YOUE 250W Geared Motor review

I was looking for another front geared motor when I ran across this YOUE motor on Aliexpress;

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/36V-48V-250W-High-Speed-Brushless-Gear-Hub-Motor-E-bike-Motor-Rear-Wheel-Drive-YOUE/1888938628.html

I already own a high speed 9.0 RPM/V MXUS geared motor from E-BikeKit which is installed on my Jeep Comanche bike and though it's a tad fast for a 700C wheel I became happier with it as I got into cycling shape over the summer. I also have a 6.4 RPM/V ("201rpm") Cute Q100 installed on my flatbar road bike ( http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=62934 ) but it's kinda slow on 36V (18mph). So I wanted something that was in between those two motors speed-wise and I wanted it in black. The vendor said it would spin at 33 km/h (20.5mph) in a 700C wheel and yes I could have it in black so I ordered one.

The motor was shipped in a few days and arrived quickly at my door. I did not have a rim or spokes for it but I tossed it on the front forks of my bike and spun it up. It clocked in at 8.06 RPM/V which is faster than I expected but should be perfect on the Nashbar with 700Cx32mm tires.

As of today I am waiting on the spokes yet but I figured I'd get the hardware all set. When I tightened everything down however I noticed a lot of drag when I turned the motor by hand. It spun just fine with the hardware loose so something must have been binding. This is when I found a problem with this manufacturer's design, they machined the axle with flats all the way down to the bearings. Here is a picture of another motor I ordered at the same time and just got yesterday.

View attachment 3

And here is the YOUE:






This nut only catches a couple of threads and with enough tightening torque on the outside nut could easily strip. I will have to see if I can find another nut like it to act as a jam nut.



The right side also had a similar problem.



The motor now spins freely unless I really torque the outer nuts. It's not ideal but the best I can do with the flawed design. (see retraction below)

A big reason I wanted to try this motor besides the speed being just about perfect was the fact that it could be easily disassembled by removing 6 screws. I did take it apart and found very little grease applied. The outer ring gear had no grease on it whatsoever and the planetary gears only had small dabs. I did not take any pic's but it looks pretty much like a like a Bafang does inside.

The spokes are on their way so as soon as I get them I'll build the motor into a wheel and test it out.




-R

Yikes. I imagine a possible solution would be to grind down a wide axle nut using an angle grinder, bench grinder or something like that until it's round and small enough to take up the space. Either that, or do this to those washers you placed on the axle. That is assuming you feel like it's worth your while to do this, that is pretty ridiculous. I hope you leave feedback on that webpage you bought from.

Those massive stamped letters would drive me nuts, I freakin hate stuff like that, as though I am advertising for them.

What a shame.

Motor cheap, shipping cost, insane. Must be BMSbatterys back door.

Dan

Actually I have to retract some of my criticism of the YOUE. I looked at the Outrider again and while it does have the raised shoulders on the disc side it too has a thin nut (4mm in this case) and a washer tightened loosely against the bearing and case on the drive (right) side. The difference is the bearing sticks out ever so slightly and the washer is small enough so that it does not contact the case as long as the nut is left slightly loose. The extra 1mm width (4mm vs 3mm)does make the nut more stable on the shaft.







-R

Well, that sounds like good news, perhaps then you can just get a smaller diameter washer or just grind down the ones you have.

bowlofsalad said:

Well, that sounds like good news, perhaps then you can just get a smaller diameter washer or just grind down the ones you have.

Click to expand...

On the right side (cable exit side) I did replace the washer however on the left (disc) side the bearing is quite a bit smaller and would require a washer only a couple of mm larger than the shaft.

What I could do since there are 4mm spacer washers on each side is to find some 4mm nuts and add one to each side. This would take any load off the washer on the right side and serve as a jam nut on the left side.


-R

OK this is the configuration I'm going with;



Still doesn't spin as smoothly as I'd like but it is still just a bare motor. Width is up to 102mm but that's ok.

-R

Couldn't leave it alone...spent over an hour filing the 9mm nut on the disc side down to 7mm...by hand.

...but now it looks perfect :wink:

-R

Spokes still in transit so I had time to take the new YOUE apart again. Hmmm...it looks a lot like my old GM Mini, aka Bafang QSWXH.





Here's the ironic part...



-R

The spokes arrived...yay!

The bike the motor is going on does not have disc brakes but who knows about a year from now. With that in mind I laced the motor with all of the spoke heads OUT to give additional clearance for a disc caliper. My preference with this size motor in a 700C rim is a cross-2 pattern however with all heads out a cross-1 pattern works better. The motor has a spoke hole diameter of 129mm and a flange spacing of 43.5mm which with a Mavic A119 rim yielded a spoke length of 242mm. I chose custom cut Sapim single-butted 13/14g spokes from GRIN. They shipped 14mm nipples with the spokes however I used 12mm nipples and saved the 14mm ones in case I ever come up a bit short on spoke length when building a wheel.

