I have hankered to get into recumbents for sometime for a couple of reasons, one being to better cope with the riding into the Fremantle Doctor over summer here in Perth and the other being that diamond frame bikes (besides my Surly Long Haul Trucker) are really not exciting me that much anymore. Whilst I still desire to purchase a Sinner Bikes Mango Sports Red Edition (or a Rotovelo) I also wanted a two-wheel recumbent. Whilst the idea of a long-wheel base recumbent such as the Easy Racer Gold Rush Replica or the RANS Stratus LE appeal as my two-wheeler, the opportunity came up to purchase a 2008 Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT locally via the WAHPV For Sale website.

This blog post was last updated on January 31, 2015 and at 1,729.5 kilometres on the bike

The Bafang BBS01 has now been removed from the bike and transferred over to my 2009 Giant Defy 1 and the bike has been restored pretty much to standard Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT.

The bike has now been sold and no further updates to this page will be made.



I thought this was probably a smart move as the “investment” was relatively low and the Giro does have a reputation for being a good beginners recumbent. After a short period I concluded that the Giro 20 as configured was not really for me and I purchased a LoGo P-38 which has a more upright riding position which I prefer. At that time I was seriously considering putting the Giro 20 on the market and actually did go down that path, however in the mean time I had a crash on the P-38 which gave me time to reflect on options. The outcome of that reflection process is that I have kept the Giro 20, but I have converted it to a e-assist with the installation of a Bafang BBS01 mid-drive motor and I am in the process of changing the seat out to a Bacchetta Recurve seat to give me a more upright riding position.

So here I am with a blog post on my experiences with a 2008 Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT and its conversion to a pedelec. I am also documenting here other changes, the general configuration of the bike as well as tracking my maintenance, its service history and how much money I am spending on it.

An Overview of My Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

I believe my Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT is a 2008 model. This is based on the serial number. There is a post at the Bacchetta forums which outlines how to identify the model year from the serial number … I am assuming this is valid 🙂

Converting the Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT to a Pedelec (e-assist with a Bafang BBS01)

I started this blog posting in November 2013 and it is now July 2014 and the Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT has now morphed into a pedelec with the installation of a Bafang BBS01 mid-drive motor. I commenced this conversion in April 2014 and have pretty much completed it in July 2014.

While as I mentioned earlier on I considered selling the Giro, my understanding and experience of recumbents had grown over time due to my enjoyment of riding my LoGo P-38. However even with the LoGo P-38 the daily battle with the Fremantle Doctor is taking its toll over summer and I decided to re-look at how I might better use the Giro 20 ATT. That analysis led to my decision to keep the Bacchetta, to convert it to a pedelec and to change the seat from a Euromesh seat to a Recurve one.

When I first looked into e-assisting the Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT I looked at both going with a front wheel hub motor and a rear wheel hub motor. I not overly keen on the front wheel hub motor as this would require a changing out of the front fork to a steel one and there where some suggestions that it would significantly impact on the handling. The second option was a rear wheel hub motor but this has a couple of significant negatives for me: (1) the wheel builds and gear components on these motors are lower quality that standard bike components and often only 7 or 8 speed rather than 9 or 10 speed. Secondly (2) dealing with a puncture is a pain by all accounts and given this is a commuter bike, that is not something I wish to make more frustrating than it already is. I really wanted to keep this bike specced up as high as I reasonably can. This lead me to an mid-drive option.

With the Bafang BBS motors now on the market I felt I had a reasonable option for a conversion and a relatively simple conversion to boot. With the motor right up front and the battery on the rack I have kept the bike reasonably well-balanced. The conversion has not turned out to be overly difficult, just had to deal with longer wiring and sorting out a rack. All other aspects where pretty much plug and play. I purchased my Bafang BBS01 and Samsung 36V 10S 6P 29E cells 16.5Ah frame pack battery from Paul at EM3EV. I had excellent service from Paul and this team and would highly recommend them. Just don’t expect Wiggle or Chain Reaction Cycles type of speed of delivery; it is just is not going to happen.

Installing the Bafang (8Fun) BBSS01 Mid-Drive Motor on a Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

The Bafang BBS01 motor as installed by myself is 36V motor which can be speed restricted to 25 km/h. The motor weighs 4.4 kg on my digital scales, comes standard with a 46T Bafang specific chain ring and 170 mm crank arms.

