BBSHD on a 2016 Giant Trance 2

So I have this awesome MTB from Giant, but I've been getting the electric itch.



I've been ogling at the Luna Giant bikes and thought to myself, if they can do it to these production bikes then it should be possible to do it to mine too. I've been reading up and down on the forums to get some knowledge and pulled the trigger.
On the Luna site they list 3 types of the BBSHD kits - 68-73mm (Standard), 73-100mm (Fat), 120mm (Extra Fat). The lack of my knowledge and the not so specific wording on the site got me totally confused about what I needed. My bike is not a fat bike, so by definition I should go with the standard size. Wrong. Only when I had the motor in my hand, ready to size it up to the bike, I realized that I ordered the wrong size. The motor was untouched so Luna agreed to an exchange. My mistake set me back about $70 in shipping fees though, so that sucked. Only after that panic moment I realized that in fact my BB is not standard at all, and I needed an adapter. A BB92 adapter for that matter, and I read that the locking triangle ones are the best - problem is that almost nobody has them, but I found one in Germany. It wasn't cheap, but this things is beautifully made, anodized aluminum with really high grade milling.



Once all the parts arrived I rolled my sleeves up and got to work, fully expecting that things won't go easy. First things first, I had to remove the old BB. Didn't want to buy one, so instead I 3D printed one. Mallet and tool, couple tippidy-tap-taps and the BB was free. After a thorough cleanup with acetone I was ready to put the adapter in. Only to be confronted with the hole not being proper round in the mid part and a small welding spot that also was in the way. Got my trusty Dremmel tool out and rounded everything out. To pressfit things in the bracket, I put together a tool out of a steel threaded rod and some nuts with washers. The adapter went in just fine.





Note the missing ISC chain tensioner ear that I had to remove and grind down proper so that it wouldn't interfere with the motor. I'm glad I was able to do it with just one of the ears off - keeps the option open to put the tensioner back on at a later time.

Now comes the tricky part. Once I got the motor on and in all the way, turns out I won't be able to use the nice locking plate to mount the motor Unless of course I'd milled the motor's mounting points down by quite a lot, which is not an option. What I ended up doing instead, I used the locking plate as a spacer and used the stock triangle mounting plate to mount on the motor. I need to get another triangle mount though, because I ended up having to put a spacer on the other side - which in the case of the Trance 2 is not a good thing as you want no adapters on the driver side because the chainline will be affected. You can see on the photos that the aluminum plate is sticking out - I kinda want to keep it that way and use it to mount something on it in the future. Not sure what yet... but definitely don't want to chop it off.



Now that it's mounted, I couldn't help but notice that if I applied enough force on the front on the motor it will eventually swivel up because the whole assembly pivots with the adapter. Not freely, but still, got me concerned about the possibility of vibrations loosening the whole thing. Seeing the remaining ISC mount hole, got me the idea of mounting a sort of wedge in there that would limit any turn of the motor. A couple of hours of tinkering with my 3D printer and I got a part that does just that!



And here it is mounted:



The rest was easy-peasy. Got the speedometer, display, controls, and the break sensors on. Did the cable management as I was going along.

Next up is to get the battery connector up under the seating post as I'll have the battery in a backpack. More soon...

That is a sweet ride, nice work

More 3D printed parts. I made cable mounts for the front derailleur mount and one under the seat for the power cables.

Looking good so far.

Personally, I wouldn't use a backpack battery (too heavy) but you can at least see how it goes. Luna has a pack mounted in the triangle on those, so it is possible.

I see you have the 30t chain ring. I have one on my BBSHD fat bike and really like it. Most of my riding is off road on very steep hills. The downside is the chain line is terrible in the lower gears. To get around this, I reconfigured the cassette to move the low gear closer to the center and gave up the use of 3 gears. With this motor, you really only need like 3 gears but they need to be widely spaced.

Very cool! I might do that with my rear cassette as well... I'm still waiting on cables so I can take it out on a ride!

A couple pictures of my DIY 13s7p battery pack. I used salvaged Samsung 26F cells with a 30A BMS.

And finally, the last piece of the puzzle...



Made this coiled wire from 12AWG speaker cables and a pair of XT90 connectors. The coiling was done by wrapping the wire really tight on a stick, pouring a half a gallon of boiling hot water over it, then putting it in the freezer for 20 mins. Works like a charm, and finally I was able to test ride my new setup! Oh boy, soooooooooo much fun!!!! Was going uphills at 20mph without even trying - it actually was speeding up as I was going up the slope! Amazing! Super happy with the decision to go electric - and all the hard work was totally worth it!

Cheers!

Great work! I like the battery box. How strong is that stuff?

The process to coil the cord is interesting. I have never heard of it but the results look great. I have some cords around here I want to try the same thing on. Thanks for sharing.

The box is fairly strong. It's 4mm thick and I also wrapped in 10mm foam padding when it's in the backpack.
Give the coiling a go, it works pretty well. Other methods I've seen is to boil the wire on the stick for 5 minutes, take off the fire, then leave it soak for another 30 mins - then cool it. Or use a heat gun while on the stick to get it really hot, then put it into the freezer (while on the stick).
I didn't have a big enough pot to boil wires in, hence the reason of pouring boiling water on it. Still worked pretty well.
Good luck!

Love the battey box. Where di you get it ? Di you make it yourself ? 3D-printed stuff ?

