Rev Bikes

The legal limit for an electric bike to still be categorised as a bicycle in Australia is 200w, or 250w* if operated by pedelec rather than throttle. Our 250w kits fall inside the Australian legal limit, presuming you don’t fit the throttle (which is included as a user option).

A 250w motor is meant to be engaged by pedelec only (once over 7km/h). You are allowed to run a 200w motor if engaged by a throttle, and essentially these are the same motors with a bit less current running through the controller. See details of the Victorian e-bike laws here.

Our 500w* and higher kits are sold for off-road use only.

 *On 24 February 2023, the NSW Government legislated to allow motors up to a “maximum continued rated power of 500W” with pedal assist for use in permitted public places. All other states and territories retain the 250W limit. Read our article here.

The batteries which we sell at Rev Bikes are very high quality. They are manufactured with the best cells, by a reputable and experienced battery manufacturer. We highly recommend following manufacturer charging advice, to both maximise battery life and to ensure their safely. All batteries are not the same, read our detailed blog on e-bike batteries here.

If you leave it turned off or on lowest levels of pedelec, you can get “up to” fifty million miles out of it😉 That kind of measure, of what is POSSIBLE (but not PROBABLE), is useless to most people, because you really want to know how far you are CERTAIN to get.

That’s why REV-Bikes work on REALISTIC MINIMUMS for our range stats, which presume you are not assisting much, and are doing lots of hills and take-offs (which are the things that drain the battery the fastest). If you are being more conservative with your use, you can potential double these figures, or even go beyond that.

Generally speaking, you should get a minimum anywhere from 40 to 100kms per charge with a 250w motor, depending on the battery you choose, and how you ride. Our 500w motors will give you range of 25-60kms. The 1000w motors about 20-40kms.

Using the lower levels of pedelec assistance (while pedalling) is the most efficient way to use your e-bike, for the longest range. You can turn the power up for hills as required, but more power uses the battery faster.

YES! REV-Bikes are not trying to be the cheapest, we strive to be the best!

Our reputation and success depend on you having a positive experience. As a result, we are always undertaking R&D to bring you the best products we can.

REV personally visit our manufacturers factories, and test all of our components (to their limits!) before offering them to our customers for sale. We are confident that our motors can comfortably withstand normal riding conditions, and are suitably tough when challenged with Australian terrain.

We have our batteries packed with proven quality batteries (Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide), which are designed to have the optimal energy density (highest kms of range for lowest kg of weight). And we have special lower-voltage charging processes, meaning our batteries are safer and longer-lasting than ANY OTHERS AVAILABLE. If you look after them, they should last at least twice or 3 times as long as cheaper Li-Ion batteries.

See our Battery Care Guidelines.

REV provide a 24 month warranty on all kit components, held here in
Australia. This requires you follow the Installation & User Guidelines provided, and does not cover incidents where we determine
your unreasonable usage contributed to the failure of the components.

We WILL honour your warranty if you have faulty parts, as we believe the future of electric bikes depends on reliability.

See our Warranty information.

The legal limit for riding on roads (200/250watts) was set in
Australia because it’s roughly what the average cyclist can pedal at
without assistance. On the flat, it should move you to about 25km/h,
motors are limited to this speed for safety and to meet the legal
requirements.

Higher powered motors (or higher voltages) do go
faster, and on hills there will be a proportional improvement in speed
and torque. 250w will definitely assist you on hills, but you will still
need to pedal too, though it will be much easier pedalling. You should
look at the motor as a form of ASSISTANCE, rather than presuming it will
do ALL the work for you. After all, you still want some light exercise
in the great outdoors, right?

If you are charging from fairly flat, the larger lithium batteries can take as long as 5-8 hours to charge, most often this happens while you sleep, or while you’re at work. Smaller batteries normally fully charge in about 3 hours. As mentioned earlier, you can top the battery up whenever you get a chance.

You should always recharge the battery when it’s getting low (the system does cut it out before it’s too empty), and it’s fine to give it a one hour top-up during a lunch stop. Lithium batteries don’t have a “˜memory’ problem. They prefer to be kept between 10% and 90% full if possible.

All batteries we sell have built-in BMS (Battery Management System) which control the top and bottom charge voltages, and balance the cell groups. Our premium LoVo batteries manage the cells better for a longer life, by not charging to quite so high a voltage.

Yes, and no. If you are handy with bikes, have the usual tools, and are comfortable with sometimes having to improvise here or there with the mechanical parts, you’ll be fine. If you are not practically-minded and struggle with Ikea furniture, it’s probably best you let us do it for you.

The kit components are generally pretty straightforward to install on regular bikes (if there is such a thing!) All required/supplied parts will bolt directly onto 90% of bikes without any modification at all, electrical plugs are colour coded and impossible to plug in wrong. You will need only basic tools such as spanners, allen keys, and screwdrivers to get most of it done.

If you choose a front wheel hub kit, you’ll avoid the need to interfere with the rear cog set, you’ll just need to swap your tyre and tube onto the new wheel and mount it. A rear wheel needs the gear cassette / freewheel fitted too, so if you want to use your existing cluster, you will need a cluster removal tool and chain whip. We can supply a new cassette for you to overcome this need, or a bike shop will remove it for you.

If you want to fit a pedelec sensor for hub motors, or a mid-mount motor, you will need a crank removal tool and a bottom bracket removal tool. There are quite a few different types of bottom brackets and cranks (especially on higher end bikes), so if you need to, you can look up how to remove your particular type on YouTube.

Fitting handlebar controls can be a little like Tetris, but anything becomes possible with Handlebar extenders.

Detailed installation instructions are provided with all kits (email us if you
want to see these prior to purchase), tutorials can be found on our YouTube Channel, and some common challenges are listed to the right here. You can expect to have your rev-bike built within an afternoon, presuming you are
pretty handy.

No! Converting to an E-Bike usually results in the bike being used much more regularly. You will still get the cardiovascular exercise and enjoyment from riding.