Hi all, i would really appreciate some help from the people with knowledge here. A little backstory first, i am totally inept at anything remotely diy, i will give it a go but i know for a fact something that would take someone competent 10 minutes will take me an hour, i recently swapped a saddle on my fiido d4s and was really chuffed with myself lol.

Right with that out the way during lockdown ii brought a second hand Carerra, a bbs02 kit, also an ebike specific new chain and to simplify things a a 10 speed cassette, a 10 speed deraileur and a clarks hydraulic brake set, so the plan was to strip the bike down and rebuild with the new parts.

It quickly dawned on me this was all beyond me and i have a good friend who is a part time mechanic and great at sparky work so thought he would be the perfect person for this project.

That was 3 years ago, no problem inbetween all that he got married had a kid, gutted and rebuilt a house for his parents and for him and his new family and i had my fiido d4s to get about on , anyways he called yesterday to say he is delivering my assembled bike today, i am understandably very excited as its been a loooong time coming, but he also mentioned a few things he could not sort out he says when put in to the highest gear the chain is hitting the frame and also not being able to fit the brake sensors, something to do with the indentations ill understand and explain better when he gets here today and shows me, the brakes are Clarks M2 if thats of any help,

Any help would be appreciated thanks in advance.

He probably means he couldn’t find a nice fit on the brake cylinder and levers on your M2 brakes for the magnets and hall sensors. They can be a pain to set up properly because there aren’t many nice flat surfaces to stick them to.

 

I used hot glue for the magnets because the double sided sticky tape supplied isn’t really strong enough to keep the magnets in place, especially when you have moved them a couple of times to set them up.

 

And even then I found them erratic in use when off road because the brake levers rattle just enough over bumps and jumps to keep cutting the motor, so I eventually disconnected them altogether.

 

I didn’t want to take the slack out of the brake levers because I prefer the feel with a little bit of movement in the levers before the brake applies.

 

Cheap hydraulic cyclinders with built in brake sensors are available on eBay/Amazon, but branded ones are expensive. I use Clarke M4 brakes and I didn’t want to swap out my cyclinders for the no branded ones and Magura sensored levers are too expensive to make it worthwhile for me.

 

Your e-bike specific chain is also probably too thick for a 10 speed cassette and that’s why it’s rubbing on the frame in top gear. You can buy a thinner 10 speed chain to alleviate the problem.

Edited April 22, 20233 yr by AGS

I wouldn't worry about the brake sensors, I and many others don't use them

The chain hitting the frame or the chain coming off the highest (smallest rear cog) gear and getting wedge between the wheel and frame ?

If the latter, then you'll need to adjust the high/low derraileir screws (high for the smallest cog)

 

Thanks for the speedy replies guys, as i will be able to tell my buddy when he delivers the bike, im in coventry and he is in Leicester so its not like i can nip up to his on the bike.

I knew i would get some great advice here, again really appreciated, i will let you all know how i get on, after 3 years i have forgotten all the videos amd posts i read so i am going to take this morning to refresh

Just remember to use your gears with a mid drive motor. If you leave it in a high gear all of the time the high torque causes too much stress on the motor and drive train and will damage the nylon motor gears. Also try to throttle back and ease off the peddling when changing gear otherwise you will wear out your drive train quickly and your chain can break.

 

I’m terrible at that and ride my mtb like a motorcycle on the trails, slamming through the gear changes to keep my speed up and it absolutely kills cassettes.

Edited April 22, 20233 yr by AGS

Just remember to use the gearwith a mid drive motor. If you leave it in a high gear all of the time it causes too much stress on the motor and drive train and will start causing damage. Also try to throttle back and ease off the peddling when changing gear otherwise you will wear out your drive train quickly and your chain can break.

 

I’m terrible at that and ride my mtb like a motorcycle on the trails, slamming through the gear changes to keep my speed up and it absolutely kills cassettes.

 

I was aware that i will have to learn a new style of riding and gear manipulation with the mid motor, one of the things i have to refresh my knowledge on, im 53 in about 3 months im not really a speed demon and mainly pootle but theres this one hill on my route sometimes i do it 3 or 4 times in a day and my fiido can only get half way up before it crawls to a stop and i have to put some serious welly in to get up and over it, it bugs the shit out of me im hoping this new bike remedys that problem, now that i will have a bike thats capable it would be nice to find some beginner trails and give them a bash, who knows it might become my new summertime hobby

Also try to throttle back and ease off the peddling when changing gear otherwise you will wear out your drive train quickly and your chain can break.

