Smallest/lightest mid drive conversion motors?

[hankj]

Thinking about adding a small bit of boost to my wife's bike to equalize our riding on long rides and when we are touring. Was thinking a wheel but now considering adding a mid motor.

To the best of your knowledge, which conversion motors are the smallest and lightest?

I've seen a few smaller units online that seem to be going for a lot of power (lots of cooling fins). We don't need a lot of power, or a throttle etc. Our target is a little pedal boost that uses battery efficiently, is mechanically reliable, not too big and not too heavy.

Given these standards, which conversion motors should we be considering? Maybe different from smallest and lightest, which is okay ....

Thanks very much!

 

[Deacon Blues]

Is your wife's bike carbon, or aluminum/steel?

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Thinking about adding a small bit of boost to my wife's bike to equalize our riding on long rides and when we are touring. Was thinking a wheel but now considering adding a mid motor.

To the best of your knowledge, which conversion motors are the smallest and lightest?

I've seen a few smaller units online that seem to be going for a lot of power (lots of cooling fins). We don't need a lot of power, or a throttle etc. Our target is a little pedal boost that uses battery efficiently, is mechanically reliable, not too big and not too heavy.

Given these standards, which conversion motors should we be considering? Maybe different from smallest and lightest, which is okay ....

Thanks very much!

This might be worth a look for an easy motor attachment. Seems to get good reviews:

Electrify Your Bike

Bimotal produces world-class electric powertrains to power bicycles, bikes, ebikes and other forms of multimodal transportation.

bimotal.com

 

[harryS]

For midmotors, I have a Bafang BBS02B install and two Tongsheng TSDZ2 installs I think the Bafang 36V BBS01B 250 watt kit would fit your wife's needs. It probably adds 7 pounds to the bottom of the bike and is bulletproof. The BBS02B is a little heavier, runs on 48V and with 500-750 watts is super quick. I have a 750 watt BBS02B I installed in 2016. Reliable,


The tradeoff on the Bafangs are that they are cadence sensor, This is easy to get used to, if the factory settings match your riding, Some people like to change these settings and iy's easy to do with a PC and a program cable,

The Tongsheng TSDZ2's are lower power motors with torque sensing assist, I believe they're about the same power as the BBS01B. As I stated, I have two that my wife and I like to ride.


They are less weight, lower cost. less power and in my opinion require more tinkering, I installed 3rd party firmware on ours to improve the torque delivery. I just had to open both at 2000 miles to regrease the bearings, something I've never done on other ebikes. I can probably get away with it on other bikes, but not on these. They are a joy to ride though,

AT the same time, DIY conversions are not usually economically justified. I know there are some lower cost mid motors like the Aventon Level. I just like DYI ebiking and at this point, I already have the batteries in hand, so it's just the incremental cost of a motor for me.

 

[hankj]

Is your wife's bike carbon, or aluminum/steel?

Steel, bsa BB

 

[hankj]

I looked at the Bimotal, thanks for the suggestion. There are a few issues:

I would need to convert to four piston rear brake, and my wife is riding a road setup. It's possible, afaik requires a whole new shifting system to get a road brake lever/shifter that will work with a four-piston brake.

And that's if the system fits at all - The salsa Fargo has a proprietary plate dropout system. It makes the bike highly flexible to axle standards and single speed, but it's both ISO and one rear brake bolt also attaches the plate to the frame. It's probable that Bimotal won't fit.

It doesn't have pedelec, just a trigger. We want the exact opposite, no trigger only pedal.

But it's pretty awesome, and I'm glad to see it come on to the market. It's cool that people are thinking about alternative ways to create retrofit systems.

 

[hankj]

For midmotors, I have a Bafang BBS02B install and two Tongsheng TSDZ2 installs I think the Bafang 36V BBS01B 250 watt kit would fit your wife's needs. It probably adds 7 pounds to the bottom of the bike and is bulletproof. The BBS02B is a little heavier, runs on 48V and with 500-750 watts is super quick. I have a 750 watt BBS02B I installed in 2016. Reliable,
View attachment 185958

The tradeoff on the Bafangs are that they are cadence sensor, This is easy to get used to, if the factory settings match your riding, Some people like to change these settings and iy's easy to do with a PC and a program cable,

The Tongsheng TSDZ2's are lower power motors with torque sensing assist, I believe they're about the same power as the BBS01B. As I stated, I have two that my wife and I like to ride.

View attachment 185963 View attachment 185964
They are less weight, lower cost. less power and in my opinion require more tinkering, I installed 3rd party firmware on ours to improve the torque delivery. I just had to open both at 2000 miles to regrease the bearings, something I've never done on other ebikes. I can probably get away with it on other bikes, but not on these. They are a joy to ride though,

AT the same time, DIY conversions are not usually economically justified. I know there are some lower cost mid motors like the Aventon Level. I just like DYI ebiking and at this point, I already have the batteries in hand, so it's just the incremental cost of a motor for me.

Very helpful info thank you. I do fully appreciate that diy conversions are generally not that cost effective! It's just that my wife's bike is a really good bike for longer treks. I ride a lot of different bikes, but if I needed one bike for the rest of my life, there's no question. It would be a Salsa Fargo. There are very few bikes on the market that accommodate an upright and relaxed geometry but also efficient pedaling position and premium frame feel that is both highly forgiving and zingy/sporty.

So anyway, DIY route is what I'm looking at right now, and I really appreciate your feedback and input, quite helpful. Thanks

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Very helpful info thank you. I do fully appreciate that diy conversions are generally not that cost effective! It's just that my wife's bike is a really good bike for longer treks. I ride a lot of different bikes, but if I needed one bike for the rest of my life, there's no question. It would be a Salsa Fargo. There are very few bikes on the market that accommodate an upright and relaxed geometry but also efficient pedaling position and premium frame feel that is both highly forgiving and zingy/sporty.

So anyway, DIY route is what I'm looking at right now, and I really appreciate your feedback and input, quite helpful. Thanks

An alternative idea, but one with a $$$$ price tag is the new(ish) Salsa Tributary e bike - similar upright geo to the Fargo and with a large battery & Bosch mid drive motor. Looks a comfortable beast, But $5K+

 

[EMGX]

You might be better off just looking for a proprietary ebike and let her keep her Salsa as is for when she feels like riding a lighter bike. Yamaha Wabash might be worth a look if you have a local Yamaha dealer with one in stock. There are compromises with DIY mid drives which your wife might not like. Poor chainline when on the cassette's large cogs is a major one as well as aftermarket batteries that are rarely UL certified. The older TSDZ2 has options for chainrings including 34t as well as 42t with deeper dish to improve the chainline somewhat but those aren't compatible with the newer TSDZ2"B" version. I have two of them, a 48v 750W version and a 36v 500W version, both offer good and very natural assist. They add ~7 pounds to the weight of your bike after removal of the stock crankset/cartridge, plus battery. The company that sold them to me is no longer in business, they claimed that they programmed the controllers themselves which may explain why mine perform so well for me while others complain of low assist or otherwise feel the need to try to program themselves with variable results. They are extremely easy to install on compatible bikes, just remove the stock crankset/cartridge and install the motor and only three cables (for battery, display, speed sensor on chainstay). Besides good assist they are very efficient, I've ridden over 130 very hilly miles on a single 48v 15ah battery and still had plenty of battery charge left.