Rumors have persisted for more than a year now that Bafang was working on a BBS02 that would be shipped from the factory with support for a 100mm+ fat-bike bottom brackets. I haven’t covered this at all out of respect for the three companies that have spent a lot of time and effort making their own 100mm axle conversions for the BBS02. Now Bafang has updated their website with specs for their newest drive unit listed as the G32.1000 located here that will be called the BBSHD. It won’t be available stateside for at least another couple of months (est availability for US consumers is Nov 1st), I’ll post a review as soon as I get one.
Lectric Cycles will have one mounted on a full suspension Salsa Bucksaw for your demoing pleasure this year at Interbike, so go seek them out if you want to try it before you buy it. There are only 6 pre-production units in the entire universe and Lectric has 2 of them.
More of everything we want without too much more weight and a much higher a price. Pricing will probably be at least $150-200 more than the BBS02. Comes with a real nice drop shadow.
Old faithful the BBS02, notice the smaller motor and lack of cooling fins.
Bafang has this to say about the new drive unit
With an integrated speed sensor, this mid-drive motor, which is compatible with a 68-120mm bottom bracket, has a rated power of 750-1000W, a reduction ratio of 1: 21.9 and a maximum torque of 160 N.m, will provide the rider with great explosive force when starting the system. Highly strong and efficient, this motor greatly enhances riding joy and is suitable for mountain bikes and sand bikes which are the favorites of riders who love challenges as well as transport bikes. This motor is black.
I’m not sure what I’m the most excited about,
That this unit works with 68-120mm BB
The increased power to 1000W nominal
Increase in torque 160Nm
Bigger fins to keep the drive unit running cooler
The fact that the drive unit is still black. I guess their market analysis said there was no demand for a bright pink drive unit.
The RPM is increased to 130-150RPM from the BBS02 750W which ran at around 120RPM which is way faster than you could ever pedal even if you were on high on drugs. Drugs are terrible, just because your parents do them doesn’t mean they are OK.
The nominal wattage rating is 1000W and I’m guessing that it will peak out at around 1500-1600W which puts it firmly into Lightning Rods Small Block territory. More power is better, and the motor is still small enough that you could lie to the cops and say it’s 750W … hopefully before they beat you senseless and throw you in the paddy-wagon. It turns out this motor has the same amount of copper as the old 750W motor but is wound and wired to take 1000W continuous power.
4.8kg = 10.6 lbs which is about what the 100mm BBS02 kits weigh so it’s nice that it’s not as heavy as a large geared hub or direct drive. A comparable DD motor like the MXUS would be 20lbs or more and would eat a lot more watts than this one will under load.
I have confirmation that the BBSHD controller will be able to support a max of 45 Amps opposed to the 25 Amps that the old BBS02 controller would max out at. From the factory it will ship to max out at 30 or 35 Amps, frankly we just don’t know yet.
160Nm means more wheelie popping power over the 120Nm of the 750W BBS02. More Nm = More fun. 160Nm is about 2.1 times the maximum Nm of force of the most powerful Bosch drive unit you can buy the Performance CX. *Yawn*
Nm is the amount of torque you get from 1 Newton of force on a meter long arm.
I’m almost certain that their controller will be running the newer IRF3077 mosfets that they have been charging an extra $20 premium from the factory for on the BBS02.
I’m guessing that the cost for the new unit will be about $150-200 over what you are paying now for the 750W BBS02 from reputable ebike vendors. I also would assume that this drive unit will heavily eat into the sales of the 750W BBS02 since who really is going to want to buy a US legal mid drive when they can get away with 1000W instead? Expect the price of the 750W BBS02s to start dropping in the coming months as dealers try to dump their existing stocks.
So what will the top speed of the new drive unit be? I’m guessing at full throttle on level ground with a 170lb rider and a 44T front ring and 12T cog the top speed would be around 30mph-ish. Going downhill with a very large chainwheel like a 52T you should be able to get close to 45mph. The place this motor should really shine is on steep uphills which should be around 20mph or so depending on the grade. With a similar power level on a DD motor or geared hub motor you won’t get anything close to the hill climbing ability of this mid-drive system.
From the top you can see that the axle as shown will not fit on a 120mm fatbike. There will be 2 units with different length axles one for 100mm +/- BB and another for a 68-73mm BB.
Thanks for Lars from Norway for the tip. Lars is a firm believer that the power of the motor is directly proportional to the size of the fins and owns a 59 El Dorado because that had the biggest fins money can buy (not counting some Real Big Fish), but he hates buying gas for it at $8/gallon in Norway.
Eat your heart out Bafang, your little fins just don’t measure up to the ’59 Caddy.
Speaking of fins this red car shown below was the same model car I drove around for 10 years in as my daily driver, a 1961 Dodge Phoenix. I bought it because it was the ugliest car I had ever seen. I never did get it on in the back seat although I should have as it was bigger than my couch. *sigh* Actually I don’t think I was ever with a woman in the 10 years I drove this car around.
PROTIP: If you want to get a girl don’t buy the ugliest car you’ve ever seen, especially one with reversed fins.
It never got more than 10mpg, I think it even got less. Had to add lead to the gas too, what an environmental disaster. I’ll pay back my karmic debt building and destroying ebikes.
Man, do I ever miss my old tank. Had to add the seatbelts myself, who needs seatbelts anyway?
Ride On you crazy diamonds.