For some years the ebike has become a desirable object, a fun and useful means for the commuting and even cycle tourism. More and more bikers aspire to own an ebike. Few, for the moment, are those who aspire to do it themselves with conversion kits, born to transform muscular bikes into snappy ebikes.
It is still a marginal market, but destined to carve out a large slice of the market, especially the kits that allow you to have a two-in-one bike: a means with which to quickly cross the city for the commuting and likewise enjoy pedaling with a muscle bike in your free time.
Of this type, the London-based Swytch kit is one of the most interesting. Specifically, it consists of a front wheel to replace the standard one, equipped with a 250 W motor and 40 Nm of maximum torque, a 180 Wh battery that hangs like a bag on the handlebar – and with a declared autonomy of 35 km for the ECO kit with 180 Wh battery – and a sensor to be mounted near the bottom bracket, which detects pedaling and only then provides assistance.
The wheel of the Swytch system is made on a “traditional” rim, in the sense that it is compatible with rim and disc brakes, with the hub that houses the motor brushless, and there is also the specific kit for Brompton, folding English bikes. The weight of the various components is quite small: 1.5 kg for the Swytch wheel and a further 1.5 kg for the battery pack, with a few more grams here and there for various cables, supports and sensors. Just over 3 kg extra, which net are few.
Founded in 2017 by the engineers Oliver Montague and Dmitro Khroma, since 2017, the year of its debut on Indiegogo (raising 500,000 pounds), Swytch has sold around 40,000 kits worldwide, including Italy, at a price of 950 euros. A huge success for a startup born with crowdfunding.