Any UK Bafang hub motor suppliers ?

Topdonkey

Pedelecer
Feb 27, 2015
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Hi All

I'm looking for a 36v (500w?) rear cassette hub motor to go with my new Kt 10A (20A peak) controller on my Fiido D2 folding bike, but am struggling to find anyone in the UK that sells them !

Its got 16" wheels and i'm happy to lace it up myself, and am looking for decent hill climbing torque rather than speed, so any hub motor suggestions welcome.

Any suggestions ? The only place i can find them is Aliexpress (China) and they are quoting 32 day delivery to the UK.

Thanks
 

StuartsProjects

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May 9, 2021
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I'm looking for a 36v (500w?) rear cassette hub motor to go with my new Kt 10A (20A peak) controller on my Fiido D2 folding bike, but am struggling to find anyone in the UK that sells them !
Its got 16" wheels and i'm happy to lace it up myself, and am looking for decent hill climbing torque rather than speed, so any hub motor suggestions welcome.
Well a 500W motor would not be road legal in the UK, which could be a reason why its difficult to find a UK seller.
 

Topdonkey

Pedelecer
Feb 27, 2015
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I put the 500w in brackets because i thought it might be an issue, but i've read that some 250w rear hub motors are ok with being driven with a 500w controller ? and i believe (but might be wrong again!) that its the motor rating that decides whether its legal, not the controller rating ?

Any motor suggestions ? or suppliers whether UK or worldwide ?

Thankyou
 

cyclebuddy

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 2, 2016
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You say D2 (without gears) but did you mean D2S (with gears)? Having gears makes a big big difference when it comes to climbing hills - far more difference that having a little more torque. Climbing a steep hill with a small fixed gear on a small 16" wheel means pedalling will be quite hard and the motor will be labouring if you're mostly relying on using battery.

I wouldn't be sure changing the existing motor will achieve much if you're keeping it legal as it's already a 250w geared motor, and maybe looking at bike gearing may help you more?
 

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
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Hi All

I'm looking for a 36v (500w?) rear cassette hub motor to go with my new Kt 10A (20A peak) controller on my Fiido D2 folding bike, but am struggling to find anyone in the UK that sells them !

Its got 16" wheels and i'm happy to lace it up myself, and am looking for decent hill climbing torque rather than speed, so any hub motor suggestions welcome.

Any suggestions ? The only place i can find them is Aliexpress (China) and they are quoting 32 day delivery to the UK.

Thanks
Just about any "250w" motor will be OK. Don't get hung up on motor labels. I haven't found one that can't handle 20 amps, and with 16" wheels you won't get any of the problems that people can get with larger wheels. It's not the motor that decides the power. It's the controller. You get the same power with a 200w motor as you do with a 1000w one when you use the same controller. The only thing you need to get right is the speed (RPM) of the motor. You should choose one that has a max RPM of around 1.3 times your modal riding speed. With 16" wheels, you'll need the fastest you can get, ideally over 300 rpm at 36v. 15 mph is 327 rpm with a 16" wheel. Ideally, you need around 400 rpm, but they're not common. You might be able to find a 24v of around 260 rpm, which will go 371 rpm at 36v.

Voltage means nothing on an ebike motor. It's only a reference point for it's speed. Motors don't care about voltage. They only see current, which is regulated by the controller, not the battery.

To summarise, look for any 250w motor listed as around 260 rpm 24v or a 36v motor listed specially for 16" wheels.

Now the obvious question. Why do you need a new motor? It's very unusual for a motor to have a problem. I guess it's because it was noisy and too much current with your new controller. Did you try all 36 connection combinations? You most likely had a false positive connection sequence, which is a common problem when you fit a different controller to an ebike, especially when you use a KT controller that doesn't have self-learning.
 
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Topdonkey

Pedelecer
Feb 27, 2015
121
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51
You say D2 (without gears) but did you mean D2S (with gears)? Having gears makes a big big difference when it comes to climbing hills - far more difference that having a little more torque. Climbing a steep hill with a small fixed gear on a small 16" wheel means pedalling will be quite hard and the motor will be labouring if you're mostly relying on using battery.

I wouldn't be sure changing the existing motor will achieve much if you're keeping it legal as it's already a 250w geared motor, and maybe looking at bike gearing may help you more?
Hi, Its definitely a D2 without gears, I wanted the lightest bike i could find, so figured it would be lighter without all the gears and changers and stuff, but maybe i should have got the D2s!

The trouble is that i broke my leg in 3 places a couple of years ago, and its never fully recovered, compound fracture with a chunk of bone missing and lots of titanium holding it all together, I cant even drive a manual car as pressing the clutch is too much pressure, so pedaling is challenging, especially on hills sadly.

Maybe i should get a bigger gear on the wheel sprocket to lower the gearing and make hill climbing easier ?
 
