Generally there are 4 places to mount a battery on your bike when doing a conversion. If you get creative there are more. But in this video I cover the major 4!
Know this guy is really experienced but the rear rack really is the most stealthy, protected from elements who’ll still allowing reasonable capacity.. I understand it’s a bad spot if you are mountain biking but in the city for commute to work and for runs to the store, I like this position because of the stealthy look.
If it works for you go for it. But it’s probably the worst possible place to put it for your center of gravity. Plus the tendency of the rack to shake loose under vibration from the road. Locktite could help solve that.
@@JohnnyNerdOut I do understand your point and I understand yours is the more accepted way to go, when I first mounted a child seat behind my seat, the weight distribution took a few rides to get used to it. Adding speed and significant torq wth an electric conversion makes it even more daunting to deal with extra weight. I mostly like that it looks more like a normal bike when mounted to the back and there’s only so much battery you can fit on a down tube. But I understand why you don’t prefer rear mount. Love this channel by the way. Your explanations are the best
@@t.breeze8659rear rack is terrible place, mine is at the rear rack, i bought two 12x20 inches aluminum plates one for under the rear rack and one on the rear rack, drill 4 holes to them, and put a strong rubber between rack and aluminum plates, then screwed bolted plates. Drilled two extra holes for the battery, and again put a thinner rubber like a mouse pad between battery and aluminum plate. This made the least vibration to the battery but pot holes still make a huge impact on the battery when above 20 miles/ hr. Even in Manhattan bike routes there are pots which impact battery. Unfortunately rear rack is my only choice for this bike.
Hi Johnny , I made mistake when I ordered my BBSHD kit and received the 48v ,17.5 amp with the rear rack. Was upset but didn't want to return it due to wait times. With this in mind I made a back pack to hold my battery. I haven't fallen off my bike yet but I made sure that my connectors would quickly release in case I do. The rear rack frame was flipped upside down secured on two horizontal 2x4 to make a bike rack. When you got lemons you make lemonade. Kind Regards from Canada.
I mounted a second battery for my rad rover on my rear rack. I used the stock down tube mount, made an aluminum plate between the rack and battery. Mounted it with a rubber dampener and strapped it down with Velcro/rubber Rc straps.
Ahh, good to see the method i was going to use is your least preferred! Well i guess its back to the drawing board(and welder) making mounts for the downtube. Who would have known ebikes can be a little complicated?
What do you think about carrying the battery in a backpack and getting an extension to connect? Seems you could do a bigger battery and also the bike would be easier to maneuver without battery mounted to it.
I wish I watched your video earlier, I bought a rear rack 17.5 AH battery and it's bad. As you said the center of gravity is weird and it acts weird when I get bumps or ride in snowy and icy conditions. Now it's kind of too late and I don't want to spend another 400-ish dollar to get a new battery. It's a lot of maintenance to adjust it to stay kinda stable. Save yourselves some trouble and get a battery in the frame of your bike.
Inside the seat tube is what I’m seeing more of which is about the best place it can go and be protected all around. Now we just need much better amperage than the poultry sums we’ve gotten for the amount of space and weight any decent amount of amps take up. Thanks Johnny for the info.
Backpack for offroading and rackbag for commuting, that way you have it in your bag already instead of leaving it on the bike for thieves to get. But truth to be told: the first is likely to increase your appreciation for efficiency instead of power and the second will make you admire bicycle racks on other bikes more than would initially seem adequate. I have yet to find one that is rugged enough for my needs, so you'll see me looking around strangers bikes whenever i see a model that seems robust enough ... :)
I have a 20ah 48v battery under the seat it just fits but cant lower the seat for smaller riders lol. My other bike is mounted under the down tube in a bag so protected from water etc. Both full suspension so inside triangle was not an option with the sizes. Other places I've seen are on the cross bar and in a rucksack but both put cog high and make riding a bit awkward I think.
For handling purposes you want it as close to the bottom bracket as you can get. But you can't always mouth it there. I have a fairly large 48v 17.5Ah battery (weighing ~4kg, an old Luna 'Killer Whale'). Having mounted my kit on a number of frames over the years my preferred mount point is in the triangle mounted to the seat tube so the batery is near vertical. Mounting it on the down tube makes the handling feel a little sluggish by comparison. But there are not a lot of frames that have enough space for a battery that large.
