![]() While torque arms do help, think carefully about using one of these kits on a carbon fork or one with a built in shock as they may break under the increased pressure. For this reason each of these kits also includes a torque arm that distributes force upwards into the fork, away from the drop outs where the bolt goes through. Currie has opted for a front wheel design for kits 2, 3 and 4 to make it easier to mount onto your bike and while this does help to distribute the weight more evenly across the frame, it does put more stress on a part of your bike not normally meant to handle such weight and force. The wheels for each of these kits only come in 26″ which is standard for most mountain bikes but a bit small for city and road bikes that usually use 700c / 29″. ![]() Kit 3 is where the real power is at and this 500 watt brushless geared hub motor offers great torque and speed. This is a solid motor that runs smooth and provides good torque but not enough for larger riders or steep hills. Kit 2 and 4 use the same 250 watt brushless geared hub motor that can be found on the IZIP E3 Vibe. It’s a unique system and you could actually buy a fully assembled Trailz for almost the same price. I always figured they made it extra powerful to haul around those 18 pound Lead acid batteries… but the chain drive itself is less efficient and having the motor out to the side creates some imbalance on the bike overall. You can see this thing in action on the eZip Trailz. On to the motors! Kit 1 offers a 450 watt chain drive motor that is kind of a wildcard in the world of ebikes. Long story short, think about the weight and how your bike will respond. Adding 20 to 30 pounds to any bike will change its handling and because these kits all put the battery on the back, a front shock may not do as much to smooth it out as you’d think and a rear shock may get overloaded with the increased weight and not perform as expected. Also, many electric bikes don’t have shocks which helps to keep their cost low and make them stiff and durable under the increased load of batteries, controllers and motors. This is because they go fast and can cause a lot of vibration for the rider. You’ll notice that most ebikes have larger balloon tires and wider sprung seats. Whichever bike you’ve go I recommend considering the saddle and tires carefully because they can do a lot to smooth out the ride. ![]() Make sure your bike has eyelets to accept a rack before ordering one of these kits! The pictures here show an Electra Townie which works very well and even served as the inspiration for Pedego’s Classic Cruiser and Electra’s own Townie Go. You get a bolt-on rack that mounts like any other rack to the rear end of your bike. While each kit looks a little different, they all follow a layout. Now that you’ve got some idea of how to sort these kits out and determine which one might be best for your budget and ride, let’s talk about some of the features. You can check the specs above for the exact details but think of it like this: kit 1 and 4 have heavy Lead acid batteries, kit 2 has a nicer Lithium-ion battery that will endure more than twice as many charge cycles before wearing out and kit 3 is the top of the line with a larger Lithium-ion battery and a larger 500 watt motor! This kit actually resembles the IZIP E3 Zuma which is one of my favorite ebikes around. So what’s the difference between the four kits? Somewhat confusingly, they go from 1 to 4 but the fourth kit would make more sense being called 1.5 because it uses the same basic sealed Lead acid SLA battery as kit 1 but introduces a nicer hub motor instead of a chain drive motor which is louder and less efficient. Considering the variety offered by these kits, they can be a great product for those who already have a bike they love and are just looking for a little boost but they aren’t perfect. If you mount one of these on your bike you will only be able to use a thumb throttle to activate the system. Overall they are effective, durable and proven but somewhat limited by comparison to fully assembled kits because they lack pedal assist (PAS) modes. These kits consist of the same motors, batteries and controllers that power the fully assembled eZip and IZIP electric bike lines made by Currie Technologies. You may notice they go by several names: Currie Electro-Drive bike kits 1-4 and also Currie Conversion Kit 2700, 37 (just think of those last three as Kit 2, 3 and 4 respectively). ![]() The Currie Electro-Drive bike kits can be a little confusing at first. ![]()
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