Upgrade of Huffy Oslo folding ebike

[anshaffer]

Hello,

I'm very new to ebikes and just purchased the Huffy Oslo 36V 250W folding ebike, which advertised a max speed of 20 mph. Since its arrival I've realized there are bottlenecks on the power that keep me at a max speed on e-assist of closer to 13-14 mph.

There is plenty of torque when I go uphill/into the wind that still keeps me moving around 13 mph even on some decent hills, but when I'm on a flat road it feels as though I'm putzing around -- still at 14 mph.

I'm wondering if it's the 250 Watt motor limiting that speed, the controller, the battery, or all of the above? It really feels like if it wanted to, the 250W could get me up to 17-18mph due to the torque, but that might be my newness to this type of bike. I'd like to upgrade something myself rather than just sell this bike, as it's actually a rather nice feeling bike for a Huffy.

Thank you to anyone for their insights!

 

[Mike_V]

Again? It's all of the above and how your geared hub motor is manufactured, and how the controller pedal assist programming ' pushes' the little motor as 'hard' as it can with the energy provided, ( better than with a 'throttle' ) and without damage.
Consider enjoying your eBike while the weather permits.
Good Luck

 

[harryS]

Hey I got one too on Huffy's clearance, under $400 shipped with taxes. I only rode it once for a few miles with my little grand kid, and most of the time I rode it w/o power so she could keep up. Seems to be a nice bike, but the single pedal assist is funky. It starts up after a few pedal strokes and slowly builds up to max speed. I suspect it goes about 16 mph with ghost pedaling. Very few folders are geared to go 20 mph. This one isn't. Anyway, only one level of PAS and no throttle is not something I will accept on my ebikes.

I looked at the controller connectors. Seems to be a unused one for a throttle. It's a 13A controller, if I recall. I plugged in one of my 20A KT controllers with the LCD9 display with built-in throttle, and I was pleased to see the motor was plug compatible and will spin up to 20 mph on 36V. I am not worried about putting a 20A controller on the bike. I have a 20A and 25A controllers on similar size motors, and I mainly use pedal assist at 10-12 mph. I'm not flogging them up hills where they get too hot to touch.

But getting back to the stock controller, there also seems to be a connector that might adjust PAS levels, I hadn't planned to show that a throttle works on the stock controller, but I'll give it a try, Maybe see if my 810LED plugs in too. But the plan is to put in my KT controller upgrade. I know that works.

 

[anshaffer]

Hey I got one too on Huffy's clearance, under $400 shipped with taxes. I only rode it once for a few miles with my little grand kid, and most of the time I rode it w/o power so she could keep up. Seems to be a nice bike, but the single pedal assist is funky. It starts up after a few pedal strokes and slowly builds up to max speed. I suspect it goes about 16 mph with ghost pedaling. Very few folders are geared to go 20 mph. This one isn't. Anyway, only one level of PAS and no throttle is not something I will accept on my ebikes.

I looked at the controller connectors. Seems to be a unused one for a throttle. It's a 13A controller, if I recall. I plugged in one of my 20A KT controllers with the LCD9 display with built-in throttle, and I was pleased to see the motor was plug compatible and will spin up to 20 mph on 36V. I am not worried about putting a 20A controller on the bike. I have a 20A and 25A controllers on similar size motors, and I mainly use pedal assist at 10-12 mph. I'm not flogging them up hills where they get too hot to touch.

But getting back to the stock controller, there also seems to be a connector that might adjust PAS levels, I hadn't planned to show that a throttle works on the stock controller, but I'll give it a try, Maybe see if my 810LED plugs in too. But the plan is to put in my KT controller upgrade. I know that works.

I'm excited to hear you had this success with the same bike! I'm looking at some of the components you mention and wondering if I need a specific one or if there's a specific controller you can link me to that you had that plug and play success with? I guess I'll also be curious to know if you can get the 810LED working. Thank you for sharing this and looking forward to your findings!

 

[harryS]

Throttle does work with the stock controller. It's the three pin white connector that has a cap on it.

