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[Nikwill]

Hi all, first post.

I know next to nothing about converting a bike from engine to ev but I’m in the position of either rebuilding a top end on a two stroke or going the green route and converting. Since everything is going electric in the future it would make sense to convert and so I have questions.

The bike in question is a 1995 Yamaha TZR50RR.

I’d like to use at least a 10kw motor. The frame should be able to handle the extra power as they were often raced at around that power.

The first question is, how hard is a conversion? I have a small workshop and tools but no lathe/mill.

Question 2, what hardware will I require in all?

Question 3, what is a ball park cost for a conversion kit?

Final question, where the hell do I get a kit from?

Thanks in advance for any information offered.

[Shadow]

EMF forums here tend to coalesce on commercially-available vehicles as a starting point. The "endless-sphere" web forums are known as a valuable resource for DIY conversions, and in great depth too.

Some of the secret sauce? Motor controllers! Quite a lot of motor controllers exist, and almost surely the controller you decide on will determine limitations of battery and motor selection, also just plain limitations as the motor controller may depend on computer programming that you are forbidden from modifying or even having knowledge of.

To that end I suggest first determine if the community-supported VESC brand of controllers would work for your application? If yes, do that. There are a wealth of examples for VESC-based powertrain on all manner of vehicles. If no, then consider taking the powertrain from any existing EV that has sufficient quantity of units "in the wild" you would be able to find support and advice about it from enthusiasts.

There are ready-to-go conversion kits from Luna Cycle shop based on the BBSHD e-bike unit. Wrecked Zero motorcycles often have a fully operable powertrain that can be salvaged as the frame cracked or some other disqualifying reason the bike was totaled out ; however you then depend on authorized dealers since there are secret sauce programming codes for the Zero motorcycle powertrain no one but dealers can interact with.

Looking for something complete? Expand your search to include: Sur Ron X, KTM Freeride e-XC, Cake Kalk OR, Sur Ron Storm (delayed to 2022/2023), Alta Motors Redshift MX (out of production / defunct manufacturer).

[Fred]

That sounds like a nice bike to start from. I used to race a TZR250 (not the RR) many years ago and it was great fun.

[T.S. Zarathustra]

Hi all, first post.

I know next to nothing about converting a bike from engine to ev but I’m in the position of either rebuilding a top end on a two stroke or going the green route and converting. Since everything is going electric in the future it would make sense to convert and so I have questions.

The bike in question is a 1995 Yamaha TZR50RR.

I’d like to use at least a 10kw motor. The frame should be able to handle the extra power as they were often raced at around that power.

The first question is, how hard is a conversion? I have a small workshop and tools but no lathe/mill.

Question 2, what hardware will I require in all?

Question 3, what is a ball park cost for a conversion kit?

Final question, where the hell do I get a kit from?

Thanks in advance for any information offered.

First, before starting, keep in mind the price and specifications of brand new electric bike.
10kw is a lot of power for a 50cc based frame.
You need (on top of tools and lot of patience); motor, speed controller (ESC), battery pack (BP), battery management system (BMS), and charger.
With the space you have available the limit of size of the battery pack will probably be your main issue.
So you want 10kw motor. Then the ESC needs to be at least 10kw, and matched to the motor.  It's no use to have ESC designed for sensored motor and then have sensorless motor. Or even DC motor with AC ESC.
The Battery pack needs to be able to deliver at least 10kw without too much stress. BMS needs to be the correct specs (number of cells in serial, etc.) for the battery pack.
The charger needs to be able to charge the batteries within acceptable timeframe.
As far as I know there is no kit and while you could build your own from Ali, and other sources, it can be time consuming.
There are some high power electric bicycle kits available, Eastern European guy called Ladi (mysuperebike) will sell you list of where to order the parts for his 27kw cyberbike. But that would need to be modified to fit your frame. Endless sphere is probably the best resource for advice.
Here you can see simple pictures of converter bikes. http://www.evalbum.com/type/MTCY . Some of the photos have link to materials used.

[Functional Artist]

Hi all, first post.

I know next to nothing about converting a bike from engine to ev but I’m in the position of either rebuilding a top end on a two stroke or going the green route and converting. Since everything is going electric in the future it would make sense to convert and so I have questions.

The bike in question is a 1995 Yamaha TZR50RR.

I’d like to use at least a 10kw motor. The frame should be able to handle the extra power as they were often raced at around that power.

The first question is, how hard is a conversion? I have a small workshop and tools but no lathe/mill.

Question 2, what hardware will I require in all?

Question 3, what is a ball park cost for a conversion kit?

Final question, where the hell do I get a kit from?

Thanks in advance for any information offered.

Research, research, research. It's free. Look at what others have done & make lots of notes.
I didn't have any electrical experience & after lots & lots of research, I converted an old Kawasaki to electric back in 2017. Now after a few upgrades & some fine tuning of the gear ratio. it has a top speed of ~50 MPH & a range of ~ 50 miles. The total cost for the bike, electrical system, upgrades & everything was & still is under $2,500.00