best bang for buck d.i.y kit?

[escrs]

Thinking about converting my trail/light enduro hardtail for winter use (Have a Levo for good weather/ big days out)

Been looking at Bafang kits, ideally id like to spend £600 max for the full kit inc battery

One thing does concern me it seems most kits come with 42/44t chainrings, id rather have a 32/34t chainring, is it possible?

So what kit is best for my price? not interested in throttle switches, id like pedal assist so its very similar to the Levo

Cheers

 

[lumpy]

The smaller chainrings aren't possible with a Bafang because the chainring needs to kinda fit around the motor or the chainline will be way off and to the right

 

[escrs]

Ahh bugger! that could kill that idea then

 

[Sandur-Rx]

The smaller chainrings aren't possible with a Bafang because the chainring needs to kinda fit around the motor or the chainline will be way off and to the right

I ran a 34t on my m600 perfectly fine.

 

[Mabman]

I ran a 34t on my m600 perfectly fine.

Different format....

 

[patdam]

i still using my 1st DIY ebike with BBS01 (+- 7 years) in winters. you can use 32 teeth plate with adapter (build yourself or purchased) with reduced rear pignons number (personally 8 on 9 ). it is also possible to use dual front plate.

moteur BBS

lekkie in australia build very good products for BBS
Covers – Lekkie

 

[Waynemarlow]

The only kit that will give you a similar feel to your Levo, that of torque based assist, rather than cadence based assist which the Bafang BB series are, at an economical cost would be the Tongshen TSDZ2.

Tongsheng TSDZ2 Torque sensing Mid Mount conversion

I have been riding a converted Giant Trance 4 with a Tongsheng TSDZ2 Torque sensing motor for nearly a year now. I am amazed how quiet the motor is (even compared to my mates Bosch) and many in my riding group have also commented the same. I upgraded the factory software with opensource...

www.emtbforums.com

 

[Repsol]

You'll be hard pressed getting the full kit for £600. There £1200 new including everything with 850c controller, I'm thinking of selling mine but not for £600. I'd advise staying away from the cheap batteries some of the kits come with, stick with Panasonic tesla.

 

[Waynemarlow]

You'll be hard pressed getting the full kit for £600. There £1200 new including everything with 850c controller, I'm thinking of selling mine but not for £600. I'd advise staying away from the cheap batteries some of the kits come with, stick with Panasonic tesla.

I'm presuming you are talking about the Bafang BB series or Ultra ?
TSDZ2 are around the £ 550 for the motor kit inc of display and wiring + a battery.

The BB series are not too bad in the UK

 

[Repsol]

I'm presuming you are talking about the Bafang BB series or Ultra ?
TSDZ2 are around the £ 550 for the motor kit inc of display and wiring + a battery.

The BB series are not too bad in the UK
View attachment 79323

View attachment 79322

Arr Sorry my mistake, I wasn't aware of them doing this model, yes mine is the bbshd 1600w 52v 19.5ah conversion.

 

[escrs]

Cheers for the replies

The one ive been looking at go for around £625 to £650 all in including battery etc...

 

[Mabman]

If you can put up with cadence sensing and 20 or so mile battery the BBS02 deal listed is probably about as cheap as you can get. Other than going with a hub of some sort.

 

[Waynemarlow]

Having had both a BBS-02 and a TSDZ2, the torque sensing of the latter, overall low cost of both new and parts and now a pretty infinite tuning ability with OS availability of upgrade, in Emtb riding there is only one winner in my view.

Where the BBS01 & 2 are good is on road commuter style, turn you pedals and you have X amount of extra power ( I ran mine at a reliable 1200W’s, why you need the extra weight of 1.2k’s of the Ultra I have no idea ).If you want to get to work without a sweat then thumbs up. If you want to use them off road particularly in single track, from the factory they are truely horrible, but there is a couple of suites of software you can use to adapt to suit your riding style and in the end you can get a pedal and go using the brake cut offs to ramp up and down through the tight stuff to almost mimic a true torque sensing motor.

Horses for courses I would suspect.

 

[Mabman]

If you can afford it I'd go with the TS as suggested above. For actual mtb riding torque sensor alone is worth the price of admission.

