CYC Photon bottom-bracket cup almost impossible to remove, except with brute force.

[bram]

I have a first-generation CYC Photon on my bicycle.

My bottom bracket cup would not come loose easily. And then tightening back up would not work either.

I kinda panicked, thinking both bike and motor were scrap, so I used full strength to force the bottom bracket cup off.

Now, the cup looks like this:



And the motor looks like this:



So... I take it that the motor is scrap, now?

Would this have happened because it was over-tightened at installation-time? (I had it come loose once, so I wonder if I over-compensated.)

I should also mention that I had that issue where my left-hand-side crank would come loose once a month, and I had to tighten it again. Thread locker did not help.

I am not sure what to do now.

Shell out for a GEN-2 Photon? Or go with a Bafang this time? I do want torque sensing, for that natural pedal feeling.

 

[Nomadstealth]

If the threads on the motor side can be salvaged , you could you buy a new left hand side bottom bracket cup .

 

[Nomadstealth]

If the threads on the motor side can’t be salvaged you’d need a new motor body as well .

 

[maiz]

Shell out for a GEN-2 Photon? Or go with a Bafang this time? I do want torque sensing, for that natural pedal feeling.

I hear good things about the tsdz16? Cheap enough to hold you down until you figure out repairs?

 

[bram]

If the threads on the motor side can’t be salvaged you’d need a new motor body as well .

Awesome! Thank you so much. Which shop is that?

in Canada, we have Golden Motor as distributor, and the short bb cup is sold out with them.

 

[Nomadstealth]

Straight from CYC in Hong Kong . The shipping cost is usually pretty high , buy everything you think you might need at the same time

https://www.cycmotor.com/cranksets-and-bottom-brackets

or :-

CYC - Shop all - Shop Our Parts & Components - Cranksets & Bottom Brackets - filter for Photon

 

[bram]

If the threads on the motor side can’t be salvaged you’d need a new motor body as well .

Also, how hard is it to transplant the innards into it? I thought gen1 was not serviceable by customer?

 

[Nomadstealth]

I haven’t taken one apart so I can’t help you with that one . Everything is serviceable to a degree , check out Johnny N O out Y Tube . I’d say if you can buy the parts , it’s doable .

 

[raylo32]

This is maybe my biggest criticism with CYC kits... fragile soft BB threads that seem to have some stiction that makes it fiddly to be able to feel if the threads are starting properly or not. Also seen this on my X1 Pro Gen 2. You have to be very careful with these. More careful than I have ever had to be installing any other BB or motor.

 

[bram]

This is maybe my biggest criticism with CYC kits... fragile soft BB threads that seem to have some stiction that makes it fiddly to be able to feel if the threads are starting properly or not. Also seen this on my X1 Pro Gen 2. You have to be very careful with these. More careful than I have ever had to be installing any other BB or motor.

The installation manual says to use 40-50Nm, which seems like a lot, for a fragile part.

 

[Acoustic Taser]

Motor may not be scrap. I did the exact same thing you did. Found out my failure to use an anti-sieze lube and galled the thread just as you did. Like you the cup was toast, but the threads closest to the motor were mostly intact. I chased the threads using a thread restorer file to very carefully remove the most damaged metal then purchased a tap with an M28*1 thread specification from Amazon. Made by Burkett. Thread anti-sieze was permatex bought at local Ace hardware store. This stuff got used on the chain ring too because I noticed the same type of binding as the bottom bracket.

 

[raylo32]

Yeah, but my issue is not the torque but the initial threading. Due the stiction and fine seemingly rough threads it is hard to tell if the parts are going together correctly or cross threaded. And if they are cross threaded the threads simply collapse and gall with very little effort. Now, I have put a few of these together successfully, even though I did bugger the X1 threads a bit. In that case I caught it before it got too bad and cleaned it up.

The installation manual says to use 40-50Nm, which seems like a lot, for a fragile part.

 

[rob 3]

I have a first-generation CYC Photon on my bicycle.

My bottom bracket cup would not come loose easily. And then tightening back up would not work either.

I kinda panicked, thinking both bike and motor were scrap, so I used full strength to force the bottom bracket cup off.

Now, the cup looks like this:

View attachment 382157

And the motor looks like this:

View attachment 382158

So... I take it that the motor is scrap, now?

Would this have happened because it was over-tightened at installation-time? (I had it come loose once, so I wonder if I over-compensated.)

I should also mention that I had that issue where my left-hand-side crank would come loose once a month, and I had to tighten it again. Thread locker did not help.

I am not sure what to do now.

Shell out for a GEN-2 Photon? Or go with a Bafang this time? I do want torque sensing, for that natural pedal feeling.

Hi, I don't think the fang is as good. I just bought the second generation photon and I like it.

You might be able to buy the parts that got stripped out. I would YouTube it or ask Gemini. Just be very pacific when you're talking to Gemini when asking the questions because it gets stuff wrong if it doesn't understand what you're saying properly.

Also, if you still can't repair it, perhaps I could purchase it from you. I'm looking for the controller for that same model.

 

[hindesite]

Also, how hard is it to transplant the innards into it? I thought gen1 was not serviceable by customer?

It's easy. Serviced mine a while ago. CYC even publish a YT video on how to do it, as part of demonstrating their toolkit and jigs for service partners.