If you’re converting a used bike, there are a number of upgrades that you might want to consider – once again, click the pics and give us that sweet affiliate cheese.

In general, ultra light bicycles and components will stand up to the added weight and speed of an electric motor, so I tend to stay away from featherweight carbon fiber or road bike parts. They just wont last.

Depending on your personal girth and the weight of your kit, you may also discover that your rear wheel is taking a serious beating and will require frequent truing or replacement with a more heavy duty unit made for downhill riding. And of course, you’re going to want serious stopping power from a set of disc brakes. The bike you’re converting should already have them and they should be set up and working well. There are big brake kits that you can add, particularly on the front end, that will give you some added stopping power. Standard 8in (203mm) rotors may work with just an adapter, or you can buy a whole brake kit with calipers and all but check your frame and fork to find the right mount style.

Otherwise you may find yourself entering an Uber through the rear windshield. We’ll be adding a guide to choosing a donor bike soon, so check back for that.

For the drivetrain, SRAM is now producing a line of heavy duty Ebike components under the name EX1. If you have a mid drive, you are at the very least going to want a beefy chain like this. They also make 8 speed cassettes and other parts that should stand up to the abuse.

If you are building a hardtail bike and you don’t want to knock your fillings loose every time you hit a pothole, you’ll want to think about a suspension seatpost. There are many available to fit different sized seat tubes, but I’ve had good luck so far with the shockingly cheap Satori Harmony. The Thudbuster is another great choice but at 6x the price.

You’re also going to want to think about high volume, long lasting tires. I’m a fan of Maxxis, but there are many options on the market. You just want to make sure they are at least 2.3in wide. You can’t go wrong with Hookworms for road use.

If you’re setting up a hub motor, particularly on a bike that isn’t made of heavy gauge steel, you’re going to need a torque arm to transmit the motor’s power to the bike frame without destroying the dropouts. Cheap insurance.

You may also need to adjust the ergonomics of the bike to make it more comfortable. Saddles can be a life changing upgrade. Changing the height and length of the stem is also a great option. But for my money, a set of wide handlebars with good rearward sweep is essential. A good option, again from Satori, is the Noirette Plus, but you need to make sure your stem will accept the oversized 31.8 clamp.

Some may like high rise bars with less sweep, but to some extent this is personal preference.

Last but not least, I need to mention the ultimate upgrade for a mid drive ebike, the internally geared rear hub. These devices do away with damage prone and maintenance intensive cassettes and derailleurs, allow you to set up the perfect chainline for your bike, and let you shift at a dead stop.

The Cadillac of internally geared hubs is the shockingly expensive Rohloff Speedhub, but there are cheaper options like the Nexus or Nuvinci that will do the job almost as well.

I’ll try to add more useful bits and bobs here as I find them.