After getting into ebiking with my Urban Mover UX33X which I bought at the beginning of the year, I decided that I wanted something which was a bit lighter, I could tinker with replacing parts as I saw fit and that had a bigger range. The obvious solution was for me to get a conversion kit and get building! I use my bike mainly for commuting where I drive to a park and ride then bike the 15 mile round trip into Edinburgh, however I do ocassionally do the 37mile round trip from the house, but this was definitely at the limit of the Urban Mover's battery capacity.
I settled on the 8fun kit eventually after much consideration and trawling of the internet. I liked the idea of UK support and quick lead times over BMS battery and at £440 delivered it seemed a reasonable price - I think I would have been around £100 cheaper going for the BMS battery kit assuming that their on-line shipping quote was correct at $125. I did consider the Juicy kit but it was that bit more expensive and I didn't like the seatpost mounted battery.
I purchased the bike on C2W from Halfords and got it in an offer for £280.
I went for a front wheel bafang 250w 36v motor and with a 9Ah Li-Ion bottle shaped battery and two chargers. I went for the front motor for weight distribution and ease of swapping to a regular rim if I want to go 'normal cycling' at the weekend, the bottle battery was again to aid weight distribution (as I generally have a laptop and a regular pannier on the back) and because I really like the pannier rack that I have as it has rails for the side mount panniers about 15mm below the top part of the rack meaning that it's really easy to fit and remove side panniers with a top mounted rack bag in place (I use it for a basic tool kit, waterproofs etc).
My kit arrived within 48hrs of ordering from 8fun and was well packaged. The instructions weren't great but I had a good idea what was required from reading the forum.
Step 1
I decided that the first job was to check that the motor fitted in the dropouts as I have a tapered fork; then to test it all worked. I removed the rim from the front of the bike then popped the new one on, it fitted perfectly and the anti-rotation washers were flush with the outer side of the dropouts, so far so good... I connected the motor up to the controller and the controller to the battery - I had to crimp some included (blue 15A) bullet connectors to the battery power cable. Initially nothing happened when I moved the throttle, but it seems on the control panel you have to press 'switch' to enable the throttle - so all was well and the kit seems to work perfectly.
Step 2
The next potential issue was the disc brakes so I removed the wheen and bolted on the disc from the old rim, it turns out the plastic spacer on the bafang motor needs to be left in place (i.e. between the motor and the disc), it's best not to tighten the bolts too much I stripped the threads a little on one of the bolts... On fitting the wheel, it seems that the edge of the motor rubs the inside part of the caliper just a little and that the I-160mm mounting adaptor for the caliper has a screw which is now rubbing the brake disc. Also just got a reply from the forum to say that the controller is water resistant, not waterproof so I'll need to deal with that too!
Step 3
I've made a shopping list and am off to Halfords, B&Q and Maplin! The list is: B&Q - M10 and M6 washers; self amalgamating silicone tape; black zip ties 100m and 200mm; a file; and a 15mm spanner for the hub nuts as it seems to be a size skipped in my spanner set! Halfords - A crank puller. Maplin - a 'General Purpose ABS Enclosure' 150x80x46mm IP54 rated for the controller; cheap multimeter as my decent one is on my boat; cable grommets 23.7mm diameter.
Step 4
I used an M6 washer on the brake mount post to stop the bolt rubbing the disc (stopped the bolt going all the way through the adaptor) then filed a bit off the back of the caliper hosing to stop it rubbing the motor. All seems good with the front wheel now so I took it off and popped a Kenda typre and innter tube in and inflated it to 65psi on the compressor. After that I mounted it and tightened it up properly. This 8fun motor has a side cable exit rather than the cable exiting through the spindle, would be great if that meant they could start to use QR skewers in them soon!
