I have been using the Leed Bikes 250 watt e-bike conversion kit for several years without much for issues. Looking back through my email I see my kit was purchased back in 2014 so this is an extreme long term review of the kit.
There are three factors that lead me to the Leed ebike kit when I was searching for an eBike kit. The first was price – I already had a mountain bike ( a Cannondale Five) that was fairly new and did not want to rebuy the bike. The second was availability – at the time (2014) most electric bikes were street bikes not built for the trail. You rarely saw much for front suspension and the bikes had narrow tires and low end parts. I wanted to trail ride and they were not a good fit. The third reason was stealth. In 2014 and even today in 2022 a lot of eBikes stand out with unique designs making it obvious the bike had a giant battery or motor. I will go into the stealth more later.
When I placed my order I made it somewhat custom because at the time they did not offer a black rim. They were able to accommodate my request for a small fee and match the wheel and spoke color to my rear wheel. I also requested to pass on their more energy efficient tire and use my stock Cannondale tires instead that are better suited for trail riding. The picture here is old and blurry but the wheel was a match. This added to the stealth as well.
The install was easy. Just remove the old wheel, move the disc brake rotor over and put the wheel back on. From there, zip tie the wiring in place and figure out where to put the battery pack and excess wire.
One little bit I decided to do after my initial test was swap out the front rotor. My first impression was that my front braking power had decreased from the weight being added. I swapped out the rotor for an 8 inch off my downhill bike and that made a huge difference.
Once complete, even looking at the side with the hub motor, it is pretty hard to tell on a quick glance that there is a battery pack and motor on there. There are a couple wires – one for the motor and one for the button throttle and that is it. Other kits I have seen and especially more powerful ones often need a wire to a computer module and a wire for brakes and/or pedal sensor.
On the stealth needs I mentioned above, the trails I have been riding on locally for years was on private land and the trails were maintained by biking enthusiast in the area. The area was clear-cut/forested making it easy to use logging roads and the already barren landscape to create trails. They were used year round for snowmobiling, hiking, biking, XC skiing and snowshoeing. Eventually that land was donated to a city land trust and then came the politics. Suddenly snowmobiles were banned. There was a fairly extensive network of snowmobile trails in this area and today many years later what is left along a powerline clearing that they cannot ban is poorly maintained now. I think the loss of trails was the death of sledding to and from that half of the city. Trails were being closed off for animal habitats – which was interesting since the trails were there since the area was clear-cut and if animals chose to live near a trail then, that is their choice and it must not bother them much. To top it off, signs appeared banning eBikes. I find the blanket banning of eBikes frustrating because if any of these board members for the land trust sat on a 250 watt ebike, they would know they aren’t a danger. 250 watts is about equivalent to what an average person can pedal. I think anything above 350 watts is going into the off-road vehicle territory where dangers increase for people in opposite directions or walking on the trails. A blanket “no ebikes” statement is cutting off anyone using a small motor for accessibility or disability reasons. People with pain, strength or mobility issues who are capable of 80% of the trails but have trouble on hills are pushed out.
With that all said, is this stealth? I think it is, I have been riding around for years without issues. I simply don’t touch the throttle button when near anyone and it becomes silent. Even when using the throttle its very quiet, just a low hum. The videos below show the sound, but its greatly exaggerated from the volume in person.
So how is it holding up 7 years later? Pretty good I think. I have had no issues with any components except the battery. At 4 years in the kit would cut out under heavy load. I would have to flip the power off and on again to restart it and eventually it would trip again. I figured out this was a low voltage cutoff to protect the battery from over discharging. With a bad cell in my pack it was dropping the voltage too low and triggering the shutoff.
The solution? Aliexpress. I found several sellers on there offering affordable batteries. I looked for “24v” which are actually 25.2 volt batteries in a 6,000 mah configuration to match what I had before. It is a 6S3P battery meaning 6 cells in a series and 3 sets parallel. The pack is small and light and I just swap the connector over and its good to go even using the same charger from the original battery. At $40 shipped its a risk worth taking over buying another pack from Leed. 3 years into using this new battery I have had a single shut off for low voltage under heavy load. I cannot tell yet if this is the battery going bad or if it was just dead from the ride – but in case I already ordered another replacement since they take a few months to get.
As of 2 years ago, most of the riding on this bike has been hauling a bike trailer with one or 2 kids in it. It is perfect for hitting hills with the extra weight behind it. I would still buy this kit again over most others on the market because of its stealth and price.
