Recently finished (or mostly finished at least) my e-bike build, so I figured I'd make a quick thread. The bike is a 17" Surly Instigator 2.0 with 26" x 3" tires. Component spec is decent - Fox fork up front, Shimano SLX hydraulic brakes, and a 11-42 10 spd cassette with a Saint derailleur and shifter.
I went with the 500c display (primarily due to the compactness and all-in-one unit) and the left thumb throttle. When ordering I forgot about my dropper post control on the left side so the result is a bit crowded. Neither the dropper control or throttle are in a a great position but I can’t make one better without making the other worse.
The install was fairly straightforward. The only modification I had to make to the frame was cutting off one of the ISCG chain guide tabs. I never used a chain guide anyway so this is no real loss. The steel on the bike is not hardened so a hack saw and file made quick work of it. Added a dab of touch up paint to prevent any rust.
Based on my reading, I chose to clean out the factory grease and pack it with Lucas Red n Tacky. Much easier to do this with the motor out before mounting the chainring and crank.
I'm using a 30T chainring on the BBS02. This keeps the gearing the same as it was before the conversion and my top speed is still around ~27mph. I never even mounted the 44T that was included. I think a 32-34T would be ideal but a ~10% gearing change is not a huge difference. The offset of the BBS02 means there’s a very angled chainline If I try to grab the lowest 2-3 gears. Those aren’t really needed with the motor though.
The battery I'm using is a 52v 8ah pack of Samsung 40T cells I picked up from an eBay seller. It fits nicely into a cheap ($9) frame pack from Amazon.
I may have been better off just going with a shark pack, but I had made a cardboard mockup of the dimensions of a ~14ah pack and really did not like the form factor. I also find the frame pack a bit more discreet (need to hide the wiring better), in the event you find yourself on a trail where e-bikes are not expressly permitted.
I tried the standard speed sensor setup with the spoke magnet and included mount but couldn't find enough clearance on my chainstay. Fortunately I saw Karl G's blog post on the speed sensor and the magnet-on-wheel seemed a much cleaner way to attach it. So I cut off the old mount, molded JB Weld SteelStick halfway around the chainstay, attached the speed sensor with 5min epoxy, then secured everything down with zip ties. A neodymium magnet was attached to the rim with JB Kwik Weld.
Previously I had just Gorilla-taped and zip tied the speed sensor to the bottom of the chainstay and added ~1/2" of magnets to get it to register. However after seeing the speedo reading had a pretty slow response time, I decided to move the sensor inward with the above process.
Edit 3/6. The speed sensor didn't work in the vertical position so this was my solution:
I ordered the optional gear sensor and the kit included 2 brake sensor cutouts. So far I've just installed a cutoff for the rear brake. I'm primarily using PAS and on [relatively short] test rides so far, I don't really feel the need for any of the cutout sensors, but I installed one just to be safe. The SLX levers don't leave much room to attach a magnet, so I epoxied one to a thin strip of metal and attached it the lever with some 3M tape. I positioned it as far as possible from the Hall sensor so it trips almost as soon as the lever is pulled.
Finally I configured the controller before even riding the bike. My intent is to primarily use PAS so I wanted finer control over the lower PAS levels. I wanted feel similar to a torque sensing bike. From reading reviews I was worried this wasn’t easily attainable, but my programming seems to work well and I’m satisfied with it. I also reduced the factory Luna 25W programming down to 18W for an additional safety margin.
![ae4iBCV.jpg](/sphere/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fae4iBCV.jpg&hash=1ad4c8e8f61405bcb229a157e98eb781)
I went with the 500c display (primarily due to the compactness and all-in-one unit) and the left thumb throttle. When ordering I forgot about my dropper post control on the left side so the result is a bit crowded. Neither the dropper control or throttle are in a a great position but I can’t make one better without making the other worse.
![rwJAf8C.jpg](/sphere/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FrwJAf8C.jpg&hash=8ae1bc221834155501d44e70ebd87db9)
The install was fairly straightforward. The only modification I had to make to the frame was cutting off one of the ISCG chain guide tabs. I never used a chain guide anyway so this is no real loss. The steel on the bike is not hardened so a hack saw and file made quick work of it. Added a dab of touch up paint to prevent any rust.
