Hello,
So, after getting lots of great advice on kits from people here I have been waiting around for my order from bmsbattery to turn up.
On Thursday the first part arrived! So I am starting this build thread with the aim of helping others by sharing my build experience and perhaps providing a chuckle to those that already know what they're doing.
Impressions of BMS: Nice enough, extremely slow to process order although I was prepared for that. I took just over six weeks from date of order for the first packages to arrive, and the motor itself is looking like arriving a week after that.
Communication was reasonable, I had two separate requests for motor spec info the last of which was over a month after the order was placed. To be fair to them they were super-quick after this when I expressed concern at that point that the order was taking a long time.
The only other minor grumble was that they asked for extra shipping costs to be covered as presumably the cost of sending stuff around the world had increased in those six weeks. It wasn't a huge amount, but still...
This is the bike I'm fitting the kit to (though looking much less new nowadays); a Cannondale Bad Boy 8:
I have upgraded the front disc brake to 203mm (from 160mm) and will be fitting some chunkier tyres (perhaps cyclo-cross) to offer a bit more ride comfort given the extra weight
Here is what arrived on Thursday:
48V 16aH LiFePO4 Battery and all the kit parts for a front mount BPM kit (excluding the actual the motor and wheel which landed in Coventry on Friday so should be with me this week).
First impressions:
The charger is bigger than I was expecting, but feels solid and well built.
I assumed the battery came in an aluminium housing, which as you can see here it doesn't...
Replacement brake levers (for regen) feel cheap and are very, very heavy. I have hydraulics anyway so hadn't planned to use them. I would like to try and enable regen braking on my hydraulic levers at some point.
Pannier rack feels cheap but won't fit my bike anyway (my fault, turns out my frame doesn't have the required mounting points).
Haven't had a look at the twist throttle yet...
Instructions... well yes... the piece of paper you can see has the briefest of descriptions for each terminal on the controller but that's it. I'm hoping that the having the motor in front of me will trigger some kind of moment of clarity.
Peddle sensor is included.... but I think I'm going to leave it off to begin with.
I think I've found the solution to my immediate problem - that of mounting the battery.
is good for weight up to 9kgs which is enough to hold the battery.
I'm pairing this up with:
I think this is just long enough to accommodate the battery though it will be a tight fit, and has plenty of extra height for my work shirt and jeans. It's also fully waterproof. It's more than I wanted to spend if I'm honest, but I think it will be a neat solution in the end.
There isn't much more I can do until the pannier bag and motor turns up, so until then...
Matt.
So, after getting lots of great advice on kits from people here I have been waiting around for my order from bmsbattery to turn up.
On Thursday the first part arrived! So I am starting this build thread with the aim of helping others by sharing my build experience and perhaps providing a chuckle to those that already know what they're doing.
Impressions of BMS: Nice enough, extremely slow to process order although I was prepared for that. I took just over six weeks from date of order for the first packages to arrive, and the motor itself is looking like arriving a week after that.
Communication was reasonable, I had two separate requests for motor spec info the last of which was over a month after the order was placed. To be fair to them they were super-quick after this when I expressed concern at that point that the order was taking a long time.
The only other minor grumble was that they asked for extra shipping costs to be covered as presumably the cost of sending stuff around the world had increased in those six weeks. It wasn't a huge amount, but still...
This is the bike I'm fitting the kit to (though looking much less new nowadays); a Cannondale Bad Boy 8:
I have upgraded the front disc brake to 203mm (from 160mm) and will be fitting some chunkier tyres (perhaps cyclo-cross) to offer a bit more ride comfort given the extra weight
Here is what arrived on Thursday:
48V 16aH LiFePO4 Battery and all the kit parts for a front mount BPM kit (excluding the actual the motor and wheel which landed in Coventry on Friday so should be with me this week).
First impressions:
The charger is bigger than I was expecting, but feels solid and well built.
I assumed the battery came in an aluminium housing, which as you can see here it doesn't...
Replacement brake levers (for regen) feel cheap and are very, very heavy. I have hydraulics anyway so hadn't planned to use them. I would like to try and enable regen braking on my hydraulic levers at some point.
Pannier rack feels cheap but won't fit my bike anyway (my fault, turns out my frame doesn't have the required mounting points).
Haven't had a look at the twist throttle yet...
Instructions... well yes... the piece of paper you can see has the briefest of descriptions for each terminal on the controller but that's it. I'm hoping that the having the motor in front of me will trigger some kind of moment of clarity.
Peddle sensor is included.... but I think I'm going to leave it off to begin with.
I think I've found the solution to my immediate problem - that of mounting the battery.
is good for weight up to 9kgs which is enough to hold the battery.
I'm pairing this up with:
I think this is just long enough to accommodate the battery though it will be a tight fit, and has plenty of extra height for my work shirt and jeans. It's also fully waterproof. It's more than I wanted to spend if I'm honest, but I think it will be a neat solution in the end.
There isn't much more I can do until the pannier bag and motor turns up, so until then...
Matt.