Convert a Surly Ice Cream Truck with Bafang Mid Drive

[jasmine_dior]

I I have an ICT and am interested in doing the same. Do you mind sharing your steps with me?

Hello! I've not yet pulled the trigger on buying a motor/battery, but I can tell you from the research I've done so far, you're going to want a 100mm BBSHD 1000 watt and 52 volts. The parts I'm unclear on are the chainring size, but I think it's going to be a size 42. I'm also unclear on which battery to get.

This forum has been incredible and especially I've learned a ton from m@Robertson!

I'm excited you're also going to add a motor to your Ice Cream Truck and it seems like it's going to be a ton of fun! I was quite surprised when I started searching for how to do this and came up short. It started to seem like it wasn't possible, but I think it'll just take a little bit of trial and error.

Please keep me updated on what you decide to get and I'll do the same!

 

[m@Robertson]

My whole point here is if you want to ride off road on singletrack add a motor to a good quality bike like the Surly, the mail order bikes are heavy, slightly overbuilt and usually not designed for any serious off roading.

This is absolutely spot on. I would add to that the mass produced ebikes typically use a level of components below the level of acceptable for anyone who knows bikes and cycled before the ebike era made junk components commonplace.

Im trying to help one friend make his hub drive fat bike work a bit better so he can ride with me but it's a bit like putting lipstick on a pig

Spot on again.

 

[heatherfeather88]

I went through the same anxiety when I bought my KHS fat bike now 10 years ago. I ordered the 120 mm BBSHD and just started the conversion. Got the motor, it fit in the bottom bracket and I had to fiddle around with various spacers to get the drive side as close to the chainstay as possible without touching it. First step done. Next step was to find a chain ring or as I prefer to call it a sprocket that would allow the chain to be as close as possible to a straight line while the bike was in the middle gear. I bought a Lekkie bling ring, I think around 42 teeth and got lucky, the chainline turned out to be just fine. After that it was just hook up the wires and mount a battery. On mine the triangle was to small to fit a battery so I fabbed up a rear rack. It kinda messed up the center of gravity but moving the seat forward helped that. The bike has hydraulic brakes so a small piece of tin was cut, roughly 3/4" long by 1/4" wide. First the sensor unit was mounted with the double sided tape as close to the lever as possible then the small piece of tin was fastened with JB weld to the brake lever. The small round magnet placed as close as possible to the sensor was also fastened with JB weld. Basically the magnet being close to the sensor keeps the circuit on, when you move the brake lever the circuit shuts off and this is an important safety feature. I am heading off now to go for a singletrack ride with some friends but will add a bit to this later.

Thanks Hugh, this is very helpful.