Jaded
100 mW
Howdy y'all. I'm currently (re)building my dream bike. It was already my dream build before a car smashed it to pieces...got a new frame, so this will be a frame-up build essentially. Might make a build thread later once I get to that point. Wanna learn as much as I can so I'm providing a lot of info here. TL;DR at the bottom.
Anyway, this won't be the first eBike I've put together, but it will be the first one that I own!
(I assemble & wrench on other folks' bikes as a side gig sometimes). I've also only put together hub drives before when it comes to eBikes & I'm 99% certain a mid-drive will suit me better, so this will be a first for me in that sense also.
The frame I just replaced is a 46cm/XS Surly Disc Trucker (old version with the longer chainstays & better geometry for short riders like me). Sturdy CroMoly steel - It can handle just about anything short of having a 5000lb air conditioned mobile living room run into it at speed after getting doored by another 5000lb air conditioned living room (lessons learned the hard way). I love it. Love the way it handles heavy loads, flies on pavement & can still handle some moderate gravel & off-road sections. I think it being tough as nails makes it ideal for an electric conversion as well.
My main cycling pursuit at the moment is long distance touring, with extremely long distances being the goal I'm still working towards. I have done quite a few moderate length tours in the 100-300 mile range at this point & the only thing I struggled with were those days where I didn't get very many miles in due to huge amounts of climbing. I would say I'm pretty fit, not a world champion or anything but definitely above average. If I wasn't carrying a load on my bike I could handle the vast majority of hills with just my legs without much issue, but light "credit card" touring just isn't what appeals to me. As I've gotten more interested in eBikes & had the chance to build & test ride some, I've become enamored with the idea of adding a motor that I can use to assist me on those stretches, so I can take less of a penalty from terrain & inclement weather & still get some enjoyment out of those long days.
I want to get a high energy battery pack from EM3ev & run whatever motor I use as efficiently as possible most of the time with the option of adding a little extra oomph if I want or need it, and then to be able to really crank it up a notch when I come to steep hills & things of that nature. For the longest time I was most interested in the BBSxx kits, but a bit worried about losing the feel of a regular bike to too much power. I did a ton of research on how some folks adjust their settings to make it run more smoothly or at lower power in low PAS than the stock settings, and that seemed pretty appealing.
Then I learned about torque sensors & started reading about other mid-drive units like the TongSheng TSDZ2. I really LOVE the idea of retaining the feel of pedaling a normal bike as much as possible & running a motor that just sort of boosts me as I put out more of my own human power. I bike for transportation, enjoyment AND exercise. The TSDZ2 does appear to still have a throttle as an option if I ever felt like I needed or wanted to use that (when test riding other eBikes I really did enjoy having the option to tap the throttle at green lights as I started pedaling to keep up with traffic in certain places). The newer 750W TSDZ2 kits with HiGO connectors look really nice. I've also seen some "overdrive" models where the motor keeps working when pedaling up to 120RPM (instead of the traditional 90RPM on standard TSDZ2 units). My only concerns are that the build quality seems not quite as rugged. I saw that it's a little less waterproof & that some people have melted certain components when running the motor too hard or in the wrong gear. That concerned me a little because as awesome as that torque sensor-based PAS sounds, it's useless if the motor fails on me. I also saw that a lot of people seemed to be able to put an awful lot of miles on their units without any unresolvable issues, but I couldn't find a whole lot of info on how those people used/treated the motor when riding to get that longevity. Obviously paying attention to gearing is important, swapping out the nylon gear for a metal one & greasing it up so it doesn't rattle around makes sense, as does not over-doing it with the throttle or running it above 17/18A. But can it even handle long distance touring? Multiple 50+ mile days in a row? Tons of hill climbing, & maybe some bad weather here & there? (of course I'm not planning to ride in a hurricane or anything lol).
