Raged Cube Reaction 29er Cyclocross BBS02 Build Thread

Raged

1 kW
Joined
Jan 2, 2014
Messages
384
Location
Melbourne, Australia
*Editing first post with final result and list of some of the decisions that led to the final product. Some of the pics and video's are duplicated (pulled from later posts) as I'm trying to consolidate.

This is the bike in its current (final) form :
20170421_151035.jpg


The Bike in it's Version 2 Form :
14ef2cb7-f0a8-4a32-99cb-f12a18cadafd.jpg


Bike :
- Cube Reaction 29er frame (aluminium for BB clearance)
- Look 986 Tapered Carbon fork for 29er
- Shimano 9 speed MTB megarange 11t-34t cassette (already had)
- Shimano Altus 9 speed rear mech (already had)
- Shimano Altus front mech (already had)
- Concept Ex wheelset (quick release), seatpost and seat (already had)
- Deda dropbar
- Shimano Sora 3500 sti shifters ( 9 speed - explain this later )
- Avid BB7 road disc brakes. 160mm rear, 180mm front.

Electronics :
- BBS02 with C965A from eMax Sydney
- 52v setup - 14S1P of Hobby King Zippy Compact 5800mAh lipo (2 x 7S)
- Greentime 14S 30A BMS ( 5A charge circuit ) ~AUD$30.
- em3ev 58.8v 5A charger ( I also have a Greentime 58.8v charger coming which can be had for under AUD$60 delivered to Melbourne)
- Full charge from empty takes about 1 hour.
- Upgraded BBS02 48t chainring.

Details :
- Lights - Moon Comet Front and rear.
- Full weight - 19kg.
- I use throttle only for 99% of rides.
- It will easily do 25km on 5800mAh juice if you keep it under 35km/h. Going faster burns it faster.
- Top speed of 50km/h with assist ( 48t chainring and 11t rear makes this possible )
- 1 x 9 speed MTB setup gives enough low gears to get me out of most hills without power. As the BBS02 is geared, it doesnt have any drag, so feels like a normal bike.

The original plan of hiding the batteries in drink bottles didnt work out(although would have been mad stealth). I actually had it working for a month while testing but I didn't have confidence that the bottle holders were strong/safe enough for holding lipo's. I even tried duct taping the thing down... The weight of the batteries inside the drink bottle kept on moving it around. It was a safety issue... So I went back to a formula I know works well. Metal box out of building frame metal and hose clamps. I'll revisit the water bottle idea later if I have time. The issue was the holder not strapping the water bottle tight. If I had better knowledge of 3d printing, I'd build some custom mounts and make it work.

About the Shimano Sora 3500 9 speed. I had to stick to 9 speed as the cable pull/indexing for 10 speed and up is different between MTB and Road. If you want to use MTB cassettes (really important if you only have 1 front chainring) with road shifters then you're stuck with 9 speed in the shimano range. The Sora 3500 isnt too bad. They got rid of the shitty thumb thing that was so shit on the older models. Ergonomically its as good as a 2010 Shimano 105... which is pretty good.

As this is a commuter with a sealed battery pack, I use a LiPo BMS for simple plug and play. frock pulling packs apart to recharge.

People have asked me about my throttle setup on the drop bars. Its a simple pvc pipe and two cable ties. The pvc pipe is used as a spacer to keep the cable ties off the throttle mech.

Thumb throttle on drop-bar for use on the hoods setup.
[youtube]y29npPhguFA[/youtube]

In regards to chainring size, 48t is the biggest I can go on my 29er frame. I assume this is the same for most MTB's as any bigger will foul the chainstays.

0462d9cb-bfab-4165-a9dc-c5144148da78.jpg


889e41c0-8883-4521-b5b6-6e40f3f0a0cb.jpg


Issues : Avid BB7 Road with post mount adaptor for 180mm disc (front) will foul the actual brake pad. I was wondering why my front brake was making funny sounds until I realised the post mount adaptor is so close to the caliper that the long tab on the brake pad was touching the adaptor... You need to trim it shorter to work well.

Issues : BBS02 BB creaking. As the BBS02 is only screwed in on 1 side. Over time the BB starts creaking as it comes loose. I've used blue locktite on the thread which has seemed to fix it for a while. time will tell.