![MpQRp8e.jpg](/sphere/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FMpQRp8e.jpg&hash=ddec82204e87f4233d60a7de8557b2a1)
Based on my reading, I chose to clean out the factory grease and pack it with Lucas Red n Tacky. Much easier to do this with the motor out before mounting the chainring and crank.
![PROdAVK.jpg](/sphere/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FPROdAVK.jpg&hash=3a371072ed49f4c08e8b24f604b4db19)
I'm using a 30T chainring on the BBS02. This keeps the gearing the same as it was before the conversion and my top speed is still around ~27mph. I never even mounted the 44T that was included. I think a 32-34T would be ideal but a ~10% gearing change is not a huge difference. The offset of the BBS02 means there’s a very angled chainline If I try to grab the lowest 2-3 gears. Those aren’t really needed with the motor though.
![Umvn86G.jpg](/sphere/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FUmvn86G.jpg&hash=89ca152793d76a15469c1197e0c65aa6)
The battery I'm using is a 52v 8ah pack of Samsung 40T cells I picked up from an eBay seller. It fits nicely into a cheap ($9) frame pack from Amazon.
![iVNrzft.jpg](/sphere/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FiVNrzft.jpg&hash=e0b896e1f79b85391b07880184c2e741)
I may have been better off just going with a shark pack, but I had made a cardboard mockup of the dimensions of a ~14ah pack and really did not like the form factor. I also find the frame pack a bit more discreet (need to hide the wiring better), in the event you find yourself on a trail where e-bikes are not expressly permitted.
![Ap8KZPr.jpg](/sphere/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FAp8KZPr.jpg&hash=070bf234b2127a1bcd9df5c0082b9565)
![dEZA3DP.jpg](/sphere/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FdEZA3DP.jpg&hash=597cb81ff0ede81ffee181afc8f51a70)
I tried the standard speed sensor setup with the spoke magnet and included mount but couldn't find enough clearance on my chainstay. Fortunately I saw Karl G's blog post on the speed sensor and the magnet-on-wheel seemed a much cleaner way to attach it. So I cut off the old mount, molded JB Weld SteelStick halfway around the chainstay, attached the speed sensor with 5min epoxy, then secured everything down with zip ties. A neodymium magnet was attached to the rim with JB Kwik Weld.
Previously I had just Gorilla-taped and zip tied the speed sensor to the bottom of the chainstay and added ~1/2" of magnets to get it to register. However after seeing the speedo reading had a pretty slow response time, I decided to move the sensor inward with the above process.
![8tvOm8K.jpg](/sphere/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2F8tvOm8K.jpg&hash=4ade6d7842a00f013de21dc1c940e02e)
![NFz35o6.jpg](/sphere/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FNFz35o6.jpg&hash=9dea576c9a193898f0f2f1667e497a77)
Edit 3/6. The speed sensor didn't work in the vertical position so this was my solution:
![AGzlA5W.jpg](/sphere/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FAGzlA5W.jpg&hash=73d1ee1620de18099027df3ac356d29e)
I ordered the optional gear sensor and the kit included 2 brake sensor cutouts. So far I've just installed a cutoff for the rear brake. I'm primarily using PAS and on [relatively short] test rides so far, I don't really feel the need for any of the cutout sensors, but I installed one just to be safe. The SLX levers don't leave much room to attach a magnet, so I epoxied one to a thin strip of metal and attached it the lever with some 3M tape. I positioned it as far as possible from the Hall sensor so it trips almost as soon as the lever is pulled.
![7ZXbi3y.jpg](/sphere/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2F7ZXbi3y.jpg&hash=f64824fbe050bed3aa3cc0e2be310665)
Finally I configured the controller before even riding the bike. My intent is to primarily use PAS so I wanted finer control over the lower PAS levels. I wanted feel similar to a torque sensing bike. From reading reviews I was worried this wasn’t easily attainable, but my programming seems to work well and I’m satisfied with it. I also reduced the factory Luna 25W programming down to 18W for an additional safety margin.
![kzEJgiS.png](/sphere/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FkzEJgiS.png&hash=fd656f6e4a222ec866f495e9de62bb12)