New EBR Review - e-Rad/Bafang (Lectric Cycles)

Thanks @J.R. I was definitely impressed with the kit, when I first heard about "Lectric Cycles" I didn't know about their e-RAD line of kits and converted bikes, I thought it was just an adapter part for the Bafang BBS01/02 but they really took it to a new level. Here's a sneak peak at a video I'll be launching this weekend about their shop. We took a tour and they showed me some of the actual manufacturing processes to get the longer drive shafts and shims.

 
@Court

I'm up to minute 13 in the video and not to say I haven't enjoyed your other videos, this is the best I've seen on EBR! There's so much junk about the Bafang on the web, but not this. Enjoying the engineering bits and that BB extender so many complain is too expensive for what it is, now it's clear it's really a precision made bargain.

Looking forward to watching the entire video.... well really documentary, on my TV later tonight. Best commercial e-RAD could get!
 
My name is Chris Head and I am the smiling face in the video. If you have any questions about our products or anything I can do to help in any way feel free to reach out to me. My email is [email protected] and my office phone # is 480 382 0665. I am working away at the Bat Cave 8am to 6pm Az time Monday through Friday. If I don't answer I am busy with another customer or try to change to world of e-Bikes but I will call you back ASAP. So glad you enjoyed the video as much as Court and I enjoyed making it. I know it is long but it looks like the folks that have seen it find it informative
 
@Court, really outstanding video - watched it straight through and the time flew by. I'm a new member who just yesterday ordered a Lectric kit for a city bike project through Bicycle Belle in Somerville MA. Hearing Chris's dedication to taking care of his customers and his dealers really reassures me that I made the right decision. Loving the site, and can't wait for my first e-bike!
 
My name is Chris Head and I am the smiling face in the video. If you have any questions about our products or anything I can do to help in any way feel free to reach out to me. My email is [email protected] and my office phone # is 480 382 0665. I am working away at the Bat Cave 8am to 6pm Az time Monday through Friday. If I don't answer I am busy with another customer or try to change to world of e-Bikes but I will call you back ASAP. So glad you enjoyed the video as much as Court and I enjoyed making it. I know it is long but it looks like the folks that have seen it find it informative
Chris it is a great video, you know your stuff! I wasn't going to finish watching until tonight, but did. It was that informative. I know more about Bafang now in just 40 minutes than I've been able to learn on my own. Thanks!
 
@Court, really outstanding video - watched it straight through and the time flew by. I'm a new member who just yesterday ordered a Lectric kit for a city bike project through Bicycle Belle in Somerville MA. Hearing Chris's dedication to taking care of his customers and his dealers really reassures me that I made the right decision. Loving the site, and can't wait for my first e-bike!
Had an email exchange with Carice today as she ordered your kit. We have some very cool new products coming in a few weeks that are seen in the video that are going to make your build special. I know that it will. We will always be here as will Bicycle Belle to support your purchase
 
Had an email exchange with Carice today as she ordered your kit. We have some very cool new products coming in a few weeks that are seen in the video that are going to make your build special. I know that it will. We will always be here as will Bicycle Belle to support your purchase

Awesome, thanks Chris. I'm happy to wait a bit if your supply chain doesn't live up to its promises ;)
 
Dream matchup: a Rivendell custom fitted with a 500w 48v mid drive.

I don't have a Rivendell, but I think they're gorgeous!
 
It's a great video. Couple of times I wish Court would have let Chris talk, but Court is always kind of frisky.

Gotta say, with the quality 'kit' motors like the BBS02 and the MACs, the wattage is getting meaningless. I can draw 900 watts with a '350 watt' motor. Chris said the 350 watt is set for 18 amps. That's close to 700 watts. The 48v 750 watt version is 25 amps, which is around 1200 watts. That really works out to the high 30s (mph), if you just take watts on a bike and compute the speed. I guess they set them up for 20 mph. Hmm. I mean, California is going to force manufacturers to certify wattage, and the max is 750. That bill is not passed yet, but close. There is off road, of course.

I'm impressed with the new battery. Tesla says the way to make batteries 'safe' is to use spacers. That's really what that grid seems to do. At the same time, I doubt the vendors on Aliexpress are too far behind on this stuff. Once they know what Americans want, or the standards, they will do it. I had an email discussion with Chris months ago, wondering if a premium pack really is worth it. Right now, the cells seem to be getting cheap, so it's easy to go with name cells, anyway. But the spacer system is a real plus, I think.

I like what LeGrand and Chris, etc, are doing. I was looking at their version of the Townie, which was on sale over the Fourth. I think the way they are doing things might be the happy middle. We are stuck with a hard limit of 20mph in Utah, or you are a motorcycle. I'm not sure how that works out, with the power levels were are seeing everywhere.

For me, I still can't find a final justification to make me want a mid-drive. The Bafang still has elements that suggest a work in progress, especially when they push so much power through it, in the US. The Mac is powerful, and it's barely necessary to shift it. It will get up major grades, at least 12-13%.

Paul, in Hong Kong, offers Bafang and Mac. Not a bad combo for a kit company. A list of frames. A choice of batteries. A couple of motors. What else could an ebike buyer or builder want?
 
