eggnoggbubble

hi,

I'm usually over in utility but I have a new project in mind.....

I'm wanting a bike to allow me to do my hobbies (surfing, kayaking) car-free, but my nearest launch point for the kayak (30kg including trailer) is only 5km away but has a 1.5km 100m climb (10% in places) on the way home. By contrast surfing is lighter luggage (12kg tops) but further: 10~35km each way....so I'm thinking an ebike...

I'm thinking a fatbike so I can head right down off-road tracks and along the beach (sand is mostly pretty hard, I don't think i necessarily need max tire width). And I'm thinking tongshen TSDZ2 because I tried a bafang BBSHD and it felt like riding robocop, awesome but I'm hoping for a more subtle (bionic-legs?) "cycling" experience (I commute and sometimes tour on a surly pack rat, i like the feeling of putting in some effort, but want an e-assist so that effort goes further...and uphill easier).

I don't yet have a donor bike, I'm thinking of looking out for a used Surly Pugsley or Wednesday (or maybe an ICT or moonlander if one happens to come up first). I was leaning towards Wednesday because people seem to love it, but recently I'm leaning more Pugsley as a bit cheaper (used) and perhaps a bit more versatile/fixable/future-proof (MTB hubs etc) My questions:

1) Does anyone have any comment about compatibility with these donor bikes and the tongshen? Would any of them be preferable over the others in any way (ICT and moonlander can take wider tires but correspondingly have a wider BB)?
2) do you think the tongshen is the right choice for my use cases (long distance faster with light(ish) luggage + shorter distance slower with heavy luggage up a steep hill) or should I go with the bafang?

For reference, I weight about 70kg (and am fit for cycling) and I live in (hilly, hot) Okinawa, Japan so will likely need to order from China....

Having read around a bit already, I'll probably go with max power and max battery in whatever system I choose (power for that kayak, battery also for range) - I'm budgeting about $1,000 for the conversion and $500~$1,000 for the donor bike. $2,000 is the upper limit tho, if it's coming in much over that I'll probably start looking to reduce battery etc....

Finally, I'm not an experienced mechanic at all, and I do have an LBS near me who does bafang conversions, but I'm wanting to at least try this myself first as I want to get more comfortable working on bikes so this seems like a good opportunity to get some experience......

Thanks very much for any pointers anyone can offer!

2old

I've had excellent service from a BBS02. Many YouTube lessons on installation. You'll be happiest with a traditional frame design and 68 mm bottom bracket and the only extra tools necessary are for BB extraction and to install the nut and "backing" nut on the motor.

eggnoggbubble

thanks I'll look into BBS02 as well!