Blog

Hello there, summer vacations have come to an end and kids are back in school and what a whirlwind the last week has been:

USA Shipments

Last weekend, the US fully eliminated the $800 de minimis rule which has rocked much of the online eCommerce business, and could have a big impact on our american customers. Fortunately many items from Grin are CUSMA compliant and duty free, and we've summarized the details in this link. Quick nutshell though:  

• Grin no longer ships to the USA via postal service (only DHL and UPS).
• We recommend purchasing All-Axle kits and not the less expensive Chinese motors, as the price after duties will be comparable. 
• Be prepared to pay a duty on any battery shipment though, as the downtube packs are assembled in China. 
• Our latest LiGo 10X batteries ARE duty free (but a higher price-point than our downtube packs) 

Our checkout page has been updated for shipments going to the USA to preview what items in your order will likely be subject to duties and allow you to edit your cart if needed. 

Fully Charged Show  

While Grin does not have a booth at the Everything Electric EV show this weekend, we do have some some tickets available to local customers who want to attend, and many of our staff will be perusing the event.  If you are a fan who would like tickets to attend then please send us an email! Include a bit of background on why you want to come and we'll award day passes accordingly. 

Gallery Prizes are Back

After some hiatus, we're back to offering prizes for our ever growing customer project gallery. Every week we'll be awarding another $100 customer credit reward to staff picks selected from the last 6 months of submissions. Upload your build today!

First recipient goes to Sam from Australia and his Yuba Mundo Big Bike build, which has a detailed writeup with some great pictures to boot. 

We're only halfway through digesting the stories of Aaron's west coast shop tour road trip earlier this year and compiling them into shareable vidos for you. Most recently released is part one of our visit with Paul Freedman and his Rock the Bike operation from Oakland California.

We've known Paul since the early days of longtail cargo ebikes and have rocked out at many pedal generated sound stages over the years. His profound interest in creating a broader appreciation of power and energy usage is something we share to a great degree, but we were simply blown away at the scale of his activities coming from his Oakland operation.

And if you missed them we've captured Mike Lee with his motorized Whisky Charriot, Paul Daniel of Revel Propulsion who fabricates a custom mid-drive system, and Brad Davis of Nomad Cycles, a ebike shop in Portland that does much more than meets the eye.  

You might only hear about big brand ebikes and cheap import ebikes, but peel back from the consumer noise and there is a thriving community of small businesses out there doing original stuff! 

Aaron has finally returned to Grin's headquarters in Vancouver after an epic 8000 km van trip to San Diego and back. We want to thank the hundreds of shops, individuals, and businesses who took time to meet up and make this tour so memorable! 

Right now we are still unpacking all the feedback and the role that Grin can continue to play in facilitating the ebike and PEV movement in the decade ahead. Much has changed since we first started in 2005, but the need for innovation in this space has not and the current state of ebikes could use a little shakeup.  

In the meantime, we've got tons of great footage of the various operations who've been touched by Grin and will be releasing at least a dozen more stories on our youtube channel, following these profiles of Bike Swift, Switch Lab, and Calfee Designs.

Well before any of the current political shenanigans we were planning a Cascadian road trip to spread awareness about our All-Axle hub motor kits among bike shops, dealers, and ebike enthusiasts. We didn't expect to take off right at the start of a trade war but so it is, and that has not deterred our enthusiasm to build business relations up and down the coast.

Our Videographer Aaron set off mid-march with some demo ebike builds to showcase these systems and has had a great time meeting folks all over Washington State and northern Oregon.  

In the coming week we'll be stopping in Corvalis, Eugene, and Ashland, before making our way though all of California. If you happen to have a business that is curious about Grin Kits and wants to a chance to see them in person, or if you are a long term customer with cool builds to show off, then please drop us an email with your coordinates!  If it works Aaron will swing by in the tour van to talk shop, go on test rides, troubleshoot issues, or just hang out. 

This time of year is the "slow and quiet" season for the bike industry, with ski gear rather than bike gear on most people's minds. Yet many determined souls continue to ride their ebike through the winter, braving the cold, dark, and wet (or snowy) morning and evening commutes on two wheels.

We want to celebrate all those people who choose to ebike year round and highlight customizations to their rig to make that safer and more comfortable. This can include wind shields, heated gloves, ear warmers, studded tires, special attire, impressive lights.

Share your all season riding story in pictures and words by uploading them to our customer project gallery and be eligible for a bunch of prizes we'll be giving away starting Feb 14th, both with staff pics and random draws.

Hello everyone and wishing a Christmas cheers from the team here at Grin. Our staff got inventive with party activities for the annual Christmas bash, and we hope that all of you will be out enjoying the holiday season too!

As can be expected, the staffing levels at Grin from Dec 23rd to Jan 2nd will be much reduced as people are travelling home to their families. We'll still be processing shipments and basic orders except on statutory holidays, but more complicated builds and support may need to wait until the new year.

We sent it out on our newsletter but forgot to post on our homepage. After summer of pilot testing and refinements the powerful 45mm fat all-axle motor series is now in full production.  All mechanicals details and user manuals etc. are on the all-axle info page, and we recently finished both the product summary video and installation videos too, have a watch:

It's fall season and not everyone is thinking about ebikes. But if you are wanting just a little boost to your ride right now, we're running a big promotion on the mini Bafang G310/G311 motor systems.  They are a great silent hub when used within their limitation, but we happen to have a lot more in inventory than necessary as it seems everyone is buying our All-Axle motors instead!  

So if a small 2.3kg (5lb) motor is the right thing for you, use the coupon code "G3FORME" during the checkout and get a 30% discount off the entire G310/G311 kit order (controller, batteries etc. all included). This applies to the superharness kits, CA3 kits, and Barebones kits.

This promotional sale will go on until our stock levels are at a more reasonable level.

We had a few setbacks in the rollout of the Superharness system earlier this year, but things are now moving smoothly with new produciton machinery cranking them out.  Here is a fresh video covering the the process to convert over a CA3 based setup to use the Superharness platform for those who have been asking about that: 

We've also been steadily adding to the list of superharness related peripherals, including new inline brake cutoffs, a lower cost bidirectional throttle, and adapter to use any throttle as a regen control. Plus there are more in active development (like dual motor superharness splitters!).

All of these parts are conveniently available in a dedicated Superharness section of the store page, or of course with any kit purchase.  

Heads up that Grin's offices and operation will be closed this coming Thursday and Friday as all our staff are on a company planning retreat to chart out the year ahead. All emails, phone calls, and shipments will resume on Monday Oct 7th. Thanks for your patience! 

PS

And if things have been seeming quiet on the Grin front lately, that is never the actual case, things are Always Busy. On our return you will see much more content related  This and This and This and This.