Dillenger Street Legal Electric Bike Kit Review

Dillenger Street Legal Electric Bike Kit Review
Dillenger Street Legal Electric Bike Kit
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Shengyi Geared Hub Motor
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Downtube Battery Pack 36 Volts
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit King Meter Display Panel Thumb Throttle
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Remote Button Pad
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit 12 Magnet Cadence Sensor Ring
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Battery Mounting Plate
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Battery Plug And Usb Charging Port
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Bundled Cables Zip Tied To Frame
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Front View
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Side View Battery Mount
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Wiring For Wheelm Motor
Trek 7 2 Fx Bicycle Electric Bike Conversion
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Unboxing
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Wheel With Hub Motor Boxed
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Battery Cables In Boxes
Dillenger Street Legal Electric Bike Kit Review
Dillenger Street Legal Electric Bike Kit
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Shengyi Geared Hub Motor
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Downtube Battery Pack 36 Volts
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit King Meter Display Panel Thumb Throttle
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Remote Button Pad
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit 12 Magnet Cadence Sensor Ring
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Battery Mounting Plate
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Battery Plug And Usb Charging Port
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Bundled Cables Zip Tied To Frame
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Front View
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Side View Battery Mount
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Wiring For Wheelm Motor
Trek 7 2 Fx Bicycle Electric Bike Conversion
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Unboxing
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Wheel With Hub Motor Boxed
Dillenger Street Legal Ebike Kit Battery Cables In Boxes

Summary

  • An electric bike kit that includes everything you need to get rolling aside from an inner tube and tire (consider buying in advance or using the one off of your target bicycle)
  • Available in 20, 24, 26, 27.5 and 28 inch wheel sizes! That means you can convert everything from trikes to city bikes and even mountain bikes to electric, it's relatively easy and fast to install, the cadence sensor clips on so you don't have to remove crank arms
  • Offers a variable speed trigger throttle for smooth but instant power as well as pedal assist with a 12 magnet super-responsive cadence sensor, you also get a remote button pad for easy control of assist levels while riding
  • The geared hub motor freewheels so there's no drag but it does still add weight to your front wheel and this impacts steering (and can lead to speed wobble when riding no-handed), the axle and hub screws were were wider than our fork allowed which required some filing

Video Review

Introduction

Make:

Dillenger

Model:

Street Legal Electric Bike Kit - Samsung Power

Price:

$699

Suggested Use:

Neighborhood, Urban

Electric Bike Class:

Throttle on Demand (Class 2)
Learn more about Ebike classes

Warranty:

1 Year Comprehensive

Availability:

United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Europe

Model Year:

2016

Bicycle Details

Total Weight:

17 lbs (7.71 kg)

Battery Weight:

7.7 lbs (3.49 kg)

Motor Weight:

6.3 lbs (2.85 kg) (8.7 lbs Including Wheel)

Rims:

Aluminum Alloy, Double Wall, Eyelett

Spokes:

13 Gauge Stainless Steel, Black

Wheel Sizes:

20 in (50.8cm)24 in (60.96cm)26 in (66.04cm)27.5 in (69.85cm)28 in (71.12cm)

Accessories:

USB Charging Port on Battery

Other:

Locking Removable Battery, EB-BUS Waterproof Cable Set, SANS 36V 2A Smart Charger, KT Sign Wave Controller with 7-15 Amp Operating Range, Hold Up and Down to Enter and Clear Trip Meter

Electronic Details

Motor Brand:

Shengyi DGW07

Motor Type:

Front-Mounted Geared Hub
Learn more about Ebike motors

Motor Nominal Output:

350 watts (Restricted to 250 Watt in Europe)

Battery Brand:

Samsung ICR 18650-26F 2600 mAh

Battery Voltage:

36 volts

Battery Amp Hours:

13 ah

Battery Watt Hours:

468 wh

Battery Chemistry:

LiMn2O4 Lithium Ion

Charge Time:

6.5 hours

Estimated Min Range:

25 miles (40 km)

