Justin Lemire-Elmore

Needless to say this past week saw a very rapid change in the ground situation for Covid-19 response around the world, and we're in full support of all the preventative measures being taken to reduce the foothold that it gains here.

What we are doing

We are going to try and keep Grin's online business fully operational to continue delivering ebike conversion parts around the world, but many of our staff will be working from home and we will be keeping the number of people at our shop to a minimum. For the time being:

1) No more visit appointments

We will cease doing in-person consultations at our shop. We will only be allowing visits from people who have pre-paid orders that are ready for pickup, and we'll have your items in a box by the front door when you've been notified that the order is ready. Updated to reflect our latest procedures 

2) Reduced Phone Availability

We will try to have one person available for phone support down from our normal 3 lines, which means we ask you to leave that phone line open for those who strictly need it and cannot use email due to vision or technical issues. Otherwise all correspondence (sales questions, technical questions, order updates, troubleshooting/support) will be directed over email.

We thank you for your understanding on these two points and hope that people are doing well and staying healthy. All health concerns aside, for those not affected a short-term pause in all the long distance travel, commuting, and big events may end up being good for the soul and for general perspective. Stay positive, go for bike rides, fix things up around the house, our busy lives can use the occasional reset.

As many people are well aware the spread of Covid19 has disrupted the supply chain of goods originating in China. Fortunately most of our inventory and stock was well secured before this but we have had setbacks in 3 product lines:

1) Phaserunner

The PCB assemblies for the Phaserunner devices are not expected now until the end of this month, and we will not be taking back-orders until those parts are on hand. For many users the newer Baserunner_L10 model is an excellent substitute for those who do not require 72V operation, and we have that in good supply

2) Inexpensive Chargers:

Our inexpensive chargers are back in stock, so this deal is done! (04/13/2020)

Our cheaper 2A and 3A charger models with the ST3 port are entirely out of stock leaving us without a budget charger option to pair with our downtube batteries. Until these are back in stock (eta mid-march), we are offering the Satiator Upgrade on a kit or battery at 50% off the normal price to split the difference. Please note that this discount only applies with a battery or ready-to-roll kit purchase that includes a Satiator, and not on the charger by itself.

3) Standard LiGo Batteries:

The assembly of our next batch of LiGo BMS circuitboards got seriously delayed as well, and full production might not be possible until early April. We have a limited supply of LiGo's available for backorder purchase being made from rework of existing inventory, while the new higher power LiGo+ modules are available in good supply.

This is a reminder that we are once again attending the BC Bike Show with a full booth showcasing many of our kit and conversion products. If you want an opportunity to talk about retrofit options that would suite your needs and see the systems firsthand then please come by. It's a great event with many players in the local cycling and outdoors scene all under one roof. We're at location B207.

At the show we'll be giving two presentations on solar bicycle touring and screening the short film of our 2018 Suntrip ride. The premier showing at the Mountain Film Festival was very well received and we're glad to have another opportunity to present this to a public audience, and to answer any questions about solar powered ebikes. Check us out at the Cycle Stage.

• Saturday Feb 29th at 12:30pm
• Sunday  March 1st  at 3:00pm

We are happy to introduce four new people who joined Grin recently to help us out in our sales and customer support department. Bob, Laurel, and Nicole all started at the beginning of the month and have been doing an amazing job learning all the ins and outs of this operation, while our good friend Eliza's been guiding the process since coming on board last fall.

This expanded sales team will help us deliver fast response and excellent customer service as this business keeps getting busier and busier, and we appreciate your support and occasional patience as the new staff get fully trained up.

You can see that our front of shop renovations have been moving along as we accommodate this larger team and prepare ourselves for what is sure to be a busy summer. For now however, we will continue to be a by-appointment operation. If you do need to visit Grin in person, please remember to call or email in advance to book a time slot, Tue-Fri 11am - 6pm, instead of showing up unannounced.

Our Grin battery lineup keeps growing and the latest shipment includes high capacity downtube batteries in the new Reention DP-9C 84 cell enclosure. These large packs provide over a kilowatt-hour of capacity in convenient frame mounted casing, ideal for long distance trekkers.

We have both a 36V 26.5Ah and a 52V 20Ah model in stock and ready to ship. We've also got a smaller 48V 16.5Ah Reention battery model for smaller range requirements. These 3 new models are all Baserunner compatible for slick conversions and are available with our Ready-to-Roll kit bundles

72V are Shipping

Last year we expanded our 72V pack offerings to include a 9.5Ah model using Panasonic 21700A cell, but they were for local customers only as we lacked the paperwork and certification to ship them. Well that has been sorted out and these 72V downtube battery packs are now available to be delivered around the world. These packs provide a very convenient approach to doing high speed EV builds without the complications of series connecting 36V batteries or dealing with sketchy pack construction.

