Justin Lemire-Elmore

Grin had an amazing time at the SPEZI bike show in Germany last month, and you'll see some longer form content on our channel related to that.  But this post is about the other reason we travelled to Europe:

A couple years ago one of our long serving dealers from France spent several weeks with us in Vancouver to learn all the finer points of Grin's operation, repair, and support process.

His goal was to test the waters for opening up a formal Grin distribution center in France which would make it faster and easier for our Atlantic friends to access Grin goods with local support. We're pleased to say that after much effort this endeavor is now in full swing.

 

The team at Grintech.eu have not only outfit a shop space and fully stocked it with Grin kit, they've also helped us through CE regulatory certifications, and did all the legal and admistriative work to create an oversease enterprise. We had a soft launch in 2025 and now in 2026 things are really moving with almost all of our motor models and kit types are in stock for quick delivery. 

If you are looking for an All-Axle motor conversion kit within the the European union, check them out.
They can navigate through the kit selection process, perform installations on site, and even support business and dealer accounts for wholesale customers. 

[Just keep in mind that the two operations (ebikes.ca and grintech.eu) are independent entities, your account at ebikes.ca doesn't operate at grintech.eu and visa versa, and technical support, warranty etc. is provided by the store and team you purchased from.]

Hey everyone, Grin will once again be at the SPEZI bike show in Germany, which is coming up next weekend on April 25th and 26th!

It's a late notice but for those in Europe who can make it out you won't find a more dense collection of both eclectic and cutting edge bikes, trikes, and quads under one roof.   We'll be there in two capacities
1) To showcase the All-Axle motor drive platforms and LiGo 10X air travel batteries, and 
2) To help Chargebike showcase the next phase of the Freegen motor project, called MagicDrive!

We've had a jam-packed few weeks machining and assembling various motors and test platforms here in Vancouver that we can take to the show. 

Thanks to Grintech europe, Envo, Geobike, and Chargebike for all helping us pull this together at the last minute. We can't wait to be there and meet with the many mobility innovators on the other side of the Atlantic. 

Have you been considering a dual motor ebike build but weren't even sure where to start? We've recently added a whole section to our All-Axle conversion kits page where all the pieces for making dual motor retrofits can be ordered from a single place. 

This includes options for dual all-axle motors, dual left-right single side motors, and even dual motors combining a geared hub with a direct drive hub.  Have a look at this recent video explaining the rationale for various dual motor ebikes that happened to be in our shop, along with an updated explanation of the wiring hookup options for controlling both setups. 

We also filmed a step-by-step video showing a factory ebike upgrade into a dual motor platform to further illustrate the process. 

In this build we started with a fairly generic but underwhelming chinese cargo bike, kept the original rear geared motor and added a powerful front direct drive hub. Further upgrades included torque sensing control, regen braking, double the battery capacity and a larger and more personalized cargo box.

Talk about going from lemons to lemonade and the kids sure agreed! 

 

For the first time ever, Grin now has the space, bandwidth, and staffing resources to offer ebike installation services.  This is a deviation from past policy that we're happy to now offer, and it makes sense at a time when bicycle stores are more interested in selling factory ebikes than getting dirty with retrofits.

We managed to acquire a several fully kitted out workstations a motorized bike stands from the fallout of other ebike shops going out of business, and are setting up space and process to take this on. 

If you're a local who has been interested in converting your cherished bike with Grin hardware, but just wasn't feeling up to the job, now is your chance!

See our kit installations page for more details and send us an email if you'd like a consult. Winter is the perfect time to get that ride of yours tuned up and electrified so that you are ready to hit the roads as soon as sun turns up. 

We're also kicking off 2026 with a new All-Axle hub motor launch, meet the Max45 Single Speed!  

This brings the torque and hill climbing power of a 45mm stator to bicycles with normal dropout spacings instead of only being the domain of fatbikes.   It's a natural motor fit for chopper / cruiser bikes with single speed drivetrains, but really gets you the best of all worlds when paired with a Pinion gearbox upfront.  Unlimited hill climbing power, useable pedal gearing at all speeds, and insane regenerative braking. What more could you want on a low maintenance machine? 

 

As with our other All-Axle hubs, this motor is produced in Canada making it CUSMA compliant for free trade shipping to the US. We assembled a limited number of these motors over the holidays which are in stock and available either by themselves or as a full conversion kit. After that proper mass production should being in early March! We can't wait to see the creative builds emerging with this hub.  

Check out both the user manual and dimensional drawings,  as well as full 3D CAD models for those wanting to play with a full mechanical modeling of their vehicle builds.. 

Magnet Supply

Happy 2026 to all our customers and general ebike fans.  Last week was a cause for great celebration at Grin as we FINALLY received a large magnet shipment that lets us keep making motors again.  We won't comment on the rare earth geopolitics that disrupted the global magnet supply last year, other than to say we'll do our best to better navigate this to avoid future disruptions.  

We'll be hard at work making and fulfilling all the back-ordered All-Axle motors from the past few months, thanks for everyone's patience with that, and have removed the out-of-stock notice for new orders.  

Santana Tandem Kit

This also makes a great time to release the video showing an All-Axle hub motor installation on a Santana Tandem bicycle that we purchased.  Santana make some of the finest tandem bikes you can buy, and electrified with a Grin kit and LiGo batteries you get a travel touring package like nothing else out there. 

To simplify the process for other Santana owners doing the same build, we've made a dedicated Santana Kit Bundle that has all the itens in the video.

Website Improvements

Frequent visitors to ebikes.ca will have noticed changes to our website over the holidays, with a new menu organization and much faster page loads while browsing. We've also substantially changed how the conversion kits are listed in a way that we hope makes it simplier to find what you want, with more enhancements on the way.  

Our first production run of 20 year commemorative All-Axle yo-yo's sold out but we'll get on making more when the CNC team is back on Jan 5th. 

Thanks to everyone who came out to our open house celebrating the 20 years of bringing EV magic to the world. It was great having so many people from different periods come out to say hi and see what's up!

One of the highlights for many people was using our CNC and laser machines to make souvenir gifts including an All-Axle motor decorative ornament, a fully functional machined metal yo-yo, and a stainless keychain mutiltool device. 

If you missed out on the party but want one of these souvenirs to stuff your stocking or someone elses, we've got them available to purchase on our merchandise page. And until Christmas time we'll include one for free with any order over $1500, just include your preference in the order comments. 

Christmas Hours

Grin will be open for business up until Dec 23rd.   During the week between Christmas and New Years, we will continue to package and ship online orders but the store front will be closed until Jan 2nd. 

 

It was on a cold fall day in Vancouver, Canada, the 30th of November 2005, that a handful of UBC classmates who thought motorizing bikes and skateboards was the the most fun thing ever came together and officially incorporated the “The Renaissance Bicycle Company”. It was a time when ebikes as a thing were still mostly unheard of, and the early adoption was primarily driven by DIYers with an eye for the future, and we wanted to make more parts and kits available for such enthusiasts.

We had no idea where things would lead to in 5 let alone 20 years, but it’s fun to reflect on that journey and the many forks (no pun there!) it’s taken to where we are as Grin Technologies today! Over that time our core mission of designing and supplying parts for DIY electric vehicle builds has been unwavering, even as the global ebike movement has gone massively mainstream.

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 shaken most of the world's online ecommerce businesses, and could have a large impact on our american customers. Fortunately many items from Grin are CUSMA compliant and duty free to the USA. 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 naturally at a much higher base price than 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.