-
Have you ridden both types extensively?
Pendix make the nicest BB bolt on solution, £1.8k though, Bafang make the popular choice, few different ones, they are built well and many people have put tens of thousands of miles on them without drama, but they aren't a £1k mid drive from Bosch, Brose, Yamaha or Shimano, those are a much nicer experience**Though, have said to quite a few customers, especially those with kiddo, you aren't going to be pushing the very limits of speed and grip all the time with your 2 year old on board, you'll be just glad of the extra assistance. So a cheaper but still reputable mid drive bb bolt on kit is a good middle ground.
As for direct sales of mid drives, afaik its to do with type approval for the use of that motor (engine) in that configuration. If folk were to start buying Bosch Performance line or Shimano EP8 engines themselves, setting to world max capacity of 500w + 25mph limit and then just bolting to their own home brew frame, law and order in the entire country would break down overnight, or at least that is the picture painted by those who write the rules. But seriously, yeah they do not sell to individuals, even to companies who make bikes and are well established have a good pile of paperwork to get the approval sticker to allow them to use the motors/engines. Its one of the reasons proper e assist bikes seemingly cost more than the sum of their parts, lots of hoops to jump through divided by their expected sales, so for a Raleigh £1500 commuter, yeah the uplift is going to be barely noticable, but on a super niche cargo bike where they only sell a few hundred units a year worldwide, that uplift is going to be noticable.
BrickMan-
Have you ridden both types extensively?
No, I haven't tested anything as yet, baby number 2 is due at the start of May so it'll be a later in the year when my wife is ready to cycle again before we start testing anything, just trying to get as much advice as possible so I'm not completely clueless when I start going into shops.
Pendix make the nicest BB bolt on solution
The only place in London that (I can find online anyway) sells the workcycles kr8 fits the pendix but every review I've found for the pendix hasn't been great, which considering how expensive they are has put me off a bit.
I'm more than happy to pay for quality and will want to go for the nicest and most reliable option but when the difference is over a thousand pounds you'd want a decent level of improvement.
Gewürzt
Thanks, I'll check them out.
I've had a look online and it looks like it's not much more than swapping out a bottom bracket?
It seems like a no brainer (if you know a bit of bike maintenance) to fit it yourself as the cost of the bikes nearly double with e-assist.
Is there a big difference in other brands to bafang or is it simply a case of a Chinese company being able to undercut the market?