front kit for £380. It's pretty good, can do 19-20 mph and a free led light. But it was a PITA to fit: Needed to add offset spacers to fork. So had to reposition brakes oddly and always prise forks apart to refit wheel. Bottle bolts in wrong spot, so had to fit large HL battery backwards. Causing wires not to fit in bag. Had to buy a large drill bit. Drilling washers in a plastic jaw vice sucked and it went blunt after one. Had to make the outside of the washers smaller with a drill/grinder lathe. Had to file fork and lawyer lips to fit. Had to discard disc bolts and add silicone, as they hit the fork and water could now get in. No option to buy with correct PAS sensor so had to buy another. V-brakes sometimes rub tyre in use and I can't fix it, braking weaker. Rapidly burnt through new pads until I overhauled the rusty pivots. Can't use included brake levers (with cut out switches) as I'd lose gear shifters. Didn't know I had an alu suspension fork and the torque could break them and your face suddenly. Charger gets hot - added heatsinks + fan. Stuck with 26". So it'll be awkward trying to find and upgrade to a bike with steel forks and brake discs.

[@ohmm3625]

Im waiting for mine, I paid the least possible and got the smallest battery. Ill use it to pull 3 kids on short journeys. The reason i chose this was mainly the light weight and removability as i prefer cycling with my own energy. If i wanted to make an e motorbike id do what one of you know it alls is talking about

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Assuming your pull will be completely flat it will work, albeit briefly until the battery voltage falls to below the level it activates at.

[@ohmm3625]

@@DavidMcLuckie it's a 1.5 mile round trip with 250m gentle incline, if it can't handle that I'll report back. Not coming until Aug/Sep

[@ohmm3625]

​@@DavidMcLuckiehello again so I've had the kit since August, it does about 7 miles comfortably on the lowest setting which I think is pretty powerful. Thats on the flat mind, when you add a hill or 2 it's more like 5. Pulling a bike trailer with two kids and another on a bike seat that's not bad. The thin tyres and tarmac help a lot I'm sure. I found that if you make it generate a lot of torque from either from starting on a hill or starting in a high gear it doesn't like that at all but it's not too hard to make the adjustment

[@kasuynuts]

Can the battery be turned on and off (pedal assist on only when I need it)? Sorry I haven't converted to ebikes yet, but I only need the assist uphill in the hilly Auckland. I'm okay with normal push bike on flat roads.

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Yes. You can set the assist to level 0.

[@craigdennison8280]

Could you get an additional battery to swap over when you have run out of power?

[@DavidMcLuckie]

You could. And while that lengthens the range, it doesn't improve the assist though.

[@petecoventry6858]

You canne go any faster David! :D

[@Ra-zor]

They market these types of systems for the 'Easy to fit' audience and charge double what they are worth. Even someone with just above the same basic knowledge as fitting one of these kits could get and fit a front drive Voilamart system and a good quality Samsung celled 17 to 20a 36v battery for much less (you only need 48v for speed, 36v is fine for hill assist and basic use). Just pop the electronics in an A frame bag and the battery in a low profile rear rack bag, gives a weight balanced system and would still cost less than £800! (around £650)...

[@sroberts605]

It doesn't have a 50km range as you say - the max pack has a 30km range. It's really not for the usage you want, it's ideal for people who want to convert an about-town bike with no hassle, easy to take the battery with you, and enough range for an easy commute or town distance rides. It's simply a matter of battery size, the max pack is smaller than half the typical ebike, but then the kit price is approx the same price of that battery.

[@drummerdoingstuff5020]

Can you do the back wheel?

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Not with a Swytch kit, other kits do the back wheel. I've got a video on a Yose kit.

[@Jones-xx2gc]

Fancied one of these kits for a Brompton. The convoluted ordering process, customer feedback and reliability issues put me off. Why are kits like these so expensive anyway. Considering you can by a complete E bike for similar money. Great review though.

