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DIY Ebike Conversion

FLYIN_HAYN

FLYIN_HAYN

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2020
Messages
305
Location
Kauai
So I scored a free bike and I have decided to turn it into a mountain ripping ebike for hunting purposes of course. Looking at a few kits right now but if anyone has any suggestions I’m all ears!

First things first is I gotta clean up all the gears and breaks, put new tires, a new set of shocks, and give it a fresh camo paint job! A front and rear mounted basket for hauling my bag, bow, and meat is also in the works. I’m looking forward to using this bad boy this coming early season!
 

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I have been looking into this as well and the one major thing for me is i hunt a lot of really steep hills, which, from my research, has pushed me to focus my options to a mid drive motor rather than a hub motor.

The kit I have been eyeing us a bbs02. There are some articles out there about them, you can read for days on the subject. The big cost seems to be the battery.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
 
cmgoff said:
I have been looking into this as well and the one major thing for me is i hunt a lot of really steep hills, which, from my research, has pushed me to focus my options to a mid drive motor rather than a hub motor.

The kit I have been eyeing us a bbs02. There are some articles out there about them, you can read for days on the subject. The big cost seems to be the battery.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
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Yah I was gunna go with the bbshd kit from Luna cycles as it’s only 100 more then the bbs02!
 
That's a sweet ride for a conversion. I built mine using the Luna Cycle BBSHD mid drive kit this spring. That kit is legit as can be and super easy to install. I went with the off road kit so I can run it with the full 1500w. Also have the Luna Shark 52v battery. It's worth it in my opinion to also spring for the better charger they offer because you can charge it to 80% for storage which is the recommendation. The Luna forum is a wealth of knowledge and the install videos on the site are decent. If you've ever worked on bikes before it's a 3 hour job. If you have any questions let me know. Oh and get the better sprocket they offer. It's a much better piece.
 
tcmetrohunter said:
That's a sweet ride for a conversion. I built mine using the Luna Cycle BBSHD mid drive kit this spring. That kit is legit as can be and super easy to install. I went with the off road kit so I can run it with the full 1500w. Also have the Luna Shark 52v battery. It's worth it in my opinion to also spring for the better charger they offer because you can charge it to 80% for storage which is the recommendation. The Luna forum is a wealth of knowledge and the install videos on the site are decent. If you've ever worked on bikes before it's a 3 hour job. If you have any questions let me know. Oh and get the better sprocket they offer. It's a much better piece.
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I’m sold! I will definitely hit you up when it arrives!
 
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This is my Luna Cycle BBSHD off road eBike with a Luna Shark battery. It is fully waterproof. In this photo, I had just put the maxxis tires on for a tubeless conversion. Works amazing. Have used the motor and kit for over 300 miles. Have pulled many deer out and a Turkey. Will ever go back to a regular bike. I have a cart that goes on the back as well that my brother helped weld together from a cargo crate that goes into a tow hitch. You will not be disappointed with it.
If you have any trouble with it, let me know and I will try to help. I just had to grind down the front 30 tooth Luna mighty mini chain ring because it was causing way too much chain suck. The chain suck then caused several back derailleurs to break when the chain popped off the chainring.
 
FLYIN_HAYN said:
So I scored a free bike and I have decided to turn it into a mountain ripping ebike for hunting purposes of course. Looking at a few kits right now but if anyone has any suggestions I’m all ears!

First things first is I gotta clean up all the gears and breaks, put new tires, a new set of shocks, and give it a fresh camo paint job! A front and rear mounted basket for hauling my bag, bow, and meat is also in the works. I’m looking forward to using this bad boy this coming early season!
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Also looking at your bike, it looks sweet! Just make sure you have enough room in the center triangle for the battery for the motor.
 