 

The gear sensor works very well for me, except when powering up steep hills on PAS in the rain, when the gear change time is too short - there's no setting in the firmware to address this. The rest of the time it's perfect, gear changes are a no brainer. But it hasn't worked out so well for other people with other bikes.

Edited April 22, 20233 yr by guerney

I didn’t fit a gear sensor because I kept reading it was too sluggish, but that may just be hearsay.

 

And I have taped up the connector inside the wiring loom now and I don’t want to redo all of that lot again.

 

I should have pulled it out of the main loom and sealed it off separately.

 

I suppose I can still use one of the unused brake connectors to retrofit a gear change sensor. But it’s one more thing to go wrong.

Edited April 22, 20233 yr by AGS

I was wondering whether my bike's snappy 1:1 SRAM gear shifter and X8 rear derailleur make it easier for the gear sensor to detect gear changes.

 

,,

The gear sensor works very well for me, except when powering up steep hills on PAS in the rain, when the gear change time is too short - there's no setting in the firmware to address this. The rest of the time it's perfect, gear changes are a no brainer. But it hasn't worked out so well for other people with other bikes.

 

I was just reading up on the gear sensor which made me feel a little easier about not having the brake sensors fitted, i vaguely remember getting one but honestly i cant remember for sure, after 3 years i am embarrassed to say i cant even remember where i got my kit from but i do know i put a lot of time in researching what i would need so im almost certain a shift sensor was part of my purchase.

,,

 

I was just reading up on the gear sensor which made me feel a little easier about not having the brake sensors fitted, i vaguely remember getting one but honestly i cant remember for sure, after 3 years i am embarrassed to say i cant even remember where i got my kit from but i do know i put a lot of time in researching what i would need so im almost certain a shift sensor was part of my purchase.

 

Well, you know what they say "Don't gamble what you can't afford to lose". My £18 punt was well worth it, but your experience may vary.

The gear sensor works very well for me, except when powering up steep hills on PAS in the rain, when the gear change time is too short - there's no setting in the firmware to address this. The rest of the time it's perfect, gear changes are a no brainer. But it hasn't worked out so well for other people with other bikes.

 

I take it your saying its too fast cause you have what seems a fancy dan and no doubt very expensive shifter lol

I was just reading up on the gear sensor which made me feel a little easier about not having the brake sensors fitted

 

I really wouldn't use my bike without those - far too dangerous IMHO. I wouldn't want to be fighting with the motor when I need to brake hard.

I take it your saying its too fast cause you have what seems a fancy dan and no doubt very expensive shifter lol

 

My bike is an old Dahon Helios 20" folding bike I bought from a friend for £100, which was made in April 2006. My shifter costs £14.99 new:

 

https://foldingbike.biz/epages/7665e38c-067c-4fa0-9037-afac2266f927.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/7665e38c-067c-4fa0-9037-afac2266f927/Products/DAHSRAM30TWISTSHIFT8SP

 

 

...and by snappy I meant it makes a snapping noise when changing gear lol. But gear changes are actually snappy too.

I really wouldn't use my bike without those - far too dangerous IMHO. I wouldn't want to be fighting with the motor when I need to brake hard.

 

yes safety for me is paramount so i will be figuring out some way to get these fitted or ill have to bite the bullet and get the integrated ones mentioned, at this point i have spent so much it would be silly not to.

But it’s one more thing to go wrong.

 

I sealed both ends of the gear sensor with self-amalgamating rubber tape to keep water and dust out, leaving just the LED exposed - it's useful to see that flashing.

My bike is an old Dahon Helios 20" folding bike I bought from a friend, which was made in April 2006. My shifter costs £14.99 new:

 

https://foldingbike.biz/epages/7665e38c-067c-4fa0-9037-afac2266f927.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/7665e38c-067c-4fa0-9037-afac2266f927/Products/DAHSRAM30TWISTSHIFT8SP

 

 

...and by snappy I meant it makes a snapping noise when changing gear lol. But gear changes are actually snappy too.