Yes, the box is designed and 3D printed by me

After about 100 miles of trail riding (somewhat hard) my stock crank arms started to get loose during a ride. Kept on tightening it, but eventually, the pedal ate up all the threads, then fell out, could barely make it home. Looked into replacements and found these awesome Shimano FC-E6000 ones and they're just gorgeous! They actually cost a bit less then BBSHD crank arm replacements, too.



I also got some nice bright lights and did some hacking to get it on the handlebar the proper way. I 3D printed a holder that attaches between the display mount and head tube mount and is offset enough to hold the light just fine. I also discovered that my head tube is hollow and has a wide opening at the bottom where the front shocks are mounted - gave me the idea to put a battery in there for the light. I built a screw cap mount with a tube that holds a powerbank made out of an 18650 cell and a DC USB converter. It's conveniently accessible via the screw on cap for charging.







Next up some red, frame-mounted tail lights...

Looks great. Depending on how much current the lights take, you might be able to power them off the USB socket on the display and not need a separate battery.

That would have been the easy way, but unfortunately my display doesn't have a USB port.

vandenmar said:

So I have this awesome MTB from Giant, but I've been getting the electric itch.

I've been ogling at the Luna Giant bikes and thought to myself, if they can do it to these production bikes then it should be possible to do it to mine too. I've been reading up and down on the forums to get some knowledge and pulled the trigger.
On the Luna site they list 3 types of the BBSHD kits - 68-73mm (Standard), 73-100mm (Fat), 120mm (Extra Fat). The lack of my knowledge and the not so specific wording on the site got me totally confused about what I needed. My bike is not a fat bike, so by definition I should go with the standard size. Wrong. Only when I had the motor in my hand, ready to size it up to the bike, I realized that I ordered the wrong size. The motor was untouched so Luna agreed to an exchange. My mistake set me back about $70 in shipping fees though, so that sucked. Only after that panic moment I realized that in fact my BB is not standard at all, and I needed an adapter. A BB92 adapter for that matter, and I read that the locking triangle ones are the best - problem is that almost nobody has them, but I found one in Germany. It wasn't cheap, but this things is beautifully made, anodized aluminum with really high grade milling.

Once all the parts arrived I rolled my sleeves up and got to work, fully expecting that things won't go easy. First things first, I had to remove the old BB. Didn't want to buy one, so instead I 3D printed one. Mallet and tool, couple tippidy-tap-taps and the BB was free. After a thorough cleanup with acetone I was ready to put the adapter in. Only to be confronted with the hole not being proper round in the mid part and a small welding spot that also was in the way. Got my trusty Dremmel tool out and rounded everything out. To pressfit things in the bracket, I put together a tool out of a steel threaded rod and some nuts with washers. The adapter went in just fine.

Note the missing ISC chain tensioner ear that I had to remove and grind down proper so that it wouldn't interfere with the motor. I'm glad I was able to do it with just one of the ears off - keeps the option open to put the tensioner back on at a later time.

Now comes the tricky part. Once I got the motor on and in all the way, turns out I won't be able to use the nice locking plate to mount the motor Unless of course I'd milled the motor's mounting points down by quite a lot, which is not an option. What I ended up doing instead, I used the locking plate as a spacer and used the stock triangle mounting plate to mount on the motor. I need to get another triangle mount though, because I ended up having to put a spacer on the other side - which in the case of the Trance 2 is not a good thing as you want no adapters on the driver side because the chainline will be affected. You can see on the photos that the aluminum plate is sticking out - I kinda want to keep it that way and use it to mount something on it in the future. Not sure what yet... but definitely don't want to chop it off.

Now that it's mounted, I couldn't help but notice that if I applied enough force on the front on the motor it will eventually swivel up because the whole assembly pivots with the adapter. Not freely, but still, got me concerned about the possibility of vibrations loosening the whole thing. Seeing the remaining ISC mount hole, got me the idea of mounting a sort of wedge in there that would limit any turn of the motor. A couple of hours of tinkering with my 3D printer and I got a part that does just that!

And here it is mounted:

The rest was easy-peasy. Got the speedometer, display, controls, and the break sensors on. Did the cable management as I was going along.

Next up is to get the battery connector up under the seating post as I'll have the battery in a backpack. More soon...

Click to expand...

Gday
What wondering which BBSHD kit you purchased for your build as you said the standard kit was incorrect. Did you buy the 100mm kit. Thanks in advance. I have the same bike and want to convert it. Looks like awesome fun.

Yup, I had to get the 100mm one. It is indeed awesome fun! Soooo worth it. Good luck!

Thanks heaps for the reply. I was looking at purchasing a 2015 trance 1 but just found out it's a 87mm bb. I'll hunt down a 2016 model. Cheers

I made a custom 3D printed battery that attaches to the frame via the bottle holder screws and brackets on the top for stability. Case is made of CFPLA, super strong, almost unbreakable since I used generous thickness. Samsung 30Q in a 14s4p configuration — gives me plenty of power and range and is not too heavy.

I was a bit worried about it not holding up to vibrations, but I did all I could to make everything fit as tight as possible. So far so good. Took it out on the trails and it performed formidably! I even took a medium speed fall on rocky/gravel terrain and it was no biggie at all.

Beautiful ! :thumb:

Looks like you even have a little more room in the triangle that could be used.

Nice neat job!

Any chance of posting the CAD files or STL files for the 3D printed parts? I'm about to build a 2017 trance which looks to be the same frame