cynergy

Hey All,

It's been a couple of weeks since I installed a Bionx motor kit on my old Trek 800 mountain bike (which has been upgraded over the years). I bought my kit from an electric bike store in Derry, NH. The owner was really helpful and let me ride a bunch of e-bikes. I really liked the Bionx and got one on a 26" wheel. I got the 350W, 48V system since I haul a bunch of stuff around to and from work on a regular basis. I installed everything myself, with some tips and pointers from the E Bikes store owner before I left the shop.

It was pretty easy to install. My only complaint is that the spokes on the rim of the conversion wheel weren't evenly tensioned and the wheel wasn't true. I did some minor adjustments, but at some point will have to adjust the spokes on the wheel to keep the rim nice and straight for my cantilever brakes.

Anyway, I've been using the bike for commuting regularly and love it. I got the battery pack/rear rack combo. I was worried at first that the weight on the back would mess up the balance of the bike, but I haven't had any issues. The weight of the system is significant (I think it adds 16 or 17 pounds) , but you don't notice it when riding.

I like have the battery in the rack - it's a nice clean package. I put my saddle bags on the rack and I'm all set for my commute.

My commute is about 8 to 8.5 miles each way, depending on which route I take. On the way there it is mostly downhill. On the way back it is mostly uphill, with some fairly steep and long hills.

The Bionx system is great. It lets me work hard if I want to, but if I'm in a rush or don't want to sweat, it can really make climbing those hills easy. I haul a heavy laptop in a pelican laptop hard case, plus additional equipment (sometimes a second laptop or tablet, wireless routers, and various other work-related items) plus extra clothes, emergency repair tools, etc.. If I use my non-electric bike (Trek 520 touring bike) the weight is manageable, but it's slow going up the hills. The Bionx makes that a non-issue. I can use the assist if I need it.

On my first ride home, I put the assist in max assist mode and rode as fast as I could to see how fast I could get home. It was quick, but towards the end on one of the long hills, the bicycle assist temporarily disabled itself to prevent over heating of the motor. The computer can be programmed to run in "Mountain" mode if you plan on riding up long mountain inclines. This will prevent the system from shutting the assist down and uses some alogorithm to avoid overheating the motor.

This is not an issue for me because I was really pushing the motor hard to see how fast I could get home (with loaded saddle bags). I've found that if I run the motor in level 2 or 3 (level 4 is the highest) mode and use mode 4 if I need assistance on the steep peaks, everything runs fine.

Overall I'm really happy with my system. I've ridden about 200 miles with it in 2 weeks. It's a blast. Having the electric assist helps me overcome that mental block of bike commuting regularly. If there is a morning where I'm not in the mood to ride, I just crank up the level of assist and the riding is easy.

I only use about 1/2 to less than 1/2 of the battery on my round trip (about 16 to 17 miles). I try and manage battery life carefully and ride in level 1 or 2 on the way to work, and 2 on the way home (with level 3 and 4 assist on the few big, long hills).

I love my Bionx electric assist conversion bike and hope to get many miles out of it. I'm a little worried if something breaks down, but the manufacturer has a 2 year warranty and the local dealer was very helpful and seems like he be able to support me if I encounter issues.

EBikeFL 

Nice write-up, cynergy. Do you have any pictures of your e-bike fully loaded? Can we see them?

Scaliboy62

17 miles a day = 85 miles for a 5 day work week commute with gas @ 4.25 a gallon say your vehicle gets 20 MPG comes to $ 18.00 a week, $ 72.00 a month, $ 864.00 a year gas savings alone, now factor in some fresh air, fun & health benifits & I would say you made a smart purchase

350htrr

Nice review, and I agree with you that it's great to have an E-assist going up hills and even just ripping around, I usually get more mileage out of 1/2 charge (25miles+ )and have never had the E-assist cut out, so those must be big long hills... I would also keep checking the spoke tightness as I have had 2 broken spokes so far in 900 miles...

