Grantmac said:
azad said:
Compoundbike said:
CYC X1 Pro has a torque-sensing and has more power then a bafang.
It doesn't seem to have a gear box. Wonder how it would fare uphill. Also I notice a chain drive, these kinds are noisy and chain derailing can happen as well. I had a similar setup in the past it was very painful.
And serious off-roading a Bafang will break the bottom bracket, pick your poison.
Grant, there's a lot of "depends" in that statement...and I don't mean the kind in demand down at the old folks home. :lol:
But seriously, we've had a little of this discussion before. I guess the subjective description of what "serious off-roading" is can fog up the lens of opinion here. On the extreme end of "serious off-roading", like hucking the bike from decent drops, slamming into ledge climbs, and clearing a 20' gap at speed, I'd agree that a mid-drive, home install is not the best or correct choice for that application. But this "serious off-roading" doesn't just apply to that level only. Riding fast in tight terrain...riding over semi-small rock gardens...getting a little air over smaller drops and rises...these are not going to destroy the motor or the bike as long as the bike was already capable of this type of riding to begin with. And let's be honest...this is what and how most mountain bikers ride in probably 90% of the cases.
The slightly lower ground clearance of a Bafang mid-drive...and probably most mid-drives...is probably the biggest limiting factor for really gnarly off road. Even at that my current SC Nomad with a BBSHD is basically the same clearance as the Trek Rail 7 emtb demo bike we have at the shop. There is no question that I could ride my Nomad at Moab on most all the "biggies" like Porcupine, etc. and do just fine. Better line choice and the occasional "get-off-and-lift" would be the only requirement, and I contend that it wouldn't be that frequent where I'd have to dismount anymore than I would have on my pedal-only Nomad. There are a few places on Porc that I have to do that anyway since I'm not Hans Rey.
Your comment on "breaking the bottom bracket" is interesting. While I would agree that nothing made by man is impossible to break on "serious off-road"...even a KTM 500...maybe the type of bicycle being converted is the issue. Sticking a BBSHD on an XC MTB is probably not a good idea if harder core riding is in the mix. However, sticking that motor into a burly Enduro/AM or DH level frame is a better idea. I'll add to that the issue that most of the Bafang mid-drive applications are going into older MTB's that may not be in head-to-head competition with the latest and greatest new MTB's out there. Only an idiot would buy a new top tier, big hit, long travel, well equipped MTB and install a mid-drive. At that point one is much better served getting a Trek Rail, Spec Levo, new gen SC Bullit, or even a Luna X1 or such. If the BB on my '09 Nomad eventually gets "hogged-out" or worn or even "breaks"...well...it served its purpose, and I doubt that will happen tomorrow. Grant, I would like to know some detail as how you determine the BB will fail...actual crack in the frame shell, hogged out threads in the shell, egg-shaping the shell over time. or what. I won't argue that it is possible for any of these to occur over time, but I think a lot of that depends on the frame we're talking about and yes...the type of riding. In response to the concern of the BBSHD "moving" or dropping down while in use, I just made a simple aluminum plate to add a little more support to the motor.
If I were young and still sending it with some truly, gnarly, hardcore freeride applications, I would buy the new Santa Cruz Bullit emtb. However, a solid bike like my older Nomad with a BBSHD will allow some very decent mountain biking without breaking the bank and breaking the frame the first time out.