CYC Photon VS BBS02 many opinions appreciated please.

[raylo32]

My go-to dealer was Nashville Eco-bikes but they have gone out of business. I got my Photon from Electrify and the e-commerce part was great, but my early Photon kit came with a misconfigured SW102 display and lets just say to be kind that Electrify's customer support was, ahem, a little slow, lacking, and inconsistent. No, I'll just use the word, it was terrible. It eventually got rectified but I ended up paying for another that should have been refunded AND they sent me a warranty one instead of the refund. LOL. So now I have two. Just my experience and I am not sure how much business I will do with them in the future, at least for full kits. But maybe I will for simple transactions like parts if they have 'em.

As for you wanting to use a small chainring... we have had that discussion here a good bit in the Photon thread and IMO if you are doing mostly road rides you don't want a tiny ring. My Photon easily climbs long 4-5% grades with shorter steeper pitches like 10-14% easily with the 42t chainring and 11-32 rear cassette and I don't even use the 32t cog. This with a good spinning cadence. If you go smaller on the chainring you will severely limit your top road pedaling speed. Now if your rides are mostly MTB and have lots of 15%+ grades you might need that smaller chainring.

@Mongo and @raylo32 , thanks! I had started working my way through that thread (from both ends, but have not yet read all 60+ pages) and used the search function before I started posting. I had not come across your price comparison post yet, and I'm still trying to figure which dealers to avoid, and which are recommended. I have started a separate thread with my specific questions, but no replies, so maybe it is better to just pile onto the long Cyc Photon thread.

 

[Gruesome]

My go-to dealer was Nashville Eco-bikes but they have gone out of business. I got my Photon from Electrify and the e-commerce part was great, but my early Photon kit came with a misconfigured SW102 display and lets just say to be kind that Electrify's customer support was, ahem, a little slow, lacking, and inconsistent. No, I'll just use the word, it was terrible. It eventually got rectified but I ended up paying for another that should have been refunded AND they sent me a warranty one instead of the refund. LOL. So now I have two. Just my experience and I am not sure how much business I will do with them in the future, at least for full kits. But maybe I will for simple transactions like parts if they have 'em.

As for you wanting to use a small chainring... we have had that discussion here a good bit in the Photon thread and IMO if you are doing mostly road rides you don't want a tiny ring. My Photon easily climbs long 4-5% grades with shorter steeper pitches like 10-14% easily with the 42t chainring and 11-32 rear cassette and I don't even use the 32t cog. This with a good spinning cadence. If you go smaller on the chainring you will severely limit your top road pedaling speed. Now if your rides are mostly MTB and have lots of 15%+ grades you might need that smaller chainring.

Thanks a lot for the Electrify experience report. My thinking has for the moment swerved from Photon via hub motor to BikeOn (all the while my biking buddies are still trying to convince me I don't need a motor at all...), so none of the online dealers would be involved.

I finally spent a bit of time with the ebike.ca simulator, and figured out which gears I would need. And you are right, at the increased hill climbing speed I'm shooting for (double my human power only speed) I do not need my current lowest gears.

 

[raylo32]

It doesn't have to be either/or. Keep both analog and e-bikes in the stable. I don't "need" an e-bike either but it is fun and a lot cooler in summer when getting bogged down on hot exposed climbs on an analog bike can be brutal. You can still add as much human effort as you want but the extra speed keeps you cooler.

Thanks a lot for the Electrify experience report. My thinking has for the moment swerved from Photon via hub motor to BikeOn (all the while my biking buddies are still trying to convince me I don't need a motor at all...), so none of the online dealers would be involved.

I finally spent a bit of time with the ebike.ca simulator, and figured out which gears I would need. And you are right, at the increased hill climbing speed I'm shooting for (double my human power only speed) I do not need my current lowest gears.

 

[Gruesome]

It doesn't have to be either/or. Keep both analog and e-bikes in the stable. I don't "need" an e-bike either but it is fun and a lot cooler in summer when getting bogged down on hot exposed climbs on an analog bike can be brutal. You can still add as much human effort as you want but the extra speed keeps you cooler.

Well, my current thinking (which keeps changing) is I do not want to start a bike collection, and I want a relatively light road/gravel bike that is still fun to pedal. So the BikeOn might be a good option, except I'm still balking at the price. I totally understand where they are coming from; if I had put 10 years into developing something, I wouldn't want to give it away at manufacturing cost plus ten bucks either. Plus, their current small batch manufacturing cost might simply be higher than one thinks. But the kit price just doesn't fit well with bike prices in my price bracket (easy to solve, I just need to buy more expensive bikes...). If BikeOn's target audience rides $8k+ bikes, then it's an easier sell....

 

[raylo32]

I have a collection of bikes... it is hard to get rid of them when they still work well. I have been putting the mid motors on old unused or less used MTBs, one hardtail and one full suspension. I haven't converted any of my "good" bikes, a ti road bike and ti gravel bike. But I still might try a BikeOn with the gravel bike. Granted it is "only" a $3500 bike so the motor still seems expensive. But the cheaper mid motors are probably worth more than the entire bikes I have them fitted to. It's all good.

Well, my current thinking (which keeps changing) is I do not want to start a bike collection, and I want a relatively light road/gravel bike that is still fun to pedal. So the BikeOn might be a good option, except I'm still balking at the price. I totally understand where they are coming from; if I had put 10 years into developing something, I wouldn't want to give it away at manufacturing cost plus ten bucks either. Plus, their current small batch manufacturing cost might simply be higher than one thinks. But the kit price just doesn't fit well with bike prices in my price bracket (easy to solve, I just need to buy more expensive bikes...). If BikeOn's target audience rides $8k+ bikes, then it's an easier sell....