[@bozuki2981]

If i have a mt bike i need to buy the wheel that will fit the Tire and bike?

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Yes. In the UK the two most typical sizes are 27.5 and 29.

[@IraQNid]

The 250 watt hub motor isn't going to help you with the hills too much. Does your country allow the 500-750 watt hub & mid drive motors?

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Negative. 250W only. But my 250W mid drive bike has double the torque of this hub drive.

[@tommcguire5525]

I tried to buy one of these kits, but after months of waiting, excuse after excuse I got my money back and cancelled. I AM SO GLAD I DID ! The feedback generally is dreadful. I bought a Decathlon 500 e. It is backed up by a local full of smiles competent workshop, cost 999 euros and is fantastic. Purpose built, suspension, ( they gave me a free bagage rack ), and a gift voucher ! ( 30 euros ). The battery life is enormous, I charge every 6 weeks. After fitting paniers ( 29 euros ! ) my car is now almost redundant. I have used it for 200 kms and it is faultless. There is no wind, hills don't exist and I am 72. Get one of these if Decathlon is available and say goodbye to the ' well meaning, big let down ' Swytch Kids.

[@calvinchan3439]

Did you get a base display unit even though you got the LED display? The manual shows that the base display unit can display error codes if there are issues with your kit but the LED/OLED display doesn't seem to do this. Also, does it maintain the same speed when you have assist power at max when you do that while lifting the front wheel off the ground and are not on the bike? ie, pedal and note the max speed when you're not on the bike and then try that when you're on the bike.

[@DavidMcLuckie]

The LED display shows the number of the error. Which in my case was 26, which doesn't appear in the user manual.

[@chrisa1234]

Swytch only seems to be available a couple of times a year and for the price I don't know why people wouldn't just buy a new eBike

[@Mistah_john]

whats happening with that dehumidifier sitting outside?

[@DavidMcLuckie]

During the winter it's inside the pickup, keeping it warm and dry.

[@dpaquis]

I paid more for this kit to have it sooner, finally I got it after nine months with a missing part and a range of only 20 KM with the max version, I contacted support and they refuse to believe what you tell them and even when a fault is obvious, they continue to deny the problem, I regret buying this kit, even if the concept is great, the company is not serious.

[@jakebaked5996]

You can buy a whole bike for the price of this kit.

[@kieranokeeffe1363]

Helloooo Dave

[@brianjamieson8653]

I bought the older version of the kit over a year ago . So it obviously hasn't been improved to any great extent in its range capacity .The claim was it had a battery range of 50km aye if you were the size of a white mouse and had 40 mph tail wind pushing you . . Its OK for flat roads and you don't want to travel too far away from base . The other issue I have is I don't like the disc that goes on the pedal which sends the signal to the power pack the disc design is crap too flimsy . For me a expensive purchase that doesn't live up to its billing.

[@yauching2024]

How much?

[@DavidMcLuckie]

£849

[@richienolan660]

Well you got yours at least I and many more have been waiting over 10months for the kit i think its a bit of a scam

[@DavidMcLuckie]

I paid my deposit at the end of 2022 and this video is the month that it arrived. I'm not hugely surprised at the 10 months, but if there is a way you could cancel it, I'd be doing that.

[@tomthumb2815]

Just get an ebay direct drive wheel and a generic lithium with appropriate voltage.

[@stephenowens5375]

Want to see it on a penny farthing 🤷

[@adjans539]

these kits have pretty disappointing battery capacity. in my opinion it would be a lot better to buy a kit and a sperate battery for the same price and learn how to install it or pay someone to install it for you

[@chewchewmagoo121]

I've watched your video and found out all the real truth I needed to know it's not great and that's exactly what I thought it was like. COMPLETELY SHIT !!!!

[@SorrowVersa]

anyone gonna talk about the nazi logo box lmao

[@jamie-hb8gy]

First😎