prepared —installing a 48 V / 750 W Bafang mid drive

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Stillpedaling

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USA
Reading here & just beginning with ebikes I came across a thread where the OP recommended buying a spare set of parts including everything except the battery. Rationale: questionable availability at times & in the future. That and history of failures of controllers & other miscellaneous parts.
Assuming a reliable, consistent supply line with China flys in the face of a number of hard facts. World’s largest navy for just one and thinly veiled and denied malign intentions for another. There’s a thousand other non- country of origin reasons it conceivably could be difficult to impossible to find working parts.
A person could buy an entire new kit for the price of an Apple 6 watch right now
?? Is it true Bafang parts are questionably reliable or there’s enough instances of failure to make acquiring spares not a wild scarcity conscious notion
 
Stillpedaling said:
Reading here & just beginning with ebikes I came across a thread where the OP recommended buying a spare set of parts including everything except the battery. Rationale: questionable availability at times & in the future. That and history of failures of controllers & other miscellaneous parts.
Assuming a reliable, consistent supply line with China flys in the face of a number of hard facts. World’s largest navy for just one and thinly veiled and denied malign intentions for another. There’s a thousand other non- country of origin reasons it conceivably could be difficult to impossible to find working parts.
A person could buy an entire new kit for the price of an Apple 6 watch right now
?? Is it true Bafang parts are questionably reliable or there’s enough instances of failure to make acquiring spares not a wild scarcity conscious notion
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That's really a question only you can answer. How much risk you can stand and how likely you think issues could happen.
If totally fearful of supply cutoff, get a second or third complete set of China ebike components.
 
Stillpedaling said:
Reading here & just beginning with ebikes I came across a thread where the OP recommended buying a spare set of parts including everything except the battery. Rationale: questionable availability at times & in the future. That and history of failures of controllers & other miscellaneous parts.
Assuming a reliable, consistent supply line with China flys in the face of a number of hard facts. World’s largest navy for just one and thinly veiled and denied malign intentions for another. There’s a thousand other non- country of origin reasons it conceivably could be difficult to impossible to find working parts.
A person could buy an entire new kit for the price of an Apple 6 watch right now
?? Is it true Bafang parts are questionably reliable or there’s enough instances of failure to make acquiring spares not a wild scarcity conscious notion
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
The units have gained in reliability in the recent year or two so it will depend upon how hard you intend to ride it and how long you'd be willing to wait for a replacement part.
Me personally I have not purchased another complete setup.
 
Or you could convert two bikes for different riding styles with identical eBike parts. That way if a part goes bad you will have a spare to swap to the preferred bike and can order that part on eBay. Right now I am down to four bikes with identical eBike parts, Gravel, Town, Cargo, Ladies. The ladies is with a friend. Just sealing the connections with adhesive shrink tube will save a lot of trouble. You do not need the brake levers but will want the gear sensor.
 
PedalUma said:
Or you could convert two bikes for different riding styles with identical eBike parts. That way if a part goes bad you will have a spare to swap to the preferred bike and can order that part on eBay. Right now I am down to four bikes with identical eBike parts, Gravel, Town, Cargo, Ladies. The ladies is with a friend. Just sealing the connections with adhesive shrink tube will save a lot of trouble. You do not need the brake levers but will want the gear sensor.
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Not that I would ever argue with an Uma 🙃 ... But why do you like the gear sensor? I've been thinking about trying it but honestly my shifts are smooth now.
And the brakes are a very nice safety item to have, especially if you bump the pedals or throttle by accident when off the bike.
And though adhesive heat shrink is a nice touch if you are riding in bad weather.. It can be a real pain in the ars' if you ever want to unplug anything. Since I don't ride in the rain and the connectors are already waterproof by design, I opted for a little dielectric grease on the outer connector plastic. Much easier to swap out a throttle or display connection to do some programming.
 
Reflecting on my question I think the fundamental issue is reliability. Can’t afford Bosch, but if for a relatively minor extra cost I could swap out say a controller whilst waiting on an ordered one then .. . .
Really pretty embarrassing worry in a bigger context—talk about a “first world” issue
 
Stillpedaling said:
Reflecting on my question I think the fundamental issue is reliability. Can’t afford Bosch, but if for a relatively minor extra cost I could swap out say a controller whilst waiting on an ordered one then .. . .
Really pretty embarrassing worry in a bigger context—talk about a “first world” issue
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The controllers were more of an issue a few years ago before they were redesigned with higher quality MOSFETs.
If you are stressing out about it... Just buy the spare setup as you can easily sell it down the road if you don't use it.
The controller, display and speed sensor are probably the only mission critical parts that could possibly fail and leave you waiting a few days. Those are readily available now by sellers here in the US.
 
I have been able to forego a car for over three-years because of electric bikes. So yes, it is first world but better for everyone than a Harley or a Classic car that makes bad smells.
Just a dot of silicone grease at the final bit of the connection helps too. I do not use throttles and do not need the levers. Down shifting when climbing with this much torque will grind without the gear sensor on the Bafang because it does not have a torque sensor. i like clean builds with no visible wires.
 

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Good morning everyone
Thanks again. I appreciate the information. It’s fun learning about a whole new thing, albeit my eagerness to get going often has me changing tracks along the way, but that too can be fun.
I’ll update along the way. Still waiting for a couple extensions, may be here today. Then I’ll clean up the build and go test ride. I too am not interested in a throttle so that’ll probably go right away. Then there’ll be a lot more learning and adjusting
 
Stillpedaling said:
Good morning everyone
Thanks again. I appreciate the information. It’s fun learning about a whole new thing, albeit my eagerness to get going often has me changing tracks along the way, but that too can be fun.
I’ll update along the way. Still waiting for a couple extensions, may be here today. Then I’ll clean up the build and go test ride. I too am not interested in a throttle so that’ll probably go right away. Then there’ll be a lot more learning and adjusting
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A throttle is nice to have in instances where you need fast acceleration as in crossing a busy street. They are super cheap and easy to install (thumb type).
I hardly use mine except when crossing streets or the occasional "wake me up" thrill.
 
JES2020 said:
A throttle is nice to have in instances where you need fast acceleration as in crossing a busy street. They are super cheap and easy to install (thumb type).
I hardly use mine except when crossing streets or the occasional "wake me up" thrill.
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Same for me and sometimes to get rolling especially on an incline when my knees are acting up
 
Stillpedaling said:
Perhaps it is inaccurate to characterize “learning new things and sharing ideas” as wasting time.
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I think you may have taken my post a bit more serious than intended.
Glad to hear about your progress... was just joking and joining in your enthusiasm to get it built... woohoo 🙃
 
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