Bafang 250W amazing range

[Jayfdee]

I have just put my 250W Bafang conversion through a challenge. I did a 50 mile circuit over some extreme territory, over the top of Bowland fell, a long very remote off road track, followed by a return over and through the trough of Bowland, and up to Jubilee tower.
I did 50 miles, 4000ft of ascent,and finished with battery flashing empty. It was a 16Ah battery with about 1000 miles on it. On the last climb, still 10 miles from home, the battery light started flashing zero, but it was downhill from here, and it does recover from a hard climb.
I used to do this circuit regularly on my Orange P7, but that was 20 years ago.
This ebike allows me to re-live my younger days, and I am well impressed with the range and performance.
I have fitted my Orange P7 with a hub drive, but it would not have completed this route.

 

[Lezallib]

That's amazing!
Were you satisfied with the amount of power it provided? I've always thought that 250W is just too light for climbing hills.

 

[vfr400]

There's no such thing as a long range motor, though you can get long range batteries and long range riders.

 

[Nealh]

250w/350w for hill climbing depends of the hub motor used and the current you can get out of it, they generally will out perform DD 1000w+ motors only missing out on the moped speed on level ground. I use hubs mainly and do up to 100 mile rides with over 1000m of ascent on or off road.

 

[Jayfdee]

That's amazing!
Were you satisfied with the amount of power it provided? I've always thought that 250W is just too light for climbing hills.

Yes a 250W mid drive is just about enough, but you have to use the gears to get the best,and high cadence, also I come at this with over 20 years of un assisted mountain biking experience, I used to do this route on a normal mountain bike, and it would have been considered a serious day out.
Much of the route was off road, and very rough, 5-6mph max, too much power would be detrimental. I have set my Bafang to 18 amps, and tweaked many other parameters, I have 10 levels of assist, and due to range anxiety, I predominantly used level 4.
I also have a 500 W hub drive bike, and this would definitely not have managed this route, power falls off dramatically at low wheel speed.

 

[M1watch]

I have just put my 250W Bafang conversion through a challenge. I did a 50 mile circuit over some extreme territory, over the top of Bowland fell, a long very remote off road track, followed by a return over and through the trough of Bowland, and up to Jubilee tower.
I did 50 miles, 4000ft of ascent,and finished with battery flashing empty. It was a 16Ah battery with about 1000 miles on it. On the last climb, still 10 miles from home, the battery light started flashing zero, but it was downhill from here, and it does recover from a hard climb.
I used to do this circuit regularly on my Orange P7, but that was 20 years ago.
This ebike allows me to re-live my younger days, and I am well impressed with the range and performance.
I have fitted my Orange P7 with a hub drive, but it would not have completed this route.

I’m new to ebikes, but needing a total knee replacement I need to convert my mtb. What you just described is exactly what I wish to achieve with my Kona Caldera. What kt did you use? Thx Phil

 

[Jayfdee]

I’m new to ebikes, but needing a total knee replacement I need to convert my mtb. What you just described is exactly what I wish to achieve with my Kona Caldera. What kt did you use? Thx Phil

I used a Bafang 250w kit from Woosh bikes. http://wooshbikes.co.uk/cart/#/category/uid-4/cd-conversion-kits

I purchased a 16Ah battery from ebay, bottle rack style.
It was a simple conversion on a Giant bike, took me about 4hrs. The only difficult part is getting your old cranks off, you need a decent crank extractor tool, and make sure the central extraction thread passes through the crank and applies the pressure on to the Bottom bracket.
You need to check your bottom bracket width is compatible with the kit, details are on the Woosh site,most bikes are suitable.
Me personally, I would replace the rear cassette and chain at the same time.
I used a bike with cable drive discs as these are easy to adapt to the motor cut out cables, hydraulic ones are problematic, I also fitted a gear sensor, this detects when you are changing gear, and momentarily cuts out the motor, this saves all the crunching of the gear train.
Finally I purchased a programming lead, and tweaked the motor parameters, this will void your warranty, so your choice, details here,https://electricbike-blog.com/2015/06/26/a-hackers-guide-to-programming-the-bbs02/
The motor as supplied is fine, but I do a lot of hills, and a 250W motor is just about good enough, and legal.
Hope this helps

