My M2S All Go Carbon (Alienozo) w/ Bofeili Crank Drive

All-

I know this isn't some amazing "from scratch" build or anything, and it kinda feels like cheating to start with something that's already an e-bike, but I've done a lot on my M2S All Go to customize it and I have some future plans that some might find interesting. Here is a review I posted over at M2sBikes.com, plus some pictures:


I use my e-bike primarily for commuting (six miles each way on road, relatively flat terrain with a couple hills at the end) and got an e-bike so I could ride to work in "street clothes" and not arrive soaking wet needing to shower/change. I weigh about 180 lbs dressed.

I got my M2S All Go Carbon over the holidays and spent the remainder of the winter doing some tweaking and customizing. My previous e-bike (my first) was a Mongoose full suspension aluminum framed mountain bike retrofitted with a front all-in-one 250W hub motor. It weighed about 62 lbs with motor and accessories (lights and pannier rack, etc). With my All Go similarly modified, I've got 350W in the crank and it weighs right around 40 lbs. Previous bike would do about 15mph unassisted on flat road, whereas the All Go will do about 20 (both on full charge). I would have to charge the hub motor battery at work to make sure it wasn't dragging ass by the time I got home (miles 10-12), whereas the All Go gets home with about 50% battery life remaining and plenty of "oomph." PLUS, the All Go (due to its crank-mounted motor) absolutely devours the few hills on my route in a way the hub motor never could. I can maintain 17-18mph on a fairly steep grade with a little bit of pedaling. Finally, the difference in the lower center of gravity (thanks to battery in lower frame and motor in crank) makes the bike SIGNIFICANTLY more maneuverable. Before, my front wheel felt like a boat anchor!

Initially, I was concerned that the non-suspension carbon front fork would be too stiff… there are a fair amount of potholes on the New England roads upon which I commute, and I ride from about MAR – DEC so I need a good combination of comfort, durability, capability, and light weight. I find that the entire bike flexes slightly over hard bumps, which is a little disconcerting at first but now I’m used to it and appreciate the little bit of “give” it provides. I don’t know how I’d feel taking the bike on a trail, but considering that I’m using it for on-road commuting nearly 100% of the time, that’s not really my concern. I do not feel like I’m missing out by not having suspension forks or a shock-absorbing seat. Some folks complained about the non-adjustability of the handlebars but they are great for me so personally that’s not an issue.

I would recommend any All Go user plan to customize the bike to fit your needs. My modifications so far:
ELECTRONICS:
--5v and 12v DC-DC converters with switches to independently control head, tail, and running lights.
--I pulled the bike’s display apart and tapped into the backlight for the switch lighting… when the display backlight is on, so are the switch backlights! I could have also used them to trigger all the lights via a Solid State Relay instead of using independent switches, but I like being able to control each light independently.
--I don’t care to use pedal assist (sometimes I want the bike to do ALL the work) so I added a thumb throttle. --I neatened up all wiring/cabling with zip ties and flex loom.
--Added a Motowolf cell phone holder to the handlebar stem (with custom wireless charging pad)
--Added a Hornet horn.
--I wear a Coros SafeSound Mountain helmet with flashing rear light and Bluetooth connectivity for phone & music via “open ear” speakers mounted to the chinstraps. WORTH EVERY PENNY.
LIGHTING:
--Proton R60 taillight with automatic brakelight (remotely controlled by my custom panel and always recharged by the bike battery when the battery is on)
--“eBay” 12V 6 LED light bar and LED strips for running lights.
--Firefly turn signal grips (best at night, but the grips themselves are WAY comfortable!)
ACCESSORIES:
--RockBros top tube toolbag and cell phone holder (Tools on left, cable lock on right, and “cell phone holder” now holds my electronics box with voltage converters and switches).
--3M reflective spokes – I mounted the running lights on the inside of the forks / stays to keep the bike’s lines clean, so the reflective spokes really kick the light out to the side and aid in night visibility.
--Pressure-indicating valve caps.
--Generic water bottle & cage.
--Generic Amazon gel saddle pad (I found the stock one VERY uncomfortable, but rather than buy a whole new seat, this was an easy $15 solution).
--Montague Rackstand (pannier rack, fenders, and kickstand combo) with generic Amazon bungee net. The Rackstand is probably my FAVORITE accessory – SUCH a clean solution to a number of things I felt I needed on my commuter! ESPECIALLY since this bike didn’t come with a kickstand!
--3M Anthracite Carbon Fiber vinyl wrap on a few parts of the bike, to tone down some of the logos and bright orange (sorry, M2S! I did leave the m2s.com and the All Go logo, though!) The Anthracite perfectly complements the gray frame, and now the huge orange top tube patch and battery cover look more like the “pinstriping” on the rear stays. The wrap also helps tidy up the wiring on the front fork running lights.