Having ended up quite by fate with an M625 after years of TS use what stands out to me is the nm of torque on tap. I do ride rough tracks here and although my stock tune is not the best I am having no issues getting around. I do pedal a higher cadence but with the same amount of effort I put in with my TS I can tune the M625 to but where the TS ends watt wise the Ultra is just starting to come on the pipe. And like the M600 Q factor is reduced greatly.

As far as the extra weight goes the only time I notice it is if the bike is going less than 1mph. I do admit that I am using more wh/mi than with my TS but going somewhat faster on double track with the same amount of physical effort the motor is barely breathing hard it seems but watts is watts.

My hole card is that I have about the perfect place to ride it in out the door. Lot's of area with a variety of terrain , scenic vistas and pretty much nobody.

 

[Waynemarlow]

Having gone from the TSDZ2 engine which I had limited to 650W’s and with the ability to calibrate the torque sensor / control the ramp up of the motor, to now riding a M600 motor with 1000W’s on tap and cadence biased torque sensing, there’s a gulf of difference between the two.

The M600 is just a beast wanting to go and even riding with other Emtbs it can be a pain until you get out on faster trails where the speed ups a bit and it really shines. The TSDZ2 on the other hand is great if you ride with analogue bikes where it can be set up to almost feel like an analogue bike with just a trickle of power. It’s great to be able to ride with much faster and fitter youngsters and still allow my old legs to shine.

But the difference is so great that it has meant I’m rebuilding my Whyte T129 as a TSDZ2 convertee as I’m finding when riding with analogue riders, the M600 at its lowest settings simply applies too much power and you end up in the pub after the ride looking at your totally jaded and exhausted riding buddies thinking ” what ride “. If only Bafang would allow us to tinker with the motor settings.

 

[Repsol]

Having gone from the TSDZ2 engine which I had limited to 650W’s and with the ability to calibrate the torque sensor / control the ramp up of the motor, to now riding a M600 motor with 1000W’s on tap and cadence biased torque sensing, there’s a gulf of difference between the two.

The M600 is just a beast wanting to go and even riding with other Emtbs it can be a pain until you get out on faster trails where the speed ups a bit and it really shines. The TSDZ2 on the other hand is great if you ride with analogue bikes where it can be set up to almost feel like an analogue bike with just a trickle of power. It’s great to be able to ride with much faster and fitter youngsters and still allow my old legs to shine.

But the difference is so great that it has meant I’m rebuilding my Whyte T129 as a TSDZ2 convertee as I’m finding when riding with analogue riders, the M600 at its lowest settings simply applies too much power and you end up in the pub after the ride looking at your totally jaded and exhausted riding buddies thinking ” what ride “. If only Bafang would allow us to tinker with the motor settings.

You can alter the bafang bbshd settings using the speeed app, I don't know if it applies to other bafang motors though.

 

[Waynemarlow]

You can alter the bafang bbshd settings using the speeed app, I don't know if it applies to other bafang motors though.

Sadly no, the newer M500 / M600 and I also beleive some of the newer Ultra motors have all gone over to CanBus programming which is limiting everyone to basically factory programming. Shame as the later motors could and probably would be as good as the best out there, but as they are, they are now lagging behind software wise and the Brose, Bosch, Shimano will continue to reign despite there mechanical problems.

One thing to be aware of re the BBS02 and TSDZ2 engines, the BBS02 is a very quiet engine, possibly the quietest engine out there, whilst the TSDZ2 is probably a tad noisier than the Bosch Shimano types, not irritatingly noisy like the CYC and some can be very quiet, just some gear mesh noise can be heard. Ironically the bigger the mileage of use, the quieter they get.

 

[Sgarth42]

The only kit that will give you a similar feel to your Levo, that of torque based assist, rather than cadence based assist which the Bafang BB series are, at an economical cost would be the Tongshen TSDZ2.

Tongsheng TSDZ2 Torque sensing Mid Mount conversion

I have been riding a converted Giant Trance 4 with a Tongsheng TSDZ2 Torque sensing motor for nearly a year now. I am amazed how quiet the motor is (even compared to my mates Bosch) and many in my riding group have also commented the same. I upgraded the factory software with opensource...

www.emtbforums.com

I have used a TSDZ2 motor now on a full sus and done over 1k miles in 12 months and it's been brilliant. They are a very good conversion and flexible with chainring sizes