Kamingo, a new electric bike conversion kit promises to turn your pedal cycle into an e-bike in 10 seconds. It’s designed around a friction drive motor, which is mounted to the rear seatpost, and automatically lowers down to the tyre.
The big selling point of the Kamingo is the claim that it can reach 750W peak output, which is more than something like the Bosch PX motor. At a retail price of $589 (roughly £430) it’s not terribly expensive, but there are other options around that price point that use alternative drive systems.
Founded by Julian Lee, formerly of Huawei, the brand launched its Kickstarter campaign on 11 June, and the funding target was met within 10 minutes. At the time of writing, the campaign has raised over £880,000 (roughly $1.2 million).
What is the Kamingo and how does it work?
Kamingo is a lightweight e-bike conversion kit which can be used on most bikes that use slick or semi-slick tyres. It’s not suitable for bikes that use deep tread tyres like mountain bikes.
The kit comes with three components: a battery which fits into a bottle cage, a rear motor, and a handlear-mounted control unit. There are three modes to choose from – assist, which is basically ‘on’, cruise, which is throttle-powered support (but not available in the UK), and then standby, which is ‘off’.
The motor offers 250W of rated power, and 750W peak power. It uses a ‘permanent magnet synchronous motor’ and is mounted on the seat stay where the friction between the motor and the tyre helps to generate power. It can apparently offer up to 40Nm of torque, too.
It uses Pressure-Adaptive Technology (PAT) to adjust contact pressure between the tyre and the motor automatically for a smooth assistance output.
The battery sits within a normal-sized bottle cage, and features magnetic fast charging so it can be fully charged in 3 hours. It’s a 266Wh capacity, so not exactly massive – and Kamingo suggests riders can get up to 18.6 miles (30km) from one charge.
Overall the system weighs 2.3kg, which is pretty lightweight. It also features regenerative braking to recharge the battery during braking and or freewheeling, an IP66 rated waterproof rating, and will automatically cut out if the bike tips over 45 degrees – so no wall of death rides for anyone on this.
The beauty of electric bike conversion kits is that you don’t have to buy a new bike if you want to swap to electric, but there’s not much you can do about the difference in ride feel from having an extra 2.3kg on the frame.
The weight is distributed front and rear, so it may not be as noticable as something like the Skarper conversion kit, which sits entirely at the rear of the bike, but it’s important to note the Skaper doesn’t use friction, and thus won’t wear out your tyres.
Other friction drive units like the Livall PikaBoost, which Richard reviewed recently, might be worthy of consideration as they’re cheaper and already available, but also don’t really ‘wow’ riders with their technical capabilities.
A few years ago, Dave tried out the Revos eBike Kit With 200Wh Battery, and while he agreed the idea of it is a nice one, in practice, it wasn’t very powerful, and preferred something like the Swytch kit which uses a hub motor instead.
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The popularity of friction drive units comes and goes, much like the brands that try and make them, hinting at some underlying weaknesses in the concept.
And similarly, a product that over-exceeds its funding on Kickstarter isn’t always a good thing. Some companies were overwhelmed with the amount of orders and unable to fulfill the needs of the customers, and others just couldn’t quite get the product over the line, even with all the backing.
So while the Kamingo may cost $589 (or $349 for early bird pricing), you’ll have to factor in extra tyre and component wear to the cost, and the inherent risk of backing a product that does not currently exist. The Kickstarter campaign is live until 31 July, with shipping expected to being in December 2025.
