borland

I just wanted to post photos of the PL350 kit I installed on my newly purchased hybrid.

Here's the donor hybrid bike I bought from BikesDirect.com …




and a link to the site…

https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/gazelle/dutch.htm

I besides installing the Bionx PL350 kit, I also replaced several bike components for high speeds, durability, and reliability. These included:

- front wheel (Mavic A719 dual wall rim, stainless steel spokes, Shimano 105 hub) $125, PerformanceBike.com

- freewheel (Shimano MegaRange 11-34T) $60, JVbike.com
- crankset (Campagnolo Mirage 170 triple 52/42/30) $45, eBay
- bottom bracket (Token 68x115 CRMO/Carbon) $12 used, eBay
- tires (Vittoria Randonneur Pro Kevlar 700x35) $85, Nashbar.com
- tubes (Slime 700x28-35 Presta) $12, REI.com

Prices are USD.

The bike frame has an oval shaped drop tube, so mounting the battery bracket requires installing shims as suggested in the kit's installation guide. I found some nylon spacers at the local Ace hardware store. This photo shows how I hot glued 6 of them to the bracket before installing it with two screws provided, and blue Loctite.






But one thing the guide doesn't point out, is you also need to use a coarse file to notch out enough room for the electrical cable since the oval frame restricts this too.

borland

Here's the completed bike…

borland

and some more photos...













Update on Dec 2008: I installed a customized freewheel with 12-21T. https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=495575

BroadwayJoe

Nice - how does it ride?

borland

Joe,

The ride is nice and smooth, even at speeds of 20+mph. It's pedal assist, so it's like the "people mover" at the major airports, where you really get moving with only moderate effort. I have easily sprinted to 30mph on a slight upgrade, but really haven't found its limits yet.

Because you could easily pedal this bike to 20mph on level ground and no head wind without the motor, it would be quite disappointing if you couldn't override the 20mph speed limiter. It's great for open roads where speed permits, but most automobile drivers assume your moving slow, so that kind of speed is limited to only where conditions permit.

I swapped out the freewheel and triple crankset to give the bike better gearing for high speeds. This bike really needs the tall gears, that's why I changed to the 11 sprocket rear and 52 sprocket front. The lowest gears will probably never be used. I stayed with the front triple due to the existing indexed shifters. I could only find a 11 sprocket freewheel in 11-34T.

With the 11-34T, the gear spacing is a little wider than I'd like. I think ideal would be a 11-21T, but 12-21 might work.

karma

nice clean setup dont forget a nice lock for it.

i backed them up on my server for future reference.

https://70.49.240.254/pictures/forum%...and/index.html

kbdog

Beautifully photographed!
That's a good point about moving the gears to suit the new power and speed capability.

Nate1952

Thanks for taking the time to post this. Exceptional photography.

I'm thinking about purchasing one of these - and am curious about one obscure topic which the Bionx site does not really explain.

Evidently you have to change freewheels because the Bionx wheel only accepts freewheels which are threaded. The Bionx site mentions that you can get a bike shop to help with this.

But aren't we just talking about taking a threaded freewheel and screwing it on the Bionx wheel?

How complicated is this operation?

kbdog

Not complicated at all as long as you have the freewheel remover! It's not that hard; I did it!

borland

This excellent video at The BicycleTutor.com shows how to replace a freewheel...discusses the tools required too....

https://bicycletutor.com/replace-freewheel/

This article explains the difference between feewheels and freehubs...

https://sheldonbrown.com/freewheels.html

I used a 2mm freewheel spacer ring with my Shimano 11-34 freewheel. This spacer allow fine adjustment of the cog position relative to the dropout/rear derailleur. I purchased the spacer for $2 at my local bicycle shop.

ShinyBiker

Thanks for the pix. They'll be helpful to others considering this kit.

How much did the kit set you back?

Kermit 43

Where did you get your kit from? I notice your wheel is laced up different than the way mine is. Yours is how I would expect a bicycle wheel to be built. Heads in, and heads out on the spokes for leading/trailing spokes.