I have also purchased from Green Bike Kit a 48T chain ring which I will likely tryout down the track. Alternatively it is now possible to purchase a 130BCD adaptor that converts the existing Bafang spider to a 130BCD spider which takes chainrings up to 55T. One such adaptor is the BA130 Bafang chainring adaptor. Also an Endless Sphere member, eride is selling a 130 BCD adaptor. See this thread at Endless Sphere for the details. Another Endless Sphere member, crossbreak, may also be selling 130 BCD and 104 BCD chainring adaptors. Please see this thread at Endless Sphere. Another option is eBay seller hi-powercycles who is selling a 104 BCD spider ring

In respect to mounting the Bafang BBS01 that was also a pretty straight forward process. The motor comes with its own bottom bracket, mounting hardware and as mentioned earlier 170 mm crank arms. The installation involves removing the existing bottom bracket and then inserting the motor in its place (it simply slides in) attaching the motor lock ring and bottom bracket lock nut, the crank arms and of course the chain ring and guard. That is it in terms of installing the motor itself. The only restriction really here is that the bottom bracket housing needs to be in the range 68 mm to 72 mm.

A suitable tool to lock down the motor lock ring is turning out to be quite hard to find. I have a Park Tool HCW-5 Head/Crank Wrench which I purchased to fit the M33 motor lock ring nut on the bottom bracket, but it is not a great fit with the single hook spanner just working. I find it easily slips and can easily result in damage to the nut. Not the best solution so I am still looking for a better tool.

The motor (controller) is pre-wired with a wiring harness with waterproof connectors. The other half of the wiring harness which goes to the speed sensor and C961 display which comes with the motor. The speed sensor and the C961 display are required for the correct operation of the motor. I found for example with earlier testing without the speed sensor in place, if I tried the motor within seconds it was shutting down and I was getting an error message on the C961 display. I had to have the speed sensor connected and the wheel spinning to test the motor. Mounting the speed sensor was pretty straight forward on the front fork, however as this is on a recumbent the cable for the speed sensor is not long enough and I had to purchase an extension cable from Green Bike Kit for US$5.00. The extension cable is 30 cm long and is sufficient for my needs on this bike. I do have the red light on the downside but that does not seem to be an issue. The magnet is bit “old school” in its looks but it locks down okay on the round spokes and does not have to be super close for the sensor to work. The speed sensor/C961 display combination is not that correct with my 20″ front wheel. With the 20″ front wheel and the Bafang C961 display set at 20″ the display was showing my speed about two to three kilometres higher than my Garmin Edge 810 which is detecting my speed from a Sigma Sports ANT + speed sensor (Model No. 20502). The Garmin Edge 810 is set to automatically calibrate, a feature not available in the Bafang C961 display. I sorted this by changing the wheel size setting on the C961 display to 18″ which has brought the reported speed closer to the Edge 810, e.g.,it is now reading 24.5 km/h versus 24.2 km/h on the GPS using the Sigma Sports ANT + speed sensor. I do wonder if this is at least in part due to the use of an extension cable for the speed sensor. Green Bike Kit where I purchased the extension cable from do comment that the use of many cables will influence the signal.

Besides the speed sensor the Bafang BBS01 requires a Bafang display unit to work correctly. In my case I have a Bafang C961 which was supplied with the motor by EM3EV. The C961 display comes into parts, the monochrome display unit and the hard-wired to it on-off/mode switch.

I had no issues mounting the Bafang C961 display on my bars, mounting it so it straddles the stem in the centre of the bars. The mounting brackets come with adaptors for narrower bars such as I have on the Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT. I have the on-off/mode switch mounted just to the left of the display. Again this mounts without any issues on my bars.

The final part of the Bafang BBS01 cockpit installation is the throttle. I have my throttle mounted on my left bar close to the left bar grip. I find this works well and that is easy to use. One thing to keep in mind with the throttle is that when you are moving, say pedalling along and then want to use the throttle for an added boost there is a noticeable delay, maybe two or three seconds or more. Interestingly this is not noticeable at a standing start; I have managed to spin the rear wheel from a standing start with the throttle only!

The last part of the installation of the motor is the fitting of what is referred to as Hidden Wire Brake Sensor (HWBS). I purchased my sensor from EM3EV at the same time as I purchased the Bafang BBS01 but I understand that they can be purchased from other Chinese e-bike sellers. As you can see from the photos the Hidden Wire Brake Sensor as supplied by EM3EV came with an extra cable to specifically allow for its connection to the Bafang C961. Given the difficult in getting these Bafang connectors this maybe something to keep in mind if planning to use the brake sensor. Fitting the sensor was straight forward to my Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes. All I had to do was remove the brake cable, shorten the outer cable to allow for the sensor to go in its place, push the brake cable through the sensor and reconnect the brake. I did this at the disc brake end of the cable. Oh I had to also of course connect the wiring to the Bafang C961 display :). The cabling is seriously long so would probably work okay on the rear brake of a diamond frame bike, not that I can see why you would do this as you should be using the front brake as your primary brake. Initially I thought this was not going to be a smart idea as whilst it works in terms of cutting the motor when you brake I now had a spongy front brake which I couldn’t adjust out and which I initially attributed to the hidden wire brake sensor. To trouble shoot this problem I removed the sensor and tried the brakes again and the spongy feel was still there so clearly it was not the sensor. As it turned out it was simply the poor quality outer brake cable that came with the bike. Once I replaced the outer cable and brake cable (front and rear since I was at it) with a better quality Jagwire Ripcord mountain brake cable kit all was good in the land of braking. Oh if you missed it, the Hidden Wire Brake Sensor works a treat so far.