Estimated Max Range:

50 miles (80 km)

Display Type:

King Meter KT3, Fixed, Backlit, Monochrome

Readouts:

Speed, Battery Level (4 Bars), Assist Level (1-5), Odometer, Trip Meter, Max Speed, Average Speed, Voltage, Watts, Temperature

Display Accessories:

Independent Button Pad

Drive Mode:

Trigger Throttle, Cadence Sensing Pedal Assist

Top Speed:

20 mph (32 kph)(Restricted to 15.5 MPH in Europe)


Written Review

Dillenger offers some of the most polished electric bike conversion kits I’ve tested and their Street Legal Samsung Power product is one of my favorites. This kit is well priced at ~$700 including the motor, controller, display, throttle, battery and all of the wires you need to get up and running. The only things it does not included that will require extra money and effort to install are a an inner tube and tire. This saves waste because you probably already have a tube and tire on your soon-to-be converted bicycle… but it requires some doing and possibly even tools that you don’t have like tire levers. I also used a bike stand to get this kit on and you can find them for ~$100 which will save your handlebars and seat from wear (if you plan on flipping your bike). We had to flip our bike once to modify the fork and used some of the cardboard and foam packing materials from the box which was free :D

Okay, so installing this kit took longer than I expected (or perhaps remembered as I had already installed their older version a couple years back) but that’s just how it goes sometimes… because every bike is different. In this case, we used a Trek 7.2 FX model. It seemed like the perfect platform because the downtube was very open and had bottle cage bosses (offering plenty of strength and space for the battery pack to mount). Ultimately, we ran into some challenges because the dropouts on the fork were a millimeter or two too narrow and had to be filed down to fit the hub motor axle. We also had to file the screw heads on the hub motor itself so they wouldn’t rub on the sleek fork. This kind of alteration is always a little scary and might require even more tools (we used a standard mill bastard file) but that’s what I’ve come to expect with kits because it’s never truly one size fits all. I love that this kit comes in a range of wheel sizes 20″ to 29″ where the motor is spoked-in to a rim. That versatility comes with the trade-off of not being perfectly suited to any one specific bike. The rim might be narrower or wider than yours and the spoke colors might not match. I actually really like the black paint job on the hub motor, spokes and rim here because it helps them to blend in. There’s always going to be some screwing around when it comes to kits and even if the effort is minimal, the extra wires aren’t going to look as sleek and clean as if they were run through the frame, as is the case with purpose-built electric bikes. For this build, we were using a black bike so the black wires sort of fade away and the whole thing turned out really nice.

I like saving money, I love how well designed the Dillenger kits are (with color coded wires) and appreciate more open systems that give you throttle and pedal assist modes (making this a Class 2 ebike). I was a bit surprised that you can’t use the throttle at assist level zero for “throttle only” operation but it works great in level 1 and offers full power with variable output (so you can press gently for slower, less powerful operation). I enjoyed riding around with minimal assist then juicing it to climb a hill, take off from a stop sign or catch up with my friend. The display, throttle and independent button pad (used to switch the display on and select from five levels of assist) were easy to position and ultimately reach while riding. Our brake levers were integrated with the shifters and that kept the cockpit clean but didn’t align as well for the brake lever motor inhibitor sensors. The display isn’t removable which is a bit sad given how nice it looks (hoping nobody messes with it at the bike racks). I also struggled to figure out how to change settings like going from metric to imperial but my guess is that it’s possible? To activate backlighting you just hold the up arrow for a few seconds and holding the down button will turn on walk mode which is neat.

