I'm looking for a motor for my third ebike build. First two are recumbents and this one will be as well. I have a greenspeed magnum with a tsdz2b and a rans stratus with a bbs02. Both bikes have over 1000 miles on them with about a year and change worth of riding. Have had no trouble with either motor and have not committed to a specific motor yet, but am going to keep it with 48v since I have a battery that I plan on swapping over with a second mounting base. Neither of these bikes is well suited to being transported. The magnum is a trike and even without the battery weighs in around 50 lbs and is just too hard to get in a rack single handed. The Stratus probably weighs in around 40 lbs without battery but is over 8 feet long and just wont fit in any rack that I have found. Yeah I could pull wheels off and throw it in the back of the truck, but that gets old and isn't great for the bike long term.
This bike is going to be used for camping trips as well as taking it to other bike paths on a rack. It's a Sun CX LWB recumbent with a 26" rear and 20" front wheel. It's a very comfy bike but on the heavier side since it's a steel frame and not very fast. The motor will take care of the not very fast part. The plan is to mount the battery low on the bottom tube with a DIY mount similar to what I did on the trike. I am leaning toward a mid drive motor since I think they make for a much cleaner install and tend to run very quiet compared to the hub motors I have experience with. And finally I am trying to do this one as cheaply as I can get away with although I'm guessing that when all is said and done I'll probably have between 4-500 in the project not counting the cost of the bike.
I like the torque sensing of my current motor and have had no issues at all with it for the last year and a half and 1000+ miles I put on it. I'm not skinny but its also relatively flat where I live and it is running the original OS just fine. I can get the bike up to about 15 mph with the 20 inch rear wheel and that is fine by me. I have no issues with heat and get about 50 miles out of the battery. I was set to try and find another of the tdsz2 motors and came across a site, Varstrom that has the newer version the tsdz8 for about 50 more. It looks like they took a lot of the design from bafang and incorporated it along with their torque sensor tech. For that small a difference in price I will go with a newer design. I've seen a video comparing the two motors and nothing stands out that makes me think they will be troublesome.
So what I'm looking for is anybody that has installed this newer version can give me some feedback on it. I can order it on Amazon right now for about 400 as well as on the Varstrom site for a bit less. I know I can return it with Amazon so that may be the way I go unless I get some feedback to go elsewhere. If I could find a mid drive cheaper, I might be tempted to go that route since this is going to be a minimal use bike in the long run. The bafang I have on the rans was bought with a battery on a DIY home built I got on CL for 350. I harvested the parts I needed and trashed the frame since it was a pretty low end bike to begin with.
The Sun CX
This bike is going to be used for camping trips as well as taking it to other bike paths on a rack. It's a Sun CX LWB recumbent with a 26" rear and 20" front wheel. It's a very comfy bike but on the heavier side since it's a steel frame and not very fast. The motor will take care of the not very fast part. The plan is to mount the battery low on the bottom tube with a DIY mount similar to what I did on the trike. I am leaning toward a mid drive motor since I think they make for a much cleaner install and tend to run very quiet compared to the hub motors I have experience with. And finally I am trying to do this one as cheaply as I can get away with although I'm guessing that when all is said and done I'll probably have between 4-500 in the project not counting the cost of the bike.
I like the torque sensing of my current motor and have had no issues at all with it for the last year and a half and 1000+ miles I put on it. I'm not skinny but its also relatively flat where I live and it is running the original OS just fine. I can get the bike up to about 15 mph with the 20 inch rear wheel and that is fine by me. I have no issues with heat and get about 50 miles out of the battery. I was set to try and find another of the tdsz2 motors and came across a site, Varstrom that has the newer version the tsdz8 for about 50 more. It looks like they took a lot of the design from bafang and incorporated it along with their torque sensor tech. For that small a difference in price I will go with a newer design. I've seen a video comparing the two motors and nothing stands out that makes me think they will be troublesome.
So what I'm looking for is anybody that has installed this newer version can give me some feedback on it. I can order it on Amazon right now for about 400 as well as on the Varstrom site for a bit less. I know I can return it with Amazon so that may be the way I go unless I get some feedback to go elsewhere. If I could find a mid drive cheaper, I might be tempted to go that route since this is going to be a minimal use bike in the long run. The bafang I have on the rans was bought with a battery on a DIY home built I got on CL for 350. I harvested the parts I needed and trashed the frame since it was a pretty low end bike to begin with.
The Sun CX
