CYC PHOTON

[o00scorpion00o]

Bosch or Brose are not cheaper neither. ~1000 euro (if you add shipping costs)

Motor Brose S Mag vertical | Biketec Europe GmbH

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No not cheap but you know what you're getting and you know the service is there if you need it, parts + they are very reliable. + Bosch and Brose are big brands especially Bosch.

 

[Atak_Snajpera]

No not cheap but you know what you're getting and you know the service is there if you need it, parts + they are very reliable. + Bosch and Brose are big brands especially Bosch.

Good luck finding spare parts for those motors... BOSCH is like Apple. Broken after warranty? No problem! Buy a new one from our shop!

 

[o00scorpion00o]

Good luck finding spare parts for those motors... BOSCH is like Apple. Broken after warranty? No problem! Buy a new one from our shop!

Depends where you live maybe, In small countries like Ireland it's common for example to have automatic gear box sent to another country to be fixed or a parts exchange, that's just one of many examples.

 

[raylo32]

Except these usually come only in bikes that are made to fit them... like scorpio's Haibike. And those bikes cost 4,000-7,000 E/$. A $500 TSDZ2 or even $1000 Photon is chump change compared to that.

Bosch or Brose are not cheaper neither. ~1000 euro (if you add shipping costs)

Motor Brose S Mag vertical | Biketec Europe GmbH

Motor Brose S Mag vertical for specialist dealers now. Technical information ✓ Pictures ✓ Simple and comprehensive service ✓ Best quality ✓.

fit-ebike.com

 

[raylo32]

We are DIY's here so the brand name thing and having dealers to fix them are not that important. We are just stubborn that way.

No not cheap but you know what you're getting and you know the service is there if you need it, parts + they are very reliable. + Bosch and Brose are big brands especially Bosch.

 

[o00scorpion00o]

Except these usually come only in bikes that are made to fit them... like scorpio's Haibike. And those bikes cost 4,000-7,000 E/$. A $500 TSDZ2 or even $1000 Photon is chump change compared to that.

The haibike cost 2500 Euro's back in 2013 which was reasonable enough considering the quality of the bike itself.

The motors are OEM only probably because Bosch can't be arsed dealing with us DIY'ers lol.

A bike with an 85 Nm Bosch is really expensive, you're probably talking at least 4000 Euro's and they don't seem to fit them to cheaper bikes only the lower powered ones.

 

[raylo32]

Please post the tools required and photos or videos of the disassembly process. My Photon will be here Monday. Not sure which bike I am going to put it on yet...

Today we reached 1250km for each of our two Photon motors.
Everything is going great!
Last weekend we climbed hills at 12% and the torque of the Photon motor is linear and flawlessly efficient.
Maximum motor temperature of 54C for an ambient temperature of 25C.
Eventually I will dismantle this motor and make CAD drawings by reverse engineering.
If I have time, maybe I'll grease the gears at 2000km. and let you know how I did.
Nothing to tighten or adjust.
Great toy to play with!

 

[raylo32]

Photon arrived today, 7 weeks from order. For once the UPS guy didn't have me on the end of his route. Looks like a really nice kit. I won't have it installed and tested right away due to other business... and I am trying to decide what to put it on. I'll either remove the TSDz2 that I have on a Cannondale F1000 hardtail or maybe put the Photon on my gravel bike with 700c wheels. I'll need to get the gravel bike on the work stand and pull the bottom bracket to see if the Photon will install around the cable housing and brake hose that exit from the bottom of the down tube. Then need to see if there is a way to mount a thumb throttle on the drop bars somehow. Or maybe get some other sort of throttle? IDK. In any case, I'm glad to finally have this in hand.

 

[migrant]

Will the Photon function well on its own without the addition of brake and shift sensors? I understand the need for those items on a cadence sensing mid drive, just wonder if they are necessary on a torque sensing unit.

 

[Mongo]

Since the throttle is a clamshell design you may either be able to use a longer screw and/or widdle out some of the plastic. Another drop bar throttle mount idea is the Handle Bob (or a homebrewed copy).

 

[Mongo]

Will the Photon function well on its own without the addition of brake and shift sensors? I understand the need for those items on a cadence sensing mid drive, just wonder if they are necessary on a torque sensing unit.

Yes, and CYC sells a slender one-plug main harness towards that end that just supports the display, making for a tidier wire loom.

BTW, neither of those sensors is needed for the operation of the Bafang's BBS cadence motors. The Bafang's display can also be bypassed, though AFAIK you'd be stuck in one predetermined assist level.

 

[raylo32]

IDK for sure yet but my Stumpjumper XC with CYC X1 Pro Gen 2 functions fine without brake sensors. I have since put them on... a little tricky to get the mag sensors glued up correctly. But you can unplug them and the motor works as normal. I discovered that on one of my first X1 rides when one sensor got a little misaligned and shut the motor down. I just disconnected the sensor plugs and rode home under full normal power.

