TwoWheeling said:
Hello!...I'm looking to fit a kit to assist my daily commute and for primarily hill help on longer distance tours. The trip to work and back is about 20 miles with a few burning climbs (~10% so not actually that bad). Assistance would be mostly on the hills but also generally just to speed up the journey....I'm edging toward hub motor over mid-drive since it seems to fit my requirements (moderate hills and limited assistance) and from what I understand mid-drive is not a common retrofit......I'm an engineer by profession so fairly mechanically minded and should be able to fit and wire up the kit myself.
Different strokes for different folks as they say. What's best for you is dependent on multiple factors which bear a little thought. You have a high quality touring bike you obviously like and are familiar with. I assume that it probably has good quality wheels you might like to preserve. And it also sounds as though your current, injury-related limitations may diminish in the future.
It sounds to me as though you might value:
- a speedy, easy conversion
- reliability, water resistance and general 'neatness'
- longer battery range
- 'pedelec' in addition to (or as opposed to) throttle assistance
- easy conversion
back to non-assisted mode
- mature technology & build quality
- a high level of service and support (you mention being a 'newbie' etc).
I would recommend that you purchase a kit based on the Bafang/8FUN BBS-02 mid-drive, possibly with a better quality after-market chainring or 'spider' chainring converter.
Why the BBS-02? No need to rebuild your wheel or find a spot to locate your controller. Installation is so easy it could be called 'trivial' - as is removal (and installation on another bike)! Easy to repair flats. Extra weight is ideally located low down and in the middle of the bike. BBS-02 is now on it's 3rd or 4th iteration with the inevitable bugs more-or-less ironed out. No rat's nest of wiring - cabling on BBS kits is extremely simple, ultra-neat, highly water resistant and very high quality. With the possible exception of the eZee hub-motor kits there seems to be nothing like this currently available at a similar price in the stock hub-motor kits coming out of China or Taiwan.
You
can of course get similar build quality with a hub motor
if you are prepared to pick and choose from various custom options and learn a lot quickly about what's on offer - all at considerable expense and effort.
I would also recommend that you think carefully about battery purchase. You can pay whatever you like for a battery - it just depends on what range you want, what level of quality you are looking for etc. If you are an engineer you will know that there are few real short-cuts in this world - especially when dealing with the volatile technologies used in construction of high-power batteries. This is where you should do some research. The information pages at e-bikes.com.ca and em3ev.com are good places to start. Both of these vendors are also excellent, reliable sources of kits, parts and helpful advice. If you are doing a conversion yourself - it's great to have a good partner to help you out!
I don't want to sound too much like I'm spruiking for em3ev, but with the BBS-02 available from them you can get a 'legal' 250w motor setting while also getting a much stronger motor build that was originally available with the earlier 250w BBS-01 unit. While 250w is probably quite adequate for your purposes, I note that Paul will also provide the same unit with a 350w or 500w controller! More power = somewhat more assist on hills but lower overall range. Paul is (in my experience) very happy to assist with objective and careful technical advice when it comes to working out range, battery size and power requirements. As are the folk at e-bikes.ca.
I am in Adelaide, Australia. I've always valued learning and doing things for myself (including building wheels and wiring looms) so I have not been particularly inclined to make use of local retailers (with the inevitable higher costs involved). Your needs and situation may well be different re this - you will naturally have to exercise your own judgement!
I have 4 of these BBS units as well as 2 hub drives (both low wattage). The only real problem I've ever had with my BBS units has been with the earliest BBS-01 250w which appears to have been 'under built' a bit. I've owned 'high-tech' BionX hub drives in the past (a nightmare best forgotten!) At present I am extremely happy with the Bafang mid-drives - although I'd always like a bigger battery!
Sam.
