Surly E•D•LHT - Touring eBike Build with BBSHD!

[tchiseen]

400 miles per charge! That's incredible. I've seen some videos of someone bike packing France with a bbshd and charging at McDonald's along the way, you wouldn't even need the McDonald's!

I'm honestly pretty surprised at how effective your setup is with the balance of motor load and pedal power. Without torque sensing, I find I am often "Ghost pedaling" even if I'm on top of gear changes.

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

 

[Jaded]

Nice job on the EDLHT! Still liking it? Any change in your range/battery capacity yet?

Thank you! Yes, I would say that my love for this bike has only grown. I've gone on a bunch more long trips since my last post (I'll attach/share some photos!) My battery and range have stayed pretty consistent since the last post. I will say that I did use more wh/mi on my most recent trip that involved climbing an actual mountain, but it wasn't enough to seriously hinder my exploration and didn't really force me to change my route at all. I was able to find charging points without booking a hotel or campground at all the whole way, so that was pretty cool.

I was curious about the insurance you mentioned - what provider did you use?

I have a policy with Velosurance, they asked me for receipts to prove my bike's value and that it met their eligibility requirements for coverage and it was all pretty straightforward. I have not had to file any claims with them nor have I had to call upon their roadside assistance service so I can't really comment on their service in that regard, but so far I'm very much satisfied with them and feel some peace of mind just having a policy.


Here's some bike pics from the last few months!



I also just recently got an action camera for recording some of my longer or more scenic rides. I'm still learning how to use it effectively in different settings and I have yet to find good free editing software that I like using but I have a trip coming up this summer that I can't wait to go on and record.

 

[Jaded]

400 miles per charge! That's incredible.
[...]
I'm honestly pretty surprised at how effective your setup is with the balance of motor load and pedal power.

Thank you! I was quite surprised initially as well as my actual range far exceeded my expectations based on the calculations I did using average eBike rider stats (or at least those I could find available, mostly through forums like this one and polls). I think I have a few things going for me...one is that I'm small, so even fully loaded me + my bike weigh less than a pretty solid percentage of other eBike riders with their setups. Second is that I'm pretty athletic and used to riding very long distances unassisted, so adding the motor really just enables me to carry more comfort items and climb steeper hills and mountains without taking too much of a penalty to my time/effort/mileage. Third is that my reprogrammed motor settings are pretty low power compared to the stock settings, and I messed around with the current decay and speed settings and made it so that my bike gives me the most power at low cadence, reducing the power by as much as 50% (of the max allowed by the current PAS level) as I get up to speed and start pedaling at a consistent pace. It's absolutely absurd on PAS1 when the road is flat and wind is minimal...In that situation (which it's extremely rare for that to be my whole trip, but it's not uncommon for a decent portion of a trips to involve that sort of scenario, especially on car free roads/bike paths & trails) my display usually says I'm using <1 wh/mi. I think my big energy saving secret is probably that my average wh/mi isn't really indicative of how I generally use my motor. I have long long stretches of using almost no power at all, and segments where I kick the juice way up to get over a particular hurdle or obstacle where I might be using more like 15-30 wh/mi (or even more sometimes) and it's just that at the end of the day my average looks like 4-5 wh/mi.

 

[Maugerville]

Wow ! great build. I registered on this forum just to comment on your build and ask a question or two. I am embarking on such a build with a 920 trek. As a life long tourer (40+years) I find I cannot put the miles in and need a little help to keep the pain down. I have ordered this motor for my bike and a 14s6p 20AH battery and hope to get 80-100 miles out of a charge with similar avg sppeds as you. My loaded bike I estimate will be ~300 lbs including myself so I think it should be doable. How do you find pedaling the BBSHD without and assist, ie if a battery would to die ? Is there much drag in the motor? Also, sorry if I missed it what tires / wheels are you using ?

 

[Jaded]

Wow ! great build. I registered on this forum just to comment on your build and ask a question or two. I am embarking on such a build with a 920 trek. As a life long tourer (40+years) I find I cannot put the miles in and need a little help to keep the pain down. I have ordered this motor for my bike and a 14s6p 20AH battery and hope to get 80-100 miles out of a charge with similar avg sppeds as you. My loaded bike I estimate will be ~300 lbs including myself so I think it should be doable. How do you find pedaling the BBSHD without and assist, ie if a battery would to die ? Is there much drag in the motor? Also, sorry if I missed it what tires / wheels are you using ?

Hey, thanks so much for the compliment! Personally I don't find there to be any significant drag from the motor when pedaling without power. As of yet I have never run out of power, but on flat terrain while riding with a friend (who was on a regular bike) I totally forgot to turn the power on for around 10 miles and didn't notice it until we hit a big hill haha. I would recommend opening the motor body and filling the area around the main gear and nylon reduction gear with a healthy glop of Mobil28 Grease and repeating every 5000 miles or so. That seems to do a lot to protect those parts and keep things moving smoothly. Mainly the only thing I think you should notice when pedaling without power is the extra weight of the motor and battery...which is certainly substantial at 25+lbs combined, but I mean, really not all that much compared to a loaded touring rig in general. It has never felt like a dead weight to me thus far...it definitely feels like the most useful 25lbs I'm carrying around now, anyway, since it helps me to carry everything else when I am using it.

