Swytch DIY e-bike conversion kits: A very, very long-term review

Published

2 years ago

October 23, 2023

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E-bike review — Swytch DIY e-bike conversion kits: A very, very long-term review What it’s like buying, installing, and riding an e-bike upgrade.

Kevin Purdy – Oct 20, 2023 2:19 pm UTC Enlarge / There aren’t many e-bikes you can buy with rim brakes and mid-’90s gray/pink styling.Kevin Purdy reader comments 56 with

Recommending the Swytch e-bike conversion kit feels like recommending a DIY desktop computer upgrade. Youre not evaluating or describing any one experience so much as telling somebody that it might save them money, that it could be a fun project, and that the end result can be a point of pride. Though it would be easier, you cant replicate the upgrade experience by simply buying another bike. It all depends on what you want out of an e-bikeor a weekend project.

Ive now converted two bikes with Swytch kits, Ive walked my in-laws through upgrading their own cruiser-style bikes with them, and Ive made tweaks and fixes to all of the bikes over two years. What I’ve learned is that theres no single “Swytch kit experience” because every bike is a collection of components, and each component hasdimensions and angles and quirks that play off the kit in different ways.

Some people will drop the front wheel off their bike, replace it with Swytchs wheel, strap down a few cables with zip-ties, mount a battery, and feel the boost on their first ride a couple hours later. Some people will learn a lot more about rims, tires, and beads than they knew before or discover that their seemingly normal-looking front fork is quirky and find that the dropouts require some filing.

If youre willing to dig into your bike just a bit, or youve got someone on the hook ready to do that for you, the Swytch kit is a good option to help with commutes, hills, or casual rides. It’s less helpful if you’re looking for gobs of power, prefer to own a complete second bike, or want lots of range. Small things can go wrong, and the support is far from perfect. But the end result is typically a fun upgrade and a great introduction to e-bike life. Buying a Swytch kit: The first DIY experience

EnlargeWith most e-bikes, even the kind shipped directly to your house, there are only a few choices when ordering: color, frame size (typically based on height), maybe your battery size and range, and accessories. Advertisement

When youre ordering a Swytch, you have to know (or learn) a bit more about your bike. You need your wheel size, for instance, because Swytch offers kits for 29er, 28-inch (or 700c), 26-inch, 20-inch, and Brompton-sized 16-inch tires. You pick out a wheel color (black or silver) and decide if you want an optional throttle or just pedal assist.

The big choice is between batteries: the 90 Wh, 15 kilometer (9.3 mile) Air model or the 180 Wh, 30 km (18.6-mile), cant-take-it-on-a-plane Max version. And you have to confirm a few things about your bike, including whether you have disc or rim brakes and the width of your fork dropouts. The process has improved since my experienceyou now start off by telling Swytch your bike model, or by taking a photo, and then get back a compatibility report.

The next issue is the timing. You typically cant buy a Swytch kit from standing inventory and have it shipped within a few days. Swytch batches preorders together and ships them in broad timeframes, like “Fall 2024.” After you sign up for their waitlist, youll receive notice when you can order. Swytch previously told me that this helped keep prices lower and allowed the company to offer a wider array of kits and options to customers. This is likely true, but it means you have to delay your e-bike project enthusiasm by a few weeksor maybe months.

You’ll also need to consider all the accessories you’ll want for your Swytch up front. Swytch doesn’t make it easy to buy spare chargers, batteries, or alternative battery mounts. There’s a web market for certain countries, including the U.S., but it doesn’t offer everything. Your best bet is to add them onto your initial order in the order portal, which you can only access once you’ve been tapped for a pre-order, or to contact support (more on that later).

The price of a Swytch kit depends on your range choice, wheel size, and accessories, but they generally run between $550 and $1,200, or even $1,500 with no pre-order sale. There’s an upcoming stripped-back version, frame-hung version, the Swytch Go, that’s available for pre-order and purports to start at $400. Page: 1 2 3 4 Next → reader comments 56 with Kevin Purdy Kevin is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering a variety of technology topics and reviewing products. He started his writing career as a newspaper reporter, covering business, crime, and other topics. He has written about technology and computing for more than 15 years. Advertisement Channel Ars Technica ← Previous story Next story → Related Stories Today on Ars

Entertainment

Social media star ‘Big John’ Fisher to be deported after being detained in Australia

Published

3 hours ago

October 15, 2025

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Social media star 'Big John' Fisher to be deported after being detained in Australia

Social media star “Big John” Fisher has said he is being deported from Australia after he was detained over visa issues.

Fisher, known for reviewing fast food online, arrived in Australia on Tuesday for appearances in Perth and Sydney.

