In the e-bike world, there are such things as ‘plus‘ and ‘fat‘ tire bikes. Many of the factory-built e-bikes now use the plus-size tire format for better contact with the road/trail surface (larger ‘contact patch’ for you motorcycle riders out there). And now you’re starting to see even wider tires on some factory e-bikes, presumably to improve your ride over loose gravel, sand, etc. For the most part though, fat tire bikes just look cool, and that’s probably enough justification to own one. So now I do…
I recently bought Costco’s Northrock XC00 Fat Tire Bike for $400 on sale (plus tax). Here it is:
The XC00 has no front or rear shocks, so no additional suspension components, but with the large tires I really don’t think it needs them. The tires seem to absorb bumps in the road much better than narrower tires would. Also, note that this bike comes with disc brakes (albeit mechanical) so I’m thinking that there’s very little that needs changing to turn this into a full-fledged e-bike. So that’s what I’m going to do.
Originally, I had decided to go with the Bafang BBSHD 1000w mid-drive motor for this build. I ordered the motor from China, but it didn’t arrive after 1 month so my money was refunded by PayPal (thank you PayPal!). Then I have decided to go with the Bafang 48v 1000w rear-hub motor (the G062,1000.DC motor) designed for a 26″ fat tire bike with a 175-180mm dropout and rear disc brake. This seemed like the perfect motor for my XC00. The only gotcha is that this too will be coming from China and shipping is expected to take 2 months (here by Sept. 27). The order was through Amazon, so I have their purchase protection. Plus the final price was a LOT less than the mid-drive conversion ($560 incl. tax and shipping versus $790). Before adding the cost of the battery (which I already have), this will be a $1000 build. I think this is going to be a pretty spectacular build for $1300 when all is said and done.
Here’s the specific motor and display I ordered from Accolmile via Amazon:
BAFANG 48V 1000W Rear Hub Motor : 26 Inch Fat Tire Electric Bike Conversion Kit with Battery (Optional) for Rear Cassette Wheel with LCD Display & PAS ($479 before tax and shipping)
Well, that didn’t go exactly as planned. It’s possible that the order I placed on Amazon for the Bafang motor was a ‘bait and switch’ deal. The vendor said the Bafang was out of stock and I could wait until sometime in September “when it might be in stock again”, OR accept a substitute motor they claim is the same as the Bafang 1000w motor and they would refund shipping charges. I opted for the latter just because I want to see how the replacement unit performs – consider this an experiment.
The label on the replacement unit is ‘Sutto’. The first thing I noticed was how rough the spoke nipples were. I had to dress them so they wouldn’t puncture the tube. Next, the wheel has a 10-12mm offset when installed on the XC00 bike, so that was taken care of by Bike Works in Newtown. Otherwise, everything fit up nicely and performed well on my 10 mile test ride this afternoon.
Summary of issues and pleasant surprises:
Concern #1: The spoke nipples (the ends on the tube side of the rim) are VERY rough and would cause a flat if not filed and protected with a rim strip, so that’s job #1. Done…
Concern #2: The wheel mounted on the Sutto hub motor requires adjustment of 10 to 12 mm toward the brake side, called dishing. The charge to do this adjustment was $25 plus tax at Bike Works, Newtown, which I think is very reasonable and they did a great job!
Pleasant surprise #1: This hub motor comes with a quick disconnect fitting about 8 inches from the hub that will make rear wheel removal and repair MUCH simpler than my Voilamart rear hub motors! This is a big deal and it appears Bafang/Sutto figured this out.
Pleasant surprise #2: The motor says Sutto, but all the other parts (esp. the controller and display) are labeled ‘Bafang’. This is a good sign.
Pictures:
As mentioned above, the e-bike doesn’t have PAS or motor cutout switches on the brake levers. Considering the way I ride my rear-hub e-bikes, this throttle-only configuration is perfect. I pedal most of the time, then augment forward motion with throttle as needed. With this setup, the PAS settings determine how much power is applied with the throttle. I’ll usually run this bike between 3 and 4, on a 9 point scale.
If I were to do this build again, I would try to find a reliable source for the Bafang G062 motor, and now I know I would have to dish the wheel for this particular Costco bike, which is not a big deal. Otherwise, this was the easiest and most cost-effective e-bike build to date, and it’s an absolute joy to ride.
Final stats:
Final build cost if I had to buy everything new ($1445)
Final curb weight, including a full tank of gas (59 lbs)
**Update**
This week a friend asked if he could buy this e-bike. I set the price at my final build cost and he agreed. The only issue is, he’s quite a bit shorter than I am, so I would need to move the controller box to a different location. No problem! This is one of the things I really like about DIY e-bikes: I can change anything I want, and use off-the-shelf parts for every component.
So, 1 Amazon order, 1 day, and $19 incl. tax, and the problem is solved:
SLS3 Top Tube Bike Bag added and cables rerouted. Now the seat can be adjusted to any height. And I think it looks even better than before!
PS – I plan to build another one of these with the original Bafang motor when the XC00 goes on sale again ($400 is a great price for this bike!). Also, I created an image of the rear wheel offset that’s required when mating the Bafang 1000w geared hub kit to this frame:
