Hi all . . has anyone else got one of the Bafang M510 Mid drive motors, and can hazard a guess at what's causing a clicking / clunking noise after 1,300 miles on mine?

It happens on every pedal revolution, two distinct clicks / clunks coming from the motor area, and only when the transmission is loaded up, and also when the poswer is "off" as well when I'm pedalling hard.

I'm wondering if it might be an internal plastic gear that's on the point of having missing teeth? Or some maybe already gone?

I do give this - MarioEbike Bird - eBike a hard time in my testing as is illustrated here =▶

Here's a video-link of the noise =▶ https://youtu.be/lZgn58wk2xI

Finally . . can you buy parts for these in the UK?

Thanks in advance for any help . . Trevor George . . (in Bristol, UK)

I don't have one of those, but a clonking noise emanating from the general area of my BBS01B turned out to be due to bolts holding the motor to my bike being loose. Threadlock and tightening sorted that out...

 

DJI's "Follow me" function on their drones looks fun.

I don't have one of those, but a clonking noise emanating from the general area of my BBS01B turned out to be due to bolts holding the motor to my bike being loose. Threadlock and tightening sorted that out.

Thanks . . I will check that again . . I've just received a reply from the - Chinese Manufacturer - who are going to refer my video to Bafang, but they "think" it may be water inside the motor, as it only started after I gave it a thorough hosing-down after a very muddy ride

Did hosing down involve a pressure washer? Hopefully not!

 

I would check crank arms for tightness as well as motor mounting bolts. Pedals as well.

I gave it a thorough hosing-down

Probably not your finest moment! I sat there with my head in my hands cringing just watching you ride WSM beach thinking - every bearing/gearing/chain is going to be trashed if you keep doing that! (sand+water=grinding paste)

Did hosing down involve a pressure washer? Hopefully not!

I would check crank arms for tightness as well as motor mounting bolts. Pedals as well.

Thanks Matthew . . washing only involved a light "watering can type head" on a garden hose, just to rinse off the mud, so no real pressure involved.

I've also just checked and all the bolts are good

My video has now been forwarded to Bafang for their comments.

Edited November 21, 20232 yr by Trevor George

Probably not your finest moment! I sat there with my head in my hands cringing just watching you ride WSM beach thinking - every bearing/gearing/chain is going to be trashed if you keep doing that! (sand+water=grinding paste)

The eBike was washed down gently as soon as I left the beach, and that was months ago now, and this noise has only just startred. Fortunately it was dry sand, as the sea was miles out, so none had stuck onto the chain or other critical parts.

Is your motor under warranty? The teardown looks fun.

 

 

Is your motor under warranty?

This is what I need to establish, as it was sent to me Free-of-Charge as an eBike to test, so in effect it's "disposable". I'm checking to see what the Company says, and what Bafang say, and I will go from there.

Even if I have to pay for repairs myself (or do it myself) it's going to be worth-while, and I will check out the video you posted to see what tools might be required

Oh . . and not forgetting where to get the spare parts, as I see one UK company is selling some Bafang bits -> https://www.titan-pro.co.uk/search.aspx?sp=Bafang

Edited November 21, 20232 yr by Trevor George

The eBike was washed down gently as soon as I left the beach, and that was months ago now, and this noise has only just startred. Fortunately it was dry sand, as the sea was miles out, so none had stuck onto the chain or other critical parts.

You should never take an electric bike on the beach, especially if the sand is wet. Rainwater isn't conductive enough to do harm, but salt water is not only highly conductive, but it's extremely corrosive, then there's the sand!

Water ingress, even a little bit will eventually kill the bearings in your crank drive motor. I am sure this was the cause of the bearing failure on my first Yamaha motor on my 2015 Haibike. I only ever used a hose, but when the bike was new washed it a lot including the motor using a finger over the hose end to squirt a bit harder where the mud was caked on.

 

As I was doing a high mileage commuting to work and back on it, it failed right on my two year warranty at 6.000 miles from memory. The shop were very good and replaced it free of charge.

 

After that I washed the bike much less and kept water away from where the cranks enter the casing. The second motor lasted five and a half years and 10,610 miles before it needed an overhaul which was done by Peter at Performance line bearings, returned to me as good as new in November 2022. Done about 2,500 miles on it since.

Thanks . . I will check that again . . I've just received a reply from the - Chinese Manufacturer - who are going to refer my video to Bafang, but they "think" it may be water inside the motor, as it only started after I gave it a thorough hosing-down after a very muddy ride

 

 

You have not fitted mudguards then ?

 

My experience of clunks and clicks are that it is rarely what you think it is - once it was the saddle and once it was the pedal attached to the crank

Get a reliable hub motor , then one doesn't have to worry about expensive failures or the need to add crappy extra bits of plastic cable tied all over the place to protect a drive that isn't fit for purpose. Mid drives are only designed for fair weather use as SW will tell anyone, Eddie was the top forum mudplugger/water bike user and will also attest to their unfit for purpose reliability.