Black is ground. Red is +5V. Green/white is signal. Couldn't find a bike computer in my junk box, so I don't know the speed,

I didn't find 36V on the unused 4 pin connector, so I ruled it out as compatible with my 4 pin 810LED's. I'm not that familiar with other controllers that have no displays. They often have a handlebar control to select one of three power levels. so this 4 pin connector and the other un-used 3 pin connector must deal with that, Oh well, I'm upgrading to my KT unit. You might find the bike flexible enough with just adding the throttle.

Here's the difference between a 20A KT controller and the 13A Huffy model.


There should be room for it inside the plastic compartment in front of the battery My KT unit is already wired with the 9 pin motor cable. Usually, I need a speed sensor in the motor or on the back wheel for a KT controller to read speed when coasting, but the LCD9 seems to do it w/o a speed sensor. The Huffy wheel doesn't have one.

So it's just a matter of splicing into the battery. and adapting the Huffy brake and PAS sensor connectors to match the KT. The throttle and display are from KT and match the controller already.




.

 

[anshaffer]

Throttle does work with the stock controller. It's the three pin white connector that has a cap on it.
View attachment 131974
Black is ground. Red is +5V. Green/white is signal. Couldn't find a bike computer in my junk box, so I don't know the speed,

I didn't find 36V on the unused 4 pin connector, so I ruled it out as compatible with my 4 pin 810LED's. I'm not that familiar with other controllers that have no displays. They often have a handlebar control to select one of three power levels. so this 4 pin connector and the other un-used 3 pin connector must deal with that, Oh well, I'm upgrading to my KT unit. You might find the bike flexible enough with just adding the throttle.

Here's the difference between a 20A KT controller and the 13A Huffy model.
View attachment 131975

There should be room for it inside the plastic compartment in front of the battery My KT unit is already wired with the 9 pin motor cable. Usually, I need a speed sensor in the motor or on the back wheel for a KT controller to read speed when coasting, but the LCD9 seems to do it w/o a speed sensor. The Huffy wheel doesn't have one.

So it's just a matter of splicing into the battery. and adapting the Huffy brake and PAS sensor connectors to match the KT. The throttle and display are from KT and match the controller already.




.

This is super helpful! You might have just given me my next project to finish off summer.

Without having ever modified or install ebike components, when you say "adapting the brake and PAS sensor connectors to match the KT" would that mean splicing or something else?

 

[harryS]

Done. I had to put in a different PAS sensor. Must have pinched the cable on the Huffy unit. This is the KT LCD9 display. It's my color model and is easy to see. Shows watts, voltage, mileage, speed, distance, but on different screens.

The pedal response is far better, but I can't pedal much over 16 mph. The gearing is too high, as is typical of 20" folders with a 14-28 freewheel. I'm not willing to throw another $30 for a DNP 11-28 freewheel yet. Throttle will take me up to 18 mph. The ride seems more forgiving than my other folder, but the tires don't roll like the Schwalbe tires on that bike.

The seat has weak springs, and my butt has them fully compressed. All told, it's the usual scenario, Bike needs better tires, better seat and gearing changes. However, the rim brakes seem fine.

The battery is a bit small. I will install a y-cable for an aux battery in parallel if I keep the bike.

 

[anshaffer]

Done. I had to put in a different PAS sensor. Must have pinched the cable on the Huffy unit. This is the KT LCD9 display. It's my color model and is easy to see. Shows watts, voltage, mileage, speed, distance, but on different screens.

View attachment 132100

The pedal response is far better, but I can't pedal much over 16 mph. The gearing is too high, as is typical of 20" folders with a 14-28 freewheel. I'm not willing to throw another $30 for a DNP 11-28 freewheel yet. Throttle will take me up to 18 mph. The ride seems more forgiving than my other folder, but the tires don't roll like the Schwalbe tires on that bike.

View attachment 132099

The seat has weak springs, and my butt has them fully compressed. All told, it's the usual scenario, Bike needs better tires, better seat and gearing changes. However, the rim brakes seem fine.

The battery is a bit small. I will install a y-cable for an aux battery in parallel if I keep the bike.

Those are amazing results! Thank you for sharing all of this and inspiring me to try a DIY project on this as well. I ended up purchasing a KT 15a controller, an LCD4 display, and a front/rear light set. I don't have a throttle but figured I'd start here and see how things work. I went with all of those because I didn't want to wait 30-45 days for shipping overseas, so I'll report back once I get this set up.