Dahon.Steve

I'm wondering how heavy is your entire setup? Do you have to pedal with the Bionx system on all the time or can you shut it off to save the battery when you don't need it?

borland

I bought my kit from Bert Cebular at https://nycewheels.com/ Bert is very knowledgable on setting up the BionX system for high speed use. Your local BionX dealer probably won't have a clue or know much about it.

I just weighed the bike. It weights about 51 lbs.

The BionX system is pedal assist. Mine has a thumb throttle, but I have yet to use it. I can't imagine anyone using their thumb for any length of time.

Zeuser

Very nice!

I noticed you have a 385RPM motor. Take off the 32km/h limiter and you'll go fast with that thing. Faster than my 350W 300RPM motor that is. Especially since you have 700C wheels.

Without the limiter that's potentially 50 km/hr assuming the 350W is enough to compensate for the weight and your aerodynamic drag.

Kermit 43

That's rather disappointing, I ordered the exact same setup from the exact same person less than 2 weeks before you and received the 300 RPM motor.

borland

I've put 50 miles on the bike now. The bike runs great.

I also retorqued the rear axle nuts and crankset's crank fixing bolts. All had relaxed slightly after 50 miles.

On the rear axle nuts.... The BionX installation guide recommends torquing the axle bolts to 40 N-m (30 ft-lbs).

After 50 miles of riding, the axle nuts had relaxed to about 25 ft-lbs, but showed no signs of movement. I'll check the torque again at 100 miles and see if that's something I need to look at as often.

With the BionX motor, there is an integral torque arm/rotation limiter that fits into the bike frame's dropout slot. That torque arm keeps the axle from rotating and causing damage to the electrical power and control wires. But on an aluminum frame, if the bolts work loose, the constant back and forth from motor assist and regeneration could wear the slot round on an aluminum frame. So it's very important to make sure the nuts don't work loose and cause this type of wear to happen.

---------------

update.....7 Sept 08

I now have 100 miles on the bike. Bike is running great!

I again retorqued the crankset fixing bolts and rear axle bolts. They had all relaxed again, however not as much as in the first 50 miles. So it looks like I should check them again at 150 miles.

I've also had a chance to ride the bike on a 12 mile trek over a flat and straight roadway. With a 5 mph head wind, I was able to maintain 20-21 mph for 5 miles quite easily, and returning with a 5 mph tail wind, I was able to maintain 26-27 mph for the same distance.

robtown

I just installed the same 385rpm Bionx kit. Is your wheel programmed as 20" instead of 700? Did it accept the speed limit disable?

borland

When I power up the controller, the display briefly displays...

rEu:2.7

So I think this means I have firmware version 2.7. You can find instruction on configuring your unit in the owners manual, and this link.

https://www.endless-sphere.com/forums....php?f=2&t=896

Well, with my firmware version, some programming features or parameters within each code are not yet clarified on this thread, so I just ignored them for now. Maybe you can figure out this new stuff is about.

I can enable or disable the speed limiter. You will need to change the wheel size to the one your using in order for the chrono/odometer to be more accurate.

2wheeldeal

How do the V-brakes feel on a bike that is that fast? Enough stopping power?

borland

I've only put 170 miles on the bike, but so far the brakes work great. The rim sides are machined for improved braking ability.

It takes getting used to, but the regenerative braking is nice. I find I use it when going down long hills to reduce my speed, instead of going fast and having to brake at the bottom.

Since I can accelerate quite fast to cruising speed, and can climb hills like they are level, I'm not in any rush to make the kind of mistakes that might require heavy braking.

adamtki

Wierd... My PL500HS is 480 RPM on a 700c wheel. RobTown should've gotten the same type of motor I got.

And also, I would not have expected a 350 to be able to go 30mph on flats. I wonder if Bionx increased the RPM motors for the 350. I thought the no load speeds of the 350 would generally be about 25mph. My 250 was 25mph while my 500HS is 42 mph.