In posts on his Instagram, he said he was questioned by border officials for four hours in the city of Perth.

He said he was due to head home on Wednesday, his birthday, at 6.30pm local time.

“My visa was legal coming in but they are not happy with what I am doing here so they are sending me home,” he said. “To be truthful, I just want to go home now.

“When common sense goes out the window you lose a bit of hope with human beings.

“Well even though I am under lock and key it’s my birthday, I’m still smiling and I still love Australia.

“Just can’t wait to get home to my family and good old England.”

It is understood Fisher was travelling on an incorrect visa.

An Australian Border Force spokesperson said it did not comment on individual passengers.

Fisher, who has more than 680,000 followers on Instagram, went viral for his love of Chinese takeaway and is best known for his use of the catchphrase “bosh”.

He makes regular appearances at restaurants, clubs and major events around the world.

His son, British heavyweight boxer Johnny Fisher, wrote on Instagram: “The Aussies have detained Big John and are sending him home- rumour has it they are frightened of his express pace bowling ahead of the Ashes.”

Technology

Waymo plans robotaxi launch in London, marking its European debut

Published

3 hours ago

October 15, 2025

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Waymo plans robotaxi launch in London, marking its European debut

Waymo self-driving cars with roof-mounted sensor arrays traveling near palm trees and modern buildings along the Embarcadero, San Francisco, California, February 21, 2025.

Smith Collection/gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images

Alphabet‘s Waymo is bringing its driverless ride-hailing services to London, the first European market for its robotaxi.

The company said in a release on Wednesday that it plans to start test drives on London’s roads in coming months, with human safety specialists at the wheel. It intends to open its robotaxi service next year, assuming it can get permissions from regulators as well as local and national leaders.

London will mark the company’s second international city after Tokyo, where testing began in early 2025.

Waymo has been aggressively expanding in the U.S., and now offers a commercial service in the Los Angeles area, Phoenix, San Francisco, Atlanta and Austin, Texas. The company has also announced plans to start robotaxi services in Miami and Washington, D.C., and said in August that it obtained permits to begin testing its autonomous vehicles with trained safety drivers on board in New York City.

In London, Waymo’s fleet will be comprised of Jaguar iPACE electric vehicles equipped with the company’s Waymo Driver autonomous systems. Waymo said it already employs engineering teams in Oxford and London, and that it plans to work with Moove to handle operations and maintenance for its fleet.

Moove provides vehicle financing to drivers who want to purchase a new vehicle for ride-hailing, and offers services like cleaning, some repairs and charging of electric vehicles to transportation businesses including Waymo and Uber, which is an investor in the startup.

In June, the U.K. announced an accelerated framework for commercial pilots by AV ventures, an effort to bring self-driving investments to the region. London also established a “Vision Zero” goal earlier this year to eliminate all serious injuries and deaths in its transportation systems by 2041.

Waymo says its system “is involved in five times fewer injury-causing collisions, and twelve times fewer injury-causing collisions with pedestrians compared to humans,” according to the company’s analysis of its own data.

The company has also reported that its self-driving vehicles have logged 100 million “fully autonomous miles” on public roads, and provided more than 10 million paid rides to passengers to-date.

Waymo is part of Alphabet’s “Other Bets” segment, which brought in revenue of $373 million in the second quarter on a loss of $1.25 billion. Alphabet plans to report third-quarter results on Oct. 29.

Wayve, a U.K.-based startup backed by SoftBank and Microsoft, previously announced that it plans to bring a robotaxi commercial pilot to London next year. While Waymo uses radar, lidar and other sophisticated sensors in its vehicles, Wayve is developing camera-based systems, an approach that’s similar to Tesla’s pursuits.

— CNBC’s Jennifer Elias contributed to this report.

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Sports

Hamlin records emotional 60th win, into finale

Published

4 hours ago

October 15, 2025

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Hamlin records emotional 60th win, into finale

Associated Press

Oct 12, 2025, 09:56 PM ET

LAS VEGAS — With tears in his eyes and needing a moment to compose himself, Denny Hamlin collected his sixth checkered flag and reflected on everything it meant.

The victory Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was the 60th of his career — a lifetime goal he dedicated to his ailing father — and it gave him the first of the four spots in NASCAR’s winner-take-all championship finale.

Hamlin, 44, a three-time Daytona 500 winner considered the greatest driver to never win a Cup Series title, is back in the championship race for the first time since 2021. He’s Joe Gibbs Racing’s winningest driver and now Toyota’s as well.

The Virginia driver is tied for 10th on NASCAR’s career victories list with Kevin Harvick.

