Buy or build...

Decided to see what all the fuss was about wrt the TSDZ2, bought one, put it in a singlespeed 700c frame... Loved every moment of riding it and did about 600km over the Corona lockdown so decided to swap the motor into my hardtail mountain bike (2009 Genesis iOiD Alfine 8 ).

I love riding that now, apart from the fact that it feels really short, isn't very slack, and doesn't have rear suspension - this never bothered me in the past but now with the TSDZ2 giving me bionic legs, I kind of feel I would like something up the back to dampen things out.

So - dilemma... Buy a nice full sus 29er frame and convert it to a TSDZ2 drive, I would have to make a battery box, but I would still be able to enjoy the TSDZ2 motor and it's awesome open source firmware. This could also be a bit cheaper, especially as I have the motor and could probably find a half decent used 29er for about GBP1500

Or... buy a pre-made eBike... More expensive, but better mounted/bigger battery.

What would people suggest?

You're the only one that can make the final call

Here it would be about the satisfaction of riding something unique, and likely done at a price WAY less than what a comparable production bike would sell for.

If there is ANY concern about warranty or service, better stick with the OEM market.

AHicks said:

You're the only one that can make the final call

Here it would be about the satisfaction of riding something unique, and likely done at a price WAY less than what a comparable production bike would sell for.

If there is ANY concern about warranty or service, better stick with the OEM market.

Click to expand...

I would almost feel happier with a product I had built myself - I don't want the aggravation of dealing with a manufacturer for warranty/repair when stuff goes wrong. I'm the same with my cars, I always invest in a dealer level software diagnostic platform for the vehicle at hand...

My concern was that by the time I had bought a frame, built a new battery pack and come up with a solution for mounting it, would I end up with a lemon that didn't ride as well as a 2.5-3.5k eMTB from one of the main european brands?

If I had the money I'd buy an eMTB from one of the major brands. But, most have only torque sensing PAS and no throttle. No throttle is a huge drawback when starting on steep uphill or walking the bike up. Some have walk assist, which is very important for very steep, rough climbs where you can't ride, throttle can be used for this. Pushing a 25 kg bike up really steep terrain is no fun.

I did get a chance to ride a Chinese downhill type bike that had a Bafang Ultra mid drive. It had torque sensing and throttle and they worked very well together. The throttle was left thumb, it looked like it could be mounted on the right side. Right twist throttle would be far better because it works like a motorcycle and scooter.

only you can decide if you want to build your own or let someone else do it for you. ... yeah, i am biased.. but consider, there are really only 2 kinds of ebikers:

Those who decide their storage room needs shelves, so they go to the store to buy shelves.
Those who decide their storage room needs shelves, so they go to the store to buy wood.

Understanding which of those categories you fall into most often will make it easier for you to decide. And it isn't which of those you want to do, its which of those you actually do most often that matters most.

There is absolutely NO chance of me building my own batteries. Finding enough MATCHED cells to do that would be one challenge, then building it in a fashion I could trust it would be the next.

Regarding the matching cells, without extreme care, you can get enough difference in fully charged voltage where they can be impossible to balance charge.....

Yeah, if it takes extreme care, it makes sense to count on the Chinese battery industry.

Drunkskunk said:

Those who decide their storage room needs shelves, so they go to the store to buy shelves.
Those who decide their storage room needs shelves, so they go to the store to buy wood.

Click to expand...

and don't forget,
Those who are aware their storage room needs shelves, but they really can't be bothered.

Almost me. I bought the wood, put kind a lot of work into it ... and then a few weeks ago, something like 15 years later, finally finished it up, mainly because I wanted the space back on my bench. I wonder if there's anyone here with a half finished bike project? (It's a joke, I don't really have to ask.)

I'm interested in PAS only and torque sensing at that, not interested in a throttle one bit. Plus they're majorly illegal here in the UK. The 250w limit is 'continuous power output' so no one pays any attention to that, but we don't fit throttles.

As for the skills - certainly not lacking on that front. I have a fully equipped machine shop, complete with tig welding equipment, I do marine, automotive, motorcycle etc repair and new build. Heck I could fillet braze myself a Reynolds frame if I was that way inclined. As for batteries, I live off grid and power my house with 10kWh of LiFePo4 that I salvaged from a experimental car, no shortage of electrical/electronic skills cos that's my day job. I would buy new 21700 from nkon and spot weld them, I have a malectrics spot welder.

But I've come to realise that there are only 24hrs in the day and I need to sleep some of those.

I suppose my question is this: I've had such excellent performance from my tsdz2, it has totally cemented my love for ebikes. Will I find an off the shelf machine with brose/bosch/yamaha/chimano/bafang ultra as fun and as my tsdz2, or are they all heavy and slow with no performance?

You can't beat the lightest, expansive BB drive e-MTBs on the market. You can beat their power and speed easily, but not their light weight and handling. Major bike manufacturers have a lot of experience and money to develop a bike, but they leave power and speed development to motorists and those are shy to play above legal limits.