Yes, you read that right...Yingling / Unite Motor finally woke up and made a brushless motor in the MY1016/1018 class, 6.4 lbs. 36V, 500W nominal. It's on Ali Express, along with the motor cradle:
9th MY1018Z 350W 500W 36V brushless gear motor brushless Hall with gear Electric bicycle modification motor $61 USD plus shipping
Ebike motor MY1016Z MY1016Z2 MY1016Z3The Iron Holder Mounting Install Bracket for Electric Mountain Bike Middle Drive Motor Kit $11 plus shipping
First time shopping on Ali BTW, the orders went fine. When I first started up the motor with the singlespeed chain attached, I swore it must have nylon gears because it's shockingly smooth and quiet for a supposedly straight-cut metal geared, dual-chain drive wired to a KT 22A square wave controller. It's not quite as hushed as a geared hub drive, and the sound is different, more of a constant hum than a whir. But compared with an older-model Yalu / Dome / L-Faster 450W 48V mid-drive, this thing is whisper quiet. That other motor's 50cc noise turned many, many heads across the street. This one will not. It's about as buttery smooth and quiet as you could possibly imagine for the setup.
The MY1018Z is a mix of MY1018 brushless relatively high nominal wattage (for this genre) mixed with an MY1016Z motor shell. So the "Z" is the motor shell, and the 1018 denotes an intermediate level of power. The 1016 versions are all brushed (no bueno for mountain biking) and 250/350W 24/36V. The 1018 versions up until now were also brushed and pretty much the same power as 1016, the difference being that there are M5 bolt holes on both sides of the 1018 and not the 1016. Fortunately the 1016Z has the 4-bolt motor cradle, although it's only for 68mm bottom bracket shell widths; 73mm or wider will require additional bracing in front of the bb. But that's not nearly as awful as it sounds, see below. MY1020 also has a brushless variant and higher power of 750-2000+ watts, but the output shafts are unfortunately not compatible with a freewheel and the 9-11T sprockets do not perform well with coasting or human pedaling. So it's MY1018Z by default.
Starting torque is about 1.6 nm before the internal 9.85:1 reduction. Output shaft around 15 nm. Typical 2nd stage gearing is a 40-53T combined with a 16, 18, or 20T freewheel. So the average external reduction before the 2nd chainring and cassette ranges from around 2.2 to 3.6x. A modest but decent 35-55 nm between the 2nd stage reduction freewheel/chainring and the cassette/2nd chainring. That's for nominal 500W. Since brushless peak torque typically is 2-3x nominal, the peak torque could easily go over 100nm for this little motor; with the right gearing it could be 150-200nm. That's BSSHD / TSD Z16 territory. Not that you'd actually want 200nm on a cheap build but that's what the motor can do on paper. It's the real deal.
Before you think this is too good to be true, there are several engineering bottlenecks below you need to be aware of before ordering. This is just the motor, it doesn't come with a kit or bottom bracket mounts.
1. No PAS, fixed pedals, throttle only. Recommend L-Faster's SM throttle, the gain is minimal, the delivery is linear and smooth.
2. Motor comes with SM 3-phase separate wires and 5-pin white harness hall wires. This is a motor meant for left-side rear brake mounting, so there are two issues right off the bat. First, you need to order a left-hand freewheel and adapter (again L-Faster, Amazon). Reversing the blue/green wires didn't work. 2nd, the electrical wizards out there could strip the motor wires and adapt to a higher capacity waterproof brushless controller at KT level or above. But by far the easiest solution is to simply by a $50 22-30A KT square wave controller. These are remarkably smooth for square wave so don't worry about that part.
3. The motor cradle's bolt holes are offset about 10mm to the left side of the frame. That means the freewheel is further inboard than a normal dual chain motor. And because the cassette-driving chainring MUST be the inner chainring (or the chainline will become unusable in lower gears), the inner chainring will be pushed in even further and the max is probably 42T. I'm running 40T.
4. Crankset and spindle: If you mount the cradle a few inches up the down tube, you could run a standard Hollowtech or similar (SRAM, etc.) crankset that won't hit the motor or freewheel. I played it safe and used a 148mm square tapered spindle with a right-hand extension. Because the next symmetrical size down for a 68/73mm shell is 127mm, that 21mm difference may be too much for the right crank to handle, because both sides clear by about 15mm each, so you either use something like pictured below or mount the motor cradle somewhere away from the bb. Chainrings spaced 4-8mm from each other (they will not rub) and 8mm of spacers between the right crank spider and (outer) chainring; both are inside the spider. Inner 42T or less for cassette, outer can be anything between 30-52t 104 BCD. You'll need at least 30mm to bolt everything together which means standard chainring bolts are out. M10 40-50mm will work fine.
5. Chains: You can use 3/32 or 1/8 for the singlespeed chain on the outside ring. I would not recommend any tensioner at all. Which means that you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right per chainring size. It will either be tight or it will be off by 1/2 link, in which case you put one size up or down on instead. Inner chainring uses a standard bike chain for shifting.
