Converting to a non e-bike?

[Surge]

Has anyone thought of how to do this? Thinking that a viable “upgrade” option in the future, when our battery and motor tech is completely outdated, is to use the Levos as regular mountain bikes.

Battery of course is easy to remove. Motor removal has the problem of what to mount the chainring to, correct?

 

[MattyB]

The Fazua system has already addressed this - you can remove the motor and battery in sconds leaving you with an analog bike, the only penalty is the weight of the gearbox (~1kg) that sits at the BB. TBH though I doubt anyone will want to make an ebike motor free at the end of it's life; it's not like there is an undersupply of secondhand analog bikes to be had!

 

[Gary]

Most ebikes ride absolutely fine switched off. Just the same as any other bike but 15lb heavier
I rode mine up a 900ft climb switched off yesterday because I hadn't packed any warm or water proof clothing and didn't realise the extent of storm Ali so wouldn't have warmed up had I started the ride in eco.
I passed a group of 3 riders on the climb. Two on ebikes (Levo/Cube) an the other on an Orange P7 steel XC hardtail. I chatted to them a little and they were all more out of breath than me so I left them to it.

 

[Surge]

Right, so without the motor and battery you have basically a Stumpjumper.
But my question is without the motor, do you need a shaft or something to take its place?

 

[Gary]

What are you even talking about?
You don't have to remove the motor to ride it like a normal bike.

no it won't ride like a stumpjumper. it'll ride like a stumpjumper with concrete poured into the lower frame tubes

 

[R120]

The specialized wont work as any sort of bike if you remove the motor, and to get it to do so you would have to pay someone to fabricate some sort of BB Mount that would probably cost more than buying a regular stumpjumper

 

[Gary]

Balance bike?

 

[Surge]

Wow, some real negativity here. Get over yourselves!
I happen to make hardware tech devices for a living, and a custom BB mount will certainly not cost more than a regular stump jumper.
@Gary - why don't you read my post more carefully - without the motor and batt it certainly won't ride like it "has concrete poured into the lower tube frames" - unless that's your idea of fun.

 

[Gary]

I meant with the motor still in.
I can't see it being all that expensive either but but I'd like to see you fabricate a BB shell to fit into the motor housing and keep it the same weight as the standard stumpy BB shell.
hence the concrete comment.

The entire idea is retarded but go for it if it makes you happy.

 

[R120]

I am not being negative, you asked if their is a viable route, and there currently isnt. Its far better to convert a normal bike to an electric one with a kit you can remove if you are concerned about the technology becoming redundant (which personally i don't see as a concern).

E-MTB's are designed to be good E-MTBS, and the suspension kinematics, geo, and pretty much everything else that goes into trying to make a good e-bike doesn't align with the same process you would go though with a normal bike - as such you would end up with a pretty bad MTB imo if you tried to do this, and probably end up replacing a lot of other components apart from removing the motor.

And i work in an industry where we do a lot of custom tooling, the cost of getting some sort of mount that is well engineered, and accurately enough made to ensure all the measurements, chain line, et etc align would be expensive, especially to produce on a commercial level. Sure if you are proficient and have the skills you may be able to knock something up, but the tools needed to do so again would be expensive.

 

[Surge]

Don't agree with the last part. You know the geometry and dimensions, since you have a motor there to start with. CAD modelling, CNC cutting is very inexpensive these days. Sure, you can get hosed and pay more than necessary, but this type of part would cost a few hundred dollars, max. Tooling? Why would you mold a part like this? Unless you are planning to sell >100k units, you would CNC and make to order.

 

[Mike Smith]

Just remove the belts

 

[R120]

Well we will agree to disagree, i cant see it being done for under 2 to 3k at a level where you could produce a component that i would trust to ride, as i would definitely want to model it, 3d print a couple of prototypes, and then move on to a useable component. you would have to factor in how taking 6 or so kg out of the frame would effect the kinematics and shock tune, so you may actually not want the BB in the same place as it is now.

Like a said before it sink its a flawed concept, because you will end up with something that not great. Better to sell the bike on eBay for 2k and move on!

However i do love the pursuit of crazy ideas so interested to see if you can pull it off

 

[Mike Smith]

Here's the replacement parts that you need to fabricate

 

[R120]

A much better idea might be to take all the components off, and buy a new frame.

 

[Slowroller]

I'm of the camp that you just dump it for whatever you can get and move on. However, if you really wanted to, I don't see why you couldn't disassemble as much of the motor as possible and just leave the bb shaft and outer housing. Still heavier than a Stumpy, but it'd be a pound or two lighter certainly.

 

[jmautio]

It´s an old topic I know.. Has anyone seen any development in this area? Not specialized specific. I´d be happy to swap the engine for dummy and save maybe 1.5kg on top of the battery, if I knew I´m gonna ride multiple days on lifts. Lighter bike handles better, there´s no questioning that.

I would assume an easy approach would be to use a broken similar engine and strip it down of all the e-parts, just leave in the axle. Swap cranks too, so same chainring is used.

 

[Gary]

if I knew I´m gonna ride multiple days on lifts

Seriously?
Just remove the battery. you'd then have a bike around the same weight as many DH bikes

 

[jmautio]

Seriously?
Just remove the battery. you'd then have a bike around the same weight as many DH bikes

Seriously? No it´s not, it would be a very overweight endurobike..

Yeah, I´m serious

 

[MitchF]

Interesting question ??

 

[jmautio]

Yeah, ofcourse it's not for the masses, but I´m quite sure there would be a niche group interested. Tbh, I have not taken an engine out, but seems to be a relatively easy task. Maybe 30 minutes off and on after a few practice laps?