Canadian
Aventon Pace 350 Conversion – Cruiser to Commuter/Touring Bike
Michigan, USA
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156
Published: 2024-05-14
First generation Aventon Pace 350 retrofitted with GrinTech parts. Built to commute to classes while on a campus notorious for its lack of student parking, but now ridden recreationally.
I bought the Pace 350 because (at $1000) it was one of the cheapest ebikes I could find from an American bike company, and I wanted to minimize my spending in case riding an ebike to classes turned out to be impractical. Since then, I've probably spent more than $2000 on upgrades and customizations.
Battery cradle, brake levers, and thumb throttle are reused from the factory configuration.
New electronic components are an ERider T9 torque sensor with Miranda cranks, Baserunner L10 V6 controller, GMAC 8T rear hub motor (replacing a Pace 500 rear hub motor, replacing a stock Pace 350 rear hub motor), and a Cycle Analyst V3. The stock battery, a 36V L440 Reention Dorado, is replaced with a 48V model.
Other new non-electrical components include an FSA 50T chainring, RockShox 30 Gold RL suspension fork (replacing a stock rigid fork), Cane Creek 3G long travel suspension seat post, an Ibera bike rack, and SKS Bluemels fenders (since fenders weren't included stock).
The seat post adds three or four inches onto the height of the saddle, which is actually slightly too tall for me even when lowering the seat post as far as it'll go. In retrospect, I wish I'd bought the medium size bike frame and not the large.
Many components on the bike are 3D printed. A 1000 lumen "Slonik" LED headlamp is locked into a 3D printed clamp that interfaces with a Planet Bike fork mount headlight bracket. The RockShox front fork has no eyelets for mounting fenders instead, the fenders attach to 3D printed clamps tightened around the fork lowers. The first-gen Pace 350 has no eyelets for a bottle cage this bike has a 3D printed bracket for mounting a bottle cage on the top tube. Installing the torque sensor necessitated removal of the original crankset, which had a built-in chain guide. This was replaced with a 3D printed chain guide, a very durable but easily replaceable design that saves ~$20-30 compared to buying one off Amazon. The Baserunner is also zip-tied to the downtube with a 3D printed tube mount.
Huge thanks to the guys at Grin for all the tech support they've given me! I've pestered them for a while with all the problems I've encountered, and they've been invariably helpful to me.
