No Bafang used by mainstream bike manufactures.

[Addmotor]

Hi Timpo, We can't agree with your perception.Every new brand bike begins to mature.Bafang choose lower competitive price with high quality to open the market attracts more consumers, the price is affordable and easy acceptable for most riders. Bafang does the research seriously and keeps continuous innovation.They are worth repecting by us.

 

[tomjasz]

Hi Timpo, We can't agree with your perception.Every new brand bike begins to mature.Bafang choose lower competitive price with high quality to open the market attracts more consumers, the price is affordable and easy acceptable for most riders. Bafang does the research seriously and keeps continuous innovation.They are worth repecting by us.

Until you are a reseller and can’t get a parts stream. Bafang continues to provide the worsted seller support! It kills sales!

 

[Dewey]

Bianchi now sell a Bafang M400 powered city/touring model in Europe called the e-spillo, and rebranded the motor as "e-going" for some reason.
Also Polish brand Kross sell a step-through bike marketed to women with the same Bafang M400 motor the LeGrand Elille 3.0.
Also a German brand Cortina sells an “e-octa” model again using the same motor.
I expect the opening of a Bafang M-series factory in Poland means we'll see more European OEM ebikes using those motors.

 

[Asher]

@Timpo sorry to see so many people mistake your curiosity for hating, though it elicited a lot of informative responses like Mike's.

My general impression of big bike brands is that e-bikes are a low effort Cash cow for them, so they want something they can trust, and quickly integrate, turn around and sell. If it costs more, that's the customers problem, and ebike sales are growing fast enough that maybe they don't notice how small their slice is relatively. I don't get the feeling they're peeling much of their R&D teams off mtb/road race bikes. Plus gravel bikes are a big growth area and are more or less a mutant of existing bike forms/parts, so easier for them to do.

It does seem like Bafang is the present and future of the American e-bike market, for the value and power it offers.

 

[tomjasz]

EBike motors are a small part of Bafang. As I was told. But haven’t confirmed.

 

[Ken M]

Clearly Bafang's top mid-drive and hub motors are not intended for the slow low power EU market. I believe they are going to win and eventually dominate market share in the US as more riders understand the benefits of a bit more speed and power have for ebike applications like cargo and commuting ebikes.

 

[tomjasz]

Best kits ever! We sell an amazing number. I’m a fan of converting my favorite bike to a powerful mid drive. But I support kit buyers. All my bikes are kit builet

 

[Ebiker33]

I made a thread with all the top Bafang type bikes, some of the very best Ebikes have the Bafang ultra. My research indicates that the Ultra with a Gates belt and a Rohloff is one of the best systems out there currently, made better with competent tuning of the Ultra for the bike it is on.

 

[cuwatra]

I made a thread with all the top Bafang type bikes, some of the very best Ebikes have the Bafang ultra. My research indicates that the Ultra with a Gates belt and a Rohloff is one of the best systems out there currently, made better with competent tuning of the Ultra for the bike it is on.

Link please!

 

[fooferdoggie]

I made a thread with all the top Bafang type bikes, some of the very best Ebikes have the Bafang ultra. My research indicates that the Ultra with a Gates belt and a Rohloff is one of the best systems out there currently, made better with competent tuning of the Ultra for the bike it is on.

and often exceend wha the rohloff can handle in torque.

 

[tomjasz]

Link please!

SEE LINK BELOW.

Search results...

 

[Ebiker33]

TOP 10 ULTRA

 

[Alex M]

It does seem like Bafang is the present and future of the American e-bike market, for the value and power it offers.

I wonder how big is the market share of all mid drives vs hubs, in the US market. The sales of low-cost consumer-direct brands are growing, they are mostly hubs, and given the price point, it looks like there is value in there. In terms of power, many are fine with 500W "continuous". Offroad riders probably represent less than a half of consumer base.

Bafang presence is massive in the hub sector too, but this is nothing new, massive production at low cost is how China secures its future - at the expense of others, but hey, who cares...

 

[Driverwanted]

I was in my local canadian tire yesterday and saw a Raleigh eBike with some type of Integrated Bafang motor (Had a Bafang Bottom Bracket looked like an ultra , obviously wasn't) i was pleasantly surprised to see it.

this well known bike company was bought by canadian tire a while back i think....

