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Just because I know this will be a universally loved thread! 😆
Let's see your pride and joy out in the wilds!
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Yeah, it's a bit on the rough side, but so am I, well matched! 😆 Well scuffed up and battered with a bit of extra padding around the arse!
But is it fun? 😛
Terrible, don't be trying it. You'll hate it.
I've tried em. I think you're mistaking my opinion about stw threads for my opinion about ebikes.
I was being sarcastic there, I know your opinion.
Anyhow, this is a genuine attempt at a picture thread! 😆
That should be taken to Cwmcarn and thrown on the fire.
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Tomorrow i'll be fitting a bafang BBS mid drive with throttle to my cove hummer
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Can I just say much I enjoy a user called 'singlespeedstu' being a forum ebike advocate - that really is grabbing the concept of embracing change by the horns.
Not mine, but my Uncles leisure e-bike. Great fun. Steal it when I can.
He's lived in the bottom of the valley for 30 years and has never been cycling from the house due to the huge hills. This changed everything.
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@singlespeedstu Something something motorbike something
I'm just mixing up some 50:1 then I'm off out to roost some lycra wearers.😛
that really is grabbing the concept of embracing change by the horns.
As much as I like to mix things up with my variety of riding it's just a simple case of the powers that be not letting me change my forum name. (after countless years of ssing and nothing else I've not ss'd for around three years.)
That should be taken to Cwmcarn and thrown on the fire.
por quoi, not up to the latest fashions? 😆
That's the second one of those green monsters I have seen. Could it be the same bike? There can't be many of them about.
A Genesis Core cannot be described as "the latest fashions". They haven't been made since 2014 and yours isn't even that modern *wink face*
Is 2011 retro now? 😆
As much as I like to mix things up with my variety of riding it’s just a simple case of the powers that be not letting me change my forum name. (after countless years of ssing and nothing else I’ve not ss’d for around three years.)
No, I think it's great. You ss types were/are renowned for their 'if it doesn't hurt, it's not doing you good' knee exploding attitude to riding up hills. To see one go to the darkside is refreshing and a positive about ebiking still being actual biking.
convert.
Just keeping my love of all things bike going by adding a new way of riding to my choices.
cant do photos because the places my photos are stored dont let me link anymore.
not that you would want tt see photos...its not a looker.
its a Kona sutra with some surley krampus forks. out front and an xtracycle freeradical kit out back.
it has a bafang bbs02 with a 34 tooth chainring upfront and a sturmey archer 3 speed rear hub with a 9speed deore cassette as well giving good range for the weight of a loaded cargo bike.
getting a new smaller battery though as techs moved on from he big triangle monstrosity that takes up the whole front triangle and weighs a tonne. same power and higher A can be had from a jumbo whale with more modern Cells and saves several KG
great thing for shopping and nipping to the pub with the wife.
getting a new smaller battery though as techs moved on from he big triangle monstrosity that takes up the whole front triangle and weighs a tonne. same power and higher A can be had from a jumbo whale with more modern Cells and saves several KG
Yeah. You need to secure them properly to the bike though, the 2 water bottle mounts are a bit iffy for any rough stuff(could easily see the battery getting ripped from the frame). I got another 2 water bottle mounts drilled into the frame and I also have a couple of cable ties running around that thing just for some opposite force, just incase.
ps loving the pics, keep them coming! 🙂
Those integrated aerodynamic water bottles look cool!
Out in the Alps at the moment so left ours at home
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2015 cube stereo race nyon.
this was taken the day i got it.
since then, have changed
wheels, for same type with wider rims
bars, higher
Grips, ergon type
stem, shorter
saddle, brooks B17ti
replaced a worn rear tyre
nyon display replaced with purion.
Tracey, i love the picture in the barley field, it’s fabulous.
Could people give some indication of where the picture was taken (unless it's in your garden of course)? I've never seen one in the wild and it would be interesting to see whether any are being used on the trails that I know.
mines was on that new john muir way link over to balloch behind the kilpartricks, knew they'd built it, was curious to see if it was any use. Was dull fire road up to the lochs, which is fine if you're cruising up them at 15mph! 😆 , then it gets a wee bit pleasant at kilmanan and burncrooks reserviors, the path goes round burncrocks and is just a big 1.5/2m wide thing with loads of big gravelly chunks/stones in it, might wear down no bad in 10 years time! then after a few miles of that, just hits fireroad again, then into farm track and then roads. Not techy in the slightest though. As I say was just curious, pleasant enough jaunt though for a monday holiday. I'd imagine the route over to helensburgh is much the same.