I'm 5'2"/160cm, ~105lb/47.5kg, so most high powered kits would probably be like a rocket for me. I don't necessarily need all that. If I got a BBSxx kit I would likely be turning the power way down most of the time, which was an idea I had been getting used to before I learned that torque sensors existed & supposedly do the thing I really want (apply power in proportionate response to pedaling for the most natural ride-feeling). I also kind of like the idea of having the option to kick up the power if I wanted to on occasion, so that was a partial draw to the BBSxx kits for me, but that's way less important to me than overall efficiency & enjoyment of the general ride experience. The TSDZ2 sounds in theory like the very specific tool I'm looking for, but I want to know if it's really durable enough for the kind of riding I want to do (long sustained distances, steep inclines, lying in the grass next to my tent overnight, but no aggressive singletrack riding or anything quite that intense).
I also don't know much of anything about the OpenSource firmware that's out there now for the TSDZ2 apparently, but what little I've heard sounds kinda neat. Would love to learn more about how that works. Would also really love to learn more about the limits of the TSDZ2 in general & what your options are for tuning the pedal assist/power output.
I was really enamored with the EggRider display available with many BBSxx kits, especially for the easy Wh/Mi readout. Super excited to see that the SW102 w/ Bluetooth for the TSDZ2 looks to be pretty much identical. Does it work the same as an EggRider & also have that Wh/Mi readout? Does it have the same sort of phone app & programming options?
TL;DR ---
• Is the TongSheng 750W TSDZ2 mid-drive a durable enough unit for long-distance eBike touring for a fit, small female rider on an XS Disc Trucker frame loaded up with gear & camping equipment? How well does it handle hills?
• Should I get a BBSxx kit instead for my intended motor application?
• Is the SW102 display like an EggRider/does it show Wh/Mi?
• How intuitive is the process of programming the TSDZ2? Is it particularly easy to customize, or is it really locked in to any particular settings?
• Considering a double chainring for the TSDZ2 (had been planning around a single with a BBSxx but retaining a second front chainring does sound kinda nice) - what size chainrings do you think make the most sense for someone who wants to pedal a lot & also climb hills? I have a brand new wide range 10-speed 11t-42t nickel-plated steel cassette I'm planning to install in the rear.
Thanks so much for any help or insight you can offer!!! I'm SUPER excited to finally be putting my bike back together & to make it BETTER THAN EVER this time.
Pic attached of my bike before the car smashed into it. I'll be rebuilding it very similarly to this, but electric of course.

Anyway, this won't be the first eBike I've put together, but it will be the first one that I own!
The frame I just replaced is a 46cm/XS Surly Disc Trucker (old version with the longer chainstays & better geometry for short riders like me). Sturdy CroMoly steel - It can handle just about anything short of having a 5000lb air conditioned mobile living room run into it at speed after getting doored by another 5000lb air conditioned living room (lessons learned the hard way). I love it. Love the way it handles heavy loads, flies on pavement & can still handle some moderate gravel & off-road sections. I think it being tough as nails makes it ideal for an electric conversion as well.
My main cycling pursuit at the moment is long distance touring, with extremely long distances being the goal I'm still working towards. I have done quite a few moderate length tours in the 100-300 mile range at this point & the only thing I struggled with were those days where I didn't get very many miles in due to huge amounts of climbing. I would say I'm pretty fit, not a world champion or anything but definitely above average. If I wasn't carrying a load on my bike I could handle the vast majority of hills with just my legs without much issue, but light "credit card" touring just isn't what appeals to me. As I've gotten more interested in eBikes & had the chance to build & test ride some, I've become enamored with the idea of adding a motor that I can use to assist me on those stretches, so I can take less of a penalty from terrain & inclement weather & still get some enjoyment out of those long days.
I want to get a high energy battery pack from EM3ev & run whatever motor I use as efficiently as possible most of the time with the option of adding a little extra oomph if I want or need it, and then to be able to really crank it up a notch when I come to steep hills & things of that nature. For the longest time I was most interested in the BBSxx kits, but a bit worried about losing the feel of a regular bike to too much power. I did a ton of research on how some folks adjust their settings to make it run more smoothly or at lower power in low PAS than the stock settings, and that seemed pretty appealing.