6. Mounting: This took a while to figure out but it's actually straightforward: you use metal strapping or U-bolts on each end of the cradle. See images below. I later changed the bb-end U-bolt's plate to be inside the seat tube, and taped 15mm of mending plates to wedge into the triangle corner between the carbon frame and the U-bolt plate. Then shoved a 2nd U-bolt next to the first one; they will be slightly offset and that's not a big deal. The inner U-bolt diameter is 76mm and the cradle's outer is 74mm, so thats close enough that the bolt sides act as shear plates and lock in place. I used 6.7 inch ones; you can probably get away with 4-5 inch ones, especially if you can use the top of the down tube. They will work. Just don't go crazy torquing the bolts forever. If you don't have a Hailong battery on the downtube, you can directly U-bolt from the top to the cradle. I also used a few zip ties in the cradle's open slot just for overkill. The cradle makes this work for many different mounting possibilities, don't worry.
7. For the freewheel, I just happened to have one laying around where the adapter keyed side was 'wrong' so I flipped the freewheel, bolted on to the shaft, and it worked. Just remember to matach right hand to right hand, left hand to left hand. Don't do the below left-hand freewheel and right-hand adapter:
That's about it. You'll need:
Motor
Cradle
Left-hand freewheel and adapter
Singlespeed chain
Two chainrings, probably 40 and 42T just to make sure you have the right one for the outer and then use the other one for the inner. Otherwise go up to 52T for the outer
148mm square tapered spindle crankset, or mount motor/cradle further up the downtube (watch out for tire clearance)
Four 40-50mm M10 bolts and nuts, some spacers
Two U-bolts 3 inches x 4-7 inches with plates and screws, along with some zip ties and washers/spacers
22-30A KT square wave controller, KT throttle, KT display (anything SM, unless you modify the motor wire connections)
36 or 48 V battery; if 48V, set C5 to 5 or 6 so you don't overcurrrent the motor too much. P1 should be 150 or more; the speed will show too slow but there will be no speed cutoff, end justifies means
That's pretty much it. It took a while but in hindsight it was actually not bad to setup. The electronics are cheap, the motor and cradle are dirt cheap. Everything is pretty inexpensive; there are $200 15-20 Ah batteries out there now. And unlike Bafang / Tongsheng, this WILL fit 99% of the modern frames out there. Including carbon and boost. it will even fit fat bikes because you mount in front of the bb. I put on a USB temperature sensor; so far after a 13% 600 foot climb on pavement, the temp only got up to 42C and peaked just under 50C after stopping. Not bad for a $61 motor.
9th MY1018Z 350W 500W 36V brushless gear motor brushless Hall with gear Electric bicycle modification motor $61 USD plus shipping
Ebike motor MY1016Z MY1016Z2 MY1016Z3The Iron Holder Mounting Install Bracket for Electric Mountain Bike Middle Drive Motor Kit $11 plus shipping
First time shopping on Ali BTW, the orders went fine. When I first started up the motor with the singlespeed chain attached, I swore it must have nylon gears because it's shockingly smooth and quiet for a supposedly straight-cut metal geared, dual-chain drive wired to a KT 22A square wave controller. It's not quite as hushed as a geared hub drive, and the sound is different, more of a constant hum than a whir. But compared with an older-model Yalu / Dome / L-Faster 450W 48V mid-drive, this thing is whisper quiet. That other motor's 50cc noise turned many, many heads across the street. This one will not. It's about as buttery smooth and quiet as you could possibly imagine for the setup.
The MY1018Z is a mix of MY1018 brushless relatively high nominal wattage (for this genre) mixed with an MY1016Z motor shell. So the "Z" is the motor shell, and the 1018 denotes an intermediate level of power. The 1016 versions are all brushed (no bueno for mountain biking) and 250/350W 24/36V. The 1018 versions up until now were also brushed and pretty much the same power as 1016, the difference being that there are M5 bolt holes on both sides of the 1018 and not the 1016. Fortunately the 1016Z has the 4-bolt motor cradle, although it's only for 68mm bottom bracket shell widths; 73mm or wider will require additional bracing in front of the bb. But that's not nearly as awful as it sounds, see below. MY1020 also has a brushless variant and higher power of 750-2000+ watts, but the output shafts are unfortunately not compatible with a freewheel and the 9-11T sprockets do not perform well with coasting or human pedaling. So it's MY1018Z by default.
Starting torque is about 1.6 nm before the internal 9.85:1 reduction. Output shaft around 15 nm. Typical 2nd stage gearing is a 40-53T combined with a 16, 18, or 20T freewheel. So the average external reduction before the 2nd chainring and cassette ranges from around 2.2 to 3.6x. A modest but decent 35-55 nm between the 2nd stage reduction freewheel/chainring and the cassette/2nd chainring. That's for nominal 500W. Since brushless peak torque typically is 2-3x nominal, the peak torque could easily go over 100nm for this little motor; with the right gearing it could be 150-200nm. That's BSSHD / TSD Z16 territory. Not that you'd actually want 200nm on a cheap build but that's what the motor can do on paper. It's the real deal.
