Bafang/Cyclone Morph

[pliebenberg]

After a year and some months of running Cyclone mid-drives (1 yr 3K and 3 mo Mini-Cyclone) I decided I'd had enough with their noise and marginal efficiency. (Not to mention worn/broken parts)

While waiting on some other pipe dreams I decided to use the nice-and-quiet BBS02 unit as simply a gear-motor running through the Cyclone chainwheel/BB assembly. I cobbled together an adapter mount using the reinforced Cyclone 3K motor brackets as a foundation and I like (so far) the results enough to where I may build "ground-up" mount for the Bafang if it holds up out in the woods.

Of course I've lost the ability to run the system as a Class 1 but I don't much like cadence PAS anyway. (Could patch in the cadence sensor from the Cylone but won't bother)

Gone are the Bafang problems of chain alignment and gear ratios. Gone too is the horrible Cyclone howl!

FWIW I've got a 20T "chainwheel" driver on the BBS02 feeding a 32T driven chainwheel; the drive chainwheels are 32T and 24T from the original Luna/Cyclone setup. I did cut the right end of the BBS02's crank shaft off for crank arm clearance but that wouldn't be necessary if the driver sprocket was spaced out a little bit and the motor assy. moved to the left (plenty of room to do this the next time).

Not sure if it should be called "Cyfang" or a "Balone"!

[max_volt]

[paxtana]

Neat, it looks kinda like a tangent ascent in that configuration.

Is the 02 welded to that silver plate?

[pliebenberg]

The adapter is a faux bottom bracket that the BBS02 mounts to "normally":

[calfee20]

That is a lot of work to go through when you could have just used the bike's BB. I don't see the point unless your BB is more than 73mm and you are using what you have.

[spinningmagnets]

Rotate it up into the triangle and then make the BB mount-length adjustable, and you'd really have something for the small percentage of oddly shaped frames that don't normally accept a BBSHD / Ludicrous.

[calfee20]

Very good point.

[pliebenberg]

That is a lot of work to go through when you could have just used the bike's BB. I don't see the point unless your BB is more than 73mm and you are using what you have.

I have tried the BBS02 mounted "normal" (on different bikes); because of the grunt work I'm asking the e-bikes to do the stock Bafang chainline is unusable at the low gearing I need. (And yes this frame is an 100mm BB)

Not a lot of work; it took me about an hour to fab the adapter. BTW just prior to giving up on the Cylone Mini I was running it with a jackshaft to give it low enough gearing with a proper (for me) cadence match-up. The jackshaft fell into the "lot of work" category. Fodder for another thread.

[pliebenberg]

Rotate it up into the triangle and then make the BB mount-length adjustable, and you'd really have something for the small percentage of oddly shaped frames that don't normally accept a BBSHD / Ludicrous.

Yes and I've sketched just such an arrangement; the telescoping mount length function also doubles to tension the primary chain. BTW on this bike the triangle bag would preclude rotating it upward. Another con is the higher CG although that might be offset by locating the battery somewhere else.

[JPLabs]

I like it, for a functional cobble! Especially since you not only had the parts, but they are on the bike.

You have a tremendous range of potential final drive ratios, and you mounted the motor up where it is dry for any sane water crossings. That's a novel feature, for a Bafang. In addition to being configurable for odd frames, as noted. Kudos for trying it.

Cool!