@Alex M - we build consumerism on the backs of a communist countries working class , that country now poses significant global threat , and growing military...... how could we ever have predicted that (lol)... also , the Made In America plan will never work ... people who make an average living can't afford to pay the difference and its gotten to the point they rely on the dollar tree and walmarts to allow them to scrape by. a reckoning is coming.

 

[Bubba zanetti]

I was in my local canadian tire yesterday and saw a Raleigh eBike with some type of Integrated Bafang motor (Had a Bafang Bottom Bracket looked like an ultra , obviously wasn't) i was pleasantly surprised to see it.

this well known bike company was bought by canadian tire a while back i think....

@Alex M - we build consumerism on the backs of a communist countries working class , that country now poses significant global threat , and growing military...... how could we ever have predicted that (lol)... also , the Made In America plan will never work ... people who make an average living can't afford to pay the difference and its gotten to the point they rely on the dollar tree and walmarts to allow them to scrape by. a reckoning is coming.

Raleigh Getaway Electric Bike $2799
Features a Bafang M200 mid-drive motor, 36V 14Ah lithium-ion battery with genuine Samsung cells and LCD display for excellent performance and range.

 

[fuyume]

At this point, I think it's safe to say that RadPower is a mainstream manufacturer, and they use Bafang motors across most (or possibly all) of their lines.

 

[harryS]

Well, we've got some bafang motors on our bikes, but our highest mileage is on some no name 250W hubs, over 4000 mile on each. It's not like there's a lot of new technology in a hubmotor. They can make them for under $50 USD. Now your mid motors are more complicated, but that's mostly the gear train, and more bearings,

 

[Ken M]

Well, we've got some bafang motors on our bikes, but our highest mileage is on some no name 250W hubs, over 4000 mile on each. It's not like there's a lot of new technology in a hubmotor. They can make them for under $50 USD. Now your mid motors are more complicated, but that's mostly the gear train, and more bearings,

Is 4000 miles on a gear hub motor considered acceptable product life cycle? What is it about the ebike industry that can't seem to get past the mindset that bike are only for recreation / leisure riding and should not be more "transportation-grade?" If the ebike industry is really ever going to be considered a viable replacement for a car or at least capable of getting people out of cars for some transportation needs they need to engineer ebikes to have much higher duty cycles and life cycles. I should be able to buy an ebike that can last 20,000 miles without having to replace the motor and drive system components many times. Oh, I'm sure their are industry bean counters thinking I just don't understand business and it's about re-occurring income from planned obsolescence that matters. Well maybe not everyone like getting screwed like that by this mindset.

 

[retiredNH]

Is 4000 miles on a gear hub motor considered acceptable product life cycle? What is it about the ebike industry that can't seem to get past the mindset that bike are only for recreation / leisure riding and should not be more "transportation-grade?" If the ebike industry is really ever going to be considered a viable replacement for a car or at least capable of getting people out of cars for some transportation needs they need to engineer ebikes to have much higher duty cycles and life cycles. I should be able to buy an ebike that can last 20,000 miles without having to replace the motor and drive system components many times. Oh, I'm sure their are industry bean counters thinking I just don't understand business and it's about re-occurring income from planned obsolescence that matters. Well maybe not everyone like getting screwed like that by this mindset.

Product longevity is a trade-off, especially powered equipment. You want longer service life? It will cost much more, try and be heavier too. Just look at the cost of pro grade power tools vs consumer grade, and their weight (unless you pay a huge premium for light weight...)
Give the industry time, though, and these things will sort out.
Remember too that it wasn't that long ago that cars needed much more regular maintenance than they do now. Oil every 3K. Plugs and points every 12K. Tires might last 20K. Engines were shot at 100K unless they got a ring job, valve job and maybe bearings. Remember those?
Finally, remember that we're dealing with a lot of prospective buyers who think they can get a great, long lasting bike for 2K $. Oh, it should have a 100 mile range, be under 40 lbs and capable of 30 or more MPH too.

 

[Ken M]

and often exceend wha the rohloff can handle in torque.

If you really examine how the belt drive to a Rohloff is geared which is usually about a 50% torque reduction (both to deal with the under-drive nature of Rohloff's planetary gearing and to save it from the full torque of the Bafang Ultra) you'll understand that you never really experience the true performance of the Bafang Ultra on these models. If they installed unity gearing on the belt drive the motor would likely tear up the Rohloff and/or just make the ebike too slow for most riders liking (be a great climber though if the torque didn't damage the IGH).