Edited November 22, 20232 yr by Nealh

I own two old rear hub bikes of 2011 vintage, and a 2015 Yamaha crank drive Haibike.

 

I love them all! I have in real terms had less failures on my Haibike, but when I have an issue to fix on the rear hub bikes you can usually easily find generic Chinese spare parts you can buy without breaking the bank to fix them, and certainly initially this was not the case with The Haibike. However I have managed to fix it.

 

I love riding bikes full stop, but really enjoy off road riding and this is where a crank drive bike excels.

 

I bought a rear hub bike first, for £1399, an Oxygen Emate model, but with the usual Chinese electrical bits in 2011. I bought my Yamaha crank drive Haibike in 2015 for £1,750. So the price difference was not as wide as you might expect, and The Haibike had a good air adjustable front fork rather than the much more primitive one on The Oxygen, Hydraulic brakes rather than mechanical, and a very sophisticated torque system rather than simple cadence system. It also had a 9 speed system rather than entry level 7. Oh and a very good removable display.

 

I commuted on these bikes to work, a round trip of 20 miles. I got The Haibike to be able to use the fantastic off road routes available to me in my area.

 

At first when I got the Haibike I was like a boy with a new toy and used it all the time to commute to work and back irrespective of whether it involved riding on the road in both directions or cross country there and road back. It did it but I learnt quickly that I could wear out drive train parts quickly. Also a torque system for commuting on the road requires you to be more engaged and working physically harder.

 

After a while I found that when my start times at work prevented me enjoying my off road routes and were on the road both ways, the simple rear hub with cadence system was a more relaxed way to travel.

 

So from then on, whenever it was light enough to see on my journey to work I used my crank drive to enjoy the off road routes. Whenever it was dark on the way to work meaning a road ride in both directions I used the rear hub.

 

My mum would have said "Horses for courses".

 

The French, "Vive la difference".

 

My Original Oxygen Rear hub is on its third rear motor wheel, third battery, third throttle, etc. I should change the rusty forks but have not got round to it. One of the replacement motor wheels broke spokes and took a while of replacing them to stabalise it. The second Oxygen Emate I bought for a bargain £100 also broke spokes and also took a while of replacing them to stabalise.

 

The Haibike is on its second motor, refurbished once, but still original battery, and the generally higher quality cycle parts are holding up better than the rear hub bikes. With no expense spared I had a really strong rear wheel built for me for The Haibike, as with my weight, carrying panniers, and off road drops and bangs the rear wheel takes a lot of punishment.

 

Now I am retired, the crank drive is used for journeys where I can incorporate off road fun, and the rear hubs are work horses for all the other general fetching and carrying.

 

Vive la difference. We need a bit more of that generally.

Edited November 23, 20232 yr by georgehenry

My experience of clunks and clicks are that it is rarely what you think it is - once it was the saddle and once it was the pedal attached to the crank

 

The following doesn't help the OP, but after noticing clicking and creaking whenever the PAS applied torque, and after a lot of tighting of various bolts and head scratching, I discovered it was coming from the internal hinge mechanism of my folding bike, which hadn't ever been lubricated since leaving the Dahon factory in April 2006. The application of mid motor torque temporarily bent the aluminium frame slightly, making the hinge click and creak. Problem solved with a couple of drops of 4 in 1.

 

Silicone sealant over the BBS01B controller's rubber gasket (pressed together) keeps water out of my motor. Might also keep water in, until hot air blasts it out, to be sucked in again as the motor cools if it's raining. Still, I believe it's better than using just the gasket. My ebike has proven itself rain proof.

Edited November 23, 20232 yr by guerney

Hi all . . has anyone else got one of the Bafang M510 Mid drive motors, and can hazard a guess at what's causing a clicking / clunking noise after 1,300 miles on mine?

It happens on every pedal revolution, two distinct clicks / clunks coming from the motor area, and only when the transmission is loaded up, and also when the poswer is "off" as well when I'm pedalling hard.

Well . . I took it all apart, and all seemed good inside, with no bits of gear-teeth missing or broken. There was a good amount of grease on the gears, so I added a little more grease in places, and reassembled it all, and now it's working fine with no clicking / clunking noises.

It weird how that happens when you reassemble something, and it gets cured, without you ever finding out what caused the problem in the first place.

Probably a creaking bolt and has simply torqued it up better.

Edited November 28, 20232 yr by Nealh

Noises on bikes can be infuriatingly difficult to pin down.

There was a good amount of grease on the gears, so I added a little more grease in places, and reassembled it all, and now it's working fine with no clicking / clunking noises.

 

Great result! Which grease did you use? Was it this?

