2018 Motobecane NightTrain Bullet Titanium w/ BBSHD

[cbird808]

On the battery and range, I have the 12ah x 52v (624W) luna wolf pack. On my last 90% charge, I got 27.6 miles and 1 hr 36 minutes of range.

Since my last post, I changed my display to have 9 levels of pedal assist. I tend to ride on level 3/9 (290W) but will go up to 5/9 sometimes and did 7/9 last week to beat a rainstorm. I used to adjust the pedal assist level as I shifted, starting from a stop at 1 and then turning it up as I hit terminal velocity. However, after installing the shift sensor, i tend to leave it at 3/9 because it's much easier to shift with higher pedal assist.

I also changed my display to show V rather than %. To hypermile before recharging, I set the pas to 2/9 (150W) below 49V and 1/9 (50W) below 48V. I ended the last ride at about 47..0V while riding. The controller will cut out somewhere in the 46.xV range. I've found the controller will cut out much sooner with higher levels of assist to due the associated drop in voltage while riding.

The tires are the origin 8 supercell at 20psi

[cbird808]

For the suspension, I added the RST Renegade Air Fork and RedShift ShockStop seat post. My hands and wrists are no longer in agony after a long ride (20+ miles). The streets here have many severe imperfections that can be impossible to avoid and the suspension makes a huge difference. Sure, in the first 5-10 miles, I can stand and use my body to absorb the shocks, but as the sun beats on me and the miles add up, I can't help but hit some surprises, each one taking a little more out of me. This is especially the case at higher speeds. With the suspension, the surprise shocks are no longer a factor in my longevity on a ride. I made it this long without making a change because most of my miles have been on my commute, where the road quality is generally good.

I weigh 220 lbs, so I'm not light. I splurged on the heavier spring in the seat post, but probably could have done fine with the stock one set at the highest compression. Either way, I don't notice it sapping my power and it does a great job of smoothing out the bumps. The fork has a remote lockout, but I rarely use it with the lack of hills, bbshd, and all.

If I were to start a ebike build from scratch, I'd start with a full suspension mtn bike frame, but what I've set up works for my purposes.

[cbird808]

One other interesting thing I found is that my bike is technically a 2019, because the 2018 came with an 11spd cassette and I have the 12 spd.

Anybody wondering about speed and gearing, the SRAM eagle 12 spd (10-50T) with a 42T chain ring provides a fantastic range of gears, for both hill climbing and going up to about 33 mph in the 10T at a cadence of 90 rpm. You can't really fit a larger chain ring on this bike, so if you want to go faster, a different platform would be better, most likely one without fat tires.

[AZguy]

I'm running an 11sp 11-51t and do really well with either 42t or 44t, mostly been running the 44t

With 10-50t the 42t is likely best having a 10t top gear

The 50t isn't going to be significantly different than the 51t I've got and the 42t in low gear is very nice but I find the 44t in lowest gear to be "good enough" and much better than when I was running 11-46t

I prefer to stay out of the top gear except for the occasional high speed run since with only a few teeth engagement on those tiny cogs it's a lot of force and can chew up the driveline

[cbird808]

I added a sram code rsc front brake and a sram g2 200 mm rotor. My orig rotor got rusty all of the sudden, I think from the beach, and the sram level t hand lever was pretty corroded for a while now. I like the adjustability or the codes and the braking is definitely improved. I think the 2mm thick rotor is less prone to warping.

I'm loving the 24ah battery upgrade. No more range anxiety and I'm putting miles on the bike at a much higher rate.

[Snipechief]

Beautiful Bike, before and after.