Best choice of a bike for a bafang 750 watt

[Desertprep]

I like the mid drive idea - specifically the lighter weight, bcuz I will be putting my bike in and out of my van often. Are disc brakes better than the y-pull? I want mountain bike type tires bcuz will be riding on dirt roads. I will not be doing much hill climbing. I will be doing some garage sale-ing for the bike, so need to know generic terms (if possible) to help me find one, unless you are talking about components. I am 5'9" so height is not a problem. Will aluminum or steel frame make a difference? I think bikes with aluminum frames are 3-5 pounds lighter than steel.

 

[docw009]

A few extra pounds won't really affect the mid drive. Where I feel the extra weight of an e-bike conversion is lifting the bikes up onto a car rack. My two e-bikes weigh 53 and 51 pounds with batteries. My regular bike is 34 pounds. I bought a platform rack for the ebikes.

I like disk brakes over v-brakes, but find v-brakes work well enough for me, below 20 mph. What didn't work for me were old center pull brakes. These use levers that have a long pull, whereas e-brake levers are short pull, typical of modern v-brakes. Still, a v-brake conversion was cheap.

The grips on my old bikes were cheap and crappy, and have to be cut off for removal. The grips that came in my kits were no better. On my second build, I bought some nice grips that attach with allen screws.

You probably should avoid bikes with twist shifters, or plan to replace with clickers. The twister caused the brake lever and right side thumb throttle to be too far from the grip. I had to replace the right shifter for my BBS02 build with a clicker. The left side, of course, you throw away.

If you want front suspension, buy it that way. I wanted to add a front fork and commuter quality suspension to my first build. It cost more than what my bike was worth.

 

[Sean9002]

I like the mid drive idea - specifically the lighter weight, bcuz I will be putting my bike in and out of my van often. Are disc brakes better than the y-pull? I want mountain bike type tires bcuz will be riding on dirt roads. I will not be doing much hill climbing. I will be doing some garage sale-ing for the bike, so need to know generic terms (if possible) to help me find one, unless you are talking about components. I am 5'9" so height is not a problem. Will aluminum or steel frame make a difference? I think bikes with aluminum frames are 3-5 pounds lighter than steel.

If your riding off road, you will want discs, the long list of reasons why you should run disc, comes into play almost exclusively when off road.
If your buying a reasonable calibre bike, disc will be your only option anyway as they most likely wont have posts to mount rim brakes.

What sort of budget are you looking at for the build platform? there will be a million different opinions as to what is the best bike for the job.


Here is a picture search of the forums based on BBS02, to give you some ideas of what people have done with them.
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...vvnMAhWj2qYKHTlZAS0Q_AUICSgD&biw=1920&bih=934

 

[Lurkin]

If you want to know how to check frame fitment, see the ES wiki, middrives, bafang section. All neatly summarised in there, as is a decent chunk of summarised salient points from the different threads I have been through...

As for discs vs rim, thats really a personal preference, either will work. Consider whether you will use ebrakes and how you will (if you want to use them) attach them. using hydros, you will need a reed sensor, using cable disc or rim brakes, HWBS sensor required or use the crappy levers that typically come with the kit. see my thread on these if you want to cheap out and butcher a set of the included levers to get the hall sensor and use as a hydro sensor to save $$. Either way, another vote for discs if you are in the rough stuff, but if the budget is more important, don't be afraid to buy rim brakes, they are still decent. If it has to be rim, see if you can find something with v-brake fittings - cantilever brakes share the same fittings on the forks... so if its a super cheap cantilever brake bike - can always swap to v-brakes off another bike at a later date. I have found the free bikes I've come across with no name v-brakes super effective for zero $$.....

No need to go steel unless you anticipate busting the frame somewhere remote - advantage is that steel can be welding by most garages, aluminium requires more skill/ potentially heat treatment. Aside from that, I've done ~12,000? documented kms now on a quality aluminum frame... no need for steel and alloy is well lighter.