EDIT; Oh, and as for any effect on my bike with the heavier back end... Yes there IS a difference on my bike, it used to have a very minor wobble/shimmy on the front wheel when going down hills when I let go of the handle... But now... Whoa within 1 second of letting go of the handle the front starts shaking/wobbling so violently that I would crash within 2 seconds if I tried to ride without holding on, and yet I cannot feel even the slightest hint of any wobble/shake/shimmy even, when I even keep just 1 finger on the bars...

powell

The more I read about BIONX the more I want to get one
It is one of the best ones out there intelligent drive
if you want to exercise
What is amazing is how smooth assist kicks in with no jerk
Completely silent, right?
The bottom line is you must COMPARE with other cheap kits to appreciate Bionx

350htrr

No jerkiness
No sound
Pick different levels of assist or no assist
It's great, I am 99% satisfied, the 1% is speed, if it could be made to override/ignore the 32 KM speed limit integrated into it and go... Lets say 40 KMs I would be 100% satisfied with my BIONX set up...

EBikeFL 

350htrr, if you think you'll like 40 kph then you'll absolutely love 48 kph. I had two lanes of traffic slowing down to take a look at my e-bike just now. Both panniers where full and a light breeze in my face. Man, I just wish I could go twice the distance like that. What a day. The e-bike is sooooo smooth now.

powell

My Canadian version Tidal Force is in theory limited to
20mph but I never saw 32km/h ,because Americans overrestricted to just 30km/h
before shipping here
Anyway I had been living with that restrict for over 5 years now
I would love to see 32km/h on my TF
What about BIONX 500w version?
Been

350htrr

I don't think they sell the 500w version any more. (more governmental rules?)

350htrr

Yea, I would love to be able to beat the max speed restraint on my BIONX set up, but I can't seem to find the right code... Somebody @ BIONX is taking the government rules a bit too seriously IMO...

cynergy

I'll try and post some pictures later this week.

Another feature that I like is the regenerative braking. I use it on the steep downhills. It does help charge the battery, but more importantly, I like that it slows down the bike without heating up or wearing down the brake pads.

There are a couple of long steep declines on my ride and if I don't use the braking system, I can pick up a lot of speed (I think on my road bike I hit 34MPH easily). On these declines I put the regen system into maximum braking and it slows the bike down a little (but not much -it's pretty steep) without needing to pull the brake levers.

I have the regen braking magnetic switch hooked up to my brake lever so when I pull my rear brake lever, the regen braking also kicks in.

i am going to buy a true-ing stand this winter to true up the rear wheel. i'm not really happy with it right now and need to adjust it more carefully.

EBikeFL 

I was going to get a truing stand as well but I opted for the adapter for my bicycle stand instead. It works for the front wheel type hubs but will not hold the weight of the hub motor. I instead tightened all the rear spokes and got them all to the same ideal tension or very close. Then I installed the rear rim, tire, etc. and balanced the entire rear setup using the distance between the rear fork sides where it meets the frame and rear rim. The truing stand adapter came with a gauge that could attach to the stand and I used this to true the rear rim, tire combo. It worked great. It allowed me to take into account the different distances on each side of the hub motor due to various spacers, brakes, cogs, etc.

The one tool I found indispensable for building both the front and rear rim/tire setup was the Park tension meter. I bought it from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00

There's no guessing on the spoke tensions with this tool. It is a bit cumbersome to attach to each spoke due to its size but I found if I weaved it between other spokes I was able to get it to work.

cynergy

Thanks EbikeFL - I am going to invest in the tension meter. Up till now, I pluck the spokes and listen to their frequency to kind of get them at the same tension. It only works OK.

350htrr

I did a sort of test today concerning the re-gen set up and have come to the conclusion that it could have been better/applied better... I find that whenever you are going down a steep/long hill and put in re-gen level 4 it doesn't even come close to slowing you down above 20 KMs, yet below 20 KMs you can't even pedal it hard enough to keep rolling? WTF? I think the re-gen levels need to be changed so that when you go down a steep/long hill at 50KMs+ and put it in level 4 it should charge enough so that you should have to pedal a bit to keep the same speed and if you don't want to pedal then you just put it in level 3... The way it is now is that it just doesn't charge enough above 20 KMs to have enough resistance to slow you down and is not charging what it could... JMO as to how it should work...

EDIT; ON my re-gen gauge it shows 75% re-gen happening when I go below 20KMs, and 25% re-gen happening above 30KMs or even 50 KMs both in level 4...?

cynergy

350htrr - I wonder if you can reprogram the regen mode. I know that with the regenerative brake, you can adjust the level of regenerative braking. I set mine to the max (40) level.

