CYC PHOTON

[knightrider]

That would be OK if they let the local vendors stock spares and such. I can go find almost all the parts I need for my TSDz2 from any number of vendors here. Same for BBS, I believe. But if everything has to be drop shipped from Taiwan or whatever it will be a royal PITA. I have bought a few parts for my X1 Gen 2 (freewheel, chainrings, etc.) direct from CYC and it takes weeks. Which is sad. Whereas I can get TSDZ2 stuff in a couple of days.

But I can still see someone somewhere plugging in a throttle they have laying around and potentially frying something.

I am using my bafang throttles on both my cyc units. The photon and the stealth gen3 No issues

 

[knightrider]

Would I buy a Photon motor from Cie CYC?

No! And here's why:

I don't think the CYC Co. is strong enough to distribute their products worldwide.

They are proud to say that they will never sell their product via China and Hong Kong, and that spare parts will only be available from their authorized sellers. To do this, you need a well-trained global team and ensure sufficient stock of spare parts at each of their suppliers. To have a solid base in different countries it takes money, a lot of money.
And first of all, they must have flawless quality control. Their future is based on the quality of their products. One false step here and it's death. Their marketing seems very naïve to me.

Their clientele consists of people who can handle maintenance. When a part replacement is needed, they will order on Aliexpress, Amazon and others for as fast delivery as possible and at a good price. CYC products are assembled in Hong Kong, therefore in China. In China they can produce products with high specifications. You just have to ask.

It is true that the machining quality of Cie CYC seems superior to others. This should be accompanied by quick and affordable access to spare parts. In addition, all technical information for repair and maintenance should be accessible.

No, I do not recommend buying a CYC product. Just thinking about the aria to get after-sales service makes me say *No*.

I have both the stealth gen 3 and a photon. So far no problems with either. I run the gen 3 on mtn. bike and the photon on a single speed steel mtn. bike frame on the street. Hoping for no trouble as I run 48volts with factory settings. Own 4 bafangs hd and s02 models. Only trouble I have ever seen with my bafangs is the peddle assist going out on a couple 02 units. I prob. won`t ever buy another cyc. The torque sensor is nice but not enough to justify the price and the potential hassle. Just my 2 cts.

 

[knightrider]

SW102 display viewability

There have been a few comments in this thread and elsewhere about the poor viewability of the SW102 display, especially in direct sunlight. This is puzzling to me (and a few others who have commented) as my experience is very different, I find the brightness of the display to be extraordinarily good.

However a couple of explanations come to mind

1. Polarized sunglasses can black out the display if the orientation is incorrect, this is easily checked, just rotate the glasses to see if there is any effect.
2. Check the brightness setting for the display - it can toggle between day and night mode. Long press the "up" button to toggle.

Please comment if this helps (or not).

I bought a film off of amazon that helps relieve the polarization effect. The product was made mention on another site. I ordered it helped. Cheap and seemed to help on my Aventon aventure model. The display on this bike was effected as it was a colored display screen. YMMV

 

[steve s]

I did sulpher mountain road today. 12+ miles of good climbing and the motor handled it like a champ! Motor temp got to about 170° f on the steepest part on level 3 of five most of the ride it stayed in the 130°f range the paved downhill on the other side was a blast too.

 

[67RS427]

I have both the stealth gen 3 and a photon. So far no problems with either. I run the gen 3 on mtn. bike and the photon on a single speed steel mtn. bike frame on the street. Hoping for no trouble as I run 48volts with factory settings. Own 4 bafangs hd and s02 models. Only trouble I have ever seen with my bafangs is the peddle assist going out on a couple 02 units. I prob. won`t ever buy another cyc. The torque sensor is nice but not enough to justify the price and the potential hassle. Just my 2 cts.

Any issues with your Gen 3 Stealth? I have a Photon on a Marlin 8 and I think it's great but I find myself hitting the thermal limits too often when I want to maintain higher speeds (above 20-25mph). I'm thinking about swapping to a Stealth so I don't have to worry about thermal throttling. The Photon is great for the average person using PAS only or just occasional bursts of throttle but not for someone using higher PAS levels with full throttle a good amount of the time.

I did sulpher mountain road today. 12+ miles of good climbing and the motor handled it like a champ! Motor temp got to about 170° f on the steepest part on level 3 of five most of the ride it stayed in the 130°f range the paved downhill on the other side was a blast too.

I'm assuming this was PAS only and no throttle? I find myself hitting the thermal limit of 210° pretty often and pretty quick when hard on the throttle, even while assisting and in a proper gear... The ambient temp is only 75° or so right now too. I'm not too disappointed as I'm happy it actually throttles to prolong the life of the motor. CYC says avg speed of the Photon is 19-22mph and the Stealth is usually 37-43mph. I've hit 35-40mph on my Photon a few times pretty easy but not for very long.

