These are our Swytch bikes. We bought them over 20 years ago intending to ride the C&O canal tow path section by section. We did make it after several trips from Georgetown to the Monocacy River, but the bikes ended up in storage for most of those 20 years. We would have liked to ride them on the many paved trails in our area but the hills took the joy away and hauling them on our bikerack was a hassle.
When we got the Motorhome, we pulled the bikes out and have used them at a few campgrounds. Still many times we were put off by the hilly terrain. Most of our trips they just sat in our “basement”.
At all of the campgrounds we encountered people with e-bikes. We considered getting them but the price tag put us off. “Besides” we would tell ourselves, “We get a good workout when we ride them.”
In September 2024 I saw an ad for the Swytch bike kit. This kit is a new front wheel with a built in 250watt motor. There is a sensor that mounts near the pedals to monitor your pedal movement. I was put off by the order process. They want a deposit up front, then they say they will deliver sometime in the next month. We were planning an RV trip in October so I wondered how that would work out, but in about a week they requested the balance of my order and the Swytch kits shipped out of California the next day! I was thrilled.
It took me about 45 minutes each to put the bikes together. The biggest issue I had was that the forks protruded too much and was hitting the motor. I grabbed my Dremel tool and cut a notch and the problem was gone.
Next came the testing. It was really great. We live at the bottom of a hill so to get anywhere we have to go up a hill right away. Normally I get off the bike and walk it up the hill. Now with the Swytch bike I can ride it up the hill with ease. My wife tried it and all of her apprehensions disappeared into pleasure. I used to say that a ride to my local post office was “tolerable” now it is “enjoyable”. I love the feeling of peddling up those hills with minimum effort.
The basic kit includes the front bicycle wheel which you need to move your tire to, a ring of magnets which you attach to your pedals, a sensor to monitor the moving ring of magnets, a “hub” to which all of the cables attach, a small control pad to mount on your handlebars, a removable battery and a charger. You also get a good handful of wire ties to secure the cables to your bike. The control pad has on/off, battery charge indicator and selectable power assist settings.
We tried them at the Raystown Lake 7 Points campground which has a severe hill. The circuit was only about 3.7 miles but we ran out of juice climbing the hill.
Yesterday we tried them at Ives Run campground and rode on a very flat packed gravel road. The ride was about 9 miles and the batteries still had a charge when we returned.
The Swytch kits were easy to install, and made our old bikes enjoyable again. All this at a great value. We highly recommend them if you want to add a bit of power to your old bike.
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