At 350 watts (250 for parts of Europe) the power offered by this kit is average but the battery pack is above average with 36 volts and 13 amp hours! That’s nearly a half kilowatt hour total meaning you should go further with each charge. Of course, if you don’t pedal and constantly gun it to top speed your mileage may suffer. The Euro version should deliver higher range as air resistance efficiency loss is much lower at lower speed. Note that you can ride above the top assisted speed if you pedal hard and the wheel freewheels efficiently, nothing will hold you back besides your own strength and endurance :) At the end of the day, the kit isn’t quite perfect (I wish it came with a paper instruction sheet for one) but I guess that just like the tube and tire, they are saving money and reducing waste. Instructions are available online and Dillenger has wonderful customer support options with multiple phone numbers (for the US, UK and Australia where the company is based). Even though I’ve stated that the motor size/power is average, in my experience it’s enough for pleasurable rides around town and small to medium hills. There’s always a trade-off when it comes to weight and price, what the Street Legal kit offers is great value and in practice it more than doubles my own pedaling output. The entire kit only adds ~17 lbs to your bike and the removable battery is convenient and easy to work with. This is a winner in my book and it’s easy to see why the kit is a top seller for Dillenger. Big thanks to Dillenger for partnering with me for this review.

Pros:

  • Relatively affordable if you’ve got a pre-existing bike to work with, you get the motor, controller, battery, display and all of the wires needed to get up and running for well under $1k
  • The packaging looked great and seemed very well padded, none of the parts were damaged or missing! Frequently I receive kits or even ebikes with missing screws and damage, Dillenger also offers a solid 1 year comprehensive warranty
  • The kit is indeed street legal in most situations, it maxes out at 20 mph but includes both assist and throttle mode for versatile riding, I like the throttle for use when starting at zero to reduce strain on my knees
  • The front wheel design is super easy to install, way less complex than a rear wheel ebike kit, and the wires are all color coded to make them intuitive to figure out, you also get plenty of zip ties but I was a bit surprised that our kit didn’t have an instruction sheet? We had to go online to figure it out, I also love that the cadence sensor uses a clip-on design so you don’t have to remove the cranks on your bike
  • The display is large, backlit and offers a ton of readouts including speed, odometer, battery level, voltage, watts and access to assist settings, it’s not removable but for what it is, it works well… I love that you get a separate button pad because it makes changing levels easy, you don’t have to take your hand off the grip
  • The battery pack locks to the frame for security but is removable for convenient charging, there’s a built-in LED scale to communicate charge level even when it’s off the bike and a female USB port for charging portable electronics! It’s a solid design and the capacity of nearly 1/2 kilowatt hour is great, I also trust and prefer Samsung cells to generic
  • I love that the kit included brake sensors so you can improve safety (cutting power to the system whenever you brake) and that if you decide to not use them, the system still works
  • Dillenger offers this kit in multiple wheel sizes including 20″, 24″, 26″, 27.5″ and 700c 28″ so you can use it with some trikes, smaller bikes, city bikes and mountain bikes
  • I like that the kit comes with a trigger throttle because it means you don’t have to cut your grip in half, triggers are also easier to use if you ride on bumpy terrain, they don’t compromise your grip at all

Cons:

  • The wheel doesn’t come with a tube or tire so you have to spend extra time swapping it from your original wheel… this means switching back to non-electric takes longer or you have to spend more money to buy an additional tube/tire but it also that there’s less waste and probably keeps the kit cheaper and lighter to ship
  • We weren’t able to figure out how to switch from metric to imperial or enter into the menu and adjust the number of pedal assist levels… we did figure out the backlighting though, just hold the up button
  • We had to file the dropouts on our Trek 7.2 FX bicycle to fit the larger axle that’s setup with the kit (it’s ~9.9 mm wide) we also had to file some of the screw heads because they were scraping the fork… but it worked!
  • You need to be in one of the five levels of pedal assist to use the throttle, I love that it overrides at full power but kind of wish it worked at level zero for throttle-only mode
  • The battery box is fairly large and took up the entire downtube triangle area on our test bike so even though there was a second set of bottle cage bosses we couldn’t use them, it’s just bulkier than some new purpose built ebikes with downtube integrated batteries
  • Front-wheel powered electric bikes don’t usually offer as much traction because your body weight is usually further back over the rear wheel, I also feel that the added weight of the hub motor changes steering a bit and was told by Darlington that he felt speed wobble when trying to ride with no hands (this is when the bars vibrate back and forth with increasing speed)
  • It wasn’t obvious which way to point the wheel… I have installed kits before only to find out that the motor is spinning backwards! I wish there was an arrow on the wheel or more information in the instructions
  • Kits tend to have “one size fits all” extra long cables and that means you end up wrapping them and zip tying them to the bike, be sure to clip the ends of the zip ties close so you don’t get scratched, I used a tool like this, even if you do a GREAT job the bike still looks a bit messier than if the cables were the perfect length or integrated through the frame
  • Activating this kit is a two step process… you have to press a power button on the battery then hold the power button on the control pad as well, it’s not a huge deal and this isolates power on the battery to reduce phantom draw and improve stability but it does add time and not all purpose built ebikes are two-step like this

