Ebike Conversion

These days, there are kits that you can purchase that will convert your normal bike, into a battery powered one.

DIY in 4 main parts.

Obviously there will be things needed to added to your bike to make it go and it's broken down in a few key parts. Each with it's interests and caveats. (circled in the picture below).
Essentially one should have the right tools to grind and file part into place.

There was no accompanying manual to install and understand the parts. I had to go online. And the supplier's website wasn't up to date. So I had to figure some of it out with a different model. But the videos on their YouTube channel break down the installation in fairly simple bits that are easy to reverse engineer with your specific setup.

If it's your fist time setting this up, expect half a days work

Controls

Handle bars and pedal crank/main post

Most of the controls are set on the handle bars and in complete kits such as the one I got (ebikebc.com) they come with a main control and power switch (left) a screen and a throttle thumb controller (right).

The throttle can be used to spontaneously accelerate or simply control the speed, if you are using the bike in full electric mode. Otherwise, the left buttons allow you to choose modes where you must pedal and the motor assists you in moving you forward. 

Using pedal assisted drive is the one that will give you the most mileage with your battery. A little effort goes a long way in this case. You can easily quadruple your range, depending how much your pedaling is part of the effort. The particular controller that I use allows 5 different levels of "assistance". 

Level 1, is mostly you putting the effort in making the bike go forward, 5, the least. To be fair, on level five, I can easily make the bike go upwards of 35 KM per hour. After which, I cant keep up with the pedals. So the effort is very low.

And as you can see on the pedal crankshaft, I added the included disk with little magnets as well as a little sensor (arrow), that detects the rate at which you pedal.

Lastly there are magnets and detectors that optionally go on your brake levers. (currently not installed)

These detect and cut off power to the motor instantly if the brakes are applied.

Caveats: 

Depending on your configuration, you may find it difficult to position the brake detectors and magnets.
I recommend having some epoxy glue on hand to be able to make adjustments or hacking the installation to fit your bike's needs.

Motor/Wheel

Arguably the simplest part of the setup. Just switch wheels with your front one and fit your tire on it (they make back ones too, but I cant make a very good argument for their use).

Then you use the built in cable and plug it in the controller box (intelligence)

Caveats: Size:
The motor is pretty wide. And if you have a fat or re-enforced front fork, the motor my not fit or it may rub on your fork.

Also, the bolt/shaft is pretty thick. On my European sized bike I had to file open my apertures to make it fit. 

And then there is the circumference of the wheel itself.

Ideally you would want to get a wheel, the same size than the one you had, otherwise you will need to also get a new tire and a new tube to fit on the rim/motor that comes with the kit.

But there are good reasons why you may consider changing sizes. Smaller wheels will allow for more torque and taller wheels less friction. In any case, the kit is calibrated so that no matter the wheel size you use, it will be limited to 42 km/h (I tested it). However, if you know how speed is calculated, adjusting the computer's expected wheel size can possibly work around this... use at your own risk.

I got a smaller one to get better traction and torque.

Intelligence

It's basically a metallic box with a bunch of wires (connectors to be precise) and everything color coded. You can't really connect things that don't belong together with a kit. There is some effort required to fit the controller box in the included pouch, such as cutting it to pass the wires outside of the pouch and the actual pouch "attachment" to the underseat, needed to be filed, "dremmeled" to fit the intended part.

Caveats: 

One size fits all seat mounting bracket. You may need to file/adjust it. And you may need extra zip-ties (there a nice bunch that came with the kit) for cable management. Extra tools may be required.

Power

The battery. 

Say goodbye to your water bottle. Because this part assumes that this is where you will attach the battery holder. But you could also use a backwheel cargo rack. (you can still use side pouches like I have, for cargo).  Or you can boost the height of the rack to fit the battery underneath!

Caveats: Cost and wear

Batteries wear out after so many uses. And their size, pretty much dictate their cost. And the size also dictates the range you will get, per ride. So decide carefully on the one you get. And in a kit, there isn't much of a concern, but for a DIY project, expected voltage between motor and battery is critical. In the brochure they say that my current setup should get me around 70 km, for my weight (~80 kg) and at 120 kg, that goes down to 30 km. That remains to be tested. Exhausting a battery on a given trip is tricky because you have to be able to complete your trip somehow to recharge. 

Since you can still use the bike as a normal bike, that issue is somewhat mitigated. But the added weight from the battery, motor and controller will make the effort more challenging. So consider this before you decide to test this on your own. 

Conclusion

Well that's it. A setup such as mine will set you back about 1500$ Canadian and take about a week to deliver. The box it was included it was from china, but the ebikebc.com people would like you to think of them as a Canadian manufacturer. But in fact, they provide packaged parts that are compatible and support. They take the guesswork out of the equation. Which in my case I found acceptable. 

You can get well rated and cheaper solutions if you are more experienced. And even entire basic ready made ebikes, for what I paid. But for the tinkerer in you or if your current bike just needs a little more "Umph", give this a try.

P.S. Get a helmet! 

At 25 MPH/40 KMPH your head is no much stronger than a watermelon and will burst open like one, if you hit something head on. Be safe!!!!