Rocky Mountain ETSX-30 BAFANG mid drive upgrade

[Steviev.mpt@gmail.com]

Driving on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles is crazy on a motorcycle. I had a Triumph Tiger 800 EXC - this thing was my favorite bike ever. I was commuting about 7K miles per year on the thing in my first year. I had a helmet camera, Bluetooth speakers in my helmet and I could even take a call from my wife while riding.

Just a few things about riding on a freeway in Los Angeles - yep you can legally LANE SHARE aka lane split. So I would ride in the carpool lane and pass between the carpool cars and the fast lane cars. I could cover the 13.5 miles to work in about 20 minutes and would almost die everyday. I am a middle of the road rider in terms of speed - sometimes I would go fast but for the most part I was pretty mellow. Having said that, the almost dies were about 50% my fault. I would be riding 20 mph faster than the traffic and people just don't look when they change lanes. But the real issue I ended up having is the texting or talking on cell phones while driving. I can only imagine the amount of people hurt by texting while driving. The third part was the Weed Smoking- every day I would smell 2-5 sections of the freeway where someone was obviously smoking marijuana. So with my 4 year old about to turn 5... I sold my bike. But you see I really love riding. I find it enjoyable so I figured I could commute to work on a bicycle.

Well commuting to work on a bicycle is just horrible if you want to get there, without sweating, in a timely manner. With my new route figured out - 20 miles each way was in my future. At 20 MPH that is an hour each direction and that would be busting ass on a bike so... electric bike! I ended up renting a Felt 95 E-bike with a Bosch 350W electric mid drive motor and trialing the commute to work - yep about an hour each way. I averaged 16 miles per hour - got to work moderately sweaty and had a great time and my route was much shorter than I mapped out. The motor on the Bosch is freaking awesomeness! Responsive and powerful. Alas I couldn't get much faster than 20 MPH as the US laws limit you (freaking lame). So I was now looking at 3-5K on an electric bike and so many questions about would I actually commute on the bike?

So spending 5K$ on a bike seemed kinda silly to me I just sold my motorcycle for 8,200 and that thing was much more specialized than a simple bicycle. Alas I would make my own e-bike. One with a throttle and one that could easily go 28MPH with pedal assist. So I would take my 2003 Rocky Mountain ETSX-30 and make an E-bike! I chose the Chinese made BaFang 8Fun 1000Watt BBSHD mid drive motor lunacycle.com seems to have the best prices- I took a few days with my father's help and made a bike that will pretty much do 35MPH with pedaling. I of course made it street legal by setting it to 45KPH max or ~28MPH max. With gentle pedaling I can zoom along at 28 mph.

http://i430.photobucket.com/albums/qq27/stevievmpt/Rocky%20Mountain%20ETSX-30%20Electric%20Bike/20160420_065024_resized_zpsyfudswgj.jpg

The crazy part was figuring out what to buy - you don't want to buy stuff that will NOT fit on your bike. A leap of faith was needed and BLAM - motor and parts $1487

Bafang BBSHD 1000W Mid Drive Kit
(Bottom Bracket Size: 68-73mm (Standard),
Aluminum Chain-ring Adapter and 42T Sprocket,
Display Options: Luna Full Color Display $50.00,
Throttle Choices: Bafang BBSxx Universal Thumb Throttle,
Add a Gear Sensor: GearSensor for Derailers $49.50,
Add of Pair of Hydraulic Brake Sensors (Kit comes with ebrake hand grips):
Bafang Hydraulic E-Brake Sensor $9.00,
Optional Programming Cable: Bafang Programming Cable $19.95,
Make it a kit by adding a top grade battery: 52v Shark Panasonic PF 11.5ah $435.95,
Add a 5.5mm Smart Charger for your Battery (not included): 52v 3amp Lithium Charger $30.00)
Rear Light W Laser (super awesome light)

I ended up buying new tires, tubes and Mirror, and about 80$ worth of tools. in total I am well below 1,800 bucks. I still need a 99$ Front Chain Ring by Luna to align my chain a bit better. There is also a really cool thing called an in-hub gearing thing-a-ma-jig but those run the entire price of my build so far..so....NOPE. Maybe on my next build.

My trials and tribulations were getting the pedals off, wiring, adding the gear sensor, figuring out if I needed the Brake sensor (not so far) and MOUNTING MY BATTERY. My battery couldn't be any tighter inside my triangle. See pics - alas here it is in all it's glory the Rocky Mountain ETSX-30 full suspension 1000W Bafang 8Fun Mid Drive electric bike with a 52V 11.5Ah battery

http://i430.photobucket.com/albums/qq27/stevievmpt/Rocky%20Mountain%20ETSX-30%20Electric%20Bike/20160504_223914_zpsbvkzh3le.jpg



Tomorrow I have done about 25 mile on it and it is pretty impressive. The response with pedal to assist time isn't nearly as good as the Bosch but the power is so drastically different.

 

[RockyMountain]

Looks Great! Have you had any issues with anything so far?
I am building one my self that's similar but with the battery under the down tube. Just waiting on the battery to arrive.
http://i1061.photobucket.com/albums/t469/Ken_Bidinost/Mobile%20Uploads/image.jpg

 

[dogman dan]

Looks very well put together. Once those knobbies wear out, choose a semi knob beach cruiser tire, or a still large street tire. Not a thin street slick.

How is your bicycle commute route? It might not be safer than the ride on the motorcycle. Or it might be 10 times safer. Don't hesitate to add a few miles to your route to make it safer.

My commute was fairly simple, 15 miles. About 8 miles of it very safe, on a multi use path. The street crossings bad dangerous, so later on I eliminated one of them, and only rode about 6 miles of trail. The rest relatively safe, provided no car ever overtook me I did not eyeball. Mirrors. Then I took off down some residential streets, to avoid the heavy traffic near the university.

I went from 2-3 good scares per day, to at most one a week. First thing I learned, take the lane at stops and lights. Second, find a route with less reasons to pass you then turn into a parking lot. Ride behind the stores, on a secondary street, if possible. When screwed, wind through parking lots, sometimes behind the stores.

Someday you may own a motorcycle again. I sold mine when I was 25, deciding to increase my odds of survival. It was a smart move.

Now I'm old, ride like I'm old, and just bought a 400cc scooter. No commute, purely a toy. Weekend rides to the mountains. No riding that thing through rush hour, even my lame little town rush hour.

 

[MadRhino]

You could build a bike that will commute in a shorter time than your Triumph. Feed a big hub 100v 10+ Kw and build on a good FS bike, nothing can commute faster in town. But you need to focus, cell phones and fast ebikes together are not making a long life expectancy. :wink:

Yet I have found that it is good to have a cell phone in your pocket. When you lay the bike and slide 100ft, the phone and the wallet can save some skin.