It’s been roughly a year and I haven’t posted a parts list for the Bakfiets electric upgrade yet. I’ve recently been asked for this so I figured I’d post it for everyone to have access.

• A box bike without a wheel is just a box
• Bakfiets maintenance and upgrades 2023
• Bakfiets upgrades – a couple months in

As mentioned in my original post, I purchased everything through Grin (ebikes.ca). They are local and they are a big player in these ebike conversions, having been a leader in the segment since their inception.

I didn’t want to do anything too different from what I already had, and I didn’t want to change more than I needed. I already had a battery and cradle so that impacted some of the parts on my list.

It looks like Grin has changed their kits, especially now that they have introduced and have started including regen. The below is copied straight out of my invoice, but your configuration may need to be different due to parts availability. At the time of writing this, the most equivalent kit is probably the eZee Front Prelaced CA3 kit (https://ebikes.ca/shop/kits-by-motor/ezee/ezee-front-ca3-laced.html), but I haven’t gone through this in detail to confirm. Grin has been very helpful so any questions can be directed to them.

eZee Front Ready-to-Roll Kit

KIT-eZee_RTR

Motor Wheel Size

1 x MeZee350F_L10

SPOKE COLOUR

36 x Sapim Strong 13-14g Butted Spoke, Black

• The colour is a preference.

RIM

1 x Rim20_DM30

• Same rim the bike had on the original ebike conversion.
• No issues with the rim. Size is appropriate for the tires we use. It fits the Bakfiets well.

WHEELBUILD?

1 x Kit WheelBuild

• Very happy with the quality of the wheel build.

Controller

1 x V5 Baserunner_L10

• With my existing battery and cradle, I had to get a hailong heat sink added by Grin. They are not available to purchase on the website (at least at the time) as they were an older product. Grin had some in engineering stock and sold it to me so I could avoid buying a new cradle or battery, or finding an alternate way of mounting the Baserunner

V3 Cycle Analyst

1 x CA3-WPx

• Great upgrade from the original CA that we had on the bike. Easy to mount. Looks great.

CA Mounting Bracket Style

1 x Handlebar clamp for CA/CA3/Front Lights

• Up to personal preference but I liked this mount.

Include Auxiliary Input and Power Switch

1 x CA3_MFSwitch for CA3-WPx

• I don’t use this very much, but I like it. With this set up I mostly use it to turn the power on. But I find that my toddler will switch the power on or off at the battery directly. It’s nice to have if you are parking but not removing a battery right away, but my kid could still reach the battery power and turn it on. So I might as well use the battery power switch…

Motor Extension Cable

1 x L10 Extension Cable (60cm)

• For the Bakfiets I needed an extra extension that I ordered after:
  • L10 Extension Cable (1m)
  • W-L10_Ext-long

Pedal Sensor Type

1 x 24 Pole PAS (Long 120cm Cable)

CAP-PAS_24P_long

• Haven’t installed yet. I need to modify the crank arm and don’t want the downtime (yet) on the bike.

Torque Arm?

1 x V2 Front Torque Arm

TA-TorqArm_V2

• Don’t skip using a torque arm. This one works well.
• Biggest problem I have had is not the torque arm, but the dropouts are worn on my forks. Lawyer lips are worn off, the dropouts are spread a bit from not originally having a torque arm on the original kit. Makes installing the torque arm and spacers between the nuts and the dropouts more complicated to get it secure. The solution I need to implement eventually is new forks, but this is working for now.

Optional TTL-USB Programming Cable

1 x TTL-USB Programming Cable

Msc-TTL-USB

• Haven’t had to use since it’s preconfigured. But I’m the kind of person to want it.

Brakes

Keep in mind that with this upgrade, disc brake tabs are needed on the front forks. The Bakfiets that I have had those brake tabs welded on by a local shop (who didn’t do a great job of it) by the previous owners. Lots of places can do this – maybe not all well. Regardless, I suggest facing the brake tabs to make adjusting or centering the pads easier. For front brakes on the Bakfiets I just use a Shimano hydraulic brake kit for a rear wheel. I pick whatever my bike shop has in stock, because usually I need the replacement right away. So far just an entry level kit that’s pre-bled has been my go to. But I should use a longer brake line (custom made) to get more slack in the line. I already bleed my brakes several times a year.

Parting words

Everyone’s needs are different, but hopefully this helps someone get a starting point.