BBSHD - considerable drag when unpowered?

I've had a BBSHD installed on my cargo bike for about 3 months now, and while I like the system, when it's unpowered (ie I have off or no assist), there seems to be a tremendous amount of drag. When I had this bike set up with a geared hub motor in the front wheel, I could ride it unpowered with no difficulty, even managing around 14 mph or more under my own power. Now, with the Bafang BBSHD I struggle to keep the thing above 10-12 mph if the assist is off, or it's getting low enough on battery voltage that assist cuts off. Granted, most of the time I would ride it with assist on as it's used for carrying heavy loads and it's a heavy bike on it's own. However, some instances like riding in a very crowded area I would typically turn the assist off and ride slower under my own power. I'm wondering if there is a clutch and it isn't properly disengaging, or do these motors just generally have a lot more drag when there is no power going to them? I guess one thing I'm concerned about is if I happen to do a very long ride and run out of battery power, it could get very difficult to keep pedaling this beast long enough to get somewhere to charge it back up, whereas with the geared hub motor I could at least pedal it, even at slow speeds without there seeming to be so much drag like I'm currently experiencing.

kiltedcelt said:

I've had a BBSHD installed on my cargo bike for about 3 months now, and while I like the system, when it's unpowered (ie I have off or no assist), there seems to be a tremendous amount of drag.

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drag rolling down the road coasting, or drag moving the pedals regardless of what gear you're in at the rear wheel?

I'm wondering if there is a clutch and it isn't properly disengaging,

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there is a clutch that keeps the pedals from having to backdrive the motor.

if the drag is when moving pedals regardless of gear you're in at the rear wheel, or even with the rear wheel offground (bike upside down, moving cranks by hand), then this clutch is probably stuck.

if the drag changes depending on what gear you're in at the rear wheel, then the problem is after the gearing, so it's in the wheel somewhere (front or rear), or the brakes (front or rear).

if the drag is when you're rolling down the road, while coasting or pedalling, or rear wheel offground (bike upside down) and turning the rear wheel by hand on the tire, then it's something in the rear wheel, probably the brakes. also check the front wheel for drag, as it can also be brakes dragging (or bearing cups too tight, tire rubbing on frame,etc).

if it is the clutch there should be some info in some of these posts
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&keywords=clutch+bbshd
on how to replace it and where to get parts. there may also be info on how to get a stuck clutch unstuck. sorry i don't have a direct link to jsut the stuff you need.