My daily commute is 13 miles each way, and I found myself making excuses for driving my car instead of biking, especially with snow on the road. I own a Surly Pugsley fatbike that doesn't see much use, so converting the Pug to an eBike seemed like the perfect solution to create a monster commuting machine that can bomb through nearly any road/weather conditions.
Donor bike: Surly Pugsley (with aftermarket rack):
Finished build:
I purchased the "Bafang BBSHD Mid Drive Ebike Kit" from LunaCycle including the following components:
* BBSHD 100mm motor
* Luna Shark Pack 52v 13.5ah battery
* Luna full color display
* Stock 46t steel chain ring
* Bafang eBrake levers
* Bafang BBSxx Left Thumb Throttle
* 52V 3amp Luna mini charger
* Programming cable
* Bottom Bracket/Lockring wrench
Other items I needed for the build:
Several small stainless washers, for the retaining bracket bolts (explanation below)
The Pugsley has a 100mm bottom bracket, so I ordered the 100mm BBSHD. I thought the chainstay might interfere with the motor, and it did, but only slightly. There's a German guy on the internet who intentionally dented his chainstay with a hammer to work around this problem ... you do NOT need to do that! Here's what I did instead:
The motor kit included several bottom bracket spacers. I used one of the ~2mm spacers to bump the motor out a few millimeters on the drivetrain side. This allowed the motor to clear the chainstay beautifully:
View from top, better view of motor and chainstay:
This reduced the spacing between the retaining bracket and motor housing on the non-drivetrain side, so the ~5mm spacers included with the kit were now too thick. I substituted small ~2-3mm thick stainless-steel washers (purchased at local hardware store) and the retaining bracket tightened down nicely.
Using the stock 46t steel chainring, this setup provided a chainline that is reasonably straight with the chain positioned in the middle gears of the cassette, which seems ideal for me:
Because my Pug frame is small, and the downtube bottlecage bolts are close to the seattube, I bolted the Shark battery on upside down to make it fit. This means I push the battery down to remove it. This puts the key for the battery lock on the drivetrain side, near the bottom.
The eBrake levers are not fancy, but they do a fine job. It takes very little pressure to stop electricity flow to the motor - nice.
Things I may change in the future:
* Upgrade to a nicer Luna chainring when the 46t wears out, probably a 42t. Need to verify how this may change the chainline. For now, the 46t chainring seems fine, I haven't had any issues.
* Experiment with the programming: right now I only use PAS1, because PAS2+ deliver more power than I am comfortable with. I'd like to have smaller power increases between PAS levels. Also slightly smoother throttle response.
* Modify the battery mounting bracket (by drilling additional mounting holes) so battery can be mounted right-side up.
* Experiment with a twist throttle, probably a left twist, half grip.
Donor bike: Surly Pugsley (with aftermarket rack):
Finished build:
I purchased the "Bafang BBSHD Mid Drive Ebike Kit" from LunaCycle including the following components:
* BBSHD 100mm motor
* Luna Shark Pack 52v 13.5ah battery
* Luna full color display
* Stock 46t steel chain ring
* Bafang eBrake levers
* Bafang BBSxx Left Thumb Throttle
* 52V 3amp Luna mini charger
* Programming cable
* Bottom Bracket/Lockring wrench
Other items I needed for the build:
Several small stainless washers, for the retaining bracket bolts (explanation below)
The Pugsley has a 100mm bottom bracket, so I ordered the 100mm BBSHD. I thought the chainstay might interfere with the motor, and it did, but only slightly. There's a German guy on the internet who intentionally dented his chainstay with a hammer to work around this problem ... you do NOT need to do that! Here's what I did instead:
The motor kit included several bottom bracket spacers. I used one of the ~2mm spacers to bump the motor out a few millimeters on the drivetrain side. This allowed the motor to clear the chainstay beautifully:
View from top, better view of motor and chainstay:
This reduced the spacing between the retaining bracket and motor housing on the non-drivetrain side, so the ~5mm spacers included with the kit were now too thick. I substituted small ~2-3mm thick stainless-steel washers (purchased at local hardware store) and the retaining bracket tightened down nicely.
Using the stock 46t steel chainring, this setup provided a chainline that is reasonably straight with the chain positioned in the middle gears of the cassette, which seems ideal for me:
Because my Pug frame is small, and the downtube bottlecage bolts are close to the seattube, I bolted the Shark battery on upside down to make it fit. This means I push the battery down to remove it. This puts the key for the battery lock on the drivetrain side, near the bottom.
The eBrake levers are not fancy, but they do a fine job. It takes very little pressure to stop electricity flow to the motor - nice.
Things I may change in the future:
* Upgrade to a nicer Luna chainring when the 46t wears out, probably a 42t. Need to verify how this may change the chainline. For now, the 46t chainring seems fine, I haven't had any issues.
* Experiment with the programming: right now I only use PAS1, because PAS2+ deliver more power than I am comfortable with. I'd like to have smaller power increases between PAS levels. Also slightly smoother throttle response.
* Modify the battery mounting bracket (by drilling additional mounting holes) so battery can be mounted right-side up.
* Experiment with a twist throttle, probably a left twist, half grip.
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