Issues : Chainline isnt perfect. Without a front derailleur in place, it had an annoying habbit of jumping chains. I put the front derailleur on even though it is single chainring which solves the issue. Not really an issue. Just something to be aware of.



---- Start of build thread here ---

So after the destruction of my last bike (Focus Black Forrest 29er MAC10T 40A build thread here : https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=58691 ) I've decided to go to drop bars and mid-drive super stealth. As a learning experience, I'm going to build it up myself as well using the spare parts that didnt break from my old Focus 29er.

Old Focus snapped frame (doesnt just buff out =( ) :
20150430_153954.jpg


New parts arriving daily.
Cube Reaction 29er 17" frame :
Cube_Reaction_Frame.jpg


Look 986 Carbon rigid 29er fork :
Look_Carbon_Fork.jpg


Avid BB7 Road calipers (mounted on the fork) :
Avid_BB7_Road_180mm_Disc_Look_Carbon_Fork.jpg


Deda Drop Bar :
420mm_drop_bar.jpg


STI shifters :
shimano_sti_shifter.jpg



As this will be a stealth build, I'm only putting 5800mAh of 14S lipo in it. Should be able to hide it fairly easy as the Amps required from the BBS02 is significantly lower than a hub motor.
 
Looks good. So your going to use your old wheels? are they still true?

Your crash was similar to mine, I only got like $650 total for my bike, when I took it in to my local bike store for evaluation as requested by the insurance company I removed all the electric kit from it as I was afraid they would try to shove a pine-cone up my ass for having a ebike above 250w.
Because I didn't have serious injuries and didn't need to go to hospital etc I never tried to claim anything beyond just the damage to my bike.
I only ever posted anything it here to FullThrottles thread. http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=15567&hilit=+full+throttle&start=200#p916790
 
Yeah I claimed everything... new clothes, new sunnies, new backpack, new lights, my upgraded parts etc. My watch was scratched so I claimed another $400 for that as well. Being injured still sucks the fat one though =/

The wheel is still true as far as I can tell with it in the new fork. The old fork is bent to shit though. Sorta tells you how soft a Suntour fork is compared to a good concept ex wheel. The QR skewer was bent as well inside the hub (when fork bent, it probably twisted the sewer)

Did a test fit earlier today but have the wrong headset (Have a straight 1 1/8 headset but fork is tapered to 1.5"). Cant do much until shops open tomorrow =(

test_fit.jpg
 
Updates!

My BBS02 750 arrived from emax ebikes! Ewan is a great guy to deal with and provides the full toolkit to remove your crank etc. for a seamless install.

emaxebikesbox.jpg


Contents :

emaxebikesbbs02.jpg


Included is the BBS02 drive unit, a C965 display, arm puller, crank tool, hex keys etc. Everything to change over. Very happy with the service.

Doing a test run of the BBS02 on the milk crate I see an error 21 (speed sensor error). I assume it's because the speed sensor isnt connected... It's a job for the weekend to put it on the bike then the fun of hiding the wiring.

[youtube]gRXsaS3XufI[/youtube]
 
Hi Raged, this is looking like a really nice build!

I have been wondering about all these new forks that are tapered and 15mm axles in my quest for an nice single crown fork for trail/am.
They can still work with 1 1/8 frames with the proper headset?
What about converting a 9mm qr axle to the 15mm? I've seen a conversion from 20mm to 15mm, and also a headset reducer to go non-tapered, but not the other way around?
 
nutspecial said:
Hi Raged, this is looking like a really nice build!

I have been wondering about all these new forks that are tapered and 15mm axles in my quest for an nice single crown fork for trail/am.
They can still work with 1 1/8 frames with the proper headset?
What about converting a 9mm qr axle to the 15mm? I've seen a conversion from 20mm to 15mm, and also a headset reducer to go non-tapered, but not the other way around?

Dont think it will work mate. You need a tapered frame for a tapered steerer as the integrated headset and bearings wont clear the tapered fork (1.5" base) inside a 1 1/8 frame. Im no expert though.

