Light(ish) weight BBS-02 build

I finished my bike build yesterday and it came out to just over 40 pounds.

Frame: 1999 Cannondale CAAD 2 mtb hardtail frame.
Tires: Kenda Karma 26 x 1.95
Seatpost: Thudbuster
Fork: Sid Race
Bafung BBS-02
Chainring: Race Face 34 tooth
Cassette: 11-28 Sram
Battery: Dolphin pack with Panasonic B cells 13S4P 48Volt

After finishing the build I rode it about an hour close to home, going up and down some 10% plus hills to see how the motor handled the climbing. It never got more than very slightly warm, even after a steady 10mph climb up a 1 1/2 mile 12% grade. (I live on the side of a mountain.)

Took it for its first real ride today, 31 miles, 1,616 feet of climbing, average speed 12.3mph. Some cruising around in town, some single track and lots of rolling country roads, both paved and gravel. Got back with about 1/3 battery charge. Was mostly in PAS 3 (of 5) and got a good workout peddling (I built this to level out the hills, not do all the work for me.) I'll tweak the programming on the BBS-02 tonight and hope for another day of freakishly great weather like we had today and give it another go.

I am very happy with the build and want to give a big shout out to the great folks at Luna Cycle, especially Erik. It was great dealing with them and I couldn't be happier.
I'll give the bike a bath and take some photos and post them tomorrow.

Think about catching up with Karl's electric fat bike blog. Some good ideas on keeping it in top running condition!
Freakish riding weather in MN too. More! More?

Fiddler: greetings from another mountainside dweller with 12% grades! Keeping things light is something many don't think is important, several times I have read "what's another pound or two on a E-bike", or words to that effect. Saving weight is the main reason I went with the BBSO2 (also from Luna) instead of the new HD unit, especially after reading others' reports on it's performance (adequate, more then adequate, when set up right). Your performance numbers are impressive to me, also new to E-bikes, let's see some pictures.

I assume you also live at some altitude, as in way above sea level, I'm at 5400' and the cool thing about E-bikes (yeah, this is stating the obvious but I still think it's neat) is that there is no performance loss due to density altitude! On the same subject, if, like me you are in part using solar as a power source, a solar array puts out MORE power at a higher altitude (thinner air/brighter sun), but I digress. That is one light e-bike conversion, well done.

As promised, here are some photos of the build.

I gave the bath a wash and changed the tires to some more roadworthy rubber with generic wheels. It weights 42 pounds now. I could probably cut that by 5 pounds by transferring seat post, seat, Mavick wheels and gheto tubeless Kenda Karmas from my Santa Cruz for serious trail work.

The bag is a custom one I sewed up myself. I was going for stealth on this build and the big Panasonic dolphin pack didn't look very bike-like. The bag is big and lumpy and very non-battery looking. I routed the wires inside the bag and even with the big black motor hanging out below the bottom bracket, it doesn't scream e-bike. (I may paint the motor with a grey hammer-finish enamel and get it to blend in better with asphalt.) I also went with the C963 display since it is smaller and more stealthy.

More photos of the build:

The velcroed patches on the sides of the bag are for the power switch and charging ports on the dolphin battery pack.

The mount for the dolphin pack is screwed to the water bottle mount on the downtube from inside the bag and makes for a very clean look, no velcro straps needed along the downtube. Routing the wiring inside the bag gets rid of some major wire clutter. I have some 5/8" heat shrink tubing on order to further clean up the wiring up to the handlebar. I need to remember to leave the connector to the display free for programming the controller.

hi fiddler, i`m liking that clean look you got there, i take it you have screwed the dolphin battery mount to the frame from inside your bag then just mounted the battery from the inside? Great idea to hide all those cables and the obvious battery.
And the color matching zip ties as well!!
Far too many of these built ebikes begin to look like motorbikes or mopeds, sorta defeats the purpose.

If you look at mine here you`ll see the cables can`t really be hidden, bag looks to be an option, just getting the right size.

tommie said:

If you look at mine here you`ll see the cables can`t really be hidden, bag looks to be an option, just getting the right size.

Click to expand...

Nice build!

The bag was a project in itself!! I first started by making a cardboard model that fully filled the triangle and was the exact width of the battery. Then I tapered the top of the model starting at the top of the battery and same for in front of the battery, giving a nicely tapered look. I then cut an opening in the cardboard exactly where the zipper was going to be and tested to see if the battery could be inserted (the dolphin pack barely fit in the frame without the bag). Once I decided it was going to work I moved on to the hard stuff.

So far the only skills needed are cutting up some cardboard boxes without slicing a finger off with the box cutter and taping the cardboard parts together to make an full size model of the inside of the bag. (The sharp-tool-challenged should probably stick with blunt ended scissors.)

At this point, a really smart person would hand the cardboard model over to a talented sailmaker or seamstress. Unfortunately that wasn't an option for me so I had to drive to a couple of upholstery shops in search of the right material, velcro and zippers. Then It took about 4 hours of sewing to get the bag ready to test on the bike. Fortunately it fit pretty well. The bag is a little more complex than it appears since there are velcro joined dividers inside to snug it up to the battery to keep it from puffing out too much and also give space for spare tube, pump, multitool and patch kit. Someone opening the zipper would only see the normal bike stuff and may not notice the battery.

HI FIddler Great build your bike looks really awesome...thanks for sharing. ....

Nice bike!

Just FYI I found this out by accident, but if you use the BCD-104 adapter from SuperScooterStore, you can get a 32T Raceface narrow wide to fit without the chain hitting the adapter arms, and without having to grind the adapter down.