Still had 55% left on the battery, which was decent.
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@roverpig - "I’ve never seen one in the wild"
I've seen loads in Italy, Germany and Austria. I even saw a teenage boy on an e-Fat bike blasting up and down the campsite road. They're really popular.
Garage, local taking the dog out on a night, going up over Cutgate and back from the Langsett side.
Hang on
I would post a picture but I can't seem to get it to work.
https://imgur.com is quite easy. uploaded image, copy and paste the bb code.
There is some rough stuff on the John Muir/Three Lochs Way but it is obviously a well built path. (and requiring ongoing maintenance) It is open to bicycles and in the summer would be a better more rideable route with fewer walkers than the busy West Highland Way. Get guidebooks here to help fund it and let the volunteer access team know what you think on FB. The FB page also has updates on alternative routes should Forestry work be in progress. www.threelochsway.co.uk
Had a go on one for the first time the other day. It was apparently modded so the computer displayed half the speed. Which meant double the speed in use. It was awesome fun zooming around a grassy field. I now want one.
Another rip round after work today.
So much fun just pissing about in the local woods.
I've not ridden this much in a long time.
There is some rough stuff on the John Muir/Three Lochs Way but it is obviously a well built path. (and requiring ongoing maintenance) It is open to bicycles and in the summer would be a better more rideable route with fewer walkers than the busy West Highland Way. Get guidebooks here to help fund it and let the volunteer access team know what you think on FB. The FB page also has updates on alternative routes should Forestry work be in progress. http://www.threelochsway.co.uk
think i'll give the whole milngavie to arrochar run a go soon, see what it's like, be a decent test of the battery, 42 miles, 1100m(most direct route), with the option to add on the glen loin loop if enough juice left to take it to 55mi, 1655m.might be best doing it from arrochar mind seeing how far you get south, more train stations to bail at!
Would need to be pretty miserly on the power for the full whack i think!
Tomorrow i’ll be fitting a bafang BBS mid drive with throttle to my cove hummer
be interested to hear your thoughts on the 2 different systems btw.
Got it finally built up and finished an hr ago, been out for a quick shake down and blimey 😳, it’s bloody quick off the mark using the throttle and with 9 levels of pedal assist (non torque sensing, works by crank revolutions) there is plenty of oomph to choose from, when changing gear I back off the revolutions and select higher/lower as required and ease the cadence back up, If using the throttle i back right off before changing as the power can come in pretty bloody sharp depending on how much you move the thumb trigger. Still got the cables to tidy up and a few minor things to do but very happy with it. I’ve got the hydraulic adapter cables to cut the motor when braking but I dunno if I’ll bother fitting them as it seems to work fine without them, I’d forgotten how bloody good the formula R1 brakes are when pulled on, slowed the bike very rapidly.
Currently got it set up with a syntace rigid carbon fork so it only weighs 16.5 kg, very pleased with the weight as that’s almost 8kg lighter than my Scott e-genius, I’ll eventually fit the Fox talas 110/140mm but for now I’m going hunting on the roads 😉.
The bbs01 extra torque motor seems to be plenty fast enough, glad I didn’t get the 750 version or the 1500w BBSHD as that’d be overkill for my needs, sits happily north of 20mph with its middle of the road tuning (very reliable) and I have a 36v 12ah battery so should be good for an achievable 30mile range.
Will get pics up tmorn
Cool, great stuff, glad to hear it's gone well. Yes, I don't use the brake cut off either, didn't even buy them. I'd tried the on my brothers bike and tbh they are horrible. Cut the power to the engine at in opportune times particularly a pain on brakey undullating stuff where you feather the brake salot and need to pedal.
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Lekkie bling ring and Lekkie buzz bar cranks
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Thumb throttle and motor/display controller
Still got two DMR Moto RT 2.4 tyres to fit and that's it finished, very happy with it and a shout out to Darren at Brighton E-Bikes for help and advice.
Id love this 😆
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Afan this week.
That's looking awesome soma!
Don’t own any of these yet, but did a weekend’s demo, three of them at the Malvern Classic and the Trek half day at Long Mynd.
Trek have just bought out the 2019 the one here is the 2018, but it’s between the Cube and Trek.
Planning to head to Ard Rock for one more demo on the Cube and make a decision.
Yeah it turned out better than I thought, initially I had reservations regarding the somewhat agricultural in design Bafang motor but with up to 9 levels of gradual assist (user programmable for 3, 5 or 9 levels) it works surprisingly well, and the all important throttle is great for when I can’t be arsed pedalling. I don’t think I’ll bother fitting the gear sensor nor the brake sensors so I’ll remove the plugs/excess cabling from the loom and cap the ends with heat shrinking as that’ll be a neater wiring job.