 

[Atak_Snajpera]

Stealth is definetelly harder to overheat but I do not use throttle. Also I do not use more than 500w of my motor. To maintain 40km/h on flat I need less than 400w.

 

[yantra yatra]

I have both the stealth gen 3 and a photon. So far no problems with either. I run the gen 3 on mtn. bike and the photon on a single speed steel mtn. bike frame on the street. Hoping for no trouble as I run 48volts with factory settings. Own 4 bafangs hd and s02 models. Only trouble I have ever seen with my bafangs is the peddle assist going out on a couple 02 units. I prob. won`t ever buy another cyc. The torque sensor is nice but not enough to justify the price and the potential hassle. Just my 2 cts.

How is the noise of the stealth vs photon? A bother at all?
Could you compare the power of the 02 to photon? Which can sustain high power for longer do you think? (~1000-1100w)

 

[raylo32]

I have a CYC X1Pro on one bike... it's the Stealth's big brother... and it is pretty loud. Much louder than Photon or TSDZ2. One common description is a "swarm of bees". From reports here Stealth seems to be similar. But everyone's noise perception and tolerance is different.

How is the noise of the stealth vs photon? A bother at all?
Could you compare the power of the 02 to photon? Which can sustain high power for longer do you think? (~1000-1100w)

 

[Mongo]

@raylo32, should I duck when I ask what's the latest with your Photon SW102 display saga?

 

[raylo32]

LOL... I have heard nothing. I may ping them (but the dealer or CYC??) again one of these days but not sure it will make any difference. Maybe I need to go back and read the warranty verbiage. Perhaps it says something like that if a kit is 90% working that is good enough.

@raylo32, should I duck when I ask what's the latest with your Photon SW102 display saga?

 

[Superb_Raccoon]

So... new here.

Put a Photon on the Black Mountain MCD I had had for a few years.

So far no issues. The motor is silent up to about 500w, then you can hear a faint whine as it kicks in. Has about 30 miles of break-in on it.

Coming from a medically required stop on riding 2 years ago, I am starting from scratch. Still, I can do 30 to 60 min of zone 4 exercise without overheating myself. This was a major problem for me without the motor, being in a low gear meant not enough wind to keep me cool, ended up being a ball of sweat on a bike.

Motor runs at 135 to 140ish while actively putting out power, goes down to 100 or less when idle. Controller in the 80s. Granted, I am riding in cool weather at 70s in the morning, but I can't see riding in 80 to 90 degrees causing an issue.

 

[raylo32]

Correct, I ride in 90s F all the time and have had no issue using continuous up to 750W. Above that it might get sketchy, especially for anyone trying to throttle around. But for riders like you and me, no problem with heat. And you hit exactly on one of the key benefits, lack of human cooling on steep hills in the summer. With the e-bike you can still ride at zone 4 levels if you want but you are going plenty fast enough to get some cooling.

Motor runs at 135 to 140ish while actively putting out power, goes down to 100 or less when idle. Controller in the 80s. Granted, I am riding in cool weather at 70s in the morning, but I can't see riding in 80 to 90 degrees causing an issue.

 

[Superb_Raccoon]

And you hit exactly on one of the key benefits, lack of human cooling on steep hills in the summer. With the e-bike you can still ride at zone 4 levels if you want but you are going plenty fast enough to get some cooling.

Not so many hills here in MO, but in Sacramento I often had to abandon a climb because I "Slicked out", not enough cooling to remove the sweat and it formed that solid layer on my face and neck. Really, really unpleasant.

 

[steve s]

Any issues with your Gen 3 Stealth? I have a Photon on a Marlin 8 and I think it's great but I find myself hitting the thermal limits too often when I want to maintain higher speeds (above 20-25mph). I'm thinking about swapping to a Stealth so I don't have to worry about thermal throttling. The Photon is great for the average person using PAS only or just occasional bursts of throttle but not for someone using higher PAS levels with full throttle a good amount of the time.

I'm assuming this was PAS only and no throttle? I find myself hitting the thermal limit of 210° pretty often and pretty quick when hard on the throttle, even while assisting and in a proper gear... The ambient temp is only 75° or so right now too. I'm not too disappointed as I'm happy it actually throttles to prolong the life of the motor. CYC says avg speed of the Photon is 19-22mph and the Stealth is usually 37-43mph. I've hit 35-40mph on my Photon a few times pretty easy but not for very long.

Yes it was pas only and kicking my butt ...

 

[Mongo]

So... new here. Coming from a medically required stop on riding 2 years ago, I am starting from scratch.

