I researched ebikes for about three months before deciding to buy a kit. The "ready made" bikes on the market seemed to lack one thing or another and I didn't want to settle for less than the features I wanted. To get the power I wanted, I was looking at a price of over $4000.00. My 12 year old Giant brand bike was in good condition so my focus started to fall on building an electric bike. After discovering Luna Cycle, reading about every blog, and researching every part I made the plunge and placed my order for the Bafang mid drive motor, 48 volt battery, and couldn't be happier with my build. My Giant frame was a perfect match for the "kit" I purchased with no modifications needed.

I have already written about the details of my build in a previous post so after riding that bike for five months now I feel it necessary to report on the performance of it. The first time I powered it up I was a little apprehensive about what I had built. I live on top of a two and a half mile hill so I'm always starting off going up hill slightly then going down hill quickly. Since I'm a 62 year old man, over weight, and needing a hip replacement starting can be difficult just getting my leg over the seat. Not a problem on this bike. I just push the throttle slightly, swing my leg over, and I'm gone. This bike has incredible power at 750 watts so getting up my hill is no problem even after a ten mile ride on the "flats". I ride 7 miles one way to work and my commute is about the same as if I drive my car. Moving through the downtown traffic I'm able to hit every green light set at 28 mph loaded with spare cloths, my lunch, and a few basic bike tools in my panniers. Most of time I ride at "peddle assist" level one but use the throttle to get across intersections with cars turning all over the place. Knowing what I know now, I would not ever go without a bike that didn't have the thumb throttle. It can be the difference between getting out of the way and getting hit by a car so think of it as a safety feature. The gear sensor is very sensitive and delays the motor long enough to hit the next gear very smoothly, another feature I wouldn't do without. At this post I rode my bik home in the pouring rain with a Westerly wind at 25 mph. You would think that to be miserable conditions but I just sailed right through it. Riding these bike you have to be prepared for every weather condition because you never know what you might hit given the speed and range you can ride a bike like this. The only complaint I actually have is I wish I had hydraulic disk brakes (not center pull) as I go through a set of brake pads about every month. That issue has nothing to do with the performance of the electric bike kit, it's just the frame I built it on. I will recommend Luna Cycles to anyone interested in high performance ebikes.

All the parts worked great and you have one of the best battery packs available. I designed a mounting system tailored to my bike along with a custom component to allow your freewheel to work with the cyclone and my chain line requirements.

Quick shipment on the second order. Hot rod programming was set all to max 0-9. Had to reprogram it right away

Two DIY bikes in photo, one a Breezer RePack, the other a Trek Remedy 7. We built these in June 2017 and have been thoroughly pleased and younger since

My conversion started with a Northrock XC00 fat tire, purchased at Costco for $299 - a screaming deal on its own. Add-in a BBSHD mid-drive (with hot rod programming!), a 52v 13.5ah Panasonic shark battery pack, and a pair of Luna Lander fat forks and I've got a rockin' e-bike that's gotten me back into riding after a 20+ year hiatus. I'm lovin' it!

The mid-drive install was super simple. Literally plug and play and I had the conversion completely done in about 2 hours. The Luna toolkit came in very handy and gave me everything I needed to disassemble the bottom bracket and install the BBSHD 100mm unit. With the stock Bafang chain ring the offset and chain alignment has not been a problem at all, so the frame on this bike has worked well for the conversion. I do want to go to a smaller chain ring at some point in the future.

As it comes stock, the XC00 has no suspension, so the next upgrade was a Luna Lander Fat Suspension Fork. This upgrade wasn't as straight forward, as locating a new crown race for the fork was a bit challenging. But the guys at Northrock really helped me out, so that was readily solved. I also needed to sort out a new axle arrangement because the front hub on the XC00 was a bit non-standard (even by bicycle standards!). Once I got a new axle figured out, the forks went on very easily, and the front end is now quite cushy. I even saved a few pounds in the process as the Luna Lander forks are much lighter then the standard forks they replaced. A Thudbuster is probably next on my upgrade list.

