Why I'm pulling my Bafang BBS02

[qwerkus]

I would love to upgrade to IGH for simplicity and maintenance....

There aren't many gearhubs that are happy to combine pedal power and mid drive power. Rohloff, NuVinci/Enviolo, and maybe the Sturmey Archer heavy duty RX 5-speed. I hear there's a heavy duty Sturmey Archer 3-speed in development, but I don't know when or even whether it will come to fruition.

Wouldn't recommend any of those: Rohloff way too expensive and overgeared; Enviolo too heavy and also overgeared; S-A has ridiculous reliability issues since the takeover by sunrace. I've been running a bbs02 + shimano alfine 8 for 2 years now without problems. Key is to NEVER shift under load. At full power 1 wrong shifting will definitely brake one of the dogs in the hubs shifting mechanism. Still think 8 is too much for ebikes. The newer 5 speed should be perfect for a bbs02 since it has been optimized for ebikes: https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/city---trekking-e-bike-e6100-series/SG-C7000-5D.html
Will mount it as soon as mine dies.

 

[Balmorhea]

Enviolo too heavy and also overgeared;

That’s funny coming from an e-bike guy. Both because what does it matter, and because of all the weight we intentionally add to our bikes.

As a very big guy, I’ve never been overly concerned about bike weight, but only about whether the weight is doing something valuable. For a mid drive, a wide range transmission that is always in gear and ready to accept full torque seems like a win, even if it’s heavy.

 

[qwerkus]

Enviolo too heavy and also overgeared;

That’s funny coming from an e-bike guy. Both because what does it matter, and because of all the weight we intentionally add to our bikes.

As a very big guy, I’ve never been overly concerned about bike weight, but only about whether the weight is doing something valuable. For a mid drive, a wide range transmission that is always in gear and ready to accept full torque seems like a win, even if it’s heavy.

I'm not a weight weeny, but I think twice before mounting a 2.5Kg hub when a 1.6Kg hub does the trick, and allows for roughly 18pc 18650 more cells in the battery for the same weight... That beeing said, it seems enviolo came up with a model "sportive" optimized for high torque (120.nm-2) that could be interesting: https://www.enviolo.com/en/groupsets/sportive
Nearly twice as expensive as an alfine though...

 

[wineboyrider]

Enviolo too heavy and also overgeared;

That’s funny coming from an e-bike guy. Both because what does it matter, and because of all the weight we intentionally add to our bikes.

As a very big guy, I’ve never been overly concerned about bike weight, but only about whether the weight is doing something valuable. For a mid drive, a wide range transmission that is always in gear and ready to accept full torque seems like a win, even if it’s heavy.

What about 3 speed shimano hubs?

I'm not a weight weeny, but I think twice before mounting a 2.5Kg hub when a 1.6Kg hub does the trick, and allows for roughly 18pc 18650 more cells in the battery for the same weight... That beeing said, it seems enviolo came up with a model "sportive" optimized for high torque (120.nm-2) that could be interesting: https://www.enviolo.com/en/groupsets/sportive
Nearly twice as expensive as an alfine though...

 

[Balmorhea]

What about 3 speed shimano hubs?

Old Shimano “333” hubs are weak and problematic even for pedal-only applications. Shimano Nexus 3 hubs are much more reliable, but feeding mid drive power to them is risky. It’s not what they’re for, and they have a lot lower structural safety margin than derailleur gearing. They do represent one of the cheapest ways to gamble on mid drives with internal gears, though.

 

[amberwolf]

Old Shimano “333” hubs are weak and problematic even for pedal-only applications.

It took at least a few months, but the one I was using on SB Cruiser to give me sort-of-usable pedal-only gearing started self-disassembling, even with only applying torque thru it to begin rolling the trike forward enough to allow the CA3 to detect PAS enough to start providing motor power. (and the rest of the time is just me pedalling along controlling speed, while the hubmotors actually provided all the real motive force). I fixed it a few times, then it became unfixable (lost bearings during ride).


IIRC I have a similar-era Sachs torpedo on there replacing it, and that has not had any problems in the months (year+?) since then, doing the same job.

 

[Balmorhea]

IIRC I have a similar-era Sachs torpedo on there replacing it, and that has not had any problems in the months (year+?) since then, doing the same job.

That's a proven reliable hub, though a little fussier to strip and rebuild than Sturmey Archer. The sliding key is fragile and easy to break when reassembling the hub. Once assembled, it's a robust internal gear hub.

 

[giantfan]

I am doing the same now. Built a bike with 750w engine, it has been to time consuming from start to the end. Now, after looking around for other solutions im just going with a Cannondale Kinneto. Just seems more slick and no more hassel with the motor...

I understand that some might like the DIY solution better, but its not for me. People should be aware of all the work.

Well, I can't argue with that. I would add, from my limited experience, that the Bafang is good, but rudimentary in it's operation. Clunky would be one way to describe it. I'll stick with mine for now but in the future it will probably make sense to upgrade to full factory bike as long as I can get one with 750W or greater. I say the future because While the Bafang has it's bugs and failures, so do all these other entrants and I for one don't want to be arguing with a dealer over repairs, paying exorbitant prices for parts or facing long delays getting my bike running again. When they build one that can give 5 years of trouble free cycling I'll feel confident paying the high price.

 

[tomjasz]

My 2014 BBS01 36v 350w have been ridden since 2014. No issues.