I am currently running a set of 26" 36h wheels with Alex DH19 rims laced to Shimano Deore hubs. I am running 26x1.75" touring tires, and though I've swapped them out for different models a few times now I've stuck with the Continental brand and have been happy with them (I've used RideTours, Contact, Contact Travel Plus and Contact 2 Plus models so far and had no complaints or special remarks about any of them in particular).

I think if you pedal as much as I do and maintain similar speeds on similar terrain (the last of which is probably the hardest to predict, I'm sure) then I believe 80+ miles is a reasonable range estimate. Your total load is around 100lbs more than the weight of me and my bike, so that is definitely something to consider when it comes to mileage/power usage.

Hope this answers all your questions!

 

[Maugerville]

Installed motor and everything went great. I could not believe how easy it was. Getting the cockpit will take some thinking but I took another page from your install with the zip tie tubing, I just made my own. I did the first real ride today of almost 100 km and my 48V battery went from 54.2V to 45.1 (resting) and like I mentioned before the bike + me is ~300 lbs and I am running 27.5 x 2.8 off road tires. I have a set of touring wheels but they are being rebuilt.

For now I have the stock 500C display and it does not keep battery percentage well but the V gauge is spot on as checked with another voltmeter. I don't think I will need to adjust the PAS settings as on #2 it works great with my natural cadence and on #3 it feels a little fast. Anyway, thanks for sharing your build it was an inspiration for me.

 

[Jaded]

Installed motor and everything went great. I could not believe how easy it was. Getting the cockpit will take some thinking but I took another page from your install with the zip tie tubing, I just made my own.
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Anyway, thanks for sharing your build it was an inspiration for me.

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Awesome bike! I'm glad my thread was helpful!!

 

[Greendog]

Nice work jaded looks like a really well thought out mile munching machine ,
lots nice components will last ages I bet, just used same rims for a commuter build,
Will have to ask Maugerville where he got his anti gravity tyres for his cool Trek, they look fun,
Enjoyed your pictures looked badass 8) , I feel same way want everybody get out there enjoy buzz from nature with me, ebikes hard to beat for this, look forward seeing more of your adventures, terrain in photos looks similar where I am in Uk,
Do you find your bike starts feel like a reliable old friend the more challenges you get through together or is it just me, peace

 

[Williemakeit]

Awesome thread, I’m looking at adding a motor to my Disk Trucker as well. Like you I’m only looking for assistance on hills and such. I ride the Blue Ridge Parkway and it’s a lot of ups and downs so these old legs need a little help on the steeper grades. You mentioned your system is set to give you boost at lower rpm’s. I’m assuming that means as you go up a hill your cadence slows and results in more assistance?
You also mentioned in an earlier post that you did not look into the torque settings at that point. I’m wondering if you have looked at this yet. My question is, can the program be set it up based on human power threshold. For example having the assistance kick in after you start going over 120 watts of human power.
I’m not sure that would be better than using rpm’s since it would probably require a higher sustained output.
Anyway, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Oh, and just on more comment, I noticed the rear view mirror you have mounted the your bike. I had one of those but changed to the “Take a Look” helmet or eyeglass mounted mirror. Don’t know if you have tried this, but it was a big improvement for me.

 

[Warren]

I ride the Blue Ridge Parkway and it’s a lot of ups and downs so these old legs need a little help on the steeper grades.

I had one of those but changed to the “Take a Look” helmet or eyeglass mounted mirror. Don’t know if you have tried this, but it was a big improvement for me.

The best road in the world!

Switched from the Mirrycle handlebar mirror, ten years ago, to the Take-A-Look eyeglass mirror. Can't image riding without it.

 

[afzal]

I had one of those but changed to the “Take a Look” helmet or eyeglass mounted mirror. Don’t know if you have tried this, but it was a big improvement for me.

Switched from the Mirrycle handlebar mirror, ten years ago, to the Take-A-Look eyeglass mirror. Can't image riding without it.

Any one know whether the compact version of "Take a Look" gives a good enough rear view ?, which is preferred - original or compact ?

 

[jonsully]

Wow, so glad to have discovered this thread. What a cool bike, cool build, cool thread, cool battery, and cool story! SO neat!

Is there a 2023 update, @Jaded? I'll be the first to say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it... but as I've happy jumped into the world of BBSHD programming over the last year, I put together a novel programming that may at least be worth a read if you're interested. With your riding style I imagine it may even lower your Wh/Km even more: Sully's BBSHD Programming (for people that like pedaling)

Otherwise, just a big fan of this whole rig and would love a 2023 update on the many miles and adventures it's taken! Very cool