My New Bafang Ultra - E-BIKE HYBRID SUV 27.5

Hey Guys,

I wanted to start a thread on my experience purchasing and building up a Bafang Ultra bike/frame. I've been wanting to get a Bafang Ultra bike for a very long time, around when the Frey AM1000 came out in 2017. I was almost ready to buy a new Frey AM1000, but decided to give this other Chinese supplier a shot. His prices were very competitive, especially when it comes to shipping.



The seller was very helpful and answered all my questions, not as good as Ivy at Frey, but "Luffy" from "Spomann Bike" on Aliexpress was good.

I got the "2018 E-Bike HYBRID SUV 27.5" Not the greatest name, but its a good looking Full Suspension G510 Bafang Ultra frame with 27.5" Wheels

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/MTB-E-BIKE-motor-bike-frmae-SUV-suspension-frame-aluminium-alloy-cross-country-electric-frames-shock/32813666707.html

The bike is available in a few combos of the "Frame, Motor, Battery, and Rear Shock" and they also have a complete bike for not too bad of a price ($4200 shipped) with a Rockshox Pike, SRAM components and Magura Brakes.

The frame is nice, with Boost Spacing, 150mm rear travel, 150-160mm front recommended. I like the battery pack "look" better than the Frey, and it looks like it can take almost any type of down tube battery with that big flat mounting area. Maybe a Luna Wolf Pack or something larger in the future.

The seller tells me they will be making more G510 Bafang Ultra frames soon too.

The Battery is only 48v 14Ah, I think its plenty for me though. I believe the battery pack it uses is the new style "Dolphin" pack, I'll report on the features when the bike arrives.

I ordered Combination 1 ($2300US shipped to Canada) with the Motor, Frame, Battery and Shock. I purchased on March 12, 2019. I will purchase the rest of the parts myself. List of the parts is below.

When things start to arrive I will share my findings and pictures. When I get the bike together and ridden a few times, I will do a full review. Hopefully, have this complete in 2 months.

You can see my previous Ebikes in my signature, I have some nice bikes to compare this against.

Stay tuned! I'll update as things come along. Gonna get juicy!


Parts I've Purchased or Had:

Fork (Fox 36 Performace Boost)
Wheels (Raceface AR40, Maxxis Recon 2.8" 27.5+)
Pedals (DMR)
Grips (ODI)
Headset (Hope ZS44+ZS56)
Stem (RaceFace)
Saddle (NukeProof Vector)
Seatpost (Dropper BrandX Ascend 150 31.6mm)
Brake Rotor (Storm 203mm F&B)
Brakes (Magura MT5E)
Derailleur (SRAM GX 11 speed)
Shifter (SRAM X1 11s)
Cassette (SRAM XG-1150)
Chain (KMC)
Bafang 500C LCD

Seller sent me some more picture of their complete bike. The frame combo I ordered should be shipping this week. And most of the part will be arriving this week. I will update this as things start coming in.

Anyone got any opinions so far? What do you guys think about the bike? Comments are welcome!

Subscribed.

I will be watching this with interest considering I am doing similar with my yet to arrive LMX 64.

Cheers

That's a good looking frame: proper Horst link, nice geometry. Some of the welds around the motor are a little cosmetically challenged but perhaps production is a bit better.
Boost spacing should make for a good chainline and 27.5" wheels let you run in bigger cogs for better chain life.

These G510 frames are starting to get very interesting for a stealthy fast build.

Looks great. Nice that the Specialized's (Horst-link) patent has expired and that suspension design, arguably the best conceived so far, cab ge used by all although might not as important for an e-MTB.

Not sure if it's the same frame but loks a lot like Volton's A-Trail.

https://voltonbicycles.com/shop/a-trail-emtb/

The frame has just arrived. Looks like it's in decent shape. Only one small dent on the headtube.

Motor and Battery are arriving separate and should be here next week. I got all the rest of the parts ready to assemble except the front fork, I should have that next week as well. I'll post pictures and updates as I make progress on the build.