Congrats on your recovery/comeback. Given motivation, e-bikes can be health tools.

 

[raylo32]

I did Bike Virginia a number of times back in the day and once did the Vesuvius climb on a super humid 90 degree day. I had made it well on previous iterations but this time I failed. Got off the bike and my shoes were so soaked in sweat that they sloshed and squirted all over the road. It was a road bike with road pedals and cleats so I had to remove the shoes to walk.... I left a trail of wet footprints the rest of the way to the top.

Not so many hills here in MO, but in Sacramento I often had to abandon a climb because I "Slicked out", not enough cooling to remove the sweat and it formed that solid layer on my face and neck. Really, really unpleasant.

 

[Föppel]

I will definetly be purchasing directly off the Cyc website so I will be dealing direct should I have any problems, or need to download firmware etc. Overall, what I can gather from here and other sites the Photon is reccomended, but as I was an early adopter of the Cyc Gen 1 and then the so called 'Stealth', I am waiting in case it follows the same development process and a Photon Gen 2 is shortly released that fixes all the bugs realised in the first release by the early buyers such as yourselves. Thanks for keeping everyone updated on your experiences with the Photon.

I was also a early one with theyr first X1 Pro Gen 1. So i can understand your thoughts and will wait a bit longer to see if there is a fix for the early problems, before i order the Photon.
However, I had no problems with customer service (ordered directly from CYC). The "upgrade parts" (parts from Gen 2) were sent to me directly from CYC and today everything is running as it should.

 

[Mongo]

There's a Photon up for sale on eBay (U.S., east coast), and the owner describes issue(s):

• The kit functions as it should with the exception of both brake sensors not working as they should
• When 'brake sensor' is enabled in the CYC app, and BOTH brake sensors are plugged in, the throttle doesn't work and both brake sensors don't register magnet movement ( turn blue)
• When there is just one brake sensor plugged in, the system registers magnet movement to that specific brake sensor- however the throttle still does not work
• I've pretty much been riding this without the sensors connected - on pedal assist and throttle. Both work when the brake sensors are NOT plugged in
• I've been in touch with CYC about this issue and they offered to send a replacement harness and two new brake sensors even though I don't think that's the problem. I personally think it's related to software or firmware but I could be wrong. The first thing I did when I got the kit was update the controller firmware through the app which was successful.

My bet is the main harness - but it could be in either segment. I find it curious that the seller didn't take CYC up on their offer, and decided to bail after stating it has all of 6 miles riding time. I also feel that the asking price could scare off most risk-takers. But what do I know?

Plugging everything in, then running the App throttle calibrator might give more clues - are the end voltages way off, for example.

I bought directly from CYC, a 1-plug main harness (display only) - no worky. Not much to go on, but it could be that CYC has some questionable harnesses out there.

 

[Mongo]

Hi @Wapous - congrats on your success, and I hope all rides well from now on. You might have already answered this question elsewhere, but how was the new firmware installed - via the phone app? I've not looked recently to see if an update is waiting in the wings.

 

[raylo32]

I did one FW update a few weeks ago myself. You do it from the updated Ride Control app. It made no noticeable difference to the operation of my Photon. I assume that anytime they float a new FW it will require an update to the app. The app is prettier, however.

Hi @Wapous - congrats on your success, and I hope all rides well from now on. You might have already answered this question elsewhere, but how was the new firmware installed - via the phone app? I've not looked recently to see if an update is waiting in the wings.

 

[hindesite]

I did one FW update a few weeks ago myself. You do it from the updated Ride Control app. It made no noticeable difference to the operation of my Photon. I assume that anytime they float a new FW it will require an update to the app. The app is prettier, however.

Just need to point out that the Ride Control was technically, not updated; people who expect it to be automatically updated by their system will never get the new app. Instead, for some reason that is above my pay grade, CYC released a whole new app (much improved) with a different display name - both the old app and the new one coexist on my Android devices.

Users who want the new app will need to search the Play Store and download it manually. The app is much improved (still a ways to go though...)

 

[Atak_Snajpera]

CYC Ride Control - Apps on Google Play

Ride Control app for CYC Motor controllers

play.google.com

How many km have you done already on your photon? Are you going to use it also in winter?
When you pedal without assistance and put all your weight on pedals do you hear any creak sounds or something like that?

 

[moped-dan]

600 miles here and no problems. Loving torque sensor. Hope it holds up long term or the bbshd is going back on. As mentioned earlier, my only complaint is more drag with no motor assistance vs bbshd.

 

[Atak_Snajpera]

Is there any good reason why you guys preffer those hanging bags for batteries instead of this

 

[moped-dan]

It's just what I had already on hand since my battery has no mount. And I can put some tools in the bag too which is nice.