 

[harryS]

My rear brakes were dragging big time. Loosened up, the Oslo ride sure improved. Better coasting and more pickup. I may buy a disk brake adapter for the rear. Got some used Textro calipers/rotors laying around,

By the way, I figured out why my speedometer works. The motor does have a speed sensor signal in its 9 pin cable. My KT controller's 9 pin cable picked it up automatically.

 

[zennymanny]

Thank you for all the info harryS! I just ordered the Huffy Oslo as kind of a personal tutorial to electric bikes before trying to build a proper one.

For someone without any existing kit, does anyone have recommendations for what controller to upgrade the Oslo with? Should I stick to the proven kt36/48svprd like above?

 

[harryS]

I saw that Huffy is still selling them on ebay for $367, and have sold 188 of them,

KT has a whole family of displays, and I think their current based cadence pedal assist is one of the better feeling arrangements. If you get the more advanced displays, you can dial back the current if it feels too strong. Anyway, the 6FET 20A model fits inside the battery holder.

Anshafer and I had a side discussion about the PAS, You probably need an LCD3 or higher level display to work with it, and the C1 parameter for that display must be set to 03 to work with the Huffy PAS.

For my riding style, the Huffy was geared too low with a 14T small rear gear and a 48T front chain. My other folder has an 11T small rear gear and 50T chain. So I ordered a used 52T chain ($20), and the 11-28T DNP "Drift Maniac" Freewheel ($31).

 

[zennymanny]

Thank you! It looks like I'll have to try to find another controller though. For some reason, I can't find anyone that sells and ships the 6FET 20A to the US for a reasonable price. Found one on eBay for over $100 shipped...and that's a bit too much, lol.

Edit: Actually, think I found one! https://www.ebay.com/itm/254234300008?var=554440652282

 

[harryS]

You'll have to find a way to pick up the speed sensor that's inside the 9 pin motor cable, but not in the Huffy extension cable, Well, it might be. We'd have to peel back the insulation to see if there is an un-used white wire.

I had an extension with the white wire in it. They sell them on ebay for a reasonable price.

And you need a throttle and a KT display. I had all of this as a spares, so I didn't need to buy them last month,. but I still had to buy them earlier.

 

[zennymanny]

Thank you! Hopefully it will make more sense when I receive the bike, lol. I ordered a throttle, but that is it for now. Someone else who bought the bike on sale apparently received it super damaged, so I don't want to order $100-$150 worth of upgrades to find out that I have the same problem, lol.

 

[zennymanny]

Thank you for the throttle recommendation. It's a bit too late for me the cancel, lol. I ordered a dedicated one mainly because it has a dedicated kill switch (this one specifically https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HYPVC7F?ref=ppx_pt2_dt_b_prod_image&th=1 , though in hindsight, I have no idea if I can even install that it, lol).

I was originally looking at the LCD9, but many of the eBay listings paired the controller with a LCD3 or LCD8. I wasn't sure if there was a technological reason for it. I also didn't know if the LCD9 throttle needed a KT controller to function ~ I was hoping to install the throttle ASAP, while the KT controller would take a month or more to get here. I'm still very unfamiliar with all of this, so I'm trying to play it safe.

Woah - I love that green on the Genesis! Beautiful bike and area!

 

[harryS]

Everyone with 20" tires knows this already, but these bikes are under-geared.. Riding by myself was OK, but found I was slower and having to pedal too fast to ride with my wife. I got a used Lasco 52T front gear for $20 and the usual DNP Drift Maniac 11T-28T freewheel for $32.. Sure helps, as I can hit 16 mph unpowered with a lazy cadence. Went for a ride with my wife and had no problems.

Guess it's done. I added an XT60 plug on the battery box so I can parallel a small aux battery. My wife's bike has a 480WH battery while the Oslo is 280WH. Our longest ride this year has been 26 miles. My longest on other bikes is over 30, so I want this bike to be capable of similar.

So it hasn't been such a cheap bike. Started at $394 with tax. Put $150 into it, but it's pretty nice for that.

 

[atonaldenim]

Hey friends, thanks for all the info, I also took the plunge and bought the *gasp* Huffy eBay deal. Here's some first impressions and additional specs for anyone else interested! Looks like the Huffy eBay listing is gone today, perhaps they finally sold through their inventory?