I stuck with 9mm QR as it hasnt failed me yet and all my other wheels are interchangeable. Additionally, there isnt ennough variety of cheap wheels in the 15mm or 20mm through axels to not make it a pain in the ass later on if you decide to swap wheels.
 
It's too fast, I need to tune this thing down (was doing 70km/h on the speedo while on the bike hand on throttle). PAS 1 is too fast as well... and I never liked PAS anyway. I'm going to need to disable it and just use throttle for now while I read up on BBS02 programming.

[youtube]jXywIVRmxT0[/youtube]

Next is to integrate battery stealth mode (next weekend).
 
nutspecial said:
Thanks for the input on the forks. I was afraid of that!

The bbs02 is looking impressive! Nice computer, and I'm really surprised how fast it spins up.
Are you running an 11/28 : 38?

I'm running a 48t front and 9 speed 11/34 rear for mega range. It's an MTB cassette and deraileur (has more clearance for larger cassettes). The 9 speed shimano road shifter seems to work with 9 speed and down MTB parts (interchangable). The 10 speed an up is where the pull ratio's change (10 speed MTB wont work with 10 speed Road). That's why I had to go with the Shimano Sora shifters. Trying to find a 9 speed 105 or ultegra was impossible and I didnt want to tear apart my carbon roadie =/ The newer Sora shifters are quite nice however... I'd rate it close to my 2010 model ultegra shifters.

If you're wondering why I had to cut the bottles in the middle... It's because 7S lipo is too fat for the crease part. Would probably be fine with 5S lipo or maybe one of those tool bottle things with the single indent. Those are the $1 750ml drink bottles from when catch of the day had a sale on ebay... Only managed to pick up 2 at the time =(...

7s_5800mah_lipo_waterbottle.jpg


testmount.jpg
 
No real updates at the moment. I've had to make plans for an impromptu trip to Asia next week, so no real updates until August.

Just thought I'd update some reference material if people are looking for it (in case I need it later on) :

BBSXX Installation Guide (from eMax) : http://www.kiiku.com/29er_Road_warrior/BBS02_C965A/Bafang_BBSXX_install_emax_ebikes.pdf
Bafang C965 Manual : http://www.kiiku.com/29er_Road_warrior/BBS02_C965A/Bafang_C965_manual.pdf
Bafang C961 Manual : http://www.kiiku.com/29er_Road_warrior/BBS02_C965A/Bafang_C961_manual_emax_ebikes.pdf

BBSXX Windows programming software : http://www.kiiku.com/29er_Road_warrior/BBS02_C965A/Bafang_BBSXX_Program_Software_Windows.zip
BBSXX Programming Guide (from eMax) : http://www.kiiku.com/29er_Road_warrior/BBS02_C965A/Bafang_BBSXX_Programming_Guide_emax_ebikes.pdf
BBSXX USB cable driver for Windows 8 : http://www.kiiku.com/29er_Road_warr...rogram_Cable_Driver_Profilic_Win8_x64_x86.zip
 
Thats awesome man. Asia is cool- they may have had wars etc, but seems to me it's the oldest culture on this blu ball. Cool people. Hope you get a chance to really enjoy it!

Also, the waterbottles are as stealth as it gets without doing round cells in the frame- I like!
Hopefully the teal/white can be somehow either eliminated or brought into the rest of the color scheme tho? :D
 
As with anything on an ebike... there's always the colour option of duct tape black for the water bottles =)

The water bottle cages I have are really weak for side movement. They cant hold on to the weight of the battery over bumps, so I'm looking for a more "enclosed" design.

Thinking one of these :
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Glass-Carbon-Fiber-Road-Bike-Cycling-MTB-Outdoor-Water-Bottle-Holder-Rack-Cage-/181790954232?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item2a5395d2f8
36603_2.jpg


Because there seem mounting holes in the middle so I can slide the bottle cage up/down

I'm trying to hide the BMS under the downtube but the mess of wires doesnt bend in the places I want it to bend =/ It's ok for now, but not ultra stealth (I'm 80% there and it would be a shame to have bits and pieces messy when the rest of the build is good.)
 
Maiden ride today on the BBS02... It's very smooth and the bike "feels" like a bike. In comparison to the MAC 10T which is more like a motorbike setup. I'm still using throttle on the BBS02 as PAS1 is too twitchy while riding around shops. I havent had time to do my custom throttle, so just mounted the thumb throttle to the inside of the left drop bar. Works pretty good.

