TSDZ2 won't fit through my bottom bracket ?!?

I started a conversion of my 2011-ish Globe (Specialized) Vienna 02 700c hybrid, got the old cranks off, and removed the bottom bracket, and was trying to install the motor assembly, and it won't fit through the 68mm bottom bracket, there's a ridge in the maching in the middle of the bracket that is blocking the threaded part of the TSDZ's BB thing.

now what?!?


view from ND side with the TSDDZ inserted from the D side as far as it goes...



view from the Drive side,





I suppose I could try and remove some metal with a dremel and a sanding drum, but ugh.

Aluminium is really soft. I think you could take that off very easily with a half round file. Slow and steady and you won't even mess up your existing threads.

I dunno, would be pretty tricky to file that without mangling the threads.... i do believe I'll give my dremel a try, with an extension shaft, and the sanding drums, and a shop vac hose gaffered to the other side of the BB to keep the metal dust from getting everywhere. slow and easy with light pressure, change sanding drums as they wear out.

i'm also going to have to find a lower profile cable guide for the bottom of the BB, this frame is setup for a bottom pull front derailleur, and the existing guide for the two cables is thicker than the TSDZ2 motor housing will clear. why are these jobs always more complicated than originally envisioned? hah!

ok, dremel did the trick. sanding drum with fairly coarse grit anda few minutes on each quadrant all the way around the inside of the BB, full RPM on the dremel, hold it parallel to the surface, light pressure, and constantly moving back and forth around the inside of the circle... the high spot was only about 1cm wide and less than 1mm high, so motor installed. yayyyy.

You graduated from being a parts assembler to a do-it-yourself-er!!!

now I'm trying to find a low profile cable guide for under the BB as the one on this bike is way too thick and hits the motor.



several online resellers tell me they are out of stock and have no ETA for the nice slim Shimano part. Amazon is full of chinese vendors with 6-12 week shipping times.

Just about any bike shop might have one in a parts bin.

Bigwheel said:

Just about any bike shop might have one in a parts bin.

Click to expand...

yeah, but with covid, the local bike shops are appointment only.

anyways, I found this one at Jenson Cycles, ordered it monday morning and recieved it tuesday! it fits, and the motor clears it although I had to remove the motor cover temporarily to install it. I'm going to have to drill and/or trim the TSDZ2's anchor bracket in order for the shifter cables to clear it.

You could also run SIS and brake cable housing full length I just happened to think. But now that you are set a bit late....

I think I've decided TSDZ2 hub motors just aren't that compatible with a under-the-BB shift-cable frame. I have the rear derailleur working, I gave up on the front entirely (I have a 52-42 on my TSDZ2), so I'll be shifting the front by hand if it turns out I need the 42T.

eco-bikes told me they are soon going to have a dished 50T front which should improve the chain line significantly. 50:13 should be plenty tall enough gear for me, I haven't run 52:13 since I was in my mid 20s, peak shape, and rode centuries on a vintage 10-speed. on this bike, I was running a 48T big ring before, with the same 13-26 rear 8-speed.

I cant see why anyone would want/need anything more than a 1x setup when running a tsdz2... All three of my conversions have been 1x...

HughF said:

I cant see why anyone would want/need anything more than a 1x setup when running a tsdz2... All three of my conversions have been 1x...

Click to expand...

no hills where you ride? I live a mile up a 8% grade thats all blind turns with really narrow shoulders. on my 2nd conversion, a 26" mountain bike, I could climb that hill at a decent pace in a gear like 42:19, but was running 42:13 or so on the flats. accelerating from a full stop was much smoother if I downshifted a few gears before stopping.

LeftCoastNurd said:

HughF said:

I cant see why anyone would want/need anything more than a 1x setup when running a tsdz2... All three of my conversions have been 1x...

Click to expand...

no hills where you ride? I live a mile up a 8% grade thats all blind turns with really narrow shoulders. on my 2nd conversion, a 26" mountain bike, I could climb that hill at a decent pace in a gear like 42:19, but was running 42:13 or so on the flats.

Click to expand...

"1x" or "one-by" is a recent trend in the industry to use just one front ring rather than two or three. It's not related to single speed.

Given that 11-34t cassettes are standard issue on a great many bikes, and sizes up to 11-50t are available, there's not much of a case to be made for an e-bike having double or triple chainrings.

ah, I call that single chain ring, or 1x8 to clarify that its an 8 speed...

i don't like 11 or 12t rears, they wear awfully fast. my current rear cassette is a 'V' 8 speed, thats 13-14-15-17-19-21-23-26 .... wow, looking online, it appears thats the *only* 13T cassette left, the rest are 11-32 or 11-30 :-/ so I guess I'll have to bite it and go 11T :-/

I put the 42-52 on this one with the idea that I might manually shift it to the 42T for that end of day climb-the-big-hill I live on. based on my test ride, 52:26 is too tall for a mile long grade, the motor will overheat. anyways, the chain line is awful as its currently configured, so I'll probably put the stock 42T back on, and I guess I'll have to get an 11-28 or something


I kinda miss the old days when the local bike shop had all the cogs and could build you any gearing you wanted. of course, those were freewheels, not cassettes, and we only got 5 speeds, and a campy nuevo record could only handle a fairly narrow range, like 13-24.

Balmorhea said:

LeftCoastNurd said:

HughF said:

I cant see why anyone would want/need anything more than a 1x setup when running a tsdz2... All three of my conversions have been 1x...

Click to expand...

no hills where you ride? I live a mile up a 8% grade thats all blind turns with really narrow shoulders. on my 2nd conversion, a 26" mountain bike, I could climb that hill at a decent pace in a gear like 42:19, but was running 42:13 or so on the flats.

Click to expand...

"1x" or "one-by" is a recent trend in the industry to use just one front ring rather than two or three. It's not related to single speed.

Given that 11-34t cassettes are standard issue on a great many bikes, and sizes up to 11-50t are available, there's not much of a case to be made for an e-bike having double or triple chainrings.

Click to expand...

This...

yeah, today I swapped the stupid 52-42 back for the original dished 42T that has the right chain line, test rode down to my LBS, where I had them swap the 13-26 for a 11-28; Didn't meet a hill that the TSDZ2 couldn't rip right up in 42:28 as long as I didn't let it overheat, and 42:11 was way fast enough cruising on the flats. If the 11t high gear wears out, oh well, its only a $35 cassette.