Then I learned about torque sensors & started reading about other mid-drive units like the TongSheng TSDZ2. I really LOVE the idea of retaining the feel of pedaling a normal bike as much as possible & running a motor that just sort of boosts me as I put out more of my own human power. I bike for transportation, enjoyment AND exercise. The TSDZ2 does appear to still have a throttle as an option if I ever felt like I needed or wanted to use that (when test riding other eBikes I really did enjoy having the option to tap the throttle at green lights as I started pedaling to keep up with traffic in certain places). The newer 750W TSDZ2 kits with HiGO connectors look really nice. I've also seen some "overdrive" models where the motor keeps working when pedaling up to 120RPM (instead of the traditional 90RPM on standard TSDZ2 units). My only concerns are that the build quality seems not quite as rugged. I saw that it's a little less waterproof & that some people have melted certain components when running the motor too hard or in the wrong gear. That concerned me a little because as awesome as that torque sensor-based PAS sounds, it's useless if the motor fails on me. I also saw that a lot of people seemed to be able to put an awful lot of miles on their units without any unresolvable issues, but I couldn't find a whole lot of info on how those people used/treated the motor when riding to get that longevity. Obviously paying attention to gearing is important, swapping out the nylon gear for a metal one & greasing it up so it doesn't rattle around makes sense, as does not over-doing it with the throttle or running it above 17/18A. But can it even handle long distance touring? Multiple 50+ mile days in a row? Tons of hill climbing, & maybe some bad weather here & there? (of course I'm not planning to ride in a hurricane or anything lol).
I'm 5'2"/160cm, ~105lb/47.5kg, so most high powered kits would probably be like a rocket for me. I don't necessarily need all that. If I got a BBSxx kit I would likely be turning the power way down most of the time, which was an idea I had been getting used to before I learned that torque sensors existed & supposedly do the thing I really want (apply power in proportionate response to pedaling for the most natural ride-feeling). I also kind of like the idea of having the option to kick up the power if I wanted to on occasion, so that was a partial draw to the BBSxx kits for me, but that's way less important to me than overall efficiency & enjoyment of the general ride experience. The TSDZ2 sounds in theory like the very specific tool I'm looking for, but I want to know if it's really durable enough for the kind of riding I want to do (long sustained distances, steep inclines, lying in the grass next to my tent overnight, but no aggressive singletrack riding or anything quite that intense).
I also don't know much of anything about the OpenSource firmware that's out there now for the TSDZ2 apparently, but what little I've heard sounds kinda neat. Would love to learn more about how that works. Would also really love to learn more about the limits of the TSDZ2 in general & what your options are for tuning the pedal assist/power output.
I was really enamored with the EggRider display available with many BBSxx kits, especially for the easy Wh/Mi readout. Super excited to see that the SW102 w/ Bluetooth for the TSDZ2 looks to be pretty much identical. Does it work the same as an EggRider & also have that Wh/Mi readout? Does it have the same sort of phone app & programming options?
TL;DR ---
• Is the TongSheng 750W TSDZ2 mid-drive a durable enough unit for long-distance eBike touring for a fit, small female rider on an XS Disc Trucker frame loaded up with gear & camping equipment? How well does it handle hills?
• Should I get a BBSxx kit instead for my intended motor application?
• Is the SW102 display like an EggRider/does it show Wh/Mi?
• How intuitive is the process of programming the TSDZ2? Is it particularly easy to customize, or is it really locked in to any particular settings?
• Considering a double chainring for the TSDZ2 (had been planning around a single with a BBSxx but retaining a second front chainring does sound kinda nice) - what size chainrings do you think make the most sense for someone who wants to pedal a lot & also climb hills? I have a brand new wide range 10-speed 11t-42t nickel-plated steel cassette I'm planning to install in the rear.
Thanks so much for any help or insight you can offer!!! I'm SUPER excited to finally be putting my bike back together & to make it BETTER THAN EVER this time.



Pic attached of my bike before the car smashed into it. I'll be rebuilding it very similarly to this, but electric of course.