On my Cannondale road bike the water bottle mounts dont line up well with the hole in the battery tray. However if I take the battery holder apart the area that holds the fuse has additional slot that I utilize to mount it.
No YT video found for : What if the key is lost and key lock barrel component is housed separately such that when the top cover four screws are removed, the key lock barrel component is residing in a separate compartment housed in plastic cover adjacent to the main plastic casing? And battery is slided into the battery holder bracket of the ebike?
I was initially drawn to your channel by your fatbike conversions. Since then you have me looking at hardtails again. I'm now quickly becoming obsessed with the Vitus Nucleus VR 27.5. My question is, would you see the possibility of a problem with fitting a 52 volt battery on top of the down tube of their small sized frame? Specs I found on a chart: Seattube length: 380mm Effective toptube length: 600mm Reach: 420mm Stack: 592mm
There are bikes, particularly touring, rando and cross bikes, with geometry optimized for more weight up front, so something like a battery in a dry bag on the fork, in a low rider pannier or even on top of a porteur rack works remarkably well. While a seat bag gets weight up even higher than a rack battery, there really is no such thing as a lightweight rack battery. I use them, a lot, but partly because I cannot devote a lot of time testing different batteries and positions for all the different bikes I get. I can tell you that a rack battery works best on most folding bikes because they have a front wheel bias and can get too light stopping going down hills. One final advantage to rack batteries is that you can get HUGE batteries. Personally, I would rather have two small batteries, but I know others feel differently. BTW, two 10ah batteries will give you more range and will live longer than one 20ah... do you know why?
looking for some feed back. I want to mount a shark type battery under the down tube (only solid place on a full suspension bike, top tube:cable run, front triangle is really small) for the range i want. Anybody running this setup for on road or off road. moisture resistance? longevity? any mods to enhance protection/ moisture resistance/ impact resistance? Hey johnny you could weigh if you any updated info. Thanks All
Hey JohnnyNerdOut, thanks for all of this free content. I chose and put together my bafang middrive kit with the help of your videos. I ran into one problem though regarding the battery mounting plate not lining up with the water bottle holes on my bike frame... I was looking at getting a mounting plate but thought to inquire if you have any advice for this scenario. Thanks and keep up the good work!
Any thoughts about mounting a Slim Shark 14ah pack inside the triangle on the seat tube? Has anyone had a long enough seat tube to be able to do that? On my 58cm Jamis Renegade gravel bike, I have good clearance for it and can use the two bottle cage mounts plus add a rivnut or two above those. Looking at that vs the down tube, it looks like the CG might be a touch higher, but it would place all of the weight directly between the seat and the cranks.
Thanks for your to the point video. I have a Kona stuff bike and think I will have to put the battery under the frame as it's a small frame and not big enough for a battery in the center. I don't anticipate riding in the rain as I will be using it to ride and keep up with my wife who rides a road bike 5 days a week and can ride over a 100 miles in one ride....lol
No love for a backpack battery? I'd think on a full suspension bike it might allow for a longer range. I use a backpack & 6ah battery on my city commuter. It's just easier to lock up the bike & take the battery with me that way. I set it up to be "class 1" with a BBS02 and can easily get 20 miles from a charge on that tiny battery (having no throttle). My preference is a (larger) triangle bag battery and use that on my MTB but can't discount that sometimes a backpack just makes more sense.
It’s definitely case by case, but in my experience it’s a higher center of gravity, leaves your back all sweaty, and you have to be tethered to the motor with a battery cable. Somewhat dangerous and at the least, annoying if it gets unplugged from falling or if it gets snagged somewhere. Just my opinion though, thanks Michael👍
@@JohnnyNerdOut I can't disagree. It's not the ideal. I only use it for local errands using city streets & the battery is only 3lbs so the COG isn't that important but just locking up, unplugging and walking away with my battery is (at least in NYC). I never use the backpack for mountain biking off road but know that some full suspension riders do.