I am hoping that the Photon will also work that way because if I go with the gravel bike I'd have to figure out a way to get mag sensors to work with the GRX hydros. Come to think of it, all the challenges with the gravel bike to mount the switch/display, throttle, and maybe brake sensors and dealing with the internal cable housing for the front derailleur, I am leaning towards just transplanting this to my Cannondale F1000 that already has TSDZ2 lever brake sensors that I will need to check for compatibility with Photon... and maybe save that bigger project for the winter with another Photon.

Will the Photon function well on its own without the addition of brake and shift sensors? I understand the need for those items on a cadence sensing mid drive, just wonder if they are necessary on a torque sensing unit.

 

[sysrq]

Hi everyone, new member here
I see some of you waiting on kit so thought I'd post up to hopefully ease your worries a bit.

I ordered a X1 stealth around April with a quoted wait time of 6-8 weeks. As expected I was impatient and messaged them for an update after about 4 weeks. They advised me of a delay due to a controller supply issue but that should only push my wait time back by 2 weeks and said my kit would be shipped the first week of june. I wasn't feeling too confident however 3rd June I get an email with pictures of my assembled kit and double checking my details. A few days later I got a shipping email from FedEx and it was delivered to the UK about 4 days later. No import fees etc, well packaged and half assembled ready for me to slap on.

Also with regards to other companies offering kits. I contacted one UK company to see if they had a unit there ready to ship to me because I was being so impatient. I was going to cancel my order from cyc and pay extra for the one in the UK. Turns out as others have said they simply place an order with cyc on your behalf!!

Someone on Facebook CYC Photon owners group just said that it fluctuates, when they run out of previous batch then it can take way longer than 2 months, so it's a bit of a lottery since stock numbers are not shown anywhere as far as I know.

 

[sysrq]

Photon arrived today, 7 weeks from order. For once the UPS guy didn't have me on the end of his route. Looks like a really nice kit. I won't have it installed and tested right away due to other business... and I am trying to decide what to put it on. I'll either remove the TSDz2 that I have on a Cannondale F1000 hardtail or maybe put the Photon on my gravel bike with 700c wheels. I'll need to get the gravel bike on the work stand and pull the bottom bracket to see if the Photon will install around the cable housing and brake hose that exit from the bottom of the down tube. Then need to see if there is a way to mount a thumb throttle on the drop bars somehow. Or maybe get some other sort of throttle? IDK. In any case, I'm glad to finally have this in hand.

Weird, also ordered the CYC Photon 7 weeks ago but no sign of it yet. Could be because I decided to select non-standard 42t chainring option for some reason, but since fasterbikes.eu 42t have them in stock compared to 34t for example, I thought that there should be plenty enough of them in production. Shame they don't show the availability of each one in CYC Motors website.

 

[raylo32]

Well, I decided to uninstall the TSDZ2B for now and put the Photon on that bike since the job is almost trivial. I found the first thing I dislike about Photon... the wire bundle exits the top front right of the motor. WTF? Wires for the motors on my other bikes (TSDZ2 and CYC X1) come out the bottom rear so you can pull them through between the little brace between the front of the chainstays and up behind the seat tube. This Photon setup seems very awkward. It isn't that bad for the wire to the front for the switch and display. And I guess I can work with the connection to the shark battery mounted on the downtube. Not ideal but I can work with it. And the speed sense will be a bit of a messy route. In addition, the wires are very close to the chainring. This seems like a step backwards to me. Oh, well.

If anyone here has a really neat way to route and dress these wires up please post a photo of how you did it.

 

[raylo32]

Well, guys, I got it installed on my 68mm BSA bottom bracket Cannondale F1000 for now. Physical install was trivial. I haven't taken it for a ride but it works perfectly on the bike stand, both by throttle and by spinning the pedals by hand and the torque sensor kicking in. FYI... I first tried the Bafang style throttle I had in my TSDZ2 and it worked fine but replaced it with the CYC bit anyway. Then I tried the old brake sensors and no joy. I don't recall if those are the original TSDZ2 levers or the Bafang style (if they are even different?) and they did not work. I have a set of the CYC cable pass through sensors that I may install... but first I need to find the old plain non-e-bike brake levers somewhere in my shop. I have to say I am impressed by the installation. Seems much more solid than say, a TSDZ2. I love the splined cranks, too. I'll try to get it out for a good test ride tomorrow, weather permitting.