It was raining and cold today, perfect weather to build a wheel.



After I mounted the tire and tube I spun the motor up and rechecked the speed, 8.01 RPM/V. Also any fears I had about the bearings dragging due to the axle being cut flush with them proved to be unfounded. With the large 7mm nut on the disc side and (2) 3mm nuts jammed on the drive side (I added another 3mm nut since the last post) meant there was no side loading on the bearings. I timed how long the wheel took to spin from no-load (26.5mph) to a complete stop and got just over one minute. That's very good.

Tomorrow I hopefully will have an opportunity to road test it.

-R

Went out for the first ride with the motor today. Using 36V and a 15A controller is never real exciting but the bike the motor is on is meant to be pedaled. (see bike here; http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=62934#p947649 ) Top speed came in as expected at 21 mph (700Cx32mm tire) w/10S Li-ion (42.0V max). The motor is a little noisier than a Cute Q100 or MXUS geared motors I own but it's not objectionable. I wonder if it's due to the case design. I imagine the screw-on side covers of the other motors make for a stiffer case. The main appeal for me with this motor however is the ability to easily remove the side cover to service it without having to try to come up with something that'll open the other motors. Also it looks like the extra GM Mini motor core I have (also YOUE) will slip right in if I need a spare.

-R

A couple of days ago I moved the YOUE motor/wheel from my flatbar road bike to the bike I ride most often, my Jeep Comanche E-bike. I have been using an E-BikeKit geared motor on this bike however it is a rather fast wind (9.0RPM/V) so it complains a lot up hills as my speed drops to around 14 mph. I also wanted the serviceable YOUE on this bike as it does rack up the most miles (This motor is a breeze to open up).

I put almost 100 miles on the motor on the first bike using a 36V/15Ah Li-ion battery and 2 different KU63 controllers, one stock, the other tweaked to 19A. Top speed was 21.5 mph. When I moved the motor over to the Jeep (same battery) the motor seemed to take on a different character. Maybe it was breaking in, and maybe it was the KU93 controller on the Jeep, but it sure seemed quieter. No-load speed in terms of RPM/V (tire independent) also rose 3% with the KU93 Vs the KU63. I confirmed this with 2 KU93's and 3 KU63 controllers. Both KU93 controllers ran 3% faster than the KU63's in sensorless mode. Out on the road this plus the slight increase in tire size (40mm Vs 32mm) gave the Jeep/YOUE combo a top speed of 22.5 mph, an increase of 1.

It was the character up a couple of 8% hills that really impressed me. As I said the E-BikeKit (MXUS) motor could make quite a bit of noise as it, and me, strained up these hills. Me, because I pedal furiously to try to keep the speed above 14 mph and the EBK motor, because it is a fast motor (the originals years ago were a slow-wind). This YOUE is still relatively speedy (8.0 RPM/V) compared to the standard (~6.5 RPM/V) small geared motors available but it remained very composed and quiet as I climbed the same hills yesterday and today.

The one thing that worried me was efficiency. I began keeping detailed records of my rides again this season like I used to do a few years back. The log serves to keep tabs on the battery condition and it shows me the difference in my various E-bikes. It also indicates my conditioning as battery use tends to decrease for a given speed as I improve. The first few rides with the YOUE indicated an increase in power consumption. I don't normally see much difference from the motor I use on my assist bikes. The biggest variable is the bike type, for example I use much more power on my cruiser than on my flatbar road bike, followed by my own power contribution, which to a degree is also tied to the bike type. Anyway, again it was either the motor breaking in or me slowing down as it gets chillier. Well today I went on the same 40 mile ride as yesterday and power consumption was right back down to normal for this bike.

So while me and the YOUE got off to a rough start I am beginning to take a shine to it. Frankly the biggest factor that differentiates one of these little motors from the next is the RPM/V. If this motor remains quiet under load it is a winner in my book.

-R

Thank you very much for your very good review. I can confirm all the statements you made completely. The only thing I am wondering about is - my youe runs in 20" with 48Volt and I can reach 36km/h may. Is this inline with your RPM or another Winding? I also hope to get a S06S Sinuscontroller to get it quiter. But maybe I save this money and use my Nine9 New FH154 to calm down the bike.

Using the following assumptions:

160 cm diameter (20")
48V nominal

RPM = 36 km/h x 100,000 cm/km x 1 h/60 min x 1 R/160 cm = 375

375RPM / 48V = 7.8 RPM

So yes your RPM is very close to what I got.

-R