Bafang kit fitted to ICE Sprint X 2018

[PAB855]

I'm looking into the feasability and cost of having a Bafang edrive fitted to my daughter's ICE Sprint X recumbent trike.

Because it has derailleur gearing and not, unfortunately, a Rohloff hub, it may have to be changed to a single chainring, but with careful choice of number of teeth, the motor's assistance may compensate for that.

Would a beefed up chain help and advice on how to be canny when 'winding it up' be all that is needed or are there any other hidden snags or additional points to consider?

Something to think about while I'm not yet allowed to be aware. I'm still staying at home.

Cheers

[stodd]

I can't help directly, but two suggestions.

Contact Woosh https://wooshbikes.co.uk/ and they will have ideas. (They like everybody else are short on kits at the moment.)
Also ask at https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/forums/conversion-kits-general-discussion.42/

This forum likes to corrupt links it generates implicitly. I'll try again explicitly on the pedalecs one https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/forums/conversion-kits-general-discussion.42/
Yes. that works.

[PAB855]

Useful stuff thanks

[hemo]

Bafang or similar mid drive kits can be fitted with 2x chain rings with a mid drive spider though some cross chaining may be noticeable in some gears, the smallest inner ring you can fit is 32t.

[hercule]

I added a front wheel drive to my Kettwiesel - it wouldn’t have been possible to add anything else but I’m glad that I didn’t have to worry about losing the triple chainset, it still comes in very handy on steep climbs.

You could always build a rear wheel with either the Sturmey or SRAM combo derailleur and internal geared hubs, though I don’t know how they would cope with the extra watts, plus you’d need to be spot on with cable settings for the IGH part.

[PAB855]

Thanks for these postings.

I'm beginning to think about a rear wheel hub motor instead. If the Sprint had had a Rohloff hub gear, I would have had no hesitation in going for a mid drive motor.

The advantage of going for the rear wheel hub is that this model has a 26inch rear wheel therefore, allowing for a possible reduction from 9speeed to 7speed to accommodate the width of the hub, the gearing would change from 3x9 to 3x7 ie 21 speed. All the alterations would be confined to the rear wheel.

Without a Rohloff, the changes would be throughout the whole drivetrain plus a drop to 9 speed or at best 18speed. The motor would compensate to some extent, but even with a motor it may be unsatisfactory.

We had a Panda motor ekit conversion made on an ICE Adventure RS with 3x9 gearing a couple of years ago, but to simplify the gearing changed to a double for personal reasons. The 9 rear was changed to a 7 to reduce the width because the rear wheel was too tight with a motor. The 20inch wheels made the choice of chainring size tricky, but all has been totally satisfactory for two years. It took a few months of trial and error which I would rather not repeat.

I was hoping to have less faff by using a mid drive on this other trike for our daughter, but I'm not sure that's the way to go.

I'm hoping I'm not wasting your time, but your information has all been useful.

Thanks again

[sharpedge]

I have the mid drive Bafang on my ICE Adventure HD with the Rohloff hub. The advantage of the mid drive is that you get the benefit of the motor driving through the gears which a wheel fitted motor wont do. Pedal in top gear with the PAS in a selected level and the power from the motor will be the same as when are in bottom gear at the same PAS.

[hemo]

One sure way to blow the BBS controller is too start off in too high a gear they like to be spun up and not laboured.