Great discussion. I have a 72cell dolphin on a Cannondale Quick. good CG but bottle mounts just are not meant for that much weight. bungees interfere with cables ( will put them in a metal straw), big hose clamps make bat removal hard. ???Do you know of anyone making a mount that will address the lateral rocking of the battery that stresses the mounts and/or strong rubber cinches with tie down strength?
@@JohnnyNerdOut That may just be the best bet. The heat shrink over the hose clamps makes it look better pretty decent. Justin's demo vid explains it well. I thought there might be an insert that would do the job for the battery mount, but the bolts plus a clamp should do even better. Roads here mandate dirt bike solutions. Much thanks.
Hi, can a battery be "encased" for protection, like in a rear rack case that I don't use full ? Or it need to be exposed like in your videos to air for heat dissipation etc ? (but as it's black it must heat a lot with sun in summer if exposed ?)
What about on the seat tube facing forward into the triangle? I have bottle cage bosses there. The mounts on my downtube are too far down for the battery to mount unless I mounted it upside down, which seems wrong.
What about the battery bags that fit inside the triangle, that's were mine is fitted as my frame is just too small to use the bottle cage mounts. Most people just think it's an accessory bag. :)
but how do you place a battery thats just a blue block type? without mounts etc? all i figured so far was putting it inside a small bag in the front basket🤷🏻♂️
Good info. Just a question. How would you torque the wheel bolt where the the motor cable comes out? A torque wrench cannot works. Is there such a tool as a crescent torque wrench? Please advise. Thanks for all your info.
@@JohnnyNerdOut So no way to get a accurate torque on that hub motor nut? Why do the manufacturers manual give a torque value? That’s a pretty key area for tightening.
@@JohnnyNerdOut this is a very big MTB frame. Giant Trance Advanced SL that has the Shimano Hollow crank system with aluminum reinforced crank opening. Wouldn’t it hold up?
Could get one of those giant rectangular batteries and lug it around in a backpack with electrical cables jangling, Like a man merged with machine. Or you could get a trailer and fill it with batteries. Mostly joking but these are options
@@JohnnyNerdOut Could you also advice me on something. Im considering keeping my sram nx crank on the build, rather than using the bafang stock one, only until I have enough money to buy the Lekkie bling. Also a reason im considering this is its new and its narrow wide, I think thats what the term is. You know the type to help keep the chain on. Its only 32 teeth though and I have bbs02b and sram 1 to 12 gears, although its not currently going on to the last and biggest one. Any thoughts please?
@@JohnnyNerdOut Yes, I had a suspicion it was but its been so long since I put it together that I couldn't remember if that was the case. You see, I started with a frame and built it from there. Oh well, it looks like it will have to be the stock one then until I get the bling. Thanks for that Johnny, keep up the good work.
yes pretty helpful. im having a conundrum... converting my bike to a bbshd, want alot of range for long trips but the triangle is pretty small (the crossbar is quite a hard angle) so there is no space even for a 17ah battery where the water bottles go (i have drawn it out on cardboard and its so tight, its a pure gamble if i order it whether it will fit - cant return either as overseas and shipping costs as much or more again to send back). so i am prob gonna be stuck with the triangle type one in a bag (which just fits in my triangle, fills it up)... or the rack type one (which looks super convenient and well designed , plus the bonus is it could fit on any bike in the future (i may upgrade to a full suspension fat bike later, whicyh would have zero triangle, so the battery would be useless... but the rack one would go straight on. until i hear u say it sucks... now im confused again. what would u do?
@@JohnnyNerdOut thanks for the reply. im bassed in thailand so limited really to aliexpress. have had a search, they are all the same size. i have found a triangle version will fit well and increase the AH alot - so prob will do that and forget about thinking of moving to another bike later
@JohnnyNerdOut I was thinking about moving the battery on my recumbent bicycle to the back of the seat. Do you recommend that and if so, how can I secure the battery?
Just pop those 18650s out and feed them down the tubes of the frame. Connect them all in series and transform the voltage down at the end. (No one actually do this please)
The place to mount your bike is where nobody can see you. otherwise they'll wonder why are you mounting your bike is it in estress or are you...hahahah