LiGo+, Higher Power

We're also putting on the final touches for a new LiGo+ battery module that uses the high power Samsung 30Q cells. These new LiGo+ packs can sustain higher continuous discharge currents (15A vs 10A) and charge currents than our standard LiGo, making them ideal for very lightweight EV builds that are running just 2 or 3 of these modules. For large packs (4 or more in parallel) the standard LiGo batteries are still perfectly suited and the most economical, but for more ultra light systems the LiGo+ packs are just the ticket. .

VIMFF - Feb 26th

We're thrilled to report that the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF) has selected our short film "3 Wheels Under the Sun" for their upcoming show. This tells the full story of our 2018 Suntrip race and will hit the big screens on Feb 26th at the Rio Theater along with presentations from other long distance bike tours . We welcome anyone in Vancouver with an interest in bike adventures to get tickets now. If you're into the outdoors be sure to check out the many other great shows during the 10 day festival.

BC Bike Show - Feb 29th / Mar 1st

We'll also have a screening the following weekend at the BC Bike Show on Feb 29th at 12:30pm, and March 1st at 3pm. This will be a more intimate environment that will allow discussions about the logistics of solar ebike touring and a Q&A session afterwords. If you are interested to hear more details about solar powered ebikes or have some burning questions then please come out. There are plenty of reasons already to check out the BC Bike Show and hopefully this adds one more to your list!

As we move fully to the L10 motor connector standard for medium to high power kits, we've decided to slash prices on all our remaining motor and controller inventory that use the Powerpole standard. This is your chance to get a great deal on high performance kits at 30-40% off the regular price, and it includes all of our eZee kits and the prelaced Crystalyte UFO kits.

The motor Anderson and JST plugs and standard has served us well for over 10 years, but we're trying to reduce the overlap as our upcoming eZee and Crystalyte orders will all be with the overmolded L1019 connectors.

We hope everyone out there who celebrates is having a great Christmas holiday.

It may not be peak ebike riding season but it can sure be prime building season! We're wrapping up several months of serious work behind the scenes at our shop and are glad to announce a few things as the year comes to a close.

RTR Kits

First and foremost, we've expanded our selection of Ready-to-Roll kit bundles based around the new Baserunner controller series. Including many high power hub systems now that we have the Baserunner_L10 in full production which supports 80A peak phase currents. Check the video below.

All Axle Fun

We're also happy that report that our Grin All Axle hub motor is out of the Beta testing phase and in full release with an updated V2 model. We want to thank all those pilot users from the past several years as we worked out all the kinds, and all those single side trike pioneers who helped us develop a series of adapters for so many trike models. (and yeah, it goes without saying that we are working on a rear version next)

There are more end-of-the-year product treats too. We've got motor options for the 190mm fatbike frames, super secure double and triple bobs coming off our CNC mill for mounting downtube batteries, wheelbarrow and scooter motors for non-ebike conversions, and a few more 72V and 36V battery choices too.

Reading documents

With a wider audience of first timers getting into ebikes as the movement spreads, we also thought it was about time to publish some more entry-level information for people those just getting started.

1. Don't know the difference between a torque arm and a mosfet? Here is a basic primer on all the components that make up an ebike conversion system.
2. Not sure what hub motor options would be compatible with your bike build? We've written a thorough compatibility list for all the different styles of bikes and trikes and what does and doesn't work. 

Well it's been another huge and busy summer, and now that it's mostly wrapping up we're planning to spend the next several months on some deep reorganization and renovation of our shop space. During this time we will operate in business-as-usual for all our online orders and email tech support. However, the storefront will be closed to casual walk-in visits except by appointment only, and our phone may unresponsive for long stretches of times too.

These updates to our facility will allow us to grow and operate more efficiently in the years ahead, and we thank you for your patience during the process. 

For local customers wanting to purchase items, the process will involve placing the order online first and then coming by to pickup the order after you've been notified that the items are ready to collect. 

In our quest to make hub motors keep up with changing frame standards, we've just released a custom version of the Crystalyte 'H' series UFO motor that is compatible with rear thru axle bike frames. We have the rear H3540 and H3525 motors in a 142x12 standard, and a wider H4040 motor available for the 148x12 boost size. 

These motors have an integrated torque arm and we've designed a special CNC machined aluminum frame clamp that provides a versatile means to secure the arm against rotation. They open up electrification options for new bike frames that have adopted the thru-axle hub standard, using the rugged and time proven Crystalyte motor series. 

They are using the L1019 plug standard and are available as part of a complete kit package as well.