I get a similar result to what you noticed when using the regen braking. I agree, it would be helpful if it offered more braking on the steep hills...

350htrr

Yes, I have re-programed mine too, to the max 40 level... But BIONX seems to also have a min/max speed setting as far as how much charging seems to happen at any specific speed... That is the real problem, I think... The way it's set up from the factory "seems" like there is some/lots of re-gen ability being left on the table... I don't really know, but... JMO

cynergy

350htrr

This weekend I did some riding on the Bionx machine. I noticed that when I was going down some really steep hills, the regen braking (set to level 4, the highest braking level) displayed regen levels that were high (maybe 75%) when I was going fast down the hills. I can feel the braking effect because if I switch to a lower level of braking or if I disable the regen braking i can feel the bike start to move even faster. The braking level is consistent on my machine so level 4 provides the highes level of braking (both at low and higher speeds) and if I decrease the level, the braking effect decreases at all speeds.

I have the most current firmware version on my controller. The dealer updated it before i took the system home.

If you do not have the most current firmware, you might want to check with your dealer and see if you can update it (I think it requires a special cable to attach to the device). Maybe the newer firmware versions have an improved regen braking algorithm.

350htrr

I have REV 59, what is you version? I went out and tested it again and mine is re-gen 25% whenever I go faster than 20 KMs as compared to 75% when I am going slower in level 4... It seems as it is set up to allow you to coast faster down hills and not to hold you back too much...

profstack

The Bionx re-gen system seems to only accept so much charge at a time. Going down a steep hill, the regen is not really a serious braking force. Going down a mild hill is where it works best as a brake and battery charger.

Bionx currently (as of September, I think) is recommending REV 59 even though new models had REV 61. They dialed it back for some reason. I had mine reflashed to 59, but didn't notice any difference.

I think the G2 motor (48V) being lighter than the G1 motor has a shorter time before it starts to shut down due to overheating, IF you are doing serious hill climbing. The figure I heard was 4 minutes of hard use for the G2 compared to 7 minutes for the heavier G1 motor. The "mountain mode" was put in to improve things on steep hills, but I can't tell any difference in assist from mode 4 and mountain mode (5). Oh, to get to mountain mode just get to mode 4 and then hold the + button on the console until the screen starts blinking.

Yes, the Bionx system is very well thought out and executed. To me it was well worth the cost.

robertg200

Two weeks ago I installed the BionX 350 on a Trek Verve 4. Wow, what a combination. I ride down the road with a big grin on my face. The BionX system is well engineered. The torque control peddle assist keeps me working all the time. The only difference is that at higher assist levels I can go a lot faster for the same effort. If I want to take it easy, I can just use the throttle. System is dead silent and the display module provides good information on the state of the battery charge remaining. I highly recommend this system.

magic carpet

I installed the 350 on an Opus Zermatt with 700c wheels. To keep the wheels true I fastened the pairs of spokes together, where they touch, with a brass wire seizing. It seems to be working.

Alligator

What do you think about a Bionx system for a 20-mile commute, one way?

350htrr

Should be no problem if using level 1 all the way, or as an E-assist whatever level needed, using it as a "moped" going electric all the way depending on hills probably not quite good enough...

EDIT; It also depends which series you get, if you get the "M" then it almost certainly not going to be enough, unless you are prepared to use it only when really "necessary".... JMO

magic carpet

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I'd get a second battery if I was going to commute 40 miles a day. And a second charger to keep at work.
And go for the downtube mount, not the rear rack battery. That way the rear rack will have the strength to handle the spare battery and the weight balance will be better.
One of the MAJOR advantages of the BionX system is their downtube battery mount. It works very well, and you won't get the handling problems 'Cynergy' described above.

I have covered the labels on my battery with some leather to match my Brooks saddle and grips and am very pleased with the result.

Mike

robertg200

I installed a BionX 350 on my Trek Verve 4 about 3 months ago. It has performed flawlessly. I often ride 30 miles and have plenty of battery remaining at the end. Note, however, that I live in Florida have have no significant hills or inclines. Also, I often ride with no assist if the wind is behind me. Overall, I am absolutely delighted with the BionX package. I also have the down tube setup and I have a bag on the back rack. It can carry the battery if I need some charge. I'm 70 and would not be able to ride as often or as far as I do without this package. It is absolutely first rate.