 

[minexplorer]

I have just put my 250W Bafang conversion through a challenge. I did a 50 mile circuit over some extreme territory, over the top of Bowland fell, a long very remote off road track, followed by a return over and through the trough of Bowland, and up to Jubilee tower.
I did 50 miles, 4000ft of ascent,and finished with battery flashing empty. It was a 16Ah battery with about 1000 miles on it. On the last climb, still 10 miles from home, the battery light started flashing zero, but it was downhill from here, and it does recover from a hard climb.
I used to do this circuit regularly on my Orange P7, but that was 20 years ago.
This ebike allows me to re-live my younger days, and I am well impressed with the range and performance.
I have fitted my Orange P7 with a hub drive, but it would not have completed this route.

incredible i just dont know how all you guys on here get these ranges. My bbs01 18amp on a giant sedona only ever gave 27miles on a 17.4ah battery. Derestricted and mainly used on 4 of 5 levels PAS.last few miles crawling back on PAS1-2. Now it has 2 batteries totaling 30ah i still only get 40 miles mainly on 4 -5 assist

 

[awol]

incredible i just dont know how all you guys on here get these ranges. My bbs01 18amp on a giant sedona only ever gave 27miles on a 17.4ah battery. Derestricted and mainly used on 4 of 5 levels PAS.last few miles crawling back on PAS1-2. Now it has 2 batteries totaling 30ah i still only get 40 miles mainly on 4 -5 assist

Try dropping to lower gears and let the motor spin faster to let it work more efficiently.

 

[Nealh]

incredible i just dont know how all you guys on here get these ranges. My bbs01 18amp on a giant sedona only ever gave 27miles on a 17.4ah battery. Derestricted and mainly used on 4 of 5 levels PAS.last few miles crawling back on PAS1-2. Now it has 2 batteries totaling 30ah i still only get 40 miles mainly on 4 -5 assist

Simply put your poor range is down to using high assist levels and drawing more current.
Using a BBS01 with frugal settings I manged 52 miles with 14.5ah/29e battery 10.03wh/mile.

Your range /battery usage indicates an inefficient wh per mile rate.
The first battery you are using 23.2 wh/mile and with two batteries it's actually worse and 27wh/mile.
With my bikes I get/ use 8.5 - 10.5 wh/mile, the difference I only use high assist if needed for incline other wise PAS 1 or 2 only, sometimes PAS 0 when conditions are favourable. I use PAS for a little boost rather then rely on it to do most of the work.

Amazing range as the thread headline says isn't down to the motor but the current you take out of the battery and input you put in.

 

[Jayfdee]

incredible i just dont know how all you guys on here get these ranges. My bbs01 18amp on a giant sedona only ever gave 27miles on a 17.4ah battery. Derestricted and mainly used on 4 of 5 levels PAS.last few miles crawling back on PAS1-2. Now it has 2 batteries totaling 30ah i still only get 40 miles mainly on 4 -5 assist

On my long ride quoted above, I had a certain amount of range anxiety, so I used a very low level of assist, and used the gears to keep a high cadence, this keeps the motor running around its high efficiency point. As I got tired and got further into the ride I used more assist, and only started to run out on the last climb.
Last week I did a 5 hour 30 mile off road circuit, and had confidence the battery would last, so I thrashed it in high levels of assist and again had plenty left at the end, this route had 3000ft of climb.
As others have noted, you have a certain amount of power stored, use it too enthusiastically and you will get low mileage.
My Crank drive is significantly better than my hub drive for mileage.

 

[minexplorer]

Try dropping to lower gears and let the motor spin faster to let it work more efficiently.

good tip,ive found more recently riding both the bbs01 & bbshd feel much better leaving on the 17t-20t cogs all the time.both have 42t narrow/wide chainrings.