Resources:

More Dillenger Reviews

Dillenger 750W Gearless Electric Bike Kit Review

  • MSRP: $999
  • MODEL YEAR: 2015

A powerful electric bike kit designed to replace your existing rear wheel (works with 24", 26" and ~28" wheels). Offers throttle mode and five levels of pedal assist, locking removable battery, great wire management...

Dillenger 350W Geared Electric Bike Kit Review

  • MSRP: $989
  • MODEL YEAR: 2015

One of the easiest electric bike kits to install that I've ever tested, front wheel mounting, color coded quick-connect wires, clip-on 12 magnet cadence sensor ring. Offers both throttle mode and pedal assist with five levels, can reach 20 mph in…...

Comments (15) YouTube Comments

Dan
8 years ago

I purchased this kit about 2 months ago. Below is my experience with it!

  1. Installation: Installation went relatively smoothly. I had some issues centering the motor / wheel and aligning the brakes, but this is mostly because I’m not an expert at bikes. I was unable to initially install the cadence sensor. I had to purchase a longer crank arm connector piece (not sure what it’s called). Apparently they come in multiple sizes, and mine was the shortest version. It was only a matter of millimeters. Once that was installed, the cadence sensor worked as well. (Until then I was able to use the throttle). One minor inconvenience is that many of the wires are quite long. If you’re installing on a really long bike or something like that, this is helpful, I suppose. It seems like it’d be helpful to include shorter wires for normal sized bikes so you don’t have bundles of extra wires to secure that look a bit messy.
  2. Riding around: The 350W motor is quite powerful. It powers me effortlessly up hills. Usually I pedal along, as that makes the pedal assist work. But I could probably get up hills without pedaling at all, should I really be lazy. I also pull a trailer with two toddlers. I’m not sure how fast I’d be going if I wasn’t pedaling, but just pedaling normally / lightly, I’m able to go up hills at 12 – 15 mph while pulling a trailer! It makes transporting the kids a breeze! Yesterday I probably biked about 20 hilly miles, and the battery was still indicating half full. The throttle is super-helpful for starting up at red lights, especially since I tend to leave the bike in higher gears now. Maybe – going up hills, I downshift into a mid level gear. I haven’t used granny gear since I got the kit. Overall, this kit is both powerful and has a lot of capacity. I can’t see needing anything more powerful – at least on normal streets! It really wouldn’t feel safe to go much faster!
  3. Concerns and annoyances: The computer is terrible. To adjust any of the settings requires a lengthy sequence of button pushes that don’t seem to lead where they’re supposed to. The computer takes up a lot of space on the dash, when all I think I’d really want is what power assist level I’m in (1-5), and my battery life. Things like speed seem to be flat out wrong. And there’s a dozen or so other metrics that just aren’t necessary or useful. Things like temperature (I’m outside already, I don’t need the bike to tell me that I’m hot or cold!), the amount of time the bike has been turned on this trip; the amount of time the bike has been turned on – ever; take up lots of space on the computer and on the dash had have limited value. I had to move my light and bell to make room for the large computer… bummer. It doesn’t really seem to effect the operation of the bike, however. It’d be nice if it had a built in light or something, especially since the computer takes the space where lights are mounted.
  4. The motor seems to cut out briefly when going up long hills. Not sure what’s happening – if it’s overheating, or switching gears, or what? It doesn’t seem to be a big deal – it maybe only cuts out for a second or so…. as long as this doesn’t become more frequent or for longer intervals, it’s not a big deal.
  5. A couple times, the unit has failed to turn on and has indicated that the battery is dead when it has at least half capacity. Eventually, after trying to turn it on a few times, it has worked. Concerning, but as long as it continues to work, not a big problem.