Aaron Jones said:
View attachment 43239
This is my Luna Cycle BBSHD off road eBike with a Luna Shark battery. It is fully waterproof. In this photo, I had just put the maxxis tires on for a tubeless conversion. Works amazing. Have used the motor and kit for over 300 miles. Have pulled many deer out and a Turkey. Will ever go back to a regular bike. I have a cart that goes on the back as well that my brother helped weld together from a cargo crate that goes into a tow hitch. You will not be disappointed with it.
If you have any trouble with it, let me know and I will try to help. I just had to grind down the front 30 tooth Luna mighty mini chain ring because it was causing way too much chain suck. The chain suck then caused several back derailleurs to break when the chain popped off the chainring.
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Sweet ride man. What does your cart look like? I was going to use the kiddos trailer with a smaller ice fishing sled on top of it if needed this year but never ended up using it. I was looking at the ones Quietkat and Rambo make but it's hard to justify a single use trailer like them. How do you like the tubeless setup? I was going to go that route but after talking to a shop they advised against it because of the extra weight on the tires.
 
tcmetrohunter said:
Sweet ride man. What does your cart look like? I was going to use the kiddos trailer with a smaller ice fishing sled on top of it if needed this year but never ended up using it. I was looking at the ones Quietkat and Rambo make but it's hard to justify a single use trailer like them. How do you like the tubeless setup? I was going to go that route but after talking to a shop they advised against it because of the extra weight on the tires.
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attached are several photos of the trailer. The third photo is of my old bike before I bought my new one. Trailer works great. This past fall, I was able to put a nice buck in it, and have my brother sit on the back edge of it. Bike pulled them out 2 miles deep.

I was always under the impression that tubeless was less weight since the tube is gone. I didn’t have tubeless ready rims but was able to rig them up. They work great! No more flat tires which is important when you are a couple miles deep.
 

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Only thing you have to worry about is the size of the bottom bracket. Some of the fancier bikes have new types of bottom brackets for some reason that dont work with these kits. At least they didnt a few years ago
 
sb220 said:
Only thing you have to worry about is the size of the bottom bracket. Some of the fancier bikes have new types of bottom brackets for some reason that dont work with these kits. At least they didnt a few years ago
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You can always get a size bigger and have a custom sized pipe cut to use as a spacer. That’s what I did and it works great!
 
Another vote for BBSHD. Will definitely get up some hills. I rode mine all over last fall and love it.
I just use the hawk crawler cart with a short webbing strap to my rear seat rack.
 
Aaron Jones said:
I was always under the impression that tubeless was less weight since the tube is gone. I didn’t have tubeless ready rims but was able to rig them up. They work great! No more flat tires which is important when you are a couple miles deep.
Click to expand...

I meant the extra weight of the bike with the added motor and battery. I was told that the proper stiffer e-bike rated tires and tubes will last longer than going with a DIY tubeless setup. Who knows if this is true but I figured it makes sense and I wouldn't want to blow out a tire 5 miles from the house pulling my kiddo in his trailer.

Your trailer looks sweet too!
 
tcmetrohunter said:
I meant the extra weight of the bike with the added motor and battery. I was told that the proper stiffer e-bike rated tires and tubes will last longer than going with a DIY tubeless setup. Who knows if this is true but I figured it makes sense and I wouldn't want to blow out a tire 5 miles from the house pulling my kiddo in his trailer.

Your trailer looks sweet too!
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Oh yeah, one of the things you can do and should do, is carry a small portable air pump with you. I carry mine on my trailer. You can also carry another tube, which I do, so if one of my tires does bust, I can put the tube in it and air it up and make it back out of the woods. Not a permanent solution but will limp you back to where you can actually fix the tire back tubeless. Honestly the e bike kit doesn’t add as much weight as you think. Maybe 20 pounds. My bike is roughly 30 pounds which isn’t bad compared to the 50-60 pound ones that come prebuilt.

I have found that I have a small leak in both tires that have air escape over a longer period of time. I air them back up and they are good to go. Since going tubeless I have yet to have a flat tire. When I had tubes, even with the green slime, I would have flats constantly.
 
FLYIN_HAYN said:
So I gave her a fresh paint job, cleaned up the gears, and refilled the shocks. Cargo racks and lights are next till I can get the Luna bbshd kit. Gunna be stylin next season!View attachment 43480
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As things come in and you start putting it together! Update the thread. I would enjoy watching it all come together. Bike hunting is the best. You won’t go back!
 
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