Thanks for your feed back George. Your comments are always appreciated. As far a wattage goes the number one request/question from my customers concerns range. How far can I go on a charge? Well a 750watt kit with a 48v 11.6ah battery has 4% more energy available then a 500watt with a 36v 14ah battery. When speed is limited to 20mph or we customize the controller to pull lower amps on a 48v system the range is huge (I have customers going 60miles in pedal assist 1 or 2)

Alibaba/Em3EV and other suppliers are far behind us for this reason. Bafang produces our kit for us. Our gear sensor cabling, our software, our firmware are made for us and are not sold to anyone else nor will they in the future. Our batteries are produced for us to our specializations (our bms choice, our cell choice, our choice of construction our choice of case) when other suppliers are buying in the quantities that we buy in and are willing to pay the price that we pay for higher quality components then they can have their own brand too but they will still not get the gear sensor capabilities etc because we are the sole distributor in North America for the gear sensor itself.

As for the power of Hub Motor vs. Mid Drive. The Hub has no reduction gear. Hub motors typically last 2k to 3k miles in areas with very small hills or no hills at all and with gentle riding. We have customers with more than 10k miles on Mid Drives. One customer will break 16k on a loop of the U.S this summer alone. No hub motor would last. A 350 watt mid drive is equal to 1000watt hub motor because of the reduction gear

As far as ordering from Em3EV (Paul) here is our advantages. First we have 50+ dealers in the U.S and at the current pace we will have 100 dealers by January 1st to offer warranty, service and support. Our warranty is 100% U.S based and will be handled in days if not on the spot by our dealers (not weeks or months or at all like China). We help customers every week that order product from Alibaba with no warranty (even if it alibaba said it was warrantied) that arrives broken (we call it Dead on Arrival). All kits from China are 100% stock/standard from Bafang. Many of those kits are V1 or V2 of BBS02 with known controller and bearing issues that Bafang would not sell to their regular customers so they sell them "out the back door" to the Asian market and they find their way on to Alibaba.

If price is the one and only concern for a customer then there are cheaper choices then us. If you want the most refined BBS02 in the world, The largest support network in America and a person (me) you can call anytime to answer questions or just to chat about your next dream bike then we are the only way to go.
 
Thanks for your feed back George. Your comments are always appreciated. As far a wattage goes the number one request/question from my customers concerns range. How far can I go on a charge? Well a 750watt kit with a 48v 11.6ah battery has 4% more energy available then a 500watt with a 36v 14ah battery. When speed is limited to 20mph or we customize the controller to pull lower amps on a 48v system the range is huge (I have customers going 60miles in pedal assist 1 or 2)

Alibaba/Em3EV and other suppliers are far behind us for this reason. Bafang produces our kit for us. Our gear sensor cabling, our software, our firmware are made for us and are not sold to anyone else nor will they in the future. Our batteries are produced for us to our specializations (our bms choice, our cell choice, our choice of construction our choice of case) when other suppliers are buying in the quantities that we buy in and are willing to pay the price that we pay for higher quality components then they can have their own brand too but they will still not get the gear sensor capabilities etc because we are the sole distributor in North America for the gear sensor itself.

As for the power of Hub Motor vs. Mid Drive. The Hub has no reduction gear. Hub motors typically last 2k to 3k miles in areas with very small hills or no hills at all and with gentle riding. We have customers with more than 10k miles on Mid Drives. One customer will break 16k on a loop of the U.S this summer alone. No hub motor would last. A 350 watt mid drive is equal to 1000watt hub motor because of the reduction gear

As far as ordering from Em3EV (Paul) here is our advantages. First we have 50+ dealers in the U.S and at the current pace we will have 100 dealers by January 1st to offer warranty, service and support. Our warranty is 100% U.S based and will be handled in days if not on the spot by our dealers (not weeks or months or at all like China). We help customers every week that order product from Alibaba with no warranty (even if it alibaba said it was warrantied) that arrives broken (we call it Dead on Arrival). All kits from China are 100% stock/standard from Bafang. Many of those kits are V1 or V2 of BBS02 with known controller and bearing issues that Bafang would not sell to their regular customers so they sell them "out the back door" to the Asian market and they find their way on to Alibaba.

If price is the one and only concern for a customer then there are cheaper choices then us. If you want the most refined BBS02 in the world, The largest support network in America and a person (me) you can call anytime to answer questions or just to chat about your next dream bike then we are the only way to go.

Chris,
Your video tour was excellent. Throughly enjoyed it. I met Grant at Interbike last year and rode the Giant Anthem. I was actually doing wheelies :D
I have been dreaming about a build. 48V, 750W BBS-02 on Surly Ogre or Karate monkey with Tektro Dorado brakes, shift sensor and if only I can fit 1250 Whr triangle battery from em3ev, it would rival any of the long range bikes on the market right now. Do you have plans to offer large capacity battery like the em3ev? and what is the charging current on your current chargers?

Thanks
 
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We can have custom packs made with Panasonic 18650 cells by special request but it can have a long lead time. Truthfully it is one of those things we tend let Paul EM3EV do as it is one of the things he does best. We do have a 48volt 13Ah downtube mount coming in the fall in the slim case from the video. We can also connect two batteries with an A/B switch to give you the ability to run 1 battery for short trips or two for longer trips. Our chargers are 2amp. Be careful charging faster with programmable chargers like grin tech. It can really shorten the life of your battery.
 
Great Vid! Keep it up!
@Chris Head Is there an adaptor for the Gates Carbon Belt drive? Also, how does a mid drive work with a 3 speed IGH bike? My bicycle is a Priority Bicycle.

We currently do not have a solution for a gates belt drive but we have something in development.
The 3sp IGH hubs work great with our system. We have a 3sp electra Moto with a 750watt motor. The IGH gear sensor makes it feel like an automatic transmission on a car
 
Just a heads up - Paul aka cellman on ES seems to have take exception to some of the statements made in the video and has posted on ES.
 
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