Best Kit for Installation Business

[stypherfire]

Hello Endless-Sphere!

It has been a while since I posted on here (been on lurking status XD). Last time I posted was when I built my first E-Bike and it is still going smooth like a baby 2 years running now! So I am posting again because I want to get your input on an idea I have. Just a little background before we get this discussion started. I own and run a registered import company here in Toronto ON, Canada. Since I built my E-Bike back in 2012 (whew ages ago!), I have been riding it to work (about a 30km trip each way) religiously everyday (minus rain and snow cause you know, all Canadians live in igloos and eat whales =D jking) and I get a tonne of questions from road bikers about my E-Bike and whether or not I would build one for them. I have about 12 people in line ATM looking for an E-Bike Conversion. So my question is what type of setup would be best for a urban back and forth from work kind of kit that has easy maintenance/reliability and not extremely fussy.

I have been eyeing the BBS02 500W mid drive system due to the following reasons.
- With a in frame battery lock and key setup, it is user friendly, compact, great wire management, low maintenance and easy entry for new riders.
- The mid drive system will allow most people to maintain their gear shifters/current breaks.
- Would be the easiest one to stock in larger amounts because I wouldn't need to account for wheel size as much like in-hub motors.
- Power Efficient for those who want power assist and not just full throttle all the way.

Things I want:
- Kits that can haul around 250lbs (including bike etc.) while going 20km/h constantly without overheating/overstressing motor.
- Clean efficient wiring on the controller/motor so there aren't like 10 wires going along the entire bike. (i cut and soldered all my lines and consolidated them, but this is too much work and looks unsightly)
- Single charge will last 2 hours while going 20km/h WITHOUT over stressing battery. So far for my own bike, i have never dipped past 85% discharge (full charge 49V, lowest ever 42v).
- Simple maintenance and modular parts when replacement is required.

From what i can tell, this is Bafang's website.(http://www.szbaf.com/) Can anyone confirm this is their site or if you know their website/way of communication, can you share that?

Questions:
With the mid drive system, assuming you have a gear system installed a rider should be able to use only throttle without pedaling correct?
How long will the motor last assuming it is treated well and not over exerted? I want to be able to offer 1 year warranty and then be able to service them later as well!
Are there better kits which i can get that are mid drive systems?

 

[MadRhino]

With mid drives you are likely to have a lot of clients waiting for service in a near future. I'm not saying that mid drives can't be good, but you will need to make your own frame to adapt one of the integrated BB drives (like Bosh, Yamaha or similar) to make it neat. That is a lot of investment in time and money, to produce something neat and reliable driving the chain.

Any system can be made to work with throttle, pedal assist or both. You are commuting for 2 years without problems, so you know what is simple and reliable. Why not offer the same to your clients.

 

[stypherfire]

That is a good point you have about the warranty. However I would most likely tweak it to 2 years on service and 1 year on parts for the E-Bike Kit as long as it is not abused (dinged up, scratched badly due to negligence of use) and no warranty on the battery since customer use greatly affects its life span. As for Mid drives, I choose it since a lot of the people waiting on mine are mostly leisure bikers going to and from work as well as casual riding. They want to be able to pedal and use gears. Also very neat finish when done right compared to hub motors requiring external controller. Have you had any experience with the Bafang BBS02? 500w version of course since there wont be a need to go 30mph

 

[MadRhino]

Well, everyone I know want to go 40mph, and most are riding the mountain trails. I might not be a good reference for low powered city bikes.

Nevertheless... Almost everyone I know with mid drives, are spending more time tempering with their bike than riding. That is making me say: Mid drives are for those who like to build, and hubs are for those who like to ride. :wink:

 

[Jonathan in Hiram]

Most people are really ignorant of things mechanical and even more so of things electrical or electronic.

You are going to have to educate your customers in order for them not to burn up motors, batteries and controllers by doing things like riding up long steep hills in high gear on the BB drive without any pedaling, I'd be surprised if all of them listened to you and treated their ebikes properly.

People also have a tendency want to run batteries all the way to zero before recharging, the "memory effect" meme about batteries is still remarkably prevalent even twenty years or more after the memory effect was eliminated.

 

[d8veh]

The BBS01/02 mid-drive kit will be perfect for your business. It's easy to fit and pretty reliable. It works with just about any style of bike and comes in a range of different powers. You just need those frame mounted batteries to go with it and you get a very neat installation which is all plug-and-play.

This type of battery:

http://www.bmsbattery.com/battery-pack/684-bottle-ebike-battery.html

If you want some nice hub-motor kits, Xofo have some nice plug-and play ones with their 500w cassette motor. You have to email them with what you require. The key words are "waterproof connectors" and "CST motor" (their code XF-V(K))

This is their plug-and-play controller:
http://www.xofomotor.com/display.asp?id=769

 

[stypherfire]

Well, everyone I know want to go 40mph, and most are riding the mountain trails. I might not be a good reference for low powered city bikes.

Hmm, is the tinkering because they want to tweak it to go faster or is it due to the system always needing tuning? 90% of the people interested are people who want to save on back and forth to work. Here in Toronto, parking is about $25 a day in downtown combined with traffic, gas, etc it cost about +$35 for a lot of people i know. E-Bike is a investment in their eyes (which is totally true) as they don't want to bike due to sweat being generated right before heading to work.

Most people are really ignorant of things mechanical and even more so of things electrical or electronic.

I was hoping the auto cutoff that the Bafang bbs02 would help with a lot of the abuse issues. As for going up hills, Toronto is pretty flat in the most sense with only a few real hills. About the batteries, i do agree with you. That is why i will not give a warranty for mistreated batteries that have been run flat.


Is there a way to tell if a bbs02 is legit or fake with it in hand? I found a place here (http://gebattery.en.alibaba.com/product/1954096642-209628576/New_Bafang_upgraded_Crank_drives_BBS02_48v500w_E_Bike_Non_hub_Motor_Drives_kit.html) that seems to have a pretty good quoted price to me. I was going to go with Bottle style batteries since you can have a couple to swap out when needed.

 

[MadRhino]

Well, everyone I know want to go 40mph, and most are riding the mountain trails. I might not be a good reference for low powered city bikes.

Hmm, is the tinkering because they want to tweak it to go faster or is it due to the system always needing tuning? 90% of the people interested are people who want to save on back and forth to work. Here in Toronto, parking is about $25 a day in downtown combined with traffic, gas, etc it cost about +$35 for a lot of people i know. E-Bike is a investment in their eyes (which is totally true) as they don't want to bike due to sweat being generated right before heading to work.

Fixing chain and gears and derailers... Mid drives do have a lot of moving parts, compared to the simple rotor of a hub motor. May I suggest that you build a mid drive and ride it for a while, then you can have experience of both and decide what you want to build for your clients.

 

[stypherfire]

I am going to do that for sure. Has the issue of overheat cut off been fixed? also has the BBS02 been transitioned over to torque sensor yet?