There's another new e-bike conversion kit in town... and this one is courtesy of Velotton, a Polish brand who are best known for their cycling bags and backpacks. The Vekkit kit consists of three parts and weighs as little as 3kg, with installation taking a little over 5 minutes for most bike types according to Velotton.
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At first glance, it looks pretty similar to the crowdfunded Swytch conversion kit that has seen a surge in popularity since the lockdown began; and indeed, the Vekkit kit consists of a front wheel with a hub motor, a bag to house the battery and a sensor. While Swytch's pedal sensor is a two-part magnet disc that clips around the crank with an additional cadence sensor, Vekkit's design is arguably simpler, with the crank-mounted cadence sensor also able to detect pedalling and tell the motor to assist. Apart from the motor, Velotton have also developed all the parts for their system themselves in their Krakow workshop, using a 3D printer to make the process more eco-friendly.
Velotton can build a kit for almost any type of bike, including folders, and there's also the option to build a custom wheel yourself with a 'raw' Vekkit kit. You can choose between a 220 watt 'City' motor or the 250 watt 'Travel' motor each with three levels of assist, and there are three sizes of battery; the rangiest can offer up to 50km of assist on a single charge, while the smallest 2.6Ah battery offers just 15km, but can be taken on a plane.
They claim the City kit weighs just 3kg while the beefier Touring version is 4kg. There's a handlebar-mounted remote control for switching your assist levels, and the battery is housed in a smart Velotton-branded bag. A Vekkit mobile app allows for the setting of preferences, checking your battery's status and installing firmware updates.
Unlike many fledgling e-bike products we're seeing nowadays, refreshingly there's no confusing crowdfunders or earlybird deals here (although there's a box to enter a discount code, which are worth keeping an eye out for)... the prices are fixed and pretty reasonable, with a full Vekkit kit starting at €535 for the smallest battery size with a 220 watt motor. If you upgrade to a deluxe option such as the 250 watt 'Travel' motor with a 10Ah battery, the price goes up to €645. Each kit is built in the Velotton workshop in Poland, so delivery takes around a month after placing an order - head over to the Vekkit website for more info.
