I've ridden a few ebikes (& mopeds, & scooters, & standup scooters, & mobility scooters, & haphazardly motorized contraptions), but nothing with any power to speak of; so take my opinions with a giant cubical crystalline grain of salt:
My expectation would be that each ebike brand gets their controllers with a few settings fixed in place permanently, & what can be done with UART/CAN-bus by the end-user/aftermarket-shops will be a subset of features: For instance, some people with Ultra motors sold through different brands have reported differences in what level of max wattage will be accepted in their controller settings, despite the software theoretically being able to change that setting.
Then there's other differences which can foul a comparison: The power settings for each (percentile!) speed range will work best when tuned for each
very specific drivetrain & tire combo. Even if gears & chainline are all equal, the Juggernaut Ultra FS Pro runs
[email protected] or 52V@16Ah, while the EX runs 48V@14Ah or 48V@28Ah; so on top of (hopefully minor) voltage differences under load, & accordant range differences at any given programming, each of those packs also has a different weight. Plus, rider weight & limb dimensions alone result in wildly different ideal tunings for different people. Then too, the torque sensor assembly itself can make a huge difference in performance and feel, & I've gotten the impression that an ebike with a Bafang Ultra may come with a different torque sensor depending on which ebike brand one buys from.
The only reliable comparisons to be had are like-to-like: Same equipment, same rider, two tunings. Try the same two tunings with a different rider or components & the results may flip to a different winner.
In particular, without prior experiments having shown so, we couldn't reasonably take programming that worked great on a Frey AM1000, & expect that tuning to improve a Juggernaut FS, or vice versa. We might get lucky in some cases where one brand set lower limits than another, but the only good bet is for each ebike to come tuned for that ebike as equipped, & then have local shops or owners tweak each controller for its rider's weight, & control preference.
Unfortunately, I'm not yet clear on what's programmable so far on a CAN-bus Bafang Ultra from Frey if that's indeed what they're shipping (someone recently received a UART model?)... nor do I have yet an AM1000, programming cable, & app (hopefully all arriving this fall!), to compare for myself! Frey sold me a programming cable with promise to provide additional data upon arrival (???) so hopefully it's not completely locked out (ostensibly, I can still do much more than just choose between two or three firmware setups). The question of how programmable they are will go a long way toward determining whether I sign off on purchasing other Bafang-based bikes, going forward.
I am filled with anticipation and trying to reign in my expectations. In fact, I plan to avoid modifying the programming at all until we've concluded some fleet evaluations & are well outside of any question of "warranty". With several distinctly different use-cases in mind, we may actually desire several different tunings, on several almost identical Frey bikes!
... Hopefully everyone at Frey enjoys great success and I get to ride my first ebike of my very own, before any big snows come!