So far, I'm pretty happy with the service and shipping.

I took some pictures of the welds, not the prettiest, but should be strong. I'm going to suggest the seller work on the welds a little more for future frames.

Starting to come together now. I got all the parts for the bike, except the Motor and Battery. They were delayed apparently. Aliexpress seller says he will ship them tomorrow via DHL, so it should only be another week or so.

Still, lots to do, but nice to see it rolling and how it's going to look. The Fox36 fork I was going to use, didn't work out, so I bought a new Lyrik Solo RCT.

What do you guys think?

I will follow this thread. I would really like to know how it feels to ride the mighty Bafang Ultra.

The frame looks a little like my 2015 Cube Stereo Hybrid 120 SL, doesn't it?

Hi,

i'd like to follow this as an alternative option as well for some of my family members. Could you update for instance the list of parts with prices (approx) such that we can estimate the total cost as well?

Cheers

Gonna be one hell of a bike, great parts list. I like the frame, it's very well executed!

I have this frame now. I also have been promised motor and battery. I've noticed that the top cross tube does not contain the cable stays, shown in the offer pictures.
I assume the rear brake and derailleur cables run thru the lower cross tube and over the motor.
Wheels, fork, headset, handlebar, derailleur, and brakes have been installed.
There doesn't seem be any sense of urgency when ordering from Chinese suppliers. Everything I order is cloaked in mystery. Then, bam, it's in N.Y., and delivered the next day.

Hey arrowrod, glad to see someone else going through the same thing! Post pictures if you got them!

I keep getting promised the Motor and Battery are just a couple of days away from shipping, but its been almost 3 weeks that I've been hearing that. Getting fed up and about to start an Aliexpress dispute if the seller doesn't ship it this week.

At this point, I can say the bike frame is great, I too noticed the exterior top tube cable stays are gone, and replaced with an extra hole in the down tube, now I have 2 small holes on either side of the down tube and 1 large hole on the one side of the downtube.

I wish they would have kept the top tube cable stays, I'm out of room to run my dropper post cable.

Seller says the bike does not support a dropper post, I had issues getting my 150mm dropper in all the way, there are weld bumps on the inside of the seat tube, seller says they are to prevent inserting the seat post too deep, but I think it's just a lack of reaming after welding. Dropper post should work though, as long as there is room above the motor to route the cable down the seat tube and up the down tube. Wish I had the motor to see how much room there is.

Waiting on my brake kit so I can finish installing the brakes. Then just wait for the motor and Battery.

I will update my parts list and stuff when I finish the bike, I'll be sure to post prices and things as well. Thanks guys!

Here's my cat room, build bedroom. Also promised.

Apparently, struggling posting pictures. Tried to import 3.7MB picture, apparently 512K limit.

Maybe a picture.

I think I'm getting the hang of this.

I think those ergo/bar end grips are meant to go in the other direction? Nice looking project, have fun.

Hi !
Nice project!!! I routed my rear brake cable through the motor. it is enough place. but rear derailleur cable would also match (brake=6mm and Shimano SP41 is only 4mm), but the real problem is the angle of the routing - its too much. Its a Frey AM1000, but might be the same issue here. I changed the braketo Saints - quiet, no problems with leaky levers, easy bleeding- combined with Magura brake pressure motor-off switches.
I am looking forward to your next steps/pictures

barbarossa said:

Hi !
Nice project!!! I routed my rear brake cable through the motor. it is enough place. but rear derailleur cable would also match (brake=6mm and Shimano SP41 is only 4mm), but the real problem is the angle of the routing - its too much. Its a Frey AM1000, but might be the same issue here. I changed the braketo Saints - quiet, no problems with leaky levers, easy bleeding- combined with Magura brake pressure motor-off switches.
I am looking forward to your next steps/pictures

Click to expand...

Where did you get the Magura brake cutoffs? Can you provide a link?

Bigwheel said:

I think those ergo/bar end grips are meant to go in the other direction? Nice looking project, have fun.

Click to expand...

