Why official e-bike over an e-bike conversion?

Krono5 · 23 Oct 2026 at 11:37

I'd be interested to know what reasons people have for buying official e-bikes at these elevated prices, compared to say a second hand MTB and slapping on a Tongsheng motor and battery for significantly less?

Is it a case of not having the technical knowledge, or not wanting to have to to mess about? Or is it more the aesthetics of having an inbuilt system? Maybe other reasons like C2Work schemes or safety concerns?

The reason I ask is that I'll be getting an e-bike for commuting sometime in the next couple of months and it seemed like a complete no-brainer to go the conversion route, so would be interested in the alternative view.

Brun · 23 Oct 2026 at 11:45

I personally wouldn't fancy taking the risk of a potentially dodgy battery catching fire and burning my house down.

iwrox · 23 Oct 2026 at 11:46

Could be unfounded but these days there seems to be a lot more scrutiny on e-bikes in general, especially conversions as there are a lot with questionable legality! then there is the many battery failures...

I got mine back in lockdown, never regretted it once! Makes cycling around where I live much more enjoyable (so many hills....)

kefkef · 23 Oct 2026 at 11:53

One of those converted one's would be pretty useless if you plan on doing any sort of proper mountain biking,

Krono5 · 23 Oct 2026 at 12:14

iwrox said:
Could be unfounded but these days there seems to be a lot more scrutiny on e-bikes in general, especially conversions as there are a lot with questionable legality! then there is the many battery failures...

I got mine back in lockdown, never regretted it once! Makes cycling around where I live much more enjoyable (so many hills....)

For sure, with all the yobs riding around on them in balaclava's but you can still be fully legal with a 250w motor and proper limiter (With all the talk of jailbreaking bosch motors around here, I'm not sure it makes much difference). I think the police do targetted enforcement around city centre's more than anything so everything locked up it won't make a difference if it's a conversion or not.

Krono5 · 23 Oct 2026 at 12:17

kefkef said:
One of those converted one's would be pretty useless if you plan on doing any sort of proper mountain biking,

That's a good point. A good mid-motor and battery placement on a decent frame should be fine. I wouldn't risk it with a hub-conversion or inadequate battery placement. I guess the biggest issue with a mid-motor would be ground clearance which would rule out the more extreme trails.

a66as · 23 Oct 2026 at 13:51

for the amount of money I spend on my bikes (still not as much as some people) I'd rather just buy a proper made e bike rather than converting it due to me storing my batteries in my flat as well as the bike and due to me doing some mountain biking.

most conversions kits are either cheap and you don't want them, made for mainly commuting bikes (switch and boost etc) or are very expensive upwards of £1k and break uk e bike laws (CYC, ECC Ride).

RetiredGreyFox · 23 Oct 2026 at 19:31

I've done at least 25 conversions since 2011 with mostly Yose Power kits and some Cyclotricity kits and no battery has ever caught fire because they are excellent kits with named battery cells.
I still have two converted eBikes running from 2011.
However, these conversions are for riding on roads, paths, towpaths etc and I would never go bouncing up and down hard on trails.
If it's to get you from A to B on nice surfaces do a conversion, if not look elsewhere.
Conversions are really easy and there's not much you can do wrong.
I've been stopped 3 times by the Police and never had a problem.

SDK^ · 23 Oct 2026 at 22:34

I much prefer the integrated look of ground up eMTB frames & designs, and new full power eMTB's are getting to the point where it's hard to see they are eMTB's.
That and the fact they come with a warranty and are built to take long hard tech decents, with no fear of something snapping, falling off or breaking.

Hutch · 23 Oct 2026 at 22:38

Warranty and peace of mind really. Also easier to just chuck it on the cycle to work scheme

Krono5 · 24 Oct 2026 at 17:19

Thanks for the insight. I guess a lot of it comes down to personal preference., nothing to sway me away from my view.

I do find the battery concerns rather odd as China has some of the strongest regulations in the world as of last year and all the cells are going to be the same Samsung/LG etc. I think these industries are so big now you won't find any disparity at all unless you're getting the dodgiest non-brand you can find on Temu.

RetiredGreyFox · 24 Oct 2026 at 17:50

Krono5 said:
are going to be the same Samsung/LG

I don't think they are though.
Perhaps in their 'proper ebikes' but most of the imports are proper rubbish.
I've bought so many eBike batteries in the past and aways made sure they did use genuine Samsung/LG batteries.

Dano · 25 Oct 2026 at 00:14

It was a) massively reduced in price b) replacing a wholly unsuitable bike for my needs c) is actually quite difficult to tell it's an ebike unless you know what you are looking at and d) lack of messing around to convert, sure I'm more than capable of doing it but I am also sure I don't have all the required tools either.

user_name · 25 Oct 2026 at 01:04

I been riding hardtails with 750w Bafang motors for ages, only recently gone full sus with Avinox to save my spine getting battered , but just riding on roads/commuting you can get a bike together for under 1k. Most the displays you can change the speed to legal with couple button, presses never had poilce bat eyelid , easy to service ,parts are cheap .

arknor · 25 Oct 2026 at 01:22

The official brands will source quality cells and have UL certification on the battery, passing tests such as thermal runaway etc where one cell can combust but doesnt cause a chain reaction.

I'd be suprised if at this point if housing insurance isn;t void if you have an ebike cause a fireway and it was some dodgy chinese brand without any certification standards.
they are expensive as hell though and they don;t make motors backwords compatible they chance the bolting mounts etc so your bike can essentially be obsolete after a few years

Big brands are already adding traction control too it seems, you can also get ABS brakes since a few years

Participant · Saturday at 11:42

user_name said:
I been riding hardtails with 750w Bafang motors for ages, only recently gone full sus with Avinox to save my spine getting battered , but just riding on roads/commuting you can get a bike together for under 1k. Most the displays you can change the speed to legal with couple button, presses never had poilce bat eyelid , easy to service ,parts are cheap .

I'd love more info on this as it sounds like exactly what I'm looking for.

Did you buy a normal MTB and adapt it then? Will pretty much any MTB work or do you need to work out clearance, mounting points, etc.?

Any guidance you can give on the kit list is much appreciated. I need an eMTB that I can convert from the usual UK legal restrictions to unlimited private property use with ease.

user_name · 2026-11-01T16:26:24+0000

Yes , this one just an old hardtail i had.
Any bike will work ,the motor replaces the BB/crankset , best to get something with atleast - tubeless 27.5/29" wheels ,rear thru axle + 4 pot brakes + stay away from Press-Fit bb frames too
Battery fitment can be a problem depending on frame size , theres templates you can print out though , that bikes an orange crush in xl with a big 52v 20ah battery , chainline wont be perfect on most bikes, 10 speed is plenty could probaly get away with 8
most of the displays will let you change from 15.5>30ish with couple of button presses (ideally you want an motor with the older uart controller and an eggrider display but theyre all canbus controllers now - can be changed easily though )
bafang groups on facebook best place to look tbh

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