Custom Build: Kids Fat Ebike

The balance for kids bikes between cost, weight, and usability is especially difficult to achieve.  Our kiddo sees us head out with our super-fat wheels and wants to participate!  We found ourselves with a reasonably priced, new in the box Diamond back that was completely unrideable.  The weight of the bike was not a good pairing for the 40T chainring and the largest 28T cog in the rear.  The cranks were 155mm.  The brakes were cable actuated, a handful for a little guy with those huge tires.

The upgrade began.  34T paired with 28T and a 140mm crank gave little guy a chance at being able to turn those cranks over snowy paths.  The towee did the rest for a while.  The challenge then became that our kiddo really wanted the independence that comes from riding your own bike, and he's an amazing bike handler who hits double digits at the bike park every summer (as a 7 year old!).  What did he ask for for christmas?  Nothing other than an e-fat-bike.  How could I say no?

I procured an reasonably-priced rear hub motor along with it's controllers and a battery that would _just_ fit in the mounts I added to the frame (the original bike didn't come with bottle mounts!).   We upgraded the brakes to hydraulic to handle the extra weight and speed.  The thing moves, 500W turned out to be a handful given the controller specs, but with a swap to a KT controller, I was able to tune it down so our kid can ride at a good pace in the snow or kick our butt if that makes sense.  The bike works great on the dirt as well as the snow, and my son only asked for one thing, a front fork... which we obliged.  Looking forward to doing some acoustic and electrified rides with him this summer!  I may be a convert soon enough.

Is it perfect?  No.  Is it rideable?  Heck yeah!  this thing is a game changer.  If you have a rig you want converted, give us a call!  I feel like I learned quite a few things on this build and I'm ready to do more converts when they come my way.