Step 5
I mounted the pannier rack on the back of the bike (A Topeak Supertourist DX Disc) and popped a Cateye LD600 rear light on the back of it. I then got to work on fitting the pedelec sensor as I will use it rather than using the throttle as I like to use low assist rather than a throttle (I do tend to switch it to high if it is tipping down with rain or I've been working late and I'm eager to get home!!). I used the crank puller and removed the RHS crank thinking that it would be much easier to mount it there than on the chainwheel side. It turns out that it can be held in place perfectly with a zip tie as the sensor lay flat against the tube. I popped the magnet disc on and tested it, but it only worked if I pedalled in reverse! I tried reversing the disc and the sensor but neither worked... So it was off with the chain wheel crank and time to pop to halfords for a bottom bracket removal tool! Once I got the tool the bottom bracket came out (you need a really big shifting spanner to use the BB tool) and I popped the sensor on, tested it and rebuilt it. Fortunately the sensor fits fine inside my cahinwheel. I then mounted the control panel on the handlebars.
Step 6
Time to wire everything up... I led and ziptied the cables from the motor and the control panel along the top tube to the rear of the bike and fitted the cage to hold the bottle battery in palace. I secured the battery power cable and pedelec sensor cables. I got the ABS box from Mapli and drilled two 19mm holes in the bottom with my holesaw for the cable grommets, and then fitted the grommets after filing the holes to smooth them. The grommets are much easier to fit if then are popped into a cup of boiling water for a minute. I then drilled a couple of small holes to secure the box horizontally on the arms that lead from the pannier rack to the frame lugs, zip tied it on and cut a couple of holes in the grommets. I fed the cables through and used the silicone self amalgamating tape to provide a better seal and seal between the multiple cables sharing the same grommets. Then I hooked everything up to the controller and put the lid on, easier said than done as it's a very tight fit in there.
Step 7
Mounted the battery, turned it on and went for a test drive! It was raining and 10pm so I just went for a spin around the block but all seems to be working fine.
Still to do - I need to sort out some brake cut-outs, the kit came with brake levers with microswitch cut outs but the levers I have are Shimano EZ fire which are integrated with the brake levers! I think I'll go down the reedswitch and magnet combo, I'll have a look at that over the weekend. I also have bits and bobs such as front light, computer, mudguards, pump etc. to fit and to 'slime' the tyres to help prevent punctures. I plan to get another rotor for my old rim so that I can use it as a regular bike too, with no motor and battery on the extra electronics and battery holder should only be adding a kilo or so to the standard weight. I also need to get my SPD pedals moved over.
I'll post some pictures soon and a review of the kit once I've used ot a bit.
I settled on the 8fun kit eventually after much consideration and trawling of the internet. I liked the idea of UK support and quick lead times over BMS battery and at £440 delivered it seemed a reasonable price - I think I would have been around £100 cheaper going for the BMS battery kit assuming that their on-line shipping quote was correct at $125. I did consider the Juicy kit but it was that bit more expensive and I didn't like the seatpost mounted battery.
I purchased the bike on C2W from Halfords and got it in an offer for £280.
I went for a front wheel bafang 250w 36v motor and with a 9Ah Li-Ion bottle shaped battery and two chargers. I went for the front motor for weight distribution and ease of swapping to a regular rim if I want to go 'normal cycling' at the weekend, the bottle battery was again to aid weight distribution (as I generally have a laptop and a regular pannier on the back) and because I really like the pannier rack that I have as it has rails for the side mount panniers about 15mm below the top part of the rack meaning that it's really easy to fit and remove side panniers with a top mounted rack bag in place (I use it for a basic tool kit, waterproofs etc).
My kit arrived within 48hrs of ordering from 8fun and was well packaged. The instructions weren't great but I had a good idea what was required from reading the forum.
Step 1
I decided that the first job was to check that the motor fitted in the dropouts as I have a tapered fork; then to test it all worked. I removed the rim from the front of the bike then popped the new one on, it fitted perfectly and the anti-rotation washers were flush with the outer side of the dropouts, so far so good... I connected the motor up to the controller and the controller to the battery - I had to crimp some included (blue 15A) bullet connectors to the battery power cable. Initially nothing happened when I moved the throttle, but it seems on the control panel you have to press 'switch' to enable the throttle - so all was well and the kit seems to work perfectly.