The fully modded Bafang BBSHD with 1600+watts must be an absolute rocket ship/bit of a handful to ride.
Are they jones bars ? I’m thinking of similar for my new cargobike but not sure I can justify the cost really. Worth it ?
Yeah, Ti jones bars, not as good at dampening vibration as the carbon version - as bars they're worth it but you'll prob need to factor in a longer stem.
The fully modded Bafang BBSHD with 1600+watts must be an absolute rocket ship/bit of a handful to ride.
tbh if you were to horse it about on 9 on the bsshd on tight trails, you'd probably kill yourself! 😆
One benefit of the bafang add on kits is that if they break, it only takes half an hour to put your bike back together in normal mode, while the motor is getting fixed. (Had an issue with my motor where the PAS just stopped working, borrowed a throttle motor was fine(I don't really want the temptation to use it tbh, so don't have one), just the PAS stopped, so I'd to send it off down to some guy in London to fix for me(em3ev are paying postage and it's their guy, which is decent, as is the fact not having to send it back to China!). should hopefully be getting it back next week or so, not sure on that.)
So, I just finished putting my bike back in normal mode, the hills will be interesting tomorrow! 😆
Great thread!
I was thinking of a mid motor conversion on a Fisher Sugar..
Those who went for the Bafang motors, did you consider the Tongsheng TSDZ2?
The TSDZ2 is similar - but has a torque sensing motor, so apparently gives a more natural feeling assistance? much like the off the peg decent e mountain bikes.
Also no throttles or brake sensors needed (although you can add them).
Theres a few on pedelecs and youtube vids.
Somafunk - Thats does look good. I've spent the last week researching these as looking at converting my Nail Trail. I'd figured the Bafang BBS01B kit 36V 250W extra torque model was the way to go.
What cassette range & chainring are you running on it?
Wzzz, I hadn't heard of the tongshen, so didn't consider it tbh. Not really sure how popular they are either. So long term not sure how parts will be for that. I think bafang is pretty popular so should be bits to had for a good few years hopefully. Particularly when I need to strip it down a fix it for myself after warranty is done.
Must admit I'm curious to the torque sensing though, I've not tried it yet. But then again I'm happy enough with the cadence sensing and manually changing the assist/power levels(all that does is set the amps at a percentage. So it just setting the motor to assist at incremental watt levels.
The other factor was price for me. Think torque sensing is expensive so being on a budget was bafang all the way for me.
What cassette range & chainring are you running on it?
Mines on 36 11-34 at the moment. Think I'll want slight lower gearing down the road mind. So once I run it into the ground I might swap it all for 42 11-46.
This guy has put a lot of miles on a tsdz2, has a few vids (inc repairs) of the TSDZ2
The unit is £310 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253682848954?var=552931509060
I was thinking for on road, a power setting is enough... but for offroad, torque sensing and ramping up the power with pedal effort would be nicer.
Good price, but buying off ebay offers zero support eh? Something I wanted when I was buying, why I went with that em3ev mob, it's an english guy that runs a factory in china, and has local support in the uk, communication is decent with them, but laggy due to the time differences, but I've had an issue and I'm pretty please with the service (well assuming the motor comes back working! 😆 ). All in all the reviews were good online about them, and I agree so far.
Eventually, I'll probably need to fix the thing myself as the years pass, but having that initial piece of mind and points of contact where they'll be responsive to you was important to me. Atleast initially, over time, I'll learn how to strip it down.
What cassette range & chainring are you running on it?
Cassette is a Praxxis 11-40 and chainring is a Lekkie 42 tooth
Soma - now THAT is what an E-bike should look like! It looks amazing!
I much prefer the 'bolt-on' approach rather than the 'let's make a massive ugly frame that looks heavy as ***k to hide the tech-bits' approach. I mean why bother covering all the gubbins up? We don't do that on 'normal' bikes. It looks far more elegant than the 'big frame' options. Very tempted to find an old frame and get it converted now.