Anyhow, overall, I think this was the right unit for the right price. At $700, it’s not the cheapest model out there, but it’s a really good option that seems to have a fair bit of power and capacity. And why a lot of the reviews, etc. seem to try to steer you to a mid-drive kit, I really think that the front drive seems to be the simplest and the cadence sensor + throttle is very simple and very effective.

  Reply
Court Rye
8 years ago

Excellent feedback Dan! Thanks for taking the time to share and help others. I agree with many of your points and also appreciate the simplicity of a front hub motor and hope we see more integrated light options… especially if it was just a headlight since the display is already there and taking up space as you mentioned :)

  Reply
Dan
8 years ago

One thing – here on your website you have an extra 0 in the prices for this company’s bikes. Obviously this is a $700 kit, not a $7000 kit. But if you search by price, it might come up incorrectly.

Dan
6 years ago

I am now following up after owning Dillenger e-bike kits for 2 years and having lots of experience with the pleasantries and various problems. My original kit – reviewed above – eventually had a bad battery. Dillenger was pretty good about having me take video of the battery failing, and then sending me a new battery under the 1 year warranty. The new battery worked well. The process to get a battery took close to a month.

Then, at some point, my bike stopped working and started generating an “error 3”. With some diagnosis, I determined that this was a power failure to the motor. I spent months going back and forth with Dillenger. They had me buy a new controller for $120, which didn’t solve the problem. Eventually I figured out that the wire leading into the motor was frayed. If the axle nuts ever become loose, the axle can turn, damaging the dropouts and ripping the wires that lead from the battery to the motor. Dillenger does not sell a replacement wheel / motor, and the wiring is hardwired into the motor. An electrical engineer helped me take apart the motor, but we could not get access to the wires in order to splice / replace them. I think Dillenger customer support may have offered to sell me a replacement motor for $200+, but even then, it would have to be re-connected to the wheel via the spokes, a painful task.

Alas, I didn’t know what to do. I had a non-working kit (albeit with a lot of working parts, including a $400 battery). And this still seemed like one of the best deals for a complete DIY kit. And it had lasted me close to 2 years. I decided to purchase a new kit to get a new wheel. I attempted to install the new wheel on my bike. I had great difficulty getting the wheel to sit in the dropouts, which appear to have been bent and worn out by the old kit. I had to purchase a bunch of additional washers, etc – to get the wheel to sit. Still, I when I turned it on, the axle rotated, tearing the wires. Again. Customer service basically says this is my fault, and will sell me a new motor for the “discounted” price of $180.

The reality is with this kit – is that if it is installed perfectly and doesn’t have any issues – it’s a great, inexpensive kit. But I’ve now had 2 kits where the wire to the wheel has frayed or ripped, and is not replaceable for under $200! And customer service is just not very helpful. And service (and receiving parts) is incredibly slow. I would not recommend purchasing this kit any longer. I’m not sure what I would do instead – but for the last 6 months – despite spending close to $1,000 on parts, etc – I still don’t have a working kit! Supposedly they now sell a torque arm that helps solve this problem. It would have been nice to know that BEFORE I ruined my dropouts and 2 wheels.