• Battery is labeled as CPET brand 36V, 7.8Ah, 280.8Wh and weighs about 4.4 lbs. Bike is noticeably lighter without it.
• Charger was labeled 42V 2.0A (84W) center positive. It’s not too bulky and weighs about 15oz.
• Hub motor is labeled CZJB 90T 36V 250W 20"210702391N.
• Brake levers do have a motor cutoff, the motor can sometimes come back on after releasing the brake.
• Derailleur is Shimano RD-TZ31A, gotta be probably the cheapest model Shimano makes.
• Shifter is not Shimano, but Microshift DS85-7, apparently a decent quality cheaper brand
• Tires are Kenda Kontact, 20x1.75, 40-65 PSI recommended, a decent brand.
• Freewheel is labeled PW-28T, can't see a brand without removing wheel. Don't think it's Shimano.
• Rear rack is matte black, not matching blue as pictured. Looks decent.
• Saddle is supremely uncomfortable and the cheap seat clamp is wobbly, think this might need replacing.
• Seatpost is 33.9mm x 500mm.
• Crankset is two-piece, can't replace chainring alone.
• Kickstand works fine.

Observations:

The overall experience feels like riding a bike that’s very easy to pedal, not like a moped or scooter that doesn’t take any effort at all. The motor sound is modest, not too loud, I don’t find it bothersome. Highest gear is not nearly fast enough for my taste, I definitely want to upgrade freewheel to 11T like harryS. Lowest gear (28T) seems fine for climbing most steep hills in San Francisco where I live. I just was able to pedal it up a hill so steep that the weight in the rear kept threatening to pop a wheelie!

At first the idea of adding a little throttle was appealing, but now I don't know if I'll mess around with the electronics. It rides fine as-is, it's not the refined well-mannered experience you'd get from a $2000+ torque sensor e-bike, but it's fun nonetheless. Assuming that the $364 eBay deal was around Huffy's wholesale price, to be able to sell an e-bike that cheap, all the components would have to be pretty much the cheapest ones available. That's the reputation of the Huffy brand anyway. No sense in burning up a cheap motor even sooner by driving it beyond the manufacturer's already low spec, I think. I know very little about e-bike hardware, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!

The folding mechanism seems decent for the price, I've never owned a folding bike before. The top segment of the steering column seems kind of wiggly, I just have it set as low as possible. Overall impression of the frame's aesthetics are positive, if you're not a welding snob.

I actually tried riding it out of the box without any adjustments, it sort of worked okay although the derailleur definitely needs adjustment. A lot of parts could benefit from adding grease, tightening down, and better tuning. Definitely spend some time setting it up, or take it to a professional if you don't know how. The only shipping damage I've noticed are some stress cracks at the back of the rear rack's top deck, bummer but it'll still work ok if that part were to break off.

As a first folding bike and first e-bike, I'm happy with the purchase as an experiment if nothing else. Part of me kind of likes the Huffy logo as a theft deterrent and normcore flex . I'm sure I'll be able to get my money back out of it in this hilly city with e-vehicles everywhere now. I'd definitely be happy to hear about any other mods y'all come up with!

 

[zennymanny]

Got mine! ... but a piece of the rear rack snapped off and rear fender is horribly bent, lol. Seems like I lost the gamble, lol. Will test the bike later to see how it rides in general and decide what to do next.

 

[atonaldenim]

Got mine! ... but a piece of the rear rack snapped off and rear fender is horribly bent, lol. Seems like I lost the gamble, lol. Will test the bike later to see how it rides in general and decide what to do next.

sorry to hear that! my rear fender was a bit bent too (in toward the tire). sounds like yours got it worse. hope they take care of you!

 

[harryS]

The mounting screw on the left side of my battery rack had worked loose in the box. and stripped the threads in the frame. Top of the fender had some dents from the rack bouncing on it.
.
Those screws were too small anyway. I rethreaded them for the next size up, 6mm, I believe.


For $364, I wasn't going to send it back. as buyer pays for shipping.

I see they have sold 5 more today and only have one left again. I have a relative who will take mine, and idly thought about another one. as it's a good deal, but my N+1 is pretty big, even though I reduced it by 3 this week.,