 

https://vi.aliexpress.com/i/1005003372149991.html

 

Well we cured "the noise" some weeks ago, by just dismantling as much as we could, taking a look and reassembling and the noise went away for around 150 miles.

Then I loaned it to a friend and after a while the noise came back . . grrrrr

So more investigation required.

 

We now think we have found the source of the noise in my Bafang M510 motor, and it's because of a small fault in the design in this particular motor which I am using, in the way the chain-ring spider is secured onto the crank axle.

It's held in place with an unusual design of locknut which requires a special Bafang tool to remove it or to tighten it.

 

Gear-changes made under power with this mid-drive Bafang M510 are harsh, which is why it has already broken several teeth on my rear gear-cassette, simply because the software / firmware does not cut off power to the motor when gear changes are made, so each each time a gear change is made it sends a shock to that locknut against the face of the chain-ring spider, which very slightly moves the locknut and loosens it over a long period of riding.

 

The clicking is caused by the chain-ring spider moving very slightly on the axle, and the sound is amplified by the motor box itself, which is why it sounded as if it was coming from inside the motor

 

The locknut still looks tight - but is not - so it allows a very tiny movement of the chain-ring spider on the crank, which is causing that ticking noise two times for every revolution of the chain-ring wheel.

When we reassemble my motor (or any similar ones) next time, we will put some thread-locking fluid (Loctite) onto the threads of the locking ring in the hope that neither the spider or the locking-ring will become loose again.

Job done . . we hope

Well we cured "the noise" some weeks ago, by just dismantling as much as we could, taking a look and reassembling and the noise went away for around 150 miles.

Then I loaned it to a friend and after a while the noise came back . . grrrrr

So more investigation required.

 

We now think we have found the source of the noise in my Bafang M510 motor, and it's because of a small fault in the design in this particular motor which I am using, in the way the chain-ring spider is secured onto the crank axle.

It's held in place with an unusual design of locknut which requires a special Bafang tool to remove it or to tighten it.

 

Gear-changes made under power with this mid-drive Bafang M510 are harsh, which is why it has already broken several teeth on my rear gear-cassette, simply because the software / firmware does not cut off power to the motor when gear changes are made, so each each time a gear change is made it sends a shock to that locknut against the face of the chain-ring spider, which very slightly moves the locknut and loosens it over a long period of riding.

 

The clicking is caused by the chain-ring spider moving very slightly on the axle, and the sound is amplified by the motor box itself, which is why it sounded as if it was coming from inside the motor

 

The locknut still looks tight - but is not - so it allows a very tiny movement of the chain-ring spider on the crank, which is causing that ticking noise two times for every revolution of the chain-ring wheel.

When we reassemble my motor (or any similar ones) next time, we will put some thread-locking fluid (Loctite) onto the threads of the locking ring in the hope that neither the spider or the locking-ring will become loose again.

Job done . . we hope

Did you try a gear sensor? They're pretty good at solving shifting issues, though the delay when shifting during a steep climb can be annoying.

The locknut still looks tight - but is not - so it allows a very tiny movement of the chain-ring spider on the crank, which is causing that ticking noise two times for every revolution of the chain-ring wheel.

When we reassemble my motor (or any similar ones) next time, we will put some thread-locking fluid (Loctite) onto the threads of the locking ring in the hope that neither the spider or the locking-ring will become loose again.

Job done . . we hope

 

It was due to a loose lockring once on my BBS01B converted bike, a creaking noise. Loose lockring which led to loose bolts. Same solution: Loctite, hasn't happened since.

 

 

Gear-changes made under power with this mid-drive Bafang M510 are harsh, which is why it has already broken several teeth on my rear gear-cassette, simply because the software / firmware does not cut off power to the motor when gear changes are made, so each each time a gear change is made it sends a shock to that locknut against the face of the chain-ring spider, which very slightly moves the locknut and loosens it over a long period of riding.

 

I don't know anything about the M510 - does your bike have a gear sensor? If not, can one be installed? Works great cutting off power to allow gear changes on my BBS01B, but others with the same kit on other bikes have reported it doesn't work as wonderfully on theirs, and I don't know why that is. The only time I have trouble with my gear changes is when it's pelting down with rain and I'm ascending a steep hill, when there is not quite enough cutoff time for the gear change. Unfortunately, there's no setting in the firmware to change that time interval.

 

If you do manage to install a gear sensor, it might be a good idea to cover both ends with self-amalgamating rubber tape to keep out moisture and dirt - I did that and it's still working great with no problems despite oodles of rain and dirt a couple of years on.

Edited December 31, 20232 yr by guerney

Did you try a gear sensor?

I would have loved to try a gear-change-sensor, but there is no way on my particular motor, or in the controller box, to plug one in.

I think it may be an early model, before it was improved.

A primitive but effective method of stopping lock rings coming undone on old British motorbikes was to use lock wire so it physically could not come undone.