 

[vfr400]

incredible i just dont know how all you guys on here get these ranges. My bbs01 18amp on a giant sedona only ever gave 27miles on a 17.4ah battery. Derestricted and mainly used on 4 of 5 levels PAS.last few miles crawling back on PAS1-2. Now it has 2 batteries totaling 30ah i still only get 40 miles mainly on 4 -5 assist

It's simple. Switch off the power and pedal as hard as you can, then boast about what a fantastic electric bike you have.

 

[minexplorer]

Simply put your poor range is down to using high assist levels and drawing more current.
Using a BBS01 with frugal settings I manged 52 miles with 14.5ah/29e battery 10.03wh/mile.

Your range /battery usage indicates an inefficient wh per mile rate.
The first battery you are using 23.2 wh/mile and with two batteries it's actually worse and 27wh/mile.
With my bikes I get/ use 8.5 - 10.5 wh/mile, the difference I only use high assist if needed for incline other wise PAS 1 or 2 only, sometimes PAS 0 when conditions are favourable. I use PAS for a little boost rather then rely on it to do most of the work.

Amazing range as the thread headline says isn't down to the motor but the current you take out of the battery and input you put in.

yes i added the 2nd battery so i cld use max assist most of the time,hence slightly worse. An definately full on uphill.i guess i feel low assist i might as well ride a regular bike.but my slightly arthritic 50 year old knees love it. id never get up a hill in PAS1-2 theyd ignite.

 

[Nealh]

Max assist and low assist is one of the varying factors that affect range.
You can't have both high power and range it's a trade off for your needs.
30ah will see me about 100 miles if I need to eke out the max without taking more capacity.
I can in good/benign conditions happily toot along at 18/19mph in PAS 1, this certainly helps range as does not engaging the motor down hill or on flat terrain.

 

[sjpt]

Even if you don't have a Bosch motor their range assistant will give a very good idea of how range might vary depending on assist level, terrain, bike type and so on. https://www.bosch-ebike.com/en/service/range-assistant/

Not quite as clear about what 'hilly' and 'uplands' mean as it might be, but a very useful tool.

 

[minexplorer]

Not quite as clear about what 'hilly' and 'uplands' mean

anywhere here in cornwall basically...lol. ill take a look but ive realised by now most e bikers use lower PAS than me.

 

[Thecopterdoctor]

Hi to all, just thought I would add to the discussion that I have fitted a Bafang BBS01 250watt to my new KMX Kobra and after having to extend all the switch, brake, controller and sensor wires plus design and 3D print mounts and brackets all is done and it is simply fantastic Highly recommended conversion.

 

[minexplorer]

Hi to all, just thought I would add to the discussion that I have fitted a Bafang BBS01 250watt to my new KMX Kobra and after having to extend all the switch, brake, controller and sensor wires plus design and 3D print mounts and brackets all is done and it is simply fantastic Highly recommended conversion.

Its a great motor isnt it. Despite having a bbshd i still use my 350w version more.Range anxiety limits the bbshd unless you can afford a huge expensive triangle battery.Have you set your bbs01 up with 'carls special sauce' programming? i find that works well.

 

[downy8]

I have just completed a 30.5 mile ride using assist 5 out of 9 and the battery has only dropped one bar, I just checked the voltage and there’s 37v left, I did a test ride to work and back as this is the first real ride I have used it but I was surprised after getting back from work ( 11 miles each way) and the battery was still reading full, this is with a new 36v 21ah battery from Jimmy with all copper connectors but I wasn’t expecting that sort of range, I was using the throttle quite a bit too on the hills and long straights, had 31mph out of it on the straight....(standard bafang 46t ring)
It’s a 36v 250w bafang still at 15amps using Karl’s special sauce settings...I am really chuffed with how it has performed and won’t even charge it tonight so I can see what sort of mileage I will get from a full battery.......
Over the moon.........
Rob.