A bike with belt drive and IGH for Bafang conversion?

jdash

jdash

New Member
Could you tell me what bikes have belt drive and IGH ready for Bafang (eRad) conversion? I want to convert a bike with gate carbon belt drive and Nuvinci (or other IGH). Any example conversions done so far?
 
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Actually, there are a couple of ebikes already on the market with a mid drive and Gates Belt Drive; thinking of the Cube Hybrid Racing 500 along with the E-Line C-N360, which offers incorporates both the Bosch mid drive motor and the NuVinci N360 integrated hub! There are others, the Heisenberg with a Bosch mid drive motor and Rohloff Speed hub and the Heisenbergyh XD1 Urban with a Bosch mid drive motor and Nuvinic 360 rear hub. The Gates Carbon Drive website has a lot of bikes utilizing their drive system; some electric, some not and some with both the belt drive and Nuvinci N360 internal hub. Life is full of options!
 
I prefer Bafang conversion for several reasons: 1. a Bafang conversion would be cheaper than a Bosch bike. 2. it is more powerful than Bosch. 3. Considering the Bafang's huge sale volume, it would also be much easier and cheaper to buy Bafang parts than Bosch. 4. I can still convert it back to a normal bike anytime! If a Bosch breaks and its parts are discontinued, it would become useless.
 
You should be able to do a simple google search and find a bike you like with the Gates Carbon belt drive and most will come with a 3-speed IGH. You'll have to customize the bike by purchasing your own N360 or 8-11 speed IGH, at which point you could install the Bafang, but you'll need an adaptor for the chain ring, as the stock BBOS don't come ready for belt drives. Additionally, you'll have to check the bike you purchased, to see where the belt tensioning screws are located. If they are located underneath the BB then you'll have to consider a rear/front hub conversion. I've seen few belt drives that tensioners in the rear of their drive train. There are many places to find this information and conversions for belt drives. Good luck, google is your friend.
 
@roshan I discovered your prototype after I started this thread. As I mentioned here, I'm really looking forward to the bike. My wishlist is to have the clean design as the prototype and to have integrated bike lights (because it is always inconvenient to change battery for lights).
 
jdash said:
@roshan I discovered your prototype after I started this thread. As I mentioned here, I'm really looking forward to the bike. My wishlist is to have the clean design as the prototype and to have integrated bike lights (because it is always inconvenient to change battery for lights).
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is going to be an awesome bike. With integrated head lights et all. We're still testing Nuvinci vs Alfine. Time will tell which one wins!
 
Exactly! Contact Chris Head at Lectric Cycles; they have very good technical knowledge of the Bafang motors and he's already acquainted with belt drive bikes.
 
Since @roshan has an advantage to design many parts of his bike, he may come up with a better design such as internal cable routing and bike light integration. In addition to Spot Brand bikes, I recently found super clean designs from Coast Cycles. They are Singapore-based and their bikes do not seem to be available in U.S. market yet besides directly buying from them. According to the pictures on the website, their bottom bracket doesn't seem to be compatible for Bafang conversion. Anyway, I see a decent market for clean maintenance-free commuter ebikes that do not look too aggressive and are not too expensive.
 
Build it myself, see the pictures
 

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phate09 said:
Please please can you say what components you used?
What is the bike frame? What hub?
Click to expand...
Hub is a Shimano Nexus 8 gears with Rollerbrake, shifter is a Shimano Alfine for alfine,nexus hubs,with gear sensor.
frame is aluminum from Dutch brand Gazelle, 61 cm high. Frame is modified for use for the Gates carbon belt.
Frame dropout on the right side is modified, because you can't split the carbon belt. The whole frame was stripped of the paint,polished and adonize mat black. The motor is a bafang mid engine 48V 750 watts, battery 48V 14aH,
 
I also have a bike already equipped with Bafang BBS02 and Alfine 8 so perfect candidate for belt installation :)

However, I have some questions:
- Would you have a photo to show where you cut the frame dropout? How did you "close" the frame once the belt is installed?
- Is the front sprocket cdx plug and play with Bafang? Are the screws position matching?
- Do you have vertical dropout? If so, how do you tension the belt?
 
OK, thanks for your feedback. So finally, you cut the fame, you did not soldered it instead but you adapted, your specific black part to "close" it, right?
 
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