For anyone who might be interested in this or a conversion generally, now or in the future -
My Swytch kit finally arrived just over 3 weeks ago, and I've fitted it and used it a few times now. The principal parts of the kit are
- a combined battery pack and controller, which plugs into a bracket which you attach to the handlebar. I went for the 'Eco', the lowest capacity battery option and the cheapest - mainly because this is a portable bike and the small battery only weighed 2Kg. Range should be enough for what I need.
- a replacement front wheel, with a hub motor.
- a stick on sensor and a magnet ring which attaches to the left crank boss. There are various alternative parts to cater for the different cranks and bottom bracket arrangements used by Brompton from time to time.
- a 2A charger.
They say you can fit it in 40 minutes, which I could probably do now. It actually took me 3 hours, including swapping the tyre and tube on to the new front motor wheel. I deliberately took plenty of time deciding exactly where and how to position cables and the pedalling sensor. While I was doing this, I had the battery on charge.
It wasn't difficult to fit, and the 2 cables (wheel to handlebars, sensor to handlebars) follow the front and rear brake cables and don't affect the fold. Folding necessitates unclipping the battery, which is fine - it's easy and keeps the bike light enough to carry in one hand, although the motor adds about 1Kg to the standard bike. The handlebar doesn't fold down quite as tightly as before, due to the battery bracket, and a substitute latch part is provided to create the extra bit of space.
It worked first time. Lacking a torque sensor, it is cruder than my Bosch-powered, crank-driven Cube. Where the Cube adds assistance proportionate to rider effort at any of 4 levels, the Swytch has 5 power levels. Once the level is set, it just applies that power whenever the pedals are turning, regardless of the pedaller's effort. Each level seems to correspond to a maximum speed as well as a power level.
I find that the lowest or second level is enough most of the time. It's easier to feel the motor-bike effect than on the Cube - reducing pedal effort doesn't reduce power, so you can have a situation where you reduce your pedal effort and the bike is still accelerating which feels a bit odd at first, but is hardly noticeable when you're used to it. If you are using a higher power level it can result in fluctuating speed, as you stop pedalling when it gets up to speed (to stop it going any faster) and resume when it slows down, hence it's better to use the power level suited to your desired speed.
It monitors (but doesn't display) your speed and power cuts out at around 16mph.
My kit was £625 plus delivery. Swytch also make kits for full size bikes which are a bit cheaper than the Brompton kit, which has a special narrow motor for its narrow forks.
Range is fine for me. It's about 8 miles return to my building site, and I can do that twice on a charge which drops it from 5 to 3 blobs and then I recharge it. There's no LCD display, just the lights on top of the power pack showing battery power left and power level selected.
The larger capacity 'Pro' battery has now been upgraded so it's the same size and weight as the Eco, it just uses higher capacity cells (and is quite a bit more expensive).
Swytch say "The ECO kit has a battery capacity of 5.2Ah (187Wh) and an expected range of 35km (22mi) on medium power. The PRO kit has a battery capacity of 7Ah (252Wh) and an expected range of 50km (31mi) on medium power."
I'm happy with it, really glad I can keep my Brompton, and it's just as effective as my Bosch-Cube if a bit less sophisticated. I took it with me when we went to our daughter's a couple of weeks ago and used it for a ride out with her and the grandchilder, which I shall do again. Not that you really need motor-assist in Cambridge!
£625 was the 50% off price. That is still at the more expensive end of conversion kits but the packaging and integration are very good and there is a level of support. It is possible to buy a kit ad hoc at "full price" but the vast majority of purchasers just join a queue for the next 50%-off batch.
www.swytchbike.com/p/swytch-ebike-conversion-kit-for-brompton/
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