So much for the conversion, what about riding? I've tried taking up riding again in the past, but I live in a quite hilly area which has previously discouraged any attempts to integrate bicycling back into my lifestyle. There are lots of great bike trails nearby, both paved and dirt, but getting to them from my house always meant either loading a bike onto a bike rack and driving to an access point, or face a long, uphill, walk on the way home. While I'm sure I would eventually get into shape and be able to pedal my way through the uphill return, the hassle of adding a car or truck into the mix always kept me from sticking with it in the past. I longed for the freedom of simply riding out of my garage. And, at least initially, there was no way around to long walk back, pushing my bike uphill.

With the switch to an e-bike, all of that has changed. I'm still pedaling, and getting exercise in the process, but the steep hills no longer stop me in my tracks. Instead, I dial in the pedal assist level that I want, and I keep going. Now I find myself often opting for the bike instead of the car when I have errands to run. I'm able to use mountain bike trails for shortcuts on my way to the library, supermarket and bank. What a blast!

So far, the only maintenance required has been recharging the battery after a ride. Simple, easy and quick. The 52v 300w advanced Luna Charger works great - I really like the settings for 80-90-100% charge to let you manage battery life. Smart.

When I started investigating e-bikes, I looked at manufactured e-bikes, from established bike brands, as well as newcomers to the e-bike world. I also looked at pre-builts from companies like Luna. I finally decided to go the DIY route and do a conversion myself. The decision was mainly based on bang-for-the buck and the fact that I'm mechanically inclined and like building things.

The DIY route has definitely involved some problem solving, and along with that came some down time while waiting on parts. But, overall, it's been a great experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat. With careful planning - e.g. I built a cardboard "battery" to test the fit in the triangle before buying the XC00 - most problems can be avoided. I fully expect that this is just the first e-bike that I'll build. The next one will be for my wife. And then I think I'll want a full-suspension mountain bike.

Luna Cycle has been great. Orders have arrived promptly, without issue. Questions have been answered professionally. And the two small "issues" that I've had (an order I wanted to change and a return I thought I needed to make) were quickly addressed witout problem. They will continue to be my e-bike source for the foreseeable future.

I love my Luna cycle bbshd I have had my ebike for 8 months and I have 1085 miles on it. As soon as I Get home from work it's the first thing I want to do. I love the outdoors and it's perfect for all outdoor adventures. Very quite and with a 58v 13.5ah battery it give a me plenty of range when I'm taking it easy, about 35 miles single charge. I'm going through a divorce with 2 kids and this bike has been more beneficial than any Therapist or psychologist could ever do It's literally carried me emotionally the last 8 months. It's my mid life crisis mobile, I feel like I'm 10 years old again every time I go out on a new adventure!

Battery performs as expected, and mounted easily to the water bottle mounts.

I wanted to make something reminiscent of an old Board Track Racer. The Luna midframe kit inspired me. I found a single speed beach cruiser that fit the bill and converted hubs to disk brake with 9 speed cluster. The rims are from the original bike and respoked to the new hubs. The battery pack is 20ah, 52 volt that I reworked from surplus cells. The BMS is a modified Lightning Motorcycle BMS. And the fenders are Luna, man I love those fenders. The covers were hand hammered from sheet 5052 Aluminum.

good knowledge base with the tech support helped me get my Bafang installed and up and running in no time!

I found a Sondors Fat Bike on craigslist for a reasonable price and decided to sink some money into upgrades. I wanted a back rack, fenders and a LCD dashboard (it didn’t come with one). I was very happy with the upgraded controller and LCD dashboard ordered from Luna but the Fat Fenders were another story entirely.

First, both fenders arrives scratched, as if someone tried to install them before and returned them.

Second, the bracket holding the stabilizing rod on both fenders was off center, leading to weird issues with installation.