Before you think this is too good to be true, there are several engineering bottlenecks below you need to be aware of before ordering. This is just the motor, it doesn't come with a kit or bottom bracket mounts.
1. No PAS, fixed pedals, throttle only. Recommend L-Faster's SM throttle, the gain is minimal, the delivery is linear and smooth.
2. Motor comes with SM 3-phase separate wires and 5-pin white harness hall wires. This is a motor meant for left-side rear brake mounting, so there are two issues right off the bat. First, you need to order a left-hand freewheel and adapter (again L-Faster, Amazon). Reversing the blue/green wires didn't work. 2nd, the electrical wizards out there could strip the motor wires and adapt to a higher capacity waterproof brushless controller at KT level or above. But by far the easiest solution is to simply by a $50 22-30A KT square wave controller. These are remarkably smooth for square wave so don't worry about that part.
3. The motor cradle's bolt holes are offset about 10mm to the left side of the frame. That means the freewheel is further inboard than a normal dual chain motor. And because the cassette-driving chainring MUST be the inner chainring (or the chainline will become unusable in lower gears), the inner chainring will be pushed in even further and the max is probably 42T. I'm running 40T.
4. Crankset and spindle: If you mount the cradle a few inches up the down tube, you could run a standard Hollowtech or similar (SRAM, etc.) crankset that won't hit the motor or freewheel. I played it safe and used a 148mm square tapered spindle with a right-hand extension. Because the next symmetrical size down for a 68/73mm shell is 127mm, that 21mm difference may be too much for the right crank to handle, because both sides clear by about 15mm each, so you either use something like pictured below or mount the motor cradle somewhere away from the bb. Chainrings spaced 4-8mm from each other (they will not rub) and 8mm of spacers between the right crank spider and (outer) chainring; both are inside the spider. Inner 42T or less for cassette, outer can be anything between 30-52t 104 BCD. You'll need at least 30mm to bolt everything together which means standard chainring bolts are out. M10 40-50mm will work fine.
5. Chains: You can use 3/32 or 1/8 for the singlespeed chain on the outside ring. I would not recommend any tensioner at all. Which means that you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right per chainring size. It will either be tight or it will be off by 1/2 link, in which case you put one size up or down on instead. Inner chainring uses a standard bike chain for shifting.
6. Mounting: This took a while to figure out but it's actually straightforward: you use metal strapping or U-bolts on each end of the cradle. See images below. I later changed the bb-end U-bolt's plate to be inside the seat tube, and taped 15mm of mending plates to wedge into the triangle corner between the carbon frame and the U-bolt plate. Then shoved a 2nd U-bolt next to the first one; they will be slightly offset and that's not a big deal. The inner U-bolt diameter is 76mm and the cradle's outer is 74mm, so thats close enough that the bolt sides act as shear plates and lock in place. I used 6.7 inch ones; you can probably get away with 4-5 inch ones, especially if you can use the top of the down tube. They will work. Just don't go crazy torquing the bolts forever. If you don't have a Hailong battery on the downtube, you can directly U-bolt from the top to the cradle. I also used a few zip ties in the cradle's open slot just for overkill. The cradle makes this work for many different mounting possibilities, don't worry.
7. For the freewheel, I just happened to have one laying around where the adapter keyed side was 'wrong' so I flipped the freewheel, bolted on to the shaft, and it worked. Just remember to matach right hand to right hand, left hand to left hand. Don't do the below left-hand freewheel and right-hand adapter:
That's about it. You'll need:
Motor
Cradle
Left-hand freewheel and adapter
Singlespeed chain
Two chainrings, probably 40 and 42T just to make sure you have the right one for the outer and then use the other one for the inner. Otherwise go up to 52T for the outer
148mm square tapered spindle crankset, or mount motor/cradle further up the downtube (watch out for tire clearance)
Four 40-50mm M10 bolts and nuts, some spacers
Two U-bolts 3 inches x 4-7 inches with plates and screws, along with some zip ties and washers/spacers
22-30A KT square wave controller, KT throttle, KT display (anything SM, unless you modify the motor wire connections)
36 or 48 V battery; if 48V, set C5 to 5 or 6 so you don't overcurrrent the motor too much. P1 should be 150 or more; the speed will show too slow but there will be no speed cutoff, end justifies means
That's pretty much it. It took a while but in hindsight it was actually not bad to setup. The electronics are cheap, the motor and cradle are dirt cheap. Everything is pretty inexpensive; there are $200 15-20 Ah batteries out there now. And unlike Bafang / Tongsheng, this WILL fit 99% of the modern frames out there. Including carbon and boost. it will even fit fat bikes because you mount in front of the bb. I put on a USB temperature sensor; so far after a 13% 600 foot climb on pavement, the temp only got up to 42C and peaked just under 50C after stopping. Not bad for a $61 motor.
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