After killing X35 battery on lapierre esensium with a youtube inspired DIY battery extender I needed to consider options. Battery is £650 and must come from importer as it’s coded to frame, fitted is £950 ish with lots of labour and new cables etc (bike shop intimated others are scrapping such bikes). Out of warranty there must be many bikes in similar condition and I couldn’t find credible solutions online. Already having a 9AH cage battery and the knowledge n+1 = optimum bikes I challenged myself and aliexpress to fix esensium DIY and also convert a nice unused steelie, for LESS than a new X35 battery.
I don’t want thumb throttle, I want the closest experience to a road bike that I can as health has led me to ebikes. So ordered a tongsheng tsdz2b 250w for the steelie, and a sutto (bafang) 250w hub motor kit and 15.4 AH hailong type battery, total cost £550 delivered
Was quite a bit of trial and error and some swearing etc, key point is you cannot use Mahle hub (I stupidly/stubbornly wanted to as it had a strong DT Swiss rim build) it partially works then cuts out, presume signals between hub and controller are different (I guess this is why it’s a 9 pin connector there is info on speed, torque and obviously battery power being shared through controller).
PAS being the challenge of many road conversions, I tried hollowtech right side but esensium has a push fit oversize bottom bracket and although I got it partially working it was weak and unreliable. Then thinking PAS cannot be an overly complex electrical signal I reused chainstay integrated Mahle PAS, 3 very flimsy wires soldered and taped up (black/black, orange/white, red/brown) and it’s superb, as good as x35, more torque but otherwise identical riding. I couldn’t find any clear info on web so hopefully this could inspire other X35 fixes.
I’ve fed the cables through the downtube to hide the unused (brake lever sensors x 2 & throttle) connectors, so no external cables between front and back of bike preserves original slick look as best as possible, together with small controller box on down tube.
As to the steelie the tongsheng is outstanding, so easy to install, set-up. So much torque “turbo” mode is silly and is like a Deliveroo rider, other modes equate to X35. Key learning is tightening the bottom bracket nut with the shortish spanner provided, despite lock tight it came loose so used hammer (rag over paintwork) to get another half a turn and put marker paint over nut and bottom bracket so I can see any movement. Bike built 10 years ago, an ebay find of 1980s columbus tubing Dave Quinn, I think son of legend 70s framebuilder Harry Quinn, has modern ish forks allowing modern headset and stem.
Which is better? They’re subtly different, mid-drive steelie so smooth and with single chainring is a tourer with mudguards and big 15.4 AH battery, esensium with double chainset, disc brakes and lighter 9 AH battery is more of a racing type feel. Most importantly I can maintain them going forward and they both have longer range, being my original target to overcome the short X35 range. Thanks for reading.
I don’t want thumb throttle, I want the closest experience to a road bike that I can as health has led me to ebikes. So ordered a tongsheng tsdz2b 250w for the steelie, and a sutto (bafang) 250w hub motor kit and 15.4 AH hailong type battery, total cost £550 delivered
Was quite a bit of trial and error and some swearing etc, key point is you cannot use Mahle hub (I stupidly/stubbornly wanted to as it had a strong DT Swiss rim build) it partially works then cuts out, presume signals between hub and controller are different (I guess this is why it’s a 9 pin connector there is info on speed, torque and obviously battery power being shared through controller).
PAS being the challenge of many road conversions, I tried hollowtech right side but esensium has a push fit oversize bottom bracket and although I got it partially working it was weak and unreliable. Then thinking PAS cannot be an overly complex electrical signal I reused chainstay integrated Mahle PAS, 3 very flimsy wires soldered and taped up (black/black, orange/white, red/brown) and it’s superb, as good as x35, more torque but otherwise identical riding. I couldn’t find any clear info on web so hopefully this could inspire other X35 fixes.
I’ve fed the cables through the downtube to hide the unused (brake lever sensors x 2 & throttle) connectors, so no external cables between front and back of bike preserves original slick look as best as possible, together with small controller box on down tube.
As to the steelie the tongsheng is outstanding, so easy to install, set-up. So much torque “turbo” mode is silly and is like a Deliveroo rider, other modes equate to X35. Key learning is tightening the bottom bracket nut with the shortish spanner provided, despite lock tight it came loose so used hammer (rag over paintwork) to get another half a turn and put marker paint over nut and bottom bracket so I can see any movement. Bike built 10 years ago, an ebay find of 1980s columbus tubing Dave Quinn, I think son of legend 70s framebuilder Harry Quinn, has modern ish forks allowing modern headset and stem.
Which is better? They’re subtly different, mid-drive steelie so smooth and with single chainring is a tourer with mudguards and big 15.4 AH battery, esensium with double chainset, disc brakes and lighter 9 AH battery is more of a racing type feel. Most importantly I can maintain them going forward and they both have longer range, being my original target to overcome the short X35 range. Thanks for reading.
