Nihola cargo trike conversion - sanity check please?

[Alias_Knagg]

I just acquired this Nihola cargo trike for a rather good price .
It's got a few dings and dents, but hardly any wear on the chain and tires.
The promo vinyl came off nicely yesterday, and a child seat is about to be ordered.

It's rather hilly around here and the missus is not really an avid cyclist, so I need to do a proper conversion.
It would be great with some feedback before I go and send all that cash off to China..

The plan so far is to use a Bafang BBSHD and mount it inside the frame if possible.
( Someone mentioned the bbs02 was not rainproof if mounted too close to upside down.)

It seems that 1000W is the standard for this motor, so it's probably not worth considering the smaller versions.
48V also seems to be standard, and I guess I should get at least 15Ah..?
And I should probably get a gearsensor, and a programming cable of course.

But what about sprockets and torque...? That's kind of outside my field of experience..

Its now got a 38t sprocket front and 22t rear and an SRAM P5 hub with coaster brake.
Presumably it's the cargo model in which case some of the the specs are:
Torque/driver body: max. 85 Nm.
Ratio 224% (0.667, 0.778, 1.000, 1.286, 1.500)

The motor comes with 46t but I see 44 in some listings.
Its possible a 24t would fit on the hub, but maybe I should try to get below 40 in front instead.
Or perhaps that would risk overloading the hub?

Well folks, I could carry on, but what do you think, am I on the right track here?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

These things are always a nightmare to convert. Have you checked that the bottom bracket is standard? They often aren't. I guess you know that you'll lose your coaster brake, but it looks like you have the bosses for rim brakes.

 

[Alias_Knagg]

I forgot to mention, but yeah it's 68mm and 35mm ID.

I also just found a short video that appears to show a BBS02 conversion.

Mute the volume

Was just about to try to get a 1:1 print of the drawing done to try it out.

 

[Alias_Knagg]

And I spoke to a Norwegian Nihola reseller who told me they do BBS02 conversions with kits that sell for 1500£ locally!

 

[anotherkiwi]

I bet they use the BBS02 "250 W" version to keep it street legal. http://em3ev.com/product/bafang-36v-250-500w-bbs02-kit/
About $500 without the battery. Get a BIG 36 V battery, I would suggest wiring two 13 Ah batteries in parallel, your 25 Amp controller will say "thank you!" for that.

Dont worry about losing your coaster brake you have two SA drums on the front, I am guessing 70 mm and they are all you need. Many vélomobiles and trikes use those, they are heavy vehicles too and go much faster than you so you will be fine. If you have mega hills and they aren't strong enough with a kid and loads of shopping in the front you can upgrade to 90 mm with cooling fins. There goes your budget out the window https://www.ginkgo-veloteile.de/ginkgoshop/en/Wheel-Accessories/Drum-Brakes/Drum-Brake-Hubs/Sturmey-Archer-Hubs-90-mm-with-Cooling-Blocks.html And as d8veh said you have the v-brake mounting studs if you need even more stopping power.

 

[Alias_Knagg]

I had not quite realized how the coaser brake would be left useless. Thanks for the heads up. But as you say the front drums are doing most of the work anyway and I will probably install v-brakes just for redundancy, so I'll be fine in that department

Another surprise was that the motor does not even remotely fit inside the frame as I had imagined. It just barely fits underneath my BB on a "180 dg. angle". How much clearance that leaves me is the big question I guess. I'm not going off-road with this thing and the box does not have the greatest of clearance either, but I must admit I'm mulling over the whole MaxDrive bracket welding scenario once more at this point

 

[Pappa D]

Hello, I am about to undertake the same challenge, for pretty much the same reason! Did you finish your conversion?

 

[Nealh]

It's been nearly 6 years , I doubt one will get a reply.