2016 Cannondale Trail 3 and BBSHD

[stephen217]

2016 Cannondale Trail 3 (size L)
68-73mm BBSH with steel 46T sprocket

The install went very smooth. The BB measured out at 73mm after removing the crankset. There was couple mil of protrusion inside the BB from manufacturing that I had to clearance before installing the drive. I used an air die grinder, but a dreamed or even a grinding stone on the end of a drill would have worked fine as very little material needed removed. First test fit had the gear housing resting against the chain stay. I added a .97mm spacer to the drive side (thinnest spacer from the install kit) and that provided a small amount of space between the drive unit and chain stay. The drive locating plate or whatever it's called needed 3 washers under it on each of the 2 bolts. After that I installed the lockring and tightened it with a long spanner wrench that I already had from working on dirt bikes.
The tool is a "Motion Pro T-Stem Nut Wrench" and was perfect to get it good and tight. I used a little low strength locktite on everything and will likely upgrade to medium on the locking when I'm adding another mount.

At this point I've only made a few miles of test rides around town and one trail ride. I still plan to add brake cutouts, a shift sensor and a motor stay that I'm working on. It seems everything is working really good like this and I'm happy with the result. The sprocket is very close to the frame as it should be and the bike is shifting good. With this gearing it has plenty of torque for climbing, top speed feels good, but I have not checked it yet with a gps.

[73Eldo]

Looks good and lots of details I'm sure others considering a similar build will appreciate. Keep us posted on how things go once you get some more miles on it. Looks like a decent size cassette can't see the scale for sure but its got to be at least a 36, is it a 42?

If when you upgrade the chain ring note that the Luna Eclipse is offset almost 6mm more than the stock one so you may not have the clearance for it if the stock one barely clears now. You would likely go with a 42 so slightly smaller diameter but not many frames kick in that much. The Lekkie's are maybe a mm more that the stock one so likely a good fit. The Luna is a nice piece and great if you have the room and need the offset. I have the Luna on one bike and a Lekkie on another and they are both just right for the application. Glad we have the choice.

I really like having the brakes and gear sensor. I think it would be difficult to ride without either one of them. It would make it really difficult to shift or hard on things when it does shift.

[stephen217]

Posting update after first few weeks of use. I've been riding this 100% Off-roading and it's performing like a champ. There's a good steep trail near me that when on old petal power the ride up there would take me 30-40 min in the lowest gears to crawl up the face then 15 min of fun DH. Now using both human and BBSHD power together it's 15 min up and 15 min down keeping my speed close to 10mph. I have not done any range tests, but it had 49v after making 4 loops on that hill for almost 20 miles total.

I'm still running the BBSHD Stock 46T sprocket and my rear cassette is 12-34. On extremely steep climbs I've found myself on the 34, but for moderate climbs I'm mostly on the 24. Top speed now is almost 25mph and Since I'm only off-roading that makes the smaller rings seem useless. The chain stay tapers fast as it heads into the BB and there looks to be room for a Luna Eclipse 42 and I'll be ordering it soon.

Here's another couple pics after adding some better grips, mudguards and Maxxis Minion DH tires.

[73Eldo]

45 up for 15 down? Ya no thanks. 15 for 15 sounds a lot better. I have heard people that ride real mountain ski parks say with their E bikes they can often get to the top in a similar amount of time that they can on the lifts where there are lifts and its a lot more fun on the trails than sitting on a chair. I have never had a bike on a lift but I imagine you wait in line and maybe they run em slower than they do for skiers because they need time to load and unload the bikes?

The Eclipse rings have about 6mm more offset than the stock Bafang one. Grab some allen wrenches and see what size fits in there. You can order shims to space the ring out if its really close.. The Lekkie's are about 2mm more offset over stock so if you have maybe 3mm of clearance that would be better than getting the eclipse and having to shim back out 3mm.

You can find up to a 42 in a 10 speed so if you want to go a little lower should not be too hard to find one but you do have to make sure your derailier can handle one that big.