Electric Bikes Conversion Kits EMTBS eRoad/Commuting What's New?

Gear sensor

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I've recently been involved with a couple of bike conversions using Bafang mid-drives. One had the gear sensor and the other didn't. The difference is substantial. It solves all that banging and crashing when changing gear. I'd recommend that anybody with a mid-drive and the option of brake cut-offs should fit one.

It's very simple to fit. It can go anywhere on the gear cable. They come with a moulded connector that fits standard Chinese harnesses, or you can cut off the connector and join the wires to the brake cut-off connector on your controller. It's a simple switch that switches on when the gear cable moves in either direction. When "on", the controller switches power off.

You can get them from various retailers that sell Bafang mid-drives, like Dillenger UK. Shop around because the price varies a lot. I got mine very cheaply from Em3ev.com because I bought them with other stuff that made postage free.

More details here:

http://gearsensor.com
 
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KirstinS

KirstinS

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d8veh said:
I've recently been involved with a couple of bike conversions using Bafang mid-drives. One had the gear sensor and the other didn't. The difference is substantial. It solves all that banging and crashing when changing gear. I'd recommend that anybody with a mid-drive and the option of brake cut-offs should fit one.

It's very simple to fit. It can go anywhere on the gear cable. They come with a moulded connector that fits standard Chinese harnesses, or you can cut off the connector and join the wires to the brake cut-off connector on your controller. It's a simple switch that switches on when the gear cable moves in either direction. When "on", the controller switches power off.

You can get them from various retailers that sell Bafang mid-drives, like Dillenger UK. Shop around because the price varies a lot. I got mine very cheaply from Em3ev.com because I bought them with other stuff that made postage free.

More details here:

http://gearsensor.com
Click to expand...
What a great little solution
 
Fordulike

Fordulike

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+1, it looks like a superb little device.

I might be being picky here, but I wish these overseas companies would invest a little bit of cash in translating their English language websites correctly.

A few quid to a half decent proofreader, would transform these websites dramatically.

Heck, give me access to the editing software and I'll do it for a crate of beer :D
 
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anotherkiwi

anotherkiwi

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d8veh said:
.............or a free sensor.
Click to expand...
I have already tried, they just don't think they need it. Anyway @flecc is OK with their "English" so all is well! :p

I don't need one of these with the GSM. Is it my way of changing gears that means I never have problems? Correct cadence, always in the right gear at the right time? Quality of the Connex chain? Gear changing on my hub bike was much more violent, I destroyed a Chain after about 1000 km.
 
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flecc

flecc

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anotherkiwi said:
Anyway @flecc is OK with their "English" so all is well! :p
Click to expand...
It's far better than the English of our average teenagers and half our adults. Some of them I can't even understand, but the text in that website makes perfect sense, despite some spelling discrepancies.
.
 
Fordulike

Fordulike

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flecc said:
It's far better than the English of our average teenagers and half our adults. Some of them I can't even understand, but the text in that website makes perfect sense, despite some spelling discrepancies.
.
Click to expand...
It's definitely not the worst I've seen. The Chinese websites are the funniest, and their product instruction leaflets are usually a scream.

But we love you China, especially everyone who works at Bafang :)
 
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flecc

flecc

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Fordulike said:
It's definitely not the worst I've seen. The Chinese websites are the funniest, and their product instruction leaflets are usually a scream.
Click to expand...
The Japanese also used to be very funny years ago, like the handbook of a camera which was supplied with a neckstrap. The handbook commenced with this:

"The camera is used while hanging by the neck."

They are much better now but still drop the odd clanger, like the spelling of "remaining" on this Panasonic battery:

 
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Alan Quay

Alan Quay

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A few years back we bought a robot vacuum cleaner. In the supplies manual it stated that 'it sometimes get block from hairy lump rubbish'.

In our houshold to this day anything that needs to be cleaned off, hoovered up or wiped away is known as hairy lump rubbish.

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
 
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trex

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I made my own gear sensor with a microswitch mounted on the handlebars and a magnet glued onto the casing of my rapidfire shifter. The motor cuts if I push on the shifter lever more than about 3mm, giving the motor time to cut out before the derailleur starts moving. The inline gear sensor kicks in when the cable has moved more than about 0.1mm - a bit later than on mine.
 
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At the last Redbridge show, Tony had a Bafang BBS01 bike with home-made sensors on the changers. Is that the same as yours? If so, it was better than not having anything, but nowhere near as good as the OP one.

There was also a Kalkhoff at that show that was supposed to have some sort of gear sensor, but it didn't seem to make a lot of difference. I remember thinking while I rode it, "Nice try, but no cigar".

As you know, I stopped using crank-drive bikes, partly because I don't like the discomfort of the gear-changing. That problem seems to be more or less eliminated with the gearsensor.com one.
 
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trex

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Tony had his microswitch inside the RapidFire shifter casing. The RF lever pushes on the switch to close the contact. I have a reed microswitch mount fitted to the handlebars. I glued a 2mm wide magnet on the underside plastic cover which moves when the RF lever is pushed. It's OK to make one off but it takes too long to 3D print the mount for the reed.

This one was at Redbridge (2014):



Mine (2016):

 
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anotherkiwi

anotherkiwi

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Nobody answered my question: why don't my gears crash when I change them?
 
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trex

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could it be muscle memory? your legs ease off just before you change gears? keeping chain tension at just the right amount? do you have a shimano shadow derailleur?
 
anotherkiwi

anotherkiwi

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Yes I do! But maybe I change them too well?
 
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eBike Battery Team

eBike Battery Team

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d8veh said:
I've recently been involved with a couple of bike conversions using Bafang mid-drives. One had the gear sensor and the other didn't. The difference is substantial. It solves all that banging and crashing when changing gear. I'd recommend that anybody with a mid-drive and the option of brake cut-offs should fit one.

It's very simple to fit. It can go anywhere on the gear cable. They come with a moulded connector that fits standard Chinese harnesses, or you can cut off the connector and join the wires to the brake cut-off connector on your controller. It's a simple switch that switches on when the gear cable moves in either direction. When "on", the controller switches power off.

You can get them from various retailers that sell Bafang mid-drives, like Dillenger UK. Shop around because the price varies a lot. I got mine very cheaply from Em3ev.com because I bought them with other stuff that made postage free.

More details here:

http://gearsensor.com
Click to expand...
Just to let you all know: we've taken delivery of our first order with gearsensor: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gearsensor-for-Bafang-Mid-Drives-BBS-01-BBS02-BBS-HD-Electric-Bike-Kit-Sensor-/232247805405?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT
 
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