Step 2
The next potential issue was the disc brakes so I removed the wheen and bolted on the disc from the old rim, it turns out the plastic spacer on the bafang motor needs to be left in place (i.e. between the motor and the disc), it's best not to tighten the bolts too much I stripped the threads a little on one of the bolts... On fitting the wheel, it seems that the edge of the motor rubs the inside part of the caliper just a little and that the I-160mm mounting adaptor for the caliper has a screw which is now rubbing the brake disc. Also just got a reply from the forum to say that the controller is water resistant, not waterproof so I'll need to deal with that too!
Step 3
I've made a shopping list and am off to Halfords, B&Q and Maplin! The list is: B&Q - M10 and M6 washers; self amalgamating silicone tape; black zip ties 100m and 200mm; a file; and a 15mm spanner for the hub nuts as it seems to be a size skipped in my spanner set! Halfords - A crank puller. Maplin - a 'General Purpose ABS Enclosure' 150x80x46mm IP54 rated for the controller; cheap multimeter as my decent one is on my boat; cable grommets 23.7mm diameter.
Step 4
I used an M6 washer on the brake mount post to stop the bolt rubbing the disc (stopped the bolt going all the way through the adaptor) then filed a bit off the back of the caliper hosing to stop it rubbing the motor. All seems good with the front wheel now so I took it off and popped a Kenda typre and innter tube in and inflated it to 65psi on the compressor. After that I mounted it and tightened it up properly. This 8fun motor has a side cable exit rather than the cable exiting through the spindle, would be great if that meant they could start to use QR skewers in them soon!
Step 5
I mounted the pannier rack on the back of the bike (A Topeak Supertourist DX Disc) and popped a Cateye LD600 rear light on the back of it. I then got to work on fitting the pedelec sensor as I will use it rather than using the throttle as I like to use low assist rather than a throttle (I do tend to switch it to high if it is tipping down with rain or I've been working late and I'm eager to get home!!). I used the crank puller and removed the RHS crank thinking that it would be much easier to mount it there than on the chainwheel side. It turns out that it can be held in place perfectly with a zip tie as the sensor lay flat against the tube. I popped the magnet disc on and tested it, but it only worked if I pedalled in reverse! I tried reversing the disc and the sensor but neither worked... So it was off with the chain wheel crank and time to pop to halfords for a bottom bracket removal tool! Once I got the tool the bottom bracket came out (you need a really big shifting spanner to use the BB tool) and I popped the sensor on, tested it and rebuilt it. Fortunately the sensor fits fine inside my cahinwheel. I then mounted the control panel on the handlebars.
Step 6
Time to wire everything up... I led and ziptied the cables from the motor and the control panel along the top tube to the rear of the bike and fitted the cage to hold the bottle battery in palace. I secured the battery power cable and pedelec sensor cables. I got the ABS box from Mapli and drilled two 19mm holes in the bottom with my holesaw for the cable grommets, and then fitted the grommets after filing the holes to smooth them. The grommets are much easier to fit if then are popped into a cup of boiling water for a minute. I then drilled a couple of small holes to secure the box horizontally on the arms that lead from the pannier rack to the frame lugs, zip tied it on and cut a couple of holes in the grommets. I fed the cables through and used the silicone self amalgamating tape to provide a better seal and seal between the multiple cables sharing the same grommets. Then I hooked everything up to the controller and put the lid on, easier said than done as it's a very tight fit in there.
Step 7
Mounted the battery, turned it on and went for a test drive! It was raining and 10pm so I just went for a spin around the block but all seems to be working fine.
Still to do - I need to sort out some brake cut-outs, the kit came with brake levers with microswitch cut outs but the levers I have are Shimano EZ fire which are integrated with the brake levers! I think I'll go down the reedswitch and magnet combo, I'll have a look at that over the weekend. I also have bits and bobs such as front light, computer, mudguards, pump etc. to fit and to 'slime' the tyres to help prevent punctures. I plan to get another rotor for my old rim so that I can use it as a regular bike too, with no motor and battery on the extra electronics and battery holder should only be adding a kilo or so to the standard weight. I also need to get my SPD pedals moved over.
I'll post some pictures soon and a review of the kit once I've used ot a bit.
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