 

A bargain, a man after my own heart these tweaks are all things i will look into once i have spent some time with the new bike, after a 3 year wait its so nice knowing i am going to have the whole summer to enjoy it, fingers crossed i can sort the 2 niggles out and get it close to perfect, i love my fiido to bits so a big part of that is how hassle free it been i hope im as lucky with this

Another vulnerable component is the flimsy wheel speed sensor. I don’t know how I haven’t managed to break mine yet.

Another vulnerable component is the flimsy wheel speed sensor. I don’t know how I haven’t managed to break mine yet.

 

I've also waterproofed that with self-amalgamating rubber tape. I don't trust waterproofing claims made by anyone about anything.

A bargain

 

I got another bargain bike the other week - Dahon Espresso 26" folding bike on ebay for £72... and of course it's a bit of a mess right now. Eventually that might get electrified too, after extensive work including a new frame (which isn't actually necessary, but a smaller frame would be lighter, and aluminium fatigues - I'd get the certainty of at least 10 years of problem free use with a new one) and folding handlebar stem. However, the Dahon Helios is such an effortless joy to use, my blood presure has increased, therefore the Esperesso may have to be an "Acoustic" bike, which would force me to get some actual exercise.

I have the BBS02 and here are my thoughts.

1. Gear sensor: it improves the shifting but still not perfect gear changes for me. I am considering using an Alfine rear hub.

2. Gear changes: when I am approaching traffic lights or coming to a steep hill I go down gears (up the cassette). I don't go very fast but it puts less strain on the system, it will not thank you for hammering it all the time. When I am out I see non bikers crunching their gears due to not changing down, it takes a while to do it automatically.

3. Derailleur adjustment screws are Japanese International Standard not the standard Phillips screws we use. You can get away with using a standard screwdriver but it can damage the screws

4. Buy the bearings, I change mine every year, there are videos on YouTube to show you how.

Well it finally arrived and my initial thoughts are it looks well tidier then i imagined, it is also lighter then my fiido d4s which im suprised by.

The only thing i did was take it round the block a few times went through each of the 9 pedal assist modes not as fast as i imagined it was going to be but i have done nothing in the settings i will have to suss out what the display is first, it does have a gear sensor fitted although i never changed gears as i was a bit overwhelmed and mainly concentrating on getting used to a new ride and not dying. That initial jolt of power you get when engaging the throttle was new to me while feeling the torqueyness made me smile and had me thinking about conquering that hill i think its something i will look into trying to smooth out though.

Respect to my buddy who built it he seems to have a done a good job, he went through the gears to show me where it slipped off, i definitely need to get that sorted i will give my lbs a try. when i took my fiido to them to swap out the tyres for scwhalbe big ben plus and to have all the spokes on back wheel rebuilt with stronger ones they initially moaned about working on an elecrtic bike but did a great job for me in the end so fingers crossed.

My buddy did say he wasnt happy that it wasnt perfect and he hadnt put my requested kickstand on but to try it out for a week or two and let him know about that anything that niggles me and he will sort it.

Also my first experience of hydraulic brakes wow theyre awsome.

That initial jolt of power you get when engaging the throttle was new to me while feeling the torqueyness made me smile and had me thinking about conquering that hill i think its something i will look into trying to smooth out though.

 

That initial jot made it difficult to make U-turns using my BBS01B conversion, but that and other niggles can be squashed:

 

https://edrivenet.com/bafang-programming/

 

 

I almost demanded a refund... but after programming, my BBS01B is nigh on perfect (for me anyway).

 

BTW, I'm curious to know how many times your friend has charged the battery over the past 3 years, and how often.

That initial jot made it difficult to make U-turns using my BBS01B conversion, but that and other niggles can be squashed:

 

https://edrivenet.com/bafang-programming/

 

 

I almost demanded a refund... but after programming, my BBS01B is nigh on perfect (for me anyway).

 

BTW, I'm curious to know how many times your friend has charged the battery over the past 3 years, and how often.

 

I dont know but he did say in our time together that he was suprised he had no trouble with the battery as your meant to charge it regular.

I was looking at the firmware thread on endless sphere earlier today, i need to get my 2 major niggles sorted first then get a little familiar with the bike then get my head around tweaking software to my liking.

The initial jolt on PAS can be lowered by changing "Start current" from 20% to 10%.

 

Hills are a breeze with "Keep current" at 100%.

 

Before changes:

 

Edited April 24, 20233 yr by guerney