Things left to do :
- Chop stem a bit more
- Clean up some of the wiring
- Update program flash to get full power on PAS0 via throttle.... I need a MS windows machine =/ (I only run Mac's or Ubuntu =/ )

29er_bbs02_version1.jpg


Mounting the throttle to the drop bar, you need a piece of PVC pipe / something to space the cable tie away from the throttle. I had a spare piece of PVC which I then padded with tape to space it out.

throttle_dropbar.jpg


Charging solution - Charge cables come out of the top of the bottle. To charge I just unscrew to the water bottle to show the cables.

charge_cables.jpg


Things I miss? Hydraulic brakes stopping power. The Avid BB7's are supposed to be the best disc brake for STI shifters, but they pale in comparison to my old hydraulics. That said, maybe I need to put another 100km on the pad's/discs to bed them in more. Will update when I can.
 
So ive got 2 hours before my flight. Found an old windows laptop (with busted wifi and detatched screen =) ) and updatdd the BBS02 contorller settings. Few main things i changed from emax default settings (which are fine for your normal biker).

Max speed is 100% in all pas levels. Current settings are the same.
keep current is 80% from default 60%
Throttle is now based on speed (throttle always works to max power)

My riding style is keeping it in pas 1 or 0, pedalling and only using throttle for an extra push. I dont need any of the other PAS levels yet since im a fairly strong rider anyway.
 
So I'm in Nanning China and landed in a heatwave (38deg c average) from the Melbourne 5-9 deg C I've been used to. I've only heard 1 ICE scooter/bike in the last day I've been here. Almost every scooter is electrified and I've seen a few custom DD bikes as well. The streets are so quiet compared to say... India or Thailand.

But there's a reason the city has made an active push to bikes/ebikes/escooters.... I haven't seen the sky from the time I landed to sunset... It's a constant grey haze over the buildings. Sunset looks like it's over a dense fog and walking around, I've started to cough a bit more than usual. They say the haze has has been there for a few days and usually disappears after it rains.

It's in stark comparison to Melbourne where I'm about 15km from the CBD, I'm stargazing at night. There'd be a royal commission and we'd fire the government if it you couldn't see the sun.

Some issues with the escooters is :
- They run at night without lights on. A silent 60km/h scooter heading towards you in the dark. I'm sure its an effort to save power, but its one place where laws need to change.
- Scooters running on pedestrian sidewalks like they're bikes.

Infrastructure...
Theres charging stations outside the hospital and university. Looks like a generic 24v plug, but would be ok for our custom bikes with a good buck converter.

I'll upload pics when I can... Being in the PRC gmail, youtube, Facebook and pretty much every essential cloud service I use is blocked.
 
Hi, I'm working on my own bbs02 bike with drop bars. When you get the chance, could you post a few more pics of your throttle setup?

Thanks!
 
Full throttle (100% of current) is already programmed to level '0'
Keep current should not be over 60. This has been reduced as many dealers early on had lots of blown controllers with keep current higher than this.

Also you want to set throttle to current based on level 9 (100%). Setting it to speed introduces lags I have found.

Looking good
 
I landed back in Melbourne but have been suffering from inflamed feet due to the long 27hrs in airports or on planes transit times (I look like bigfoot and the sole of my feet are sore) and a fubar back and right shoulder. If you ever go to asia... stay away from China Southern airlines. They're simply just crap. Everything is delayed and they change your flight willy nilly without checking connecting flights. Being told "hey... we overbooked, so you can catch the monday flight out instead of Friday" just does not work... 3 flight changes, 2 missed flights (due to delays and missing connecting flights) and I'm finally back home... On the upside... I took the biggest smelliest dump in the world in their transit lounge toilets... HehehEHHeHEHAhAhahAHAhahaha.... I had to shower afterwards...

I picked up an ebike brochure from the local shopping centre in Nanning where you can get a complete 250w 36v pedelec ebike for AUD$500 including 9Ah battery and charger. The Bafang 500/750w equipped full bikes were still about AUD$1100. I'll take a few pics and upload it later. Those are retail prices from the MixC mall (expensive shopping centre) so should be cheaper at the smaller places.