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Topdonkey

Pedelecer
Feb 27, 2015
121
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51
Just about any "250w" motor will be OK. Don't get hung up on motor labels. I haven't found one that can't handle 20 amps, and with 16" wheels you won't get any of the problems that people can get with larger wheels. It's not the motor that decides the power. It's the controller. You get the same power with a 200w motor as you do with a 1000w one when you use the same controller. The only thing you need to get right is the speed (RPM) of the motor. You should choose one that has a max RPM of around 1.3 times your modal riding speed. With 16" wheels, you'll need the fastest you can get, ideally over 300 rpm at 36v. 15 mph is 327 rpm with a 16" wheel. Ideally, you need around 400 rpm, but they're not common. You might be able to find a 24v of around 260 rpm, which will go 371 rpm at 36v.

Voltage means nothing on an ebike motor. It's only a reference point for it's speed. Motors don't care about voltage. They only see current, which is regulated by the controller, not the battery.

To summarise, look for any 250w motor listed as around 260 rpm 24v or a 36v motor listed specially for 16" wheels.

Now the obvious question. Why do you need a new motor? It's very unusual for a motor to have a problem. I guess it's because it was noisy and too much current with your new controller. Did you try all 36 connection combinations? You most likely had a false positive connection sequence, which is a common problem when you fit a different controller to an ebike, especially when you use a KT controller that doesn't have self-learning.

Hi, Yes, I tried all 36 combinations (took ages!!) and 3 of them produced usable results, but all 3, in real world testing had less torque and were quite a bit noisier than the original controller the bike came with, so i am back on the original controller at the moment, and i just have to get off the push my bike the last 100 yards up the hill on my way home.

I'm happy with a max speed of 15mph, I don't want to go fast, i just want more hill climbing torque really, even it its at 5mph !

Do you know of any UK suppliers of rear hub motors at all ? Google searches are drawing blanks for me at the moment, I'm thinking that either MXUS or Bafang seem to be the best options for me ?

Thankyou
 

cyclebuddy

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 2, 2016
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Beds & Norfolk
They only see current, which is regulated by the controller, not the battery.
I'm not for a moment disagreeing with that theory (I know after several years on this forum d8veh/vfr400/saneagle is unquestionably right), but you're assuming the battery can deliver 20A... on a cheap £500 Chinese bike of some age, I doubt the cells are up to it now, if they ever were. Standard Fiido controllers cruise at 7A and max at 13A. Even then the unbranded cells get stressed/wear out prematurely if maxed out all the time (well documented on Facebook). 20A will kill it.

What's wrong with the existing motor? The RPM will already be optimised for a 16" wheel. Maybe the shunt can be soldered for more torque?
 

Topdonkey

Pedelecer
Feb 27, 2015
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Thinking about my current motor a bit more, I do wonder if its actually faulty as, although it has a 5 wire hall sensor connector along with the phase wires, It does make quite a noise when riding under power even with the original controller, loud enough to make people look round as i'm approaching, It did make me think it was an older square wave drive and motor as these were always noisier I believe,

but the fact that the motor doesn't get on with a KT sine wave controller at all well, makes me think maybe the motor is faulty ?

The markings on the motor are 16"36V250W 19H7789 FIIDO 4 but again, google searches are giving no info about this motor.
 

Nealh

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 7, 2014
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Is there any cable damage at the axle ?
 

StuartsProjects

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2021
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It does make quite a noise when riding under power even with the original controller, loud enough to make people look round as i'm approaching, It did make me think it was an older square wave drive and motor as these were always noisier I believe,
I have a Bafang 250W on the rear wheel of my Mountain bike, square wave controller. You can hear it, but noisey it is not.
 

Topdonkey

Pedelecer
Feb 27, 2015
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I have a Bafang 250W on the rear wheel of my Mountain bike, square wave controller. You can hear it, but noisey it is not.
Id say the noise was like the old milk floats of many years ago when they pulled off, they made a sort of groaning noise, and my bike is sounding the same.
 

Topdonkey

Pedelecer
Feb 27, 2015
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I've just spotted that Woosh sell hub motors, and some really nice ones too, but only as kits with everything including the battery and controller sadly, Its a pity that there aren't any UK hub motor suppliers.

I think if i cant find anything by the weekend in the UK, then i'll do the alibaba ordering.
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
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Junstar claim to deliver within a few days from the UK, but you have to buy an entire wheel with "Bafang Model: G020.250", display and controller for £293.77



"UK" but not Bafang:




From Germany:



Germany, not Bafang:



Used Bafangs on ebay:


24V and probably useless:






51311
 
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Topdonkey

Pedelecer
Feb 27, 2015
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Thankyou Guerney, Some interesting finds on Ebay there.

Back in the day (when i started Ebiking with a BBS02 750w!) that was about 7 or 8 years ago now, there was a Bafang BPM rear motor that seemed to be the best you could get for hills if you wanted a hub motor, but have they disappeared ? or been replaced with something better or equivalent ?

And Xiongda were doing a 2 speed motor that seemed to be brilliant for hill climbing, but they too have disappeared !!

I'm a bit behind with the technology now and everything seems to have changed :(

Is a G040 the modern version of the BPM ?
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
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Back in the day (when i started Ebiking with a BBS02 750w!) that was about 7 or 8 years ago now, there was a Bafang BPM rear motor that seemed to be the best you could get for hills if you wanted a hub motor, but have they disappeared ?