Third, Luna’s instructions at for installing the fenders did not correspond to what I actually needed to do to get the front fender in place. They made no mention of whether or not the L bracket on the front fender goes in front of the fork or behind it. The only way I could get the tie rods to clear the brake caliper assembly properly was to put the L bracket behind the fork. This seems to lead to very little clearance between the fender and tire. My first ride told me there was significant rubbing.

As for the back fender: it does not match the description on electricbike.com at all. There are not three sets of two holes each. The L bracket seems to be mounted toward the wrong end of the fender (it's toward the end with a mounting hole for a reflector or light). Regardless, it seemed I'd be able to get the fender in place, even if it was backwards, until I discovered there were only two Allen screws sent, not four. I went back and forth with Luna, who sent me to a YouTube video, and after hours spent trying to get the back fender in place I finally did. Again, almost no clearance between tire and fender.

After expressing my disappointment, Luna offered me a measly $10 off. I finally decided to remove the fenders and return them for a full refund. Then I had to stay on top of Luna to make sure they refunded me after UPS told me the fenders were delivered.

I won’t hold this experience against Luna. They’re good people but that fender set is a bad product and it probably brings them more headaches than revenue.

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RESPONSE FROM LUNA:

Thank you for the feedback, the fenders were designed for the very first Sondors version which had slightly different mountpoints, we are redesigning it. When restocked they will work better with latest Sondors.

The Best e-bike store - period.

Over 5,000 miles on my Luna bbso2, all in the mountains of Montana with zero breakdowns, can't get any better than that!

Just awesome! LUNA delivered!! I purchased two BBS02 kits w/52v batteries late spring of 2017 and mounted them on two 1992 Specialize Rock Hoppers (no disc brakes or shocks). We are in our mid 60's and still wanted to bike off road. Perfect. Once again we can enjoy the hills/mountains of the Pacific Northwest. I used mine during this Fall's deer/elk season, what a total blast. Through mud, snow, and steep hills no problem. What an added dimension to hunting. Now I need Santa to bring me studded tires for winter biking. Through LUNA we have reclaimed our outdoor adventures.

Another great build, another happy customer.

In 2016 I bought my first Luna 18650 battery (72v 11.5ah) for my cruiser, since then, I have been very impressed with the build quality of both the batteries and BBS02 kits, I have made several builds for customers, only minor issues that were quickly resolved by Luna support, great product, great support, and best price you will find online for these top quality products, I have been building Ebikes since 2008, and have not had a better buying experience anywhere else.

Controller and display for my sondors worked great.

Best Ebike company in USA.
Passion, innovation and care.
You won’t get better

Francis, Electron Cycles UK

This project has been a labor of love. Luna really helped me with the last piece of the puzzle. Batteries! Their technical support regarding technical subjects was impressive. Understanding running parallel batteries has made my ride more useable. I get plenty of mileage with 2 7ah mighty minis. Can charge them both at the same time, and there is no potential for heat up due to amperage draw. Customer service was just very impressive.
Now I ride my bike just about anywhere within 30 miles. The build had many questions. I wanted decent power, in a mid drive unit. I decided based on price/ performance, to go with bafang bbs2. I also elected for an Alfine 9 igh on the rear. So I have 9 gears to work with on hills and other terrain. Having an igh allowed precise tuning for top speed using the front gear or output cog for the chain coupled with fine adjustment using the rear or input cog. This worked great. I'm going at a max of 35 flat ground with amperage at its lowest draw reading.
I couldn't have done it with out Luna Cycles. Thanks guys.

I could not ask for a better company to do business with, the products are top notch and the customer service is the best. If there is a problem it is handled promptly. I will be upgrading my GT20 with a dual drive this winter. Keep up the great work.

The new controller for the bshd was juiced up just like you claimed I ride down the river on the ice up here in Canada makes the Winter in the prairies seem like you live in the mountains it feels like your always going downhill.