bram.biesiekierski
Active member
Hi. I'm new here, my names Bram, 35yr old from Perth WA Australia. Forgive the wall of text. It's a bit of an intro and some questions about ebikes.
So up until recently I had never considered an eMTB. I love MTB, and never had any need or want for a motor.
That was up until recently, where I suffered a serious heart injury from the vaccines. I was hospitalised for 5 days and clinically diagnosed with myo-pericarditis, I had a month off work. And now 6 months after that, I am just starting to recover to the point where I can ride a bike again. I'm currently just taking it easy with short rides around rivers and lakes, mostly on pavement, and definitely no elevation. I can't wait to get back into the hills and ride some proper MTB.
Which brings me to the problem. Riding down-hill is fine, I got gravity on my side, it's getting back up where I will now struggle. My heart/cardio isn't what it used to be, and I am now s#!t scared of having a heart attack if I push myself.
So the idea of a eMTB now starts looking like a possible solution. But, I can't afford a new name-brand eMTB. In this state, you need to be vaccinated to work, and I only had 1 dose, so don't count as vaccinated. I have a temp exemption, but that expires soon, and after that there is no way on earth I'm getting any more clot-shots. So money is a bit tight. I have good cash savings, but I don't want to blow it on a bike, when I will likely be unemployed once my current exemption expires.
So I start thinking, well I already have a well spec'd MTB, (a Trek Remedy, with alot of upgrades), all I really need is a eMTB motor/frame/battery right? Perhaps I can purchase just a frame kit, and swap all my components on. But it doesn't look like there is much available. All the manufacturers I've looked at don't sell frames like that.
Then I see the Dengfu frames and think well that looks promising. After looking around. The E22 sounds kinda alright. 150mm travel is about what I like. It takes a big motor, so will get up hill like a champ. The geometry is not great, but it's not bad and definetly workable for my needs. Its got a standard boost 148 frame. The shock eye to eye, and stroke is the same as my current shock (cane creek kitsuma coil 230x65), and similar travel aswell, so probs wouldn't even need to swap the springs. My 160mm fork, bars, brakes, rims/wheels, rear mech, rear cassete etc should all go over. I think the seat post diameter is different, so I'd need a new dropper post and that's about it, (apart from misc parts like brake lines and shifter cables, and anything specific to the eMTB system etc).
I have alot of spares already aswell, like extra cassettes (e13 and xx1 and gx), extra mechs (x01 and gx) extra wheels (i9 and bontragers), spare bars, grips and a couple of stems. A few sets of brakes (hope and srams)
So I think I should be able to piece together all the rest of a bike if I had frame/motor/battery ready to go.
All my wheels are currently 27.5s, and the e22 frame says its 29 compatible, so I might need to either run plus tyres. Or perhaps look at mulleting it to get the BB height back. I like the idea of mulleting it eventually to help slacken it a bit, but don't want to shell out for a new fork I'd I can avoid it
Now I don't know anything about eBikes, or Bafang, or Dengfu.
My concern is how reliable is the frame? Where I ride, there is lots of rock. If I go to the hills, it's all orange coffee Rock. If I go to the coast, it's limestone/coral. Because of the rock, it means there is alot of harsh vibration/chatter compared to more flow trails, and loamy terrain. And if I have an off, then the frame could contact a rock. I don't really go out of my way for jumps. I more prefer descending, and do end up riding a bit of chunky rock shoots etc.
How decent are the Bafang motors? Do they handle MTB well? With crashes, casing bottom outs, dirt/mud etc.
What are people's thoughts on the dengfu frames?
So up until recently I had never considered an eMTB. I love MTB, and never had any need or want for a motor.
That was up until recently, where I suffered a serious heart injury from the vaccines. I was hospitalised for 5 days and clinically diagnosed with myo-pericarditis, I had a month off work. And now 6 months after that, I am just starting to recover to the point where I can ride a bike again. I'm currently just taking it easy with short rides around rivers and lakes, mostly on pavement, and definitely no elevation. I can't wait to get back into the hills and ride some proper MTB.
Which brings me to the problem. Riding down-hill is fine, I got gravity on my side, it's getting back up where I will now struggle. My heart/cardio isn't what it used to be, and I am now s#!t scared of having a heart attack if I push myself.
So the idea of a eMTB now starts looking like a possible solution. But, I can't afford a new name-brand eMTB. In this state, you need to be vaccinated to work, and I only had 1 dose, so don't count as vaccinated. I have a temp exemption, but that expires soon, and after that there is no way on earth I'm getting any more clot-shots. So money is a bit tight. I have good cash savings, but I don't want to blow it on a bike, when I will likely be unemployed once my current exemption expires.
So I start thinking, well I already have a well spec'd MTB, (a Trek Remedy, with alot of upgrades), all I really need is a eMTB motor/frame/battery right? Perhaps I can purchase just a frame kit, and swap all my components on. But it doesn't look like there is much available. All the manufacturers I've looked at don't sell frames like that.
Then I see the Dengfu frames and think well that looks promising. After looking around. The E22 sounds kinda alright. 150mm travel is about what I like. It takes a big motor, so will get up hill like a champ. The geometry is not great, but it's not bad and definetly workable for my needs. Its got a standard boost 148 frame. The shock eye to eye, and stroke is the same as my current shock (cane creek kitsuma coil 230x65), and similar travel aswell, so probs wouldn't even need to swap the springs. My 160mm fork, bars, brakes, rims/wheels, rear mech, rear cassete etc should all go over. I think the seat post diameter is different, so I'd need a new dropper post and that's about it, (apart from misc parts like brake lines and shifter cables, and anything specific to the eMTB system etc).
I have alot of spares already aswell, like extra cassettes (e13 and xx1 and gx), extra mechs (x01 and gx) extra wheels (i9 and bontragers), spare bars, grips and a couple of stems. A few sets of brakes (hope and srams)
So I think I should be able to piece together all the rest of a bike if I had frame/motor/battery ready to go.
All my wheels are currently 27.5s, and the e22 frame says its 29 compatible, so I might need to either run plus tyres. Or perhaps look at mulleting it to get the BB height back. I like the idea of mulleting it eventually to help slacken it a bit, but don't want to shell out for a new fork I'd I can avoid it
Now I don't know anything about eBikes, or Bafang, or Dengfu.
My concern is how reliable is the frame? Where I ride, there is lots of rock. If I go to the hills, it's all orange coffee Rock. If I go to the coast, it's limestone/coral. Because of the rock, it means there is alot of harsh vibration/chatter compared to more flow trails, and loamy terrain. And if I have an off, then the frame could contact a rock. I don't really go out of my way for jumps. I more prefer descending, and do end up riding a bit of chunky rock shoots etc.
How decent are the Bafang motors? Do they handle MTB well? With crashes, casing bottom outs, dirt/mud etc.
What are people's thoughts on the dengfu frames?