Converting a Kona UTE to peddle assist

Hi everyone,

I have a Kona UTE. Not sure yet what the tire size is. I apologize as I know very little...nothing actually...about bikes. I want to electrify my bike so that I drive my car less. It's very overwhelming trying to learn about what kit is the best, so could I get some advice, tips here. We have 1 big hill in our community, otherwise all gentle grades. I'll probably give my kids a ride( separately), they are 8 and 10 occasionally. Otherwise, I'll just be carrying groceries and books. The farthest I would go for now is 30 km away and back, but that would be a rare occasion. And I live in British Columbia.
Thanks!

Ana1122 said:

I have a Kona UTE.

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This one?
https://konaworld.com/archive/2018/ute.cfm

Or is it one of these others:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Kona+UTE&newwindow=1&tbm=isch

Not sure yet what the tire size is.

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If it's the first one, it says they are 700c, which might be harder to find a prebuilt hubmotor in. However, you would probably be better off with a middrive anyway, for the various hills and slopes you need to climb, especially with passengers.

If you do have to use a hubmotor for whatever reason, since it is disc brakes you could use a smaller diameter wheel, like a 26", which is very common in hubmotor kits. You'd need new tire and tube for that wheel, vs what you use presently, but that's easy. Almost certainly your local bike shops stock many kinds of those. (it just means you need to carry two spare tubes instead of one, if you don't carry a patch kit, assuming you fix your own flats on the roadside).

I want to electrify my bike so that I drive my car less. <snip> We have 1 big hill in our community, otherwise all gentle grades. <snip> Otherwise, I'll just be carrying groceries and books. The farthest I would go for now is 30 km away and back, but that would be a rare occasion. And I live in British Columbia.

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Some important things needed to help you find the right stuff to do the job you need:

What kind of speeds are you looking for?

What kind of total weight (other than the electric stuff), including bike and rider and any cargo, bags, lunch, etc., are you going to carry, regularly, and worst-case?

What is the "big hill" you need to go up, and what speed minimum do you need to go up at? If you are not sure what slope or grade the hill is, most phones can download free apps that will measure this stuff as you drive or ride on the specific path you want to go. (Strava might be one of them; cant' remember).

. I'll probably give my kids a ride( separately), they are 8 and 10 occasionally.

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What are they most of the time?

Thanks for the tips!
My kids are 8 and 10 but most of the time they act like toddlers!!!

SO I did some digging around. The bike is 700c. I do want a mid-drive. Not sure where to put the battery. The one hill is steep. That's all I know, but I won't be going up it every day. Max weight would be around 300 pounds, if my husband and daughter and some groceries are all on the bike. Speed is not a major concern for me. I would rather peddle with my own strength as much as possible and just kick in the assist for those hills or when I'm tired.

Ana1122 said:

The bike is 700c. I do want a mid-drive. Not sure where to put the battery. The one hill is steep. That's all I know, but I won't be going up it every day. Max weight would be around 300 pounds, if my husband and daughter and some groceries are all on the bike. Speed is not a major concern for me. I would rather peddle with my own strength as much as possible and just kick in the assist for those hills or when I'm tired.

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Sorry I didn't get back to you before now.

It's likely that most of the commercial middrives designed for user-installation into a typical bike frame would work. TSDZ2, BBS02 / BBSHD, etc. Which one would be best depends on what specifically you want out of it, and the terrain to tackle, so since you want to pedal it yourself mostly, the BBS02 is probably good. BBSHD if you need more power for that hill.

TSDZ2 has a known problem with the design of the crankshaft where if you are providing significant pedal force a lot then it eventually breaks at a circlip groove that is in a bad place. Other than that, it may have more control options available, and even has open-source firmware developed in a thread here on ES to customize it further.

Since speed isn't a concern, I'd use the smallest practical front chainring and the largest practical set of rear sprockets (which might require a new derailer if the present one doesn't have enough "capacity"), for the highest torque for starts from a stop and hill climbs. Just size them so the fastest gear combination will achieve the highest speed you will ever need, and then everything else is slower but higher torque than that.

Battery placement is often on the downtube water bottle mounts, as long as the capacity/capability battery you need will fit there. If not, it might fit in the space between rear wheel and seattube. Otherwise, the rear rack or pannier bags are easy enough.

I'd recommend checking the length and slope of the hill(s) you need to climb, so you can be sure that you get enough power to do that, without overheating before you get to the top.

I have a UTE that I've installed a TSD2Z onto it and I really like it. We are in a hilly area and I take my two kids (4 and 6) on it everywhere.

I've run it up steep hills with myself, two kids, a trailer, two kids run bikes, and my own mountain bike and not had issues. You'll want to ensure you have a large range rear cassette or change out the 42t front ring for something smaller like a 36.

The torque sensing is a very nice feature for getting moving from stop lights when fully loaded, we also have a Rad Wagon that doesn't torque sense and it's not as comfortable when pulling away from a dead stop. The direct drive rear hub is faster at top speed but not as good at slowly climbing steep hills.

Make sure you take good measurements on fitting the battery into the main triangle. I already had my battery before I bought the UTE frame used and didn't know my battery would not fit inside the front triangle, I just assumed it would as it fit in other frames. Thankfully there are bottle mounts on the bottom side of the downtube and is just barely fits without fitting the front tire.