Finally! My long-awaited ebike conversion kit

In June, 2022 I ordered two ebike conversion kits from a company called Swytch. After waiting just about a year, I still didn't have them, just a few useless batteries and parts. I canceled my orders and they refunded my money. In the meantime, ironically enough in the Swytch Bike Chat Facebook group, I saw references to the Geeko kit by a company called 100g. I did a little research and liked the elegance and simplicity of its design. Just two main components, the battery and the wheel motor, front or rear. I chose rear because even though installation is a bit more difficult, there is no need to install a pedal sensor, a weak spot with many kits. So, I ordered a kit with a 36-volt, 350-watt motor and a 10.4AH bottle battery. To be precise, it's the Solid-35100R kit. I also ordered the recommended 7-speed cassette for my bike, at a modest cost. The price, including shipping and any import taxes or tariffs, was $780.10. There always seems to be a $50 off coupon on their site, so my actual total cost was $730.10 USD. No ups, no extras. Unlike the Swytch, you can use your phone as a bike computer/controller for the system, and a phone holder is included.

The kit arrived in five weeks, totally satisfactory, especially compared to Swytch. There was a problem with the size of the motor wheel, which was resolved quickly and to my complete satisfaction. 100g's customer support was top-notch throughout the process, in stark contrast to Swytch's. 100g being a Chinese company, I thought there might be communication difficulties. I was pleased to find that there were none. My emails were responded to quickly and professionally, and the responses directly addressed the questions that I had.

Installation of the kit wasn't bad, although nothing is quite as easy as in YouTube videos. It seems common with all these kits that the dropouts on the rear wheels are sometimes just a tiny bit too narrow to allow the motor wheel axle to slide in. This is mentioned frequently with regard to Swytch kits too, and others. The solution is to carefully file just a small amount off the flat sides of the axle or the inside of the dropouts. By small, I mean that I basically filed the paint off the inside of my dropouts and was able to fit the axle in. I used a set of little needle files I bought for about $5.00. It took a bit of patience but it worked out fine.

Other than that, installation was easy. There's a cable that goes from the battery to a thumb throttle (not included with Swytch kits) and a cable from the battery to the motor. No discs or sensors to install around the crank. Great! There's an LED and three buttons on top of the battery (where the neck of a water bottle would be). You can see the battery level and change the five levels of assistance. That's really all you need if you don't feel like Bluetoothing your phone up. But if you do that, it's simple to change your assistance levels and also use your phone as a speedometer and trip meter. Beautiful, and the pairing is quick and easy. The included phone holder does its job well too.

Once I plugged in the cables and charged the battery, the system came to life instantly -- and I have never had a problem with it since. The build quality of the components feels high. My bike weighs exactly 9.4 pounds more than it did without the kit installed -- quite reasonable. The bike steers just like it did before, and the gears work like they did before too (after a little adjustment). The bike feels just as much of a bike as before, since whatever boost there is comes from the rear just like if you were pedaling harder. You're being pushed from the back as usual, not pulled from the front as Swytch and some other kits do. The motor causes minimal friction when it's off, so if your battery dies or you turn the system to 0 (off), you can pedal just like you always did.

The riding experience with the Geeko is just what I hoped for. Each level of assistance adds a bit more "oomph". The added power kicks in and shuts off smoothly. The motor is extremely quiet, so much as to be fairly inaudible in real-life road conditions. It's never loud or intrusive. Also, if you use the throttle, it can give you a little boost when starting from a complete stop, handy in urban conditions. All in all, a sweet ride, and you'd hardly know the bike is an ebike just by looking at it. Stealthy. I haven't ridden far enough at one time to run the battery down, but at 172 pounds, I'd estimate that on levels 1 or 2, on fairly flat ground like Chicago, the range would be at least 40 miles, probably more.

All in all, I'm happy with my Geeko kit and am having a blast riding with it. I'm also happy with how they've treated me. Highly recommended! Ride on!