Hey, I always get stuff backwards during the first fitting. Hell, I just figured out how to respond.

Hi,
I bought the Magura cutoffs at ebay i think. Have a look at : https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=34122

I also attached pictures, not the best but the only pictures i had on my smartphone - i bought a hifi cinch cable to connect the magura cutoffs. rear brake cutoff is directly connected to the motor so i save some cable routing. you can also see that the brake cable ends at the small plastic cover of the motor - thats the location where also the cutoff for gear shifting and speed sensor cables are leaving the motor. btw my electric cables to the front are routed through the front fork so i have no cables at the front - just needed a special supernova star nut to route through the fork (attached photo).

Rydon said:

barbarossa said:

Hi !
Nice project!!! I routed my rear brake cable through the motor. it is enough place. but rear derailleur cable would also match (brake=6mm and Shimano SP41 is only 4mm), but the real problem is the angle of the routing - its too much. Its a Frey AM1000, but might be the same issue here. I changed the braketo Saints - quiet, no problems with leaky levers, easy bleeding- combined with Magura brake pressure motor-off switches.
I am looking forward to your next steps/pictures

Click to expand...

Where did you get the Magura brake cutoffs? Can you provide a link?

Click to expand...

Hey Rydon,

I'm using the Magura MT5E brakes, You can get them at Chain Reaction Cycle. I got almost all my parts from there. The MT5E brake levers have the cutoff switch with the Red HIGO connector. There are 2 type of Levers for MT5, Openers and Closers. You want Closers for Bafang. Also, since the levers are only the Red 2 Pin HIGO, you will need to either modify them slightly to fit the yellow 3 pin HIGOs on the Bafang motors or get an adapter from here.
https://www.e-bike-technologies.de/index.php/en/adapter-and-adapter-cables/adapter-and-adapter-cables-signal/higo-a-b-s3-b2-detail

I got the adapters. Then the Magura MT5E brakes will work with any Bafang motor, and they are really nice brakes too!

Phife said:

Rydon said:

barbarossa said:

Hi !
Nice project!!! I routed my rear brake cable through the motor. it is enough place. but rear derailleur cable would also match (brake=6mm and Shimano SP41 is only 4mm), but the real problem is the angle of the routing - its too much. Its a Frey AM1000, but might be the same issue here. I changed the braketo Saints - quiet, no problems with leaky levers, easy bleeding- combined with Magura brake pressure motor-off switches.
I am looking forward to your next steps/pictures

Click to expand...

Where did you get the Magura brake cutoffs? Can you provide a link?

Click to expand...

Hey Rydon,

I'm using the Magura MT5E brakes, You can get them at Chain Reaction Cycle. I got almost all my parts from there. The MT5E brake levers have the cutoff switch with the Red HIGO connector. There are 2 type of Levers for MT5, Openers and Closers. You want Closers for Bafang. Also, since the levers are only the Red 2 Pin HIGO, you will need to either modify them slightly to fit the yellow 3 pin HIGOs on the Bafang motors or get an adapter from here.
https://www.e-bike-technologies.de/index.php/en/adapter-and-adapter-cables/adapter-and-adapter-cables-signal/higo-a-b-s3-b2-detail

I got the adapters. Then the Magura MT5E brakes will work with any Bafang motor, and they are really nice brakes too!

Click to expand...

Hi,
it is a little off-topic but these Magura MT5(e) Brakes are a mystery to me. some like it some hate it. I was using the brakes. braking power is prefect. but the noise. black brake pads were terrible, it was a little better with the blue ones - these were only squeezing before I finally stopped. but i had to replace them each 1-2 months. main problem is that the brake pads are wider than the Magura Storm HC disc so especially the black pads rattle. after aligning the brake pistons each month (all four pistons back and forward again so that they could close equally again) and aligning the whole caliper because the gap is very close finally the rear lever lost oil. that was enough. so i was looking for another solution. but hey, many people are really very happy with that brake !!!! and perhaps i just was unlucky… just a comment...

:thumb: