March 27, 2020   

We have decided to temporally cease all operations for the safety of our community and employees against exposure to the Covid-19 virus. When the order of "Shelter in place" is lifted by the Alameda County Health Department and when we consider it safe for both our clients and our employees, we will resume our business of converting bikes to electric. During this time, let us all work together by staying indoors as much as possible. Hopefully the sacrifices we make will help to alleviate the burdens  placed our health care workers of whom we will always owe a great debt for their selfless service. Also, we are indebted and thankful for the army of people who work at grocery stores, deliver mail, and deliver food and supplies to all of us shuttered in our homes. Remember to tip them when you can and thank them if you can't. We have never had our lives change so much, so fast. 

May you and your loved ones prevail over this challenging time,

Alvin Carpenter, CEO

Island City Bikes

The cost of converting your bike to electric is $1599. 

This includes the most popular, powerful, reliable, maintenance free motor in the world and a long range 48v battery rated at 624 watt hours. We also include a one year no fault warrantee on the motor and the battery. "No fault" means you do not have to fill out reams of information to explain why the battery is failing to charge or the motor to run, just give us a call to set up an appointment and let's get you back on the road. 

What it includes: For the best explanation of what it includes see our next page on the conversion process. The entire process can take up to three days as it is very labor intensive. Each employee is trained in bike mechanics, and the installation methods of motor, battery, cabling, and instruments of the Bafang motor system. 

We have developed proprietary methods of both motor and battery installation. In addition, we have our own machine shop that allows us to mill custom bottom bracket adaptors, and battery spacers. If we we do not have a part we make it ourselves to insure your bike is finished on time.

Our consultants include a Senior Engineer at Tesla Motors, a Professor of Federal Law at Golden Gate University, a Professor in Engineering from California University and a Senior Electrical Engineer from Stanford (retired). Our employees are former road bike racers, old school mechanics, new to the field  mechanics, in training mechanics, and a CEO who has over 50 years of experience working on bikes. 

We sell prebuilt electric bikes but 90% of those who come to us prefer to convert their existing bike to electric. Here's why....

1. All electric bikes are simply bicycles with motors and batteries.

That's it in a nutshell. The frameset, fork, wheels, tires, stem, chain, derailleurs, bars, grips, shifters, brakes, brake levers, seatpost and saddle are exactly the same on an electric bike as they are on a standard bike. The only thing unique to an electric bike is a motor and a battery. There is no need to buy a new electric bike...just add the motor and battery to the bike you already have. It just makes sense. 

2. Electric bike conversion costs 1/3 of a prebuilt electric bike. 

By way of comparison, were you to purchase a bike similar to one of our standard conversions it would cost between $4,000 and $4,500. In addition, the motor that we use is has more power, simple to use, and is maintenance free. 

3. Service of your converted electric bike

 All of the bikes we convert to electric we service "in house." We never send  anything back to the factory for service because we are the factory. 

4. All of our conversions use the Bafang Mid Drive Motor

The Bafang BBS02 750w mid drive motor is the most popular electric bike motor in the world. Bafang Industries produces and sells over 1,000,000 of these motors every year. They are maintenance free, reliable, lightweight (eight pounds), simple to use, and have incredible hill climbing torque. 

5. Our batteries are manufactured by the largest Lithium Ion battery factory in the world: UPP Unit Pak Power

Of the last 800 batteries used on our conversions the failure rate has been zero.

6. We have the best warranty in the business. Our motors, batteries and craftsmanship carry a one year warranty. 

It is a categorical imperative that all electric bikes are built according to the standards of both Federal and State Law. It is our responsibility to insure 100% of the bikes we convert to electric adhere to these standards. The laws regulating electric bikes in the US and California are very generous and we are fortunate to be able to ride electric bikes just about anywhere we can ride a bicycle.

Here is a primer on the laws regulating electric bikes in California.

California electric bike law      

We find that most people prefer a throttle on their bike and this makes it a Class II bike. Others prefer a bike that can go 28MPH and that would be a Class III bike. We let you choose what type of electric bike you would like. One of the benefits of the Bafang mid drive is you can set you own MPH limit anytime you wish by changing the setting in the display.