Hunker Junker Chronicles: Adding Another Skill to the Repertoire: Fixing an E-Bike

October 1st, 2026

ESCANABA, MI.-For the past week and a half, I’ve been getting around town on an e-bike while I figure out what to do about my car.

My 1985 Buick Riviera—better known as the “Guppy Gangsta Wago”—is in the shop for some custom bracket work. Apparently, the transmission bracket they need isn’t made anymore, because seemingly the world has decided that people no longer need parts for perfectly good eight-cylinder automobiles.

(Illustrative Only)
In Delta County
we have good bike trails,
a new bike lane downtown,
and beautiful landscape. 

Imagine biking to your
new start-up on Ludington
Street?

This is where after talking to other car enthusiasts I was given a name of a guy who could fabricate specific parts. Now we are back in business!

I’m definitely going to fix the Riviera. It’s a great car, has a V8, and has plenty of character. But I’ve also come to the conclusion that having a somewhat more reliable vehicle might be a good idea.

Like many people, however, I’m not particularly excited about taking on a $60,000 or $100,000 vehicle payment, plus insurance, interest and all the other expenses that come with a new vehicle. So the idea of finding a decent used car and paying cash has started to look pretty attractive.

In the meantime, there’s the e-bike.

I bought this particular bike about four years ago for roughly $400. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it has actually held up pretty well. I’ve used it occasionally, but lately I’ve been riding it a lot more—and I’m beginning to understand why people enjoy e-bikes.

You see the community from a different perspective, get some exercise and actually have to interact with the environment instead of simply climbing into a vehicle and disappearing behind the windshield. 

I used to do quite a bit of biking in San Diego, so biking isn’t exactly new to me. Doing it more in the UP and maybe see if I can do some winter e-biking. 

And, of course, there is another benefit: when the car is sitting in the driveway, it’s a little harder to use it as an excuse not to exercise.

Then the e-bike decided to develop a problem.

The pedal assist started cutting in and out. On. Off. On. Off. Eventually, it simply gave up altogether.

I took it to a local bike shop, and they told me they couldn’t repair it because it was an imported bike and getting replacement parts would be difficult.

Apparently, my bike had an immigration problem (It's getting cold out.🧊🏒)

Fine. I brought it home.

I started doing some research online and watching a few YouTube videos. I eventually figured the problem might be the pedal-assist sensor. So I located the sensor, pulled it out, cleaned it, used some electrical connection cleaner and gave it a good brushing.

I put everything back together, turned the bike on—and, lo and behold, it worked perfectly.

No expensive parts. No complicated repair. No new bike.

Sometimes the solution really is just cleaning the thing you already have.

That little repair also gave me another idea.

I have two other bicycles sitting around, including a nice cruiser with only seven gears. It’s a great bike for cruising around, but it isn’t exactly built for attacking hills. Around here, hills have a way of reminding you that seven gears are not necessarily enough.

So I started looking at e-bike conversion kits.

Apparently, you can buy a reasonably inexpensive conversion kit for a few hundred dollars and turn a traditional bicycle into an e-bike.

Now I’m thinking: Why not?

Instead of simply buying another expensive vehicle, I might have stumbled into a new hobby—converting old bicycles into e-bikes. Makes you think. 🤔

The Hunker Junker gets repaired, the e-bike keeps me moving, and the old cruiser may get a new electric life.

Not a bad outcome for a $400 bicycle and a dirty sensor.