does the bafang m 600 motor suck ?

N

nicholi27

New Member
i want a well priced e MTB
but an nervous about not being able to get parts and service on a motor that craps out after a year of riding
how are their controllers , do they suck?
seem to be a lot of yapping about third party controllers which , kinda imply s that the bafang one is a turdsicle
 
Actually, Bafang has a reputation for being a very robust and well built motor. Regarding their Ultra controller, people who have ridden both the Bafang and higher end motors such as the Bosch or Shimano feel that the Bafang controller is less refined. I've ridden a bunch of the "euro-spec" ebikes and can attest to the sense that the bike becomes and extension of your own past experience riding non-motorized bikes, but I haven't ridden a Bafang mid-drive. Read through TomD's Frey CC thread. He has a bunch of ebikes including the CC and Luna X-1. Switching out the controller on his CC to the Archon totally changed his perception about the bike regarding pedal assist experience and range.
 
apparently, there is slight jerkiness with the stock motor but you can re-programme the Bafang motor to suit the rider either by using a flying lead or remotely if using an Eggrider which Bluetooths to your phone for easy configuration
 
The tuning sucks if you buy from Luna. I've talked to non-Luna owners and their M600 do not exhibit the problems I have at low PAS with my Luna X1. Luna BABE owners have reported the same problems (lack of smoothness at low PAS). Earlier this week someone stopped by for a test ride on my Frey CC and they also took my Luna X1 for a spin. They said the M600 on my Luna X1 was very different from the other M600 they had ridden so I am pretty sure it is specific to Luna's tuning.

D.Unwin said:
y ou can re-programme the Bafang motor to suit the rider either by using a flying lead or remotely if using an Eggrider
Click to expand...

You can't program the M600 (CANBUS protocol) like the other Bafang mid drives and this will soon to be the case for other Bafang motor like the Ultra that are transitioning to CANBUS.
 
TomD said:
The tuning sucks if you buy from Luna. I've talked to non-Luna owners and their M600 do not exhibit the problems I have at low PAS with my Luna X1. Luna BABE owners have reported the same problems (lack of smoothness at low PAS). Earlier this week someone stopped by for a test ride on my Frey CC and they also took my Luna X1 for a spin. They said the M600 on my Luna X1 was very different from the other M600 they had ridden so I am pretty sure it is specific to Luna's tuning.



You can't program the M600 (CANBUS protocol) like the other Bafang mid drives and this will soon to be the case for other Bafang motor like the Ultra that are transitioning to CANBUS.
Click to expand...
ahhh i did read about this but i could have swore someone had been able to remove the speed limit from the M600?
 
I don't think there is a speed limiter on M600. If so, it's no less than 28mph.

The other downside of Bafang motors is their weight. I believe they weigh at least double what the Bosch, Yamaha, Brose, or Shimano motors weigh. For more agile riding like riding technical tracks, the weight of the motor probably isn't ideal for quick maneuverability which is critical. That's why you don't see Bafang powered eMTBs on any reputable MTB sources. WIth that said, if it's just for light trail riding or riding on tarmac, I doubt the weight will be a factor since the motor is so much more powerful than the other brands.
 
byunbee said:
I don't think there is a speed limiter on M600. If so, it's no less than 28mph.

The other downside of Bafang motors is their weight. I believe they weigh at least double what the Bosch, Yamaha, Brose, or Shimano motors weigh. For more agile riding like riding technical tracks, the weight of the motor probably isn't ideal for quick maneuverability which is critical. That's why you don't see Bafang powered eMTBs on any reputable MTB sources. WIth that said, if it's just for light trail riding or riding on tarmac, I doubt the weight will be a factor since the motor is so much more powerful than the other brands.
Click to expand...
being in the UK i thought the M600 was the door for Bafang to start opening doors to the europen market and due to europe being restricted to a measly 15.5mph this is the reason i thought this. yes of course Bafang weight more than others but they dont have the resources that other makers have which is why people like me buy these bikes/motors and bring them to the UK/europe so we dont have to put up with shitty legal torque/limit settings that is required. i want something that will keep up with cars and the fact i am 17 stone helps me to do this, if i was a serious mountain biker hammering trials every weekend then i would get a 250w 15.5mph limited ebike but i am not and also i wouldnt want to spend 5k on a mountain bike to do this. the UK is shocking with availability of ebikes, if there were more choice then that would be great but the best of the bunch is Frey at the minute and they are best by far for speed, build and parts on the bike the only draw back is the time it takes to purchase one.
 
byunbee said:
I don't think there is a speed limiter on M600. If so, it's no less than 28mph.

The other downside of Bafang motors is their weight. I believe they weigh at least double what the Bosch, Yamaha, Brose, or Shimano motors weigh. For more agile riding like riding technical tracks, the weight of the motor probably isn't ideal for quick maneuverability which is critical. That's why you don't see Bafang powered eMTBs on any reputable MTB sources. WIth that said, if it's just for light trail riding or riding on tarmac, I doubt the weight will be a factor since the motor is so much more powerful than the other brands.
Click to expand...

Yeah, its all about the power with the M620. Bafang garnered a lot of support from the "hackability" of their drives with the BBS motors and I don't think they wanted to lose this market with the M620. These motors have so much copper inside that they can normally handle far in excess of the rated power, with many running them at over 2-3000w if not more. The M800 motor is Bafangs entry into the EU market 200w, 55nm, some European boutique builders are using it but none of the big names yet.

Got to say, I haven't heard much about the M600 motor, I've mostly been focusing on the M620 - tbh I think anything less than 1000w is a waste of time. But no doubt its much the same deal but with slightly less power.
 
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2 things I've heard, but have no first hand knowledge, is that the 600 is on the noisy side, and that they are not as programmable as the bigger motors.
 
Clearly the metal gear is noisier. So the question would be, what is stock, plastic or steel gears? My bet is steel, but I could be wrong.
 
Its clearly noticeable, but I think I could live with it. I believe Frey uses Metal gears too don't they?
 
Timpo said:
Will Luna X1 silent gear fit on Frey?

lunacycle.com

Luna M600 Silent Gear

Distributors and builders of life changing electric bikes.
lunacycle.com lunacycle.com
Click to expand...

It should do on the Frey M600 as it uses the same motor, but I have an EX on order which uses the M620, I'm not sure if the gears are the same. I don't think so.
 
Luna only giving a 1 year warranty on that gear. Makes you wonder if they think it will last. I'd be more inclined to go for reliability of metal in that case. I'd hate to be stuck miles from home on a broken bike, even getting a puncture is annoying enough. Think I'd just put up with the noise - or try dampen it down with loads of grease.
 
M620 is metal gears, but they aren't nearly as noisy as the 600 gears.

Unless you are really pounding on the bike motor, I read the plastic gears hold up really well. Given the chance to run them vs. the steel in the 600, I'd do that in a heart beat.

I'd want to know about the interface coming with the 600 I was looking at too. If it's not programmable, I would not be interested.
 
plastic gears are fine with the standard Ultra motor, its only when people start to add more wattage through it they become a problem, because of this Frey just end up sticking metal cogs in nowadays
 
Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but the difference between the G510 Ultra and the M620 Ultra is the gears, no? The 510 are plastic and the 620 are metal?
 
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AHicks said:
Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but the difference between the M510 Ultra and the M620 Ultra is the gears, no? The 510 are plastic and the 620 are metal?
Click to expand...

I thought G510 is the model number of the motor itself, and M620 is the model number of the "Drive System", which includes a G510 motor, C18 Display, Sensor, battery etc... But I don't think it has anything to do with the gears so much. I think that's just up to each vendor.
 
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