26" BMX DK Legend Build

[BallHarder]

BMX bikes had 3/8" axles for almost all their history. Just because yours is impaired by fashion doesn't make your motor wrong

The motor has an axle that won’t fit any new BMX bike and was marketed as a BMX e-bike kit. You work for leabike or something? Why take a dig at me?

 

[Chalo]

The motor has an axle that won’t fit any new BMX bike and was marketed as a BMX e-bike kit. You work for leabike or something? Why take a dig at me?

I'm just pointing out that it's a standards issue, where you wound up with the weird standard. It's a fault, but not your fault.

A buddy of mine is dealing with the same issue with his Sun Atlas Cargo. It had a 14mm axle rear wheel for its intended role as a heavy hauler. He wants to mount an old NuVinci hub with a 14x10mm flatted axle on one end and a 10x8mm flatted axle on the other, with flats oriented at 90 degrees to each other. There's no easy solution that doesn't require some relatively complex machined parts, but we're going to come up with them one way or the other.

 

[neptronix]

With some spacers you are a bike swap away from using this motor as a singlespeed on a bike with 135mm dropouts.

We're still unsure what your mechanical problem is but there's probably lots of solutions to make it solid.

Sorry to hear leaf dropped the ball on this.

 

[E-HP]

Might be. I’ve wasted enough time and money. They marketed the kit as a 26” BMX Kit even though the drop outs don’t match.

Then, they suggested I just fabricate a part. If I wanted to fabricate stuff I wouldn’t have bought the kit.

Then, the controller they sent wouldn’t work with my battery and motor so they sent a new, larger controller.

That worked for a little while and now it doesn’t. I’m cutting my losses and I’ll try to sell this junk.

It’ll be hard to sell because it is 120mm wide and a 26” rim which basically ONLY fits a BMX bike (except for the drop outs of course).

Will you be posting it on the ES marketplace as well? Will you consider parting it out?

 

[E-HP]

With some spacers you are a bike swap away from using this motor as a singlespeed on a bike with 135mm dropouts.

May not work if the axle flats are as short as on the 1500w motor. Those have barely enough exposed axle to fit a torque arm, the dropout, and one washer, before you don’t have full thread engagement.

 

[99t4]

It worked for a while. Now the wheel only twitches when you turn the throttle. I'm not interested in getting stranded or having the wheel come apart.

Oh, ok. That is different than what I had perceived from your earlier comment about the TAs not holding securely and somehow the axle was too small. So you did a great job of fabbing the TAs, arguably the hardest part of the conversion. Evidently you are experiencing a wiring or electronic fault rendering the motor inop. At least you can't get stranded if it doesn't even make it out of the garage!

The wheel coming apart is another issue, possibly due to poor workmanship and/or materials used in the wheelbuild. Is the rim cracking or are the spokes loose?

Well it is obvious you are fed up at this point and done with the project. Cut your losses and move on. Somebody else can make good use of your cast-off components.

 

[BallHarder]

I ended up putting the motor up front. It’s done. It rips. Leafbike send me a THIRD controller and this one is working (for now). Seems the Leafbike controllers are disposable or double as paperweights.

I’ve got the torque arm installed on the left side and I still need to remove the chainring from the front wheel but it moves me up hills by itself.

Thanks for all the help and encouragement.

 

[neptronix]

Happy to see your bike running after this drama.

I ended up putting the motor up front. It’s done. It rips. Leafbike send me a THIRD controller and this one is working (for now). Seems the Leafbike controllers are disposable or double as paperweights.

I've been telling people to not buy their controllers for years

I’ve got the torque arm installed on the left side and I still need to remove the chainring from the front wheel but it moves me up hills by itself.

Please keep in mind you need two torque arms to handle the torque this motor outputs. Otherwise you may be surprised one day by your front wheel sliding out from underneath you, since a hub motor will destroy dropouts without additional protection.

Losing your front wheel is the most dangerous thing that could happen on a bike at speed.

 

[amberwolf]

Losing your front wheel is the most dangerous thing that could happen on a bike at speed.

At least, that's caused by the bike itself.

 

[Zambam]

When I was considering the BMX route, I found very few frames that supported disc brakes or could fit a suspension fork. I think there were maybe 2; 24” models.
The bike was going to be for my wife. I switched my plan toward certain model years of the Specialized 24” Hotrock kids bike. Has disc brake posts, super low top tube, and enough room for a shark pack under the downtube without interfering with suspension travel (I was considering going with 20” rims for better climbing, which makes clearance even less of a problem). With higher rise bars, it would look a little BMX-like. Top tube distance similar to a large BMX frame, but with longer chain stays.
If it was for me, I might still consider a BMX since I already have an ebike, but for her, stopping is important and there are parts of the bike path that are fairly bumpy due to tree roots under the asphalt.
I still haven’t pulled the trigger on building it, since she only shows lukewarm interest. That means I’ll need to look for a decent paint color in case it turns into mostly my bike.

How about this Nishiki 24" disc $300 (was $600) https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/...ike-22nisbnshkclrdbysbjm/22nisbnshkclrdbysbjm Triangle looks like will fit battery easily.