FUTURE MODIFICATIONS will likely include:
--PHASE 1: Convert battery & controller to 48V, replace the monochrome display with a Bafang DPC-18. I'll likely need to make the BMS external and will look at 18650s, 21700s, 38120s, etc. to try to get the best mix of at least 25A CDR and at least 7 Ah.
--PHASE 2: Veer split belt carbon drive and IGH combination.
--PHASE 3: Upgrade to lightweight 700c road wheels and TCDM 500W rear hub motor with built-in IGH. In the 395 RPM winding at 48V, its power curve (with the proper gearing on the carbon belt drive) should match pretty closely to the Bofeili. Tough to tell for sure as data sheets for the Bofeili 350W motor are pretty hard to come by so I had to extrapolate from what I could find on their 200-250W offerings based on what my "field tests" are showing for things like no-load RPM. That will give me a total motor power of 850W continuous, 1650W peak!

My ultimate goal is to have a sub-50 lb "sprinter" that can do about 16 miles on a single charge (my commute is going up to 8 miles round trip in a couple years when we relocate) and will do 30+ mph on flat road (with a little help from me). Thanks for reading, I welcome any feedback you may offer!

-Jon

Stock photo from m2sbikes.com. They have another version in black... wish I'd gotten that one, but since the only way I was able to afford one of these was buying an "open box" return (had some wiring problems that I was able to fix), beggars could not be choosers.


As she sits now... the whole shebang!
View attachment 8

From left to right:
Controls for Coros helmet
Cell phone charger w/ wireless charging pad
LED Light bar
My custom control box (3 switches, 2 voltage converters, circuit breaker, and stock controller interface)
Right half of RockBros top tube bag
Thumb throttle
Firefly turn signal grips
View attachment 7

Front view shows off LED light bar, wiring cleanup, and vinyl wrap


Gel seat pad, attachment point for Rackstand, and Photon R60 mounted under seat (Micro USB provides charging AND I custom-rewired the light's internal circuit board so that the USB cable's data wires allow me to remotely actuate the switch that's located on top of the light (inconveniently, right under the seat).


Rackstand in the "ride" position.


Rackstand in the "kickstand" position. Takes about three seconds to go from one to the other.
View attachment 3

Hornet horn mounted underneath handlebars. Remote trigger rests under my left thumb.


SEE and BE SEEN! Front fender wouldn't have been my first choice, but it came with the Rackstand and "free" is my favorite brand
View attachment 1

Ok, so I’ve shifted around my modification “phases” a bit due to some unplanned repairs. The chain got caught between the front chainring and the motor housing, and when I pedaled backwards to try to free it (not realizing what had happened), it partially unwound the housing and allowed some of the planetary gears inside to shift around and strip. This was right before the pandemic and I primarily use the bike for commuting (didn’t do much of that in 2020) so she sat for about a year.

Fast forward to this past spring and I finally put her back under the knife. I repaired the motor and decided to do away with chains once and for all while I was at it. That meant the 48v conversion would have to wait, and the Veer belt drive & IGH moved to the front of the line. Here’s a whole post on what a pain in the ass that was, but all’s well that ended well:

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=105740

One thing I failed to mention in that thread... without a quick-release skewer, I had to improvise a way to keep my Rackstand (which pivots about the rear axle). The S-A axle nuts are pretty long and fat, and just about the right diameter, so... I ended up buying a tap and die set to cut fine threads in the outside of the axle nuts and tap the inside of some large, thick washers to use as jam nuts over the outside of the axle nuts. Worked like a champ!

Next, I'd had some problems with the Firefly turn signals (wonky button, not very bright, etc), so I decided to replace them with Cycl Winglights. Much brighter signal, and they have constant-on front & rear position lights that are pretty nifty, too. Like I did with my Photon taillight, I rigged them up to be constantly charged by the bike and kept the Firefly grips (because I liked where the button was, after repairing it), wiring that button into the Cycl lights.

Next… the display. I reconfigured the handlebars because I no longer had a front derailleur (reused the mount as a place to keep my pump) and therefore was able to remove the left-hand derailleur shifter. I actually kept the original rear shifter & cable because it was a 10-speed cassette back there, the IGH is 5-speed, and the S-A double trigger shifters for 5-speed hubs are out of stock. So, for the time being, TWO clicks equals one gear Anyways, back to the display. I ditched the black and white APT 800S and went with a Kunteng LCD9 throttle and display in one. The bike had a Lishui controller, so that entailed a crash course in flashing open source firmware onto the controller so it would properly talk to the display! It worked great, and I was also able to remove the speed limiter and tweak a couple more things while I was in there. Extremely useful program and there's a great thread on it over in the technical forum.

With the handlebar-mounted display out of the way, I was able to saw the legs off my cell phone mount and get it to sit a little more “cleanly” vs. sticking up from the stem.

Finally, I cleaned up all the wiring and hard-wired the horn (used to take two AAA batteries) to get power from my 5V voltage converter. I used a couple diodes to knock the voltage down to 3.6v or so

All in all, I'm THRILLED with the results. No longer worried about grease on my pant legs or throwing a chain. Plus, the gearing is such that I can get an extra 4-5 mph without any significant pedaling effort. I never take this bike off road so I don't need the super-low mountain bike gears for climbing rocky trails anyhow. She used to cruise (with light, "don't break a sweat in your work clothes" pedaling) at around 18 mph on a flat road, now it's more like 22-23. 25+ is quite doable with moderate effort, and I can do 30 flat out with a bit of downhill. Not bad for 36v, 350W! My goal was to get just a bit faster so that I could take the full driving lane through the town portion of my commute without pissing any motorists off because I'm going below the 20mph speed limit.