As I mentioned before, the pollution is pretty bad... Here's what the smog looks like... It does clear up after a big shower though... So I guess that's something. They're building a subway system which is probably contributing to the smog... but yeah... Being Australian, I sorta miss the sun.
nanning_pollution.jpg


Good to see KFC is still being ripped off
nanning_kfc_ripoff.jpg


These are all escooters (none petrol) :
Nanning_escooters.jpg
 
Hey Ewan,

You were right, I think I've just blown the controller =/ Going uphill and in the wrong gear, then pumping the throttle. Lost power and that was it. I disconnected the batteries/bms and did a test bench on bare power. Pushing the throttle, I can hear a click in the unit (trying to power) but nothing happens. Teaches me to mess with settings that have been tried and tested =/ . I believe it's the FET's because the chainring is cogging while trying to turn backwards.

So now I'm hit with options - New controller or replace the FET's (depending on difficulty). Or possibly order a controller with upgraded FET's (if that's even available?). Time to do some more research and see what's the best path moving forward.
 
Teardown of BBS02 Controller.

Ordered a new controller and additional FET's to fix this unit up (the good FETS) from emax. So while waiting for the new controller to arrive, here's some teardown pics of the BBS02.

Opening the unit was pretty easy.
BBS02_Bare_Unit.jpg


BBS02_Controller_Motor.jpg


You need to remove some of the adhesive holding the plugs in to get the plugs off. Not that hard, just time consuming. The unit is sealed up with silicone potting material that you need to take off (carefully)

BBS02_Controller_with_potting_Silicone.jpg


Use a flathead screwdriver to layer the potting compound off... It's a pain in the ass job and if you EVER need a new BBS02 controller, just buy a new one... This is a really really shit job with heaps of risk.
BBS02_Potting_remove.jpg

BBS02_Potting_remove02.jpg


This is what you should end up with after removing the heatsink (small screwdriver should get between the caps ok)
BBS01_FETs_Still_On.jpg


I tried to desolder the FETS individually but it's near impossible with the tools I had on hand as the solder rail sinks the heat from the soldering iron away and you need ALOT of heat to get the solder wicking.

BBS02_Back.jpg


This helped ...
BBS02_Front_Wild_Turkey.jpg


End result.
BBS02_Top.jpg


While rebuilding the controller and waiting for parts... I converted my 29er cyclocross back to a normal bike... It's a dream to ride even without a motor. Stoked with the results of my custom build (good on the road and the sandy / dirt trails along beach roads). Did 80km ride last weekend down to Frankston South along the beach to clear the mind and start re-training after my accident.

Rage_Cube_Reaction_29er_Cyclocross.jpg


Yes seat is a bit low in the pic, I upped it after this pic to reduce stress on my knees.

More updates soon.
 
As promised (albeit a little late), here's some pics of the brochure I picked up while in Nanning. Take into account that this was inside a new retail mall known to be expensive (sort of like the equivalent of "The Emporium" in Melbourne)... If you go to a smaller store or DFO equivalent, it would definitely be cheaper.

20150830_rbike_brochure_cover.jpg


BBS01/BBS02 kitted 26er MTB bike was expensive at about $2k AUD but it was guranteed for 20 deg inclines and had PAS and throttle.

20150830_rbike_mtb01.jpg

20150830_rbike_mtb01_BBS_500w.jpg

20150830_rbike_MTB_spec.jpg

20150830_rbike_MTB_spec2.jpg

20150830_rbike_MTB_spec3.jpg


The cheaper hub motor commuter bike with 250w was AUD$500 for a full bike with batteries. There's no throttle, only PAS
20150830_rbike_commuter_spec1.jpg

20150830_rbike_commuter_spec2.jpg


Which leads me to this... Why cant we have full built ebikes in Australia for under $700... The ebike shops must be making a killing with 100% profit.
 
- expensive labour to produce anything
- freight

solve those two ftw.

Good to see you are back at it! I wondered how long it would take you to end up disassembling the BBS02. Paul from Em3ev can probably get anything you require.. good effort on the controller! Wondered what they were like under the potting goo.
 
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