You now have a ‘donor’ bicycle, a rear-hub kit, and a battery with mounting hardware. What’s next? Taking inventory, that’s next. What parts on the bicycle can be salvaged and what can’t? Using my ‘budget’ Trek 4500 as an example NOTHING WAS SALVAGABLE! Here’s my inventory list and parts cost. If you’re able to get a bike with more salvage value, then just subtract from the list below the things you DON’T need to buy, and that will be a fair estimate of your build cost. Case in point, the parts list below add up to just over $600, and that’s AFTER you just put out $600 for the e-bike kit! Are you sure you want to do this? You can stop now and buy that RadCity 4 for $1600 and be done with it. Sounds tempting…
| rear derailleur | $22.25 |
| front derailleur | $18.00 |
| chain | $15.15 |
| shifter set | $17.54 |
| tubes | $15.89 |
| pedals | $14.83 |
| seat post | $16.95 |
| seat | $19.07 |
| head bearing set | $17.88 |
| crank bearing set | $28.29 |
| wheel (for disc brake) | $79.48 |
| rim strip | $9.57 |
| disc brake set | $55.10 |
| handlebar | $20.34 |
| handlebar stem | $21.18 |
| headset spacer set | $7.41 |
| cable set w/ tool | $17.69 |
| front fork | $104.03 |
| tires | $50.00 |
| controller case | $20.00 |
| crank set | $30.00 |
| handlebar grips | $7.00 |
Even though I tried to capture all the major build expenses, add another 10% for other stuff like a bell, lights, mirror, cell phone mount, thumb throttle mod – that sort of thing.
I didn’t say this build would be cheap, but there are ways to control your final cost. For example, my next (mid-drive) build will not be using disc brakes. I like the brakes and wheels that bike has, so other than the mid-drive kit cost, my other rehab expenses should be minimal…