BBSHD installed in my Radrover

[Neal]

I just finished installing a BBSHD mid drive on my Radrover. Wow! What a difference! This thing will climb a tree now, as well as run 28 mph with throttle only. The kit installed very easily. I went slow and took my time and it took about 2.5 hours. I kept the battery/holder and just soldered the new heavier power cables (that the kit came with) into the base. This also included time to install the power cut out for the delraileur. (This requires the cable to be removed from the housing and a short section of the housing to be cut out and re-installed and adjusted.). The shifting is super smooth and the bike is so much faster now. I'm running 9 levels of PAS so I'm not bouncing between two settings as much now. One of my original complaints with the Radrover is PAS 1 isn't enough for most of my normal riding and PAS 2 was too much. With the additional power of the BBSHD I've found PAS 1 to be very comfortable and kicking it up to 2 gives it just enough extra kick. I don't feel is as big of a jump as it was originally.
I left the hub motor in as I have plans to run dual motors some day and I need to decide how I'm going to go about the specifics of it. I'm trying to figure out a way I can run both motors on PAS, and the Radrover's cadence sensor won't mount on the new bottom bracket.

 

[pxpaulx]

Nice! I've got a haibike coming next week and was thinking about selling my radrover...This this might give me pause!

 

[Neal]

What a coincidence, I have a Haibike as well! I started with the Radrover, loved it so much I bought a 2016 Haibike Xduro AMT RX but still loved the traction of the fat bike, just wanted more power... $750 kit made my Radrover a total animal! Going to be using a lot for hunting in the mountains.

 

[Bike_On]

So you have two motors on the bike?

 

[Neal]

Yes, I technically have two motors on it, but the hub motor is not hooked up. I'm trying to figure out if it'll be worth it to get another battery and hook it all back up.

 

[Metalusion]

congrats on the install!! i would love to do that too. so the new bbshd units come with motor cut off when shifting? are you using the original battery? and what has this done to your range?

 

[Neal]

The kit didn't come with the derailleur sensor for cut off but it was a $50 option that I had included. I am using the original battery but haven't been able to test the range in a fair comparison yet. I expect I'll be using PAS 1 and 2 for most of my riding so I'm not expecting my range to go down too much. Im hoping I'll get the time this next weekend to get a good ride in.

 

[Metalusion]

really interested in hearing more of your impressions on the radrover with bbshd. especially compared to the Haibike. how does it compare comfort wise? which would you prefer riding mostly around town? i am interested in a fs bike and wonder if the extra cost of Haibike is worth it. if you don't mind could you compare the shifting and cadence sensing etc. i assume the bbshd is much more powerfull overall. does that give you more confidence or is it too much? thanks!

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I would imagine the extra drag from the motor!
Would it be possible to swap the rear wheel from another fat bike and run it with BBSHD only? that would shave off 10lbs easily and make it super affordable BBSHD bike.

Again, that begs the question why would anyone want to do that?
@Logan Gogarty did an excellent job at building a fat bike with BBSHD.

http://electricbikereview.com/community/threads/fat-bike-w-bbshd-updates.3251/

I test rode the Lebowske and Haibike Fatsix and liked the assured feeling it provides but compared to other bikes, it wasn't nimble and efficient.
But, a 52V, 25Ah triangle pack with tubeless setup would be nice!

 

[pxpaulx]

I don't think it would make sense too power the motor on the rear as they might act against each other in some form and hurt the longevity of the drive train. If anything it would make sense to move up front, however 750 watts is probably too much for the front fork.

I agree with Ravi, get a replacement wheel to eliminate that motor dragging on the back. Check out bikes direct or their parts sister site bike island.

 

[Neal]

really interested in hearing more of your impressions on the radrover with bbshd. especially compared to the Haibike. how does it compare comfort wise? which would you prefer riding mostly around town? i am interested in a fs bike and wonder if the extra cost of Haibike is worth it. if you don't mind could you compare the shifting and cadence sensing etc. i assume the bbshd is much more powerfull overall. does that give you more confidence or is it too much? thanks!

Comfort wise I still prefer my Haibike. The torque sensing ability of that Bosch is a feeling you really have to experience for yourself. The plush suspension on the Haibike (6 inches front and rear) makes it a much more comfortable ride as well. Shifting is very similar between the two bikes now as I did install the derailleur sensor on the BBSHD. It is a very noticeable cut in power while the shift takes place. The cadence sensing is faster to respond on the Haibike, but the BBSHD does a much better job of reading cadence than the Radrover's stock design. I haven't done a head to head comparison climbing steep hills yet. I'm really looking forward to going out and doing that. I can climb as steep as traction allows on my Haibike and expect the Radrover to be able to climb a little steeper as it will ultimately have the traction advantage. I'm pleased with the performance gain in it so far for the $750 I invested and I'm even looking at going up to a 52V battery. The biggest difference between my Haibike and my Radrover now is my Radrover will hit 28 mph unassisted and I can feel the assist into the 30's while my Haibike starts tapering off at 18mph and completely cuts out at 20...(for now). I have a tuner on order for my Haibike.

 

[MLB]

Yes, I technically have two motors on it, but the hub motor is not hooked up. I'm trying to figure out if it'll be worth it to get another battery and hook it all back up.

Why don't you trade+$$ (them) to someone with a fatbike that would like a motor setup for his/her rear wheel?

 

[Neal]

I'm looking into that option too.. i haven't done a lot of work to fat bikes and all the different dropout widths are kind of intimidating when looking for a rim/hub that will fit the Radrover's dropouts.

 

[pxpaulx]

I'll recommend the bikes direct fat bikes. Reasonably priced with brand name components. I have their Boris x7 and it is quite nice. They publish all of the bike specs so it would be easy to find one with the correct rear drop out size.

 

[Sam Jarawan]

Neal, do you have any pictures or videos you'd be willing to post? Did you upgrade the battery as well?

 

[Neal]

I didn't take any pictures or video of the install. My phone takes picture too large for me to upload and I don't use an online storage. I need to see if I can lower the resolution on my phone and upload some pics. I haven't upgraded the battery "yet". I have enough parts lying around sans battery to do a full BBS02 conversion so I did order a 52V, 13.5Ah high power high draw battery to put on my Radrover and will use the stock battery for my other conversion project. The battery I ordered is supposed to be better suited for climbing steep and continuous.

 

[Neal]

Picture of the whole bike

 

[Neal]

Close up of the wiring

 

[Neal]

From the other side

 

[Neal]

I originally used the 46 tooth paper weight sprocket. I just installed the 42 tooth Luna sprocket before taking these pictures and it made a huge difference. I hit 32mph using the throttle only and 40 mph pedal assisted (both on fairly flat ground). The new gearing is perfect now. I'll try to get it out to do hill climb testing before the new battery so I can get an idea of the difference the battery only will make.