Hamlin couldn’t hold back the tears after a frantic final 10-lap drive to run down Kyle Larson and then JGR teammate Chase Briscoe. Two weeks ago, he thought he had his 60th win locked up at Kansas Speedway and was bitterly disappointed to come up short and mentioned letting down his ailing father.

He made good on it two weeks later at Las Vegas in what might be the most important win of his career. He said the win was for his 75-year-old father, who also was rooting for his son to hit the 60-win mark.

“You know, he’s just not doing well, you know, he’s the one that got me into racing and took me to a racetrack when I was 5,” Hamlin said. “Then made all the sacrifices financially to keep me going, sold everything we had, we almost lost our house a couple times to just try to keep it going.

“I’m glad he was able to see 60. That was so important to me.”

Hamlin took four tires on the final restart and restarted in fifth before slicing his way through traffic. He first got past Joey Logano, who had only two new tires, needed a few laps to run down Larson on the inside, and then finally took the lead from Briscoe, who was also on only two tires.

This is the deepest in the playoffs new crew chief Chris Gayle has ever advanced, and Hamlin credited adjustments on the final pit stop for getting him his seventh win of the season — his most since 2020.

“Just putting down all the factors, I just can’t imagine there’s a win bigger for me than this one,” Hamlin said.

Joe Gibbs, who lost both his sons before they turned 50, was touched by Hamlin’s dedication.

“I know one of the things he shared there was his dad. That was emotional for everybody,” Gibbs said.

Larson, seeking to end a 20-race losing streak, was second in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. JGR drivers Christopher Bell and Briscoe were third and fourth, Tyler Reddick who drives for Hamlin at 23XI Racing was fifth, and reigning Cup Series champion Logano was sixth.

Five of the top six — only Reddick — are still in the playoff field. The others are Chase Elliott, who finished 18th; Daytona 500 winner William Byron was 36th and Ryan Blaney was last in 38th.

Byron was out front and then wiggled out of the groove with 35 laps remaining, saved his Chevrolet from crashing, but teammate Larson sailed past him for the lead. Minutes later he was involved in a race-ending crash when he drilled into the back of Ty Dillon, unaware that Dillon was slowing to head to pit road.

“I never saw him wave, I had no indication he was pitting,” Byron said. “I had zero idea. I am just devastated. Obviously, I wouldn’t have driven full speed into him.”

The bottom four drivers in the playoff standings with two races remaining in this round are Byron, Elliott, Logano and Blaney.

Bad day for Blaney

Blaney, second in points at the start of the race, saw his title hopes take a severe hit when a tire issue caused him to crash into the wall with nine laps remaining in the first stage.

His race immediately ended, he finished 38th and dropped to the bottom of the eight-driver playoff round. Blaney is the 2023 Cup Series champion, with teammate Joey Logano winning titles in 2022 and 2024 to give Team Penske three straight.

The upside is Blaney races next at Talladega Superspeedway, where he’s a three-time winner and considers himself to be in a must-win situation.

“You’ve got to be optimistic. I’m not very happy right now, but tomorrow morning I’ll be optimistic to go to the next race,” Blaney said. “We’ve had good success at the next two events, so hopefully we can come and bring the speed and try to overcome the hole we put ourselves in.”

Reddick’s son

Reddick, who was eliminated from the playoffs last weekend, is still racing despite serious health complications facing his infant son.

Rookie Reddick, the second son born to Tyler and Alexa Reddick in May, has a “tumor that’s ‘choking’ the renal vein & renal artery. Telling the heart ‘Hey I’m not getting enough blood… pump harder,'” Alexa Reddick wrote in an update last week. She said it had caused an enlarged heart and the 4-month-old will need a kidney removed because doctors determined it is no longer functioning.

Alexa Reddick posted on social media ahead of Sunday’s race at Las Vegas that Rookie will have surgery Tuesday and will be moved to a unit to “monitor his heart and BP while his renin slowly drops.”

Edwards makes his NASCAR debut

Rob Edwards, the longtime team principal of the Andretti Global IndyCar program, made his NASCAR debut this weekend in his new role with the overall ownership group.

Edwards will transition into the role of chief performance officer for TWG Motorsports, the Dan Towriss-led organization that owns teams in NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA, Formula E and will launch the new Cadillac F1 team next season.

Edwards as part of his new role will be part of all of TWG’s properties — a move he told The Associated Press on Sunday he was excited for as it’s a new challenge after nearly three decades in IndyCar. He anticipates attending about a half-dozen NASCAR races next year with Spire Motorsports, where Towriss is now the majority owner.

Andretti Global last month named Ron Ruzewski, one of three fired Team Penske executives from an Indianapolis 500 scandal in May, as its new IndyCar team principal.

Up next

NASCAR races next Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, where Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the defending race winner. Stenhouse is not part of the playoff field.