 

[Mongo]

Well, guys, I got it installed on my 68mm BSA bottom bracket Cannondale F1000 for now. Physical install was trivial. I haven't taken it for a ride but it works perfectly on the bike stand, both by throttle and by spinning the pedals by hand and the torque sensor kicking in. FYI... I first tried the Bafang style throttle I had in my TSDZ2 and it worked fine but replaced it with the CYC bit anyway. Then I tried the old brake sensors and no joy. I don't recall if those are the original TSDZ2 levers or the Bafang style (if they are even different?) and they did not work. I have a set of the CYC cable pass through sensors that I may install... but first I need to find the old plain non-e-bike brake levers somewhere in my shop. I have to say I am impressed by the installation. Seems much more solid than say, a TSDZ2. I love the splined cranks, too. I'll try to get it out for a good test ride tomorrow, weather permitting.

Congrats - it's alive!

My brake levers are the silver Bafang ones with the rubber finger pad on the front side of the lever. The shift sensor also works (wired in via a "Y" splitter). I speculate that the cable-type brake levers have a switch and probably a pullup resistor, and that's it.

My installed motor has not rotated in the BB, off the stop, at all.

I'm hoping to get a shipping notification this week on the second motor.

 

[hindesite]

I'll need to get the gravel bike on the work stand and pull the bottom bracket to see if the Photon will install around the cable housing and brake hose that exit from the bottom of the down tube.

Plenty of room, unless your BB is unusually large diameter. CYC PHOTON

 

[raylo32]

Yeah the brake sensors should work, one would think. They do not work whilst running the motor on the throttle on the stand. I really need to test them on a ride to see if they interrupt power while pedaling. Hard to tell on a stand when turning the cranks by hand. I'll test them tomorrow.

Congrats - it's alive!

My brake levers are the silver Bafang ones with the rubber finger pad on the front side of the lever. The shift sensor also works (wired in via a "Y" splitter). I speculate that the cable-type brake levers have a switch and probably a pullup resistor, and that's it.

My installed motor has not rotated in the BB, off the stop, at all.

I'm hoping to get a shipping notification this week on the second motor.

 

[raylo32]

Excellent, thanks. My bike is a Lynsky GR titanium with a regular BSA BB so it should look like your photo. I'll have to do some more research and planning re: how to mount the display and maybe a throttle before I take this project on.

Plenty of room, unless your BB is unusually large diameter. CYC PHOTON

 

[raylo32]

I also got the 42t ring. I'd really like to fit a 50 on this 26" hardrtail MTB and may give it a try because I can get spun out pedaling. Like my X1 bike, also a 26"er, you can only go so fast pedaling with assist before getting spun out, then throttle for more speed. Not quite sure how this motor will top out yet, however, until I ride tomorrow. I need to measure it and see if the 50 will fit.

Weird, also ordered the CYC Photon 7 weeks ago but no sign of it yet. Could be because I decided to select non-standard 42t chainring option for some reason, but since fasterbikes.eu 42t have them in stock compared to 34t for example, I thought that there should be plenty enough of them in production. Shame they don't show the availability of each one in CYC Motors website.

 

[hindesite]

Well, I decided to uninstall the TSDZ2B for now and put the Photon on that bike since the job is almost trivial. I found the first thing I dislike about Photon... the wire bundle exits the top front right of the motor. WTF? Wires for the motors on my other bikes (TSDZ2 and CYC X1) come out the bottom rear so you can pull them through between the little brace between the front of the chainstays and up behind the seat tube. This Photon setup seems very awkward.

I disagree - for me I'd far rather have everything away from the huge pile of rubbish that accumulates near the rear wheel. I have a black frame so any route the wiring takes is fairly unnoticeable. I really like the way CYC have done this.

A friend had a bike trip somewhat ruined because on his Bafang installation the connectors under the BB were damaged during (helicopter ) transport.

 

[hindesite]

Will the Photon function well on its own without the addition of brake and shift sensors? I understand the need for those items on a cadence sensing mid drive, just wonder if they are necessary on a torque sensing unit.

You don't need them.

I got them just in case and wish I had not. It is just more complication and more wiring to run. The Photon is very responsive to the amount of effort you put in, so if you back off, it does that too.

If you have a decent rear derailleur and it is adjusted correctly, you can even shift under light to moderate power with no problems. My NX mech works fine.

 

[hindesite]

Excellent, thanks. My bike is a Lynsky GR titanium with a regular BSA BB so it should look like your photo. I'll have to do some more research and planning re: how to mount the display and maybe a throttle before I take this project on.

If its titanium you'll have even more room

 

[raylo32]

Agree you don't need these, especially the shift sensor. Just ease off the pedals a bit and if the torque sensor is good it will react fast enough to get a smooth shift. My X1 with BAC8500 isn't great for that, however, but hoping the Photon setup is more refined. Only use for brake sensors for me is at stoplights. I can preload the pedals then release the brake and zoom off. Not necessary, tho.

You don't need them.

I got them just in case and wish I had not. It is just more complication and more wiring to run. The Photon is very responsive to the amount of effort you put in, so if you back off, it does that too.

If you have a decent rear derailleur and it is adjusted correctly, you can even shift under light to moderate power with no problems. My NX mech works fine.