So this journey is taking time as I'm trying to be careful and I'm not on a time schedule. So quick summary of where I am today: Bought Kent Trouvaille with the intent of converting to eBike with Bafang BBS02 kit. Mistakes so far: (skip to the end for question(s)) 1. Battery I bought was too large to fit into the frame. It never occurred to me and I'm not sure I could have calculated my way through the question even if I took the time to work it out in advance. That taper at the front of the battery "almost" allowed it to fit but didn't. Had to order the size below the maximum size of the "shark type" battery. Costly in terms of shipping and delay.
2. I bought a reasonably priced tool kit thinking it might be sufficient. Nearly all of the tools have been quite sufficient in fact. But for some reason the 20 spline bottom bracket tool has a champher on the outter edge making the engagement with the already shallow teeth very weak. On the non-drive side, it worked fine but on the drive side, it wouldn't budge and I started seeing little bits of metal from repeated attempts. Upon seeing this, I ordered a well-rated bottom bracket tool without champher. It was still very hard to remove but it did not slip and eventually was able to remove the hardware from the bottom bracket. (Of note, there was NO greasing on the threads within. No wonder!)
3. That brings us here: Fitting the Bafang BBS02 to the frame. While there are other things to talk about, it is clear I need bottom bracket spacers on the drive side to prevent contact between the gear part of the motor and the chain stay. So I go to Amazon to see what spacers are there. There's all manner of them and at a wide range of prices. What do people recommend. I can say that the amount of space I need is quite minimal so that one or two of the smallest would probably work but who knows... I'm thinking I will need a variety to fiddle and fit with. That's the question. What spacers should I get? The kit didn't come with any. I've heard some do but mine didn't. 4. Eventually I will need to address the chain line issue which it still seems I'm going to face with this bike. I'll wait to assess after I get this motor mounted though.
My OneNut has arrived. It's a simple but clever design.
Another note: The Lekkie Onenut exists for a reason... specifically for my situation: 73mm bottom bracket. I'm beginning to wonder if THAT was what the Amazon seller was recommending the rubber o-ring gasket for. The Lekkie Onenut seems far better suited to the task if that's the case. So I'll just get that ordered here as well.
I was under some misconceptions about the purpose of the replacement gear cover. Turns out, if I got a 40T I need that because the original plastic cover "covers" (as in overlaps) the gear section. As I was test fitting things just to look at the chainline improvements (and there are!) I hadn't noticed that the "small gear" portion of the original plastic cover was rubbing against the 40T bling ring. I was just test fitting and so I used no screws and therefore didn't quite detect that the Lek40T wasn't sitting quite right.
Now with the Lekkie cover, I can easily tell that it's now testing correctly. (without basis for comparison and no using screws how was I to know? Using screws I'd have figured it out immediately.) And it's coming together very well. Watched a few videos (most are for BBSHD rather than BBS02) until I came across one in German with subtitles. THAT is when it all came together. I saw some other videos with no voice at all and barely any titling either. This brings me to the next question: The grease port. I have seen two approaches: 1. Tap it and grind a screw down short enough that it is a proper fitting plug 2. Use a nail and cut it down to size and use some sort of glue to prevent it from dropping out. (some Filipino guy) I don't like either of those approaches. What does Lekkie recommend? I've seen where "Mobile-1 synthetic grease" is used and recommended. I have some regular bike grease which I suspect will be fine. But I want to do what works best for the more experienced people out there. Lekkie designed the grease port but didn't opt for a cover/plug in the design. Why do I need a cover? I suspect because when the thing gets warm the grease will become more liquid and drip out. But perhaps using some one type of grease or another, the liquification under heat will be less likely to happen? Again, what do people here think and what do they do? Summary Questions: 1. What grease to use? 2. What to do about the grease port?
Also thanks for all suggestions. They are all working out very well so far. It's almost as if people here know what they are doing! ;)
I got the 2.5s and one did the job perfectly. I have just about .5mm distance between the chain stay. That's about as close to perfect as I would hope. My amazon seller wanted me to buy a rubber ring (called gasket) but I am doubtful this is a good idea as that would introduce lateral variability which I would think would reduce the grip if the motor mounting device which relies on "biting" into the BB in order to keep the motor where you want it. The battery issue was addressed by getting the next smaller sized package form. Still a nice battery but like 17ah rather than 20ah. Doubt I'll notice the difference... actually I won't because I never used that battery ;) So nothing to compare. I also bought the lekkie set for the chain ring and lower profile motor cover. I'll stare at some videos on how to do that. I saw a video on it before but always good to refresh the mind on it. Though I must say I'm thinking it may not make so much difference in my case. But we'll see.
if you look on johnnys shop here, you want 2.5mm spacers, probably 4 of them just to be safe, and one lekkie 2mm spacer. with this you can space out things pretty well. also, many run into to large a battery since most manufactured packs come in a large plastic shell case. I have a custom slim pack for sale which fits in a lot of frames. see my post if youre interested. it can be tough to install on some frames, just take it slow and work through till its solved. good luck