  Reply
Court
6 years ago

Hi Dan, thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience with this ebike kit… I have also had kits that spun (and even complete ebikes) which really could have used a torque arm. I installed one custom on the recent Propella (which I customized a bit with a rack), torque arms aren’t that expensive, but they can be tricky to install if you’ve got a rear-wheel motor vs. front wheel because the kickstand, disc brake calipers, and derailleur all get in the way. You can see how I got mine working in this video. I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had such a difficult, slow, and expensive experience here, and I hope your future ebikes are more reliable :)

Drummond
7 years ago

I bought a Dillenger Hunter Hub 2016, in summary, the ‘bulletproof’ hub motor broke after about 200 miles of gentle use not offroad. Dillenger took 2 months to diagnose the problem, then offered to deliver after a further 2 months or deliver faster for 150gbp. The bike is under warranty only 3 months old. The marketing proudly pronounces this bike is based on their popular and proven tried and tested kit, using exactly the same motor. However Dillenger say they cannot send a motor from the UK (where I’m based) from one of their kits which are in stock. So overall 4 months to send another ‘bulletproof’ replacement motor or pay alot of money. Sent tens of emails to sort it out, and had to take the bike apart for their diagnosis, in total messing about probably over a week’s work.

  Reply
Court Rye
7 years ago

Ouch, I’m sorry to hear about all the hassle you’ve gone through Drummond. Thanks for sharing here… and waiting to do so until you tried working with them a bit to find a solution. I hope that your problem is resolved soon and that they are able to avoid this type of situation with other customers in the future :/

  Reply
Jack
7 years ago

I installed the 350 watt kit on my Trek bike a couple years ago. It worked beautifully for about a month and then began to quit if the throttle was advanced too far. Soon it quit altogether. The support was horrible. They wanted me to send a video of the failure happening. That was an impossibility for me. I offered to purchase any parts needed if they could tell what I needed. No way, the video was still required. They are in Australia so any hope of visiting their facility is certainly limited. I ended up giving the kit to a neighbor who is an electrical engineer. I do not know if he was able to get it working. Also, the entire kit is made in China so I would guess Dillenger is merely a reseller. If you buy one do not expect much in the way of service.

  Reply
Court Rye
7 years ago

Ouch… sorry to hear about that Jack. I wish I had the ability to predict more or warn about possible issues but I appreciate you giving a testimonial here and being pretty fair and even-toned about it. I hope your next ebike experience is better :/

  Reply
Ben Lotstein
5 years ago

Do you think it would work alright to mount the battery to a point rear of the seat tube? Is there enough wiring? I’m considering building an cargo bike and mounting the battery somewhere with the cargo.

Thanks!
Ben

  Reply
Bel
3 years ago

Bought my bike from their Gold Coast Store a while back just to find that they had Zero customer service, shop closed down after a short while and I was left with a dud battery. Prices are too high and all their stuff and ebike kits can be found on Amazon for 30-60% cheaper with a return option, no hassles or lies.

  Reply
Court
3 years ago

Bummer, thanks for the heads up Bel! I was invited to Australia a few years back to look at their products and do a bunch of reviews. I had some other commitments that wouldn’t allow and I haven’t heard from them (or much about them) since. Too bad the customer service isn’t what you hoped for, especially paying extra for that kind of service vs. Amazon. Hope the kit holds up or you find something better.

  Reply
Allan
3 years ago

I bought the off road rear 500w hub motor kit for $999. The kit itself went together easily, I used a torque arm and rarely need to tighten the rear nuts after mild off road riding. The motor and controller run very smooth, the display is difficult to work your way through. The main issue I’ve had is the battery wouldn’t deliver more than 25km range over relatively flat terrain. I have a friend who builds ebike batteries take a look at if before I tried returning it. He said he builds his smallest batteries starting with 30amp continuous output and wouldn’t have rated mine more than 5amp. He said the thin nickel plating and poor layout meant the battery was never going to work well. Instead he sold me one of his batteries and I’ve done around 500kms on it with no issues. I’ve noticed the motor gets quite warm after steep climbs so I would suggest checking it frequently and giving it a break when it gets really warm to touch. I hope this info helps, cheers : )

  Reply
Court
3 years ago

Good info Allan! Care to provide a link or information on your friend’s battery company? Sounds like it might be helpful to others who are using the same or similar ebike kit :)

  Reply

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