Daft question - does it work with zero pedalling and if so what kind of range do you have without any user effort at all?
er... Soma's motor looks to be a great solution for his needs but there are some fairly good reasons to design Emtb frames specifically to their mount motors, batteries and electrics. Covering the gubbins is a pretty good idea for a bike ridden in all weathers through wet, muddy, dusty, rocky terrain etc. too.
normal bike gubbins such as the working/moving parts of BBs, Headsets, hubs, freehubs, pedal axles, brakes, shifters, pivot bearing, stanchions, dampers are all covered/sheilded, while the chain/cassette/mech/ring are easily accessed for cleaning/maintenance. same as on E bikes. My shimano motor is bolt on too and just as accessible/removable. My frame being specifically designed to hold it all is pretty reasuring when hitting a jump at 40mph
Cheers andykirk, It can work by throttle alone or by pedalling, not had it out for a proper run yet but hopefully i'll get out later this afternoon, i expect/hope to get 25 miles out of it dependant on how i use the throttle (fully pinned and whizzing along at 20mph+ or just out for a pleasant bimble), obviously if i avoid the throttle and rely on crank revolutions to motor assist me then i'll get further.
Total cost was £900ish, i could have built it cheaper by using aliexpress to buy the motor/battery etc from china but i wanted back-up in this country and Darren from from Brighton E-Bikes was really helpful.
Very simple to fit, if you can change a BB then you can fit this it in an hour or so, although saying that it took me 6 hrs due to my MS and fatigue setting in, especially annoying as a dropped bolt/washer tends to leave you staring at it on the floor in desperation as you summon the strength to get down to find it, then spending 10mins crawling around trying to get the strength to stand back up.
Throttle will significantly reduce the range btw. So be miserly with it! Ultimately tese mid drives are happiest when you are giving them a hand a decently high cadence.
Damn you somafunk :-). Everytime you post one of your bikes I end up poorer. First it was the Tripster and now that. I've got an old Stumpjumper in garage that would be a great candidate for conversion...
"My frame being specifically designed to hold it all is pretty reasuring when hitting a jump at 40mph"
on the other hand id like to see someone hit a jump at 40mph on somafunks machine.
i did fit full length mudguards with flaps to shield the worst of the shit off my bafang.
on the other hand id like to see someone hit a jump at 40mph on somafunks machine.
I wouldn't fancy their chances, as an aside.....How bloody small are 26 x 2.4" conti's ?, i've been spoiled by 3.0" & 2.8" 27.5 plus tyres for the last couple of years and these conti's are anorexic in their piddling size, another thing.....suspension has also spoiled me as i found out when hitting a pothole at no more than 10mph - i think i'll be fitting the Talas 110mm/140mm fork i have for the hummer very soon.
Damn you somafunk :-). Everytime you post one of your bikes I end up poorer
Not all my bikes have been lookers, what about my f.u.ngrel?, (aka **** ugly mongrel). My 1994 Marin Indian Fire Trail that i built up as a single speed road (52x16) bike a few years ago (before ms), still got this hanging up on my wall, done well over 70,000 miles on it in various iterations over the years and i still smile when i think of the places it took me.
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More BBS01 questions for Somafunk, rather than an e-bike pic, sorry OP... Somafunk, (very nice conversion BTW) ..what happens as you near the max assist speed does the power ramp down or get to max assist speed and cut out? Does the power cut out, or reduce, above a certain cadence or does it provide power (depending on level set) regardless of cadence provided the pedals are turning. Thanks
You can set the maximum motor assist speed using the display controller to whatever you wish, it comes pre-set to 16mph but i changed it to 23mph, for max efficiency i think the bafang BBS01 ETM i have prefers to used with a cadence of around 90rpm (i could be wrong) so obviously you need to use the gears to maintain as high a cadence as possible to avoid over heating the motor as it prefers to spin fast for efficiency.
Just back from the longest bike ride i've managed in a couple of years, only 24 miles but 1400ft of climbing and i used a mix of throttle assist for the steep hills and varied the cadence assist from 3 through to 9 on the controller - I still have 54% of battery left so i guess a range of 40miles+ should be achievable which is more than i was expecting. My motor settings/voltage/amps etc were set up by Darren for a general middle of the road riding experience and i see no reason to mess about with them, you can drive the motor harder if you use a programming cable and mess about with the settings but at the expense of possible overheating/battery drain etc.
When the power cuts out you can still pedal as normal with minimal drag through the system, certainly much more efficient/easy to pedal than exceeding the limit on my Scott e-genius (bosch cx motor), there is no chance of me being able to pedal much faster than the 23mph top speed i've programmed as i can't get my legs to turn the cranks fast enough so perhaps someone else will advise on how the power cuts out at the self imposed limit.
Thanks Soma, that's helpful.
Longminge ride yesterday.
23miles, 1250 meters of climbing and still got three bars (30%) left on the battery.
Did 2 sections of around 30 meters in trail mode and the rest in eco.
Average hart rate was actually higher than a similar ride on my Geometron.
Didn't take any pics of the descents as half of them were a little naughty...
Seems like you're having fun with the lenevo stu, riding so called cheeky trails as well eh?....i imagine the pitchforks and bombers will be getting sharpened by the luddites as i type this.
After waking up this morning feeling like my shoulders and neck have taken a beating due to the rigid forks (nice & light but not so practical) i've fitted my Talas CTD, feels much better to ride now and it's lifted the BB so less chance of smacking the motor off obstacles.
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140mm travel
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110mm travel
Seems like you’re having fun with the lenevo stu, riding so called cheeky trails as well eh?
I am indeed mate.
Never had a problem with any trail over there TBH.
Stopped for a chat with a large group of walkers on a footpath and everyone was happy.
Even saw one of them later in the camp site who came over to ask me if I'd manged to get down the steep rocky stream section OK.😎
Glad you're still managing to get out mate. 👍🏻
so those of you with bafang knowledge.
i have a bbs02 48v.... can i change controller to run a 36v - basically when i was building mine *edit apparently it was only 2 years ago the 36v battery options were crap. Things have changed and a nice 15ah 36v battery is considerably cheaper than a similar 48v and the 36v motor has better torque(at 86RPM) than the 48 which likes about 110-120 anyway
im researching else where as we speak but wondered if anyone knew
You might you might not(this is just from my googling), the issue seems to be the low voltage cut off point, which with 48v controllers is set to 41v usually. A 36v battery will usually charge up to about 42v I think, so it might run for a bit then it'll cut off.
You can change the LVC with the programming cable on the bafangs, whether it's advisable to run a 36v battery on a 48v controller I don't know, but you'd need to change the LVC to 31 volts I think to get it to use the full juice in your battery.
short answer is no you cant.
I can change the controller and itll work BUT 36v controllers are like hens teeth.
efficiency will also drop off running it at 36v as the windings are different (source - paul at em3ev)
Theres no way to adjust the controller.
Anyhoo , i seemed to recall the controllers being around 50-60 quid not 120 quid such as they are so the batteries are considerably cheaper but the cost of a controller more than makes up the difference.....
advise on how the power cuts out at the self imposed limit.
Yeah it just cuts off, feels a touch draggy when it does as you've just lost the power assist, but you can still pedal easily enough. tbh it's a bit irritating at 16 mph, so I've bumped mine up too, so it cuts off at 22mph(don't really want to go any faster anyhow, seems a good sweet spot(for road, off road, generally the limit doesn't factor much anyhow as you'll probably be below 15 mph there)).
Basically if you feel you are going beyond that limit all the time, just bring the assist level down so that you can just sit comfortably under the limit. You can basically find an easy balance point so you aren't going over the limit.
Theres no way to adjust the controller.
You sure about that? As I said you can change that low voltage cut off with the programming cable. (I've got a programming cable, it's dead easy to mess about with the settings.)
cannot be adjusted low enough for a 36v battery is what i should have said. yes you can play with it but it will not go low enough.,
BITD i was playing with it to achieve speed with my prog cable (hence mostly why i need a new battery due to rapid discharge) i came to my senses now when i realised that 15mph is actually a faster average than most people achieve on utility bikes and arriving non sweaty is why i bought it. also cars dont expect you to be going faster so you find your self in trouble quickly.
surprised at that, as it just numbers, curious what actually happens then when you write 31 to the lvc, does it just jump back up to 41 when you read flash again?
wonder if that's just because a 48v battery is connected, and the batteries bms just isn't allowing it to be set any lower?
personally id just stick to 48v though, seem to get better watt hours for the money far as i can see. touch heavier though.
Wzzz, I hadn’t heard of the tongshen, so didn’t consider it tbh. Not really sure how popular they are either. So long term not sure how parts will be for that. I think bafang is pretty popular so should be bits to had for a good few years hopefully. Particularly when I need to strip it down a fix it for myself after warranty is done.
They are pretty well evaluated and understood here:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=79788&start=2925
Parts here:
http://www.pswpower.com/ven.php?cargo-s220010
By Scar house reservoir.
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And in Gunship mode which initially was the main reason for the Ebike to get around farms more quickly.
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I bet you don't get accused of cheating very often! 😀
My Trek Super Commuter 8+ with NuVinci hub.
Had this bike about 8 months now. Enjoy being able to do a decent mileage and carry some photo equipment with me.
Very expensive to buy, but the NuVinci hub has been great, smooth, quiet, reliable.
Brooks saddle and a Thomsom layback post have been the only component changes.