Powering the Bafang (8Fun) BBSS01 Mid-Drive Motor on a Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

The front end of the bike, the motor end has been discussed above. This section describes the battery setup and the wiring of the motor.

Lets start with the battery. For my configuration I went with the Samsung 36V 10S 6P 29E 16.5 Ah frame mount battery from EM3EV.com. It was supplied with the correct connectors for the Bafang BBS01, however with hindsight I should have asked Paul about having the cable from the motor extended to allow for the wheelbase of the recumbent. If you do this I suggest I would suggest having at least a connection point at the battery end or better still two connection points, one at the motor and one at the battery to allow for easy removal of components. Paul reports the weight of the battery including the slider at 4.3 kg and on my digital scales it came in at 3.7 kg plus the slider which I forgo to weigh. From what I understand the battery case used by Paul is a fairly common one, so the key to the battery is the choice of cells and the way it is built up. By all accounts EM3EV batteries have a good reputation so I am not expecting any issues with mine.

The battery case has a lever on the top which is used to pull the battery free from the battery slider. I find this works well and makes removal of the battery easy.

The bottom of the battery case has built-in locking tabs which match-up with the slider. Once the battery is in place it is pushed forward to the locking position. The battery can then be locked to the slider and in my case the rack that the slider is bolted to. The battery case is locked to the slider via the bolt and key shown in the photos above. The battery comes with two keys.

To provide power the battery has to be turned on and this is via the push-button switch shown above. It glows blue when turned on.

On the other side of the EM3EV 36V Samsung Frame Mounted Battery Pack the 30 AMP fuse is found, along with the charger connection port and a USB port which can also be used to charge the battery. I haven’t actually tested this so do not know if it works or not. Finally there are a series of lights which are meant to show the battery status. These do not work on my battery and I suspect are not actually wired.

The battery needs to be mounted firmly and correctly into the slider to ensure that the power outlet is connected correctly. The battery is integrated into the slider via the plug on the slider shown below.

Given the design of the Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT and that I wanted the weight balanced on the bike (motor up front, battery at the rear) I went with mounting the Samsung 36V frame mount battery on a rack. This involved bolting the slider to a rack which in itself was pretty straight forward. I initially went with a Topeak MTX Explorer Tubular Rack w/disc rack as it is designed for 26″ and larger wheels and is for mounting with discs (the bike has a 26″ rear wheel and disc brakes). It also has a top plate which I could bolt the slider to and I can mount my Busch & Muller Toplight Line plus rear carrier light (323ALT) to it. Basically it was ticking all the boxes or so I thought.

Well as you can see from the photo, the mounting of the Samsung frame battery worked fine, as did the Busch & Muller Toplight Line tail light, but the rack and my Giro 20 didn’t get one. The simple problem is that the rack is simply to tall at 41 centimetres and the frame of the Giro is not able to compensate for this. So basically that idea had to go out the window and I have reverted to the original rack that came with the bike which thankfully has a platform and mounting for the taillight; it just does not seem as robust as I would like. That said I have decided to go with it for now and see how it pans out. I have done a bit of research into alternative racks and whilst I do not know the brand or model of the rack I have it does seem similar to racks from Delta Cycle and the Delta Megarack Ultra Disc or the Delta Megarack Ultra Universal Disc look like possible options given their specifications.

Mounting of the slider on the racks required the drilling of two 5 mm holes in the platform of the rack. I have used two M5 x 30 mm button head 316 grade stainless steel screws to secure the slider to the rack. I probably should have used 25 mm screws for a tidier finish. I mount the slider so that the head of the battery is towards the front of the bike to allow for easier removal and mounting. I find that I am short a bit of clearance with the Brain Box (the bag) so the battery pushes slightly in to the base of the bag; the bag basically rests on the battery. Not a big issue I don’t think and if I got a bag more suitable for the Bacchetta Recurve seat I think I would get it clear of the battery.

On the subject of mounting the Samsung frame battery I did do a test mount of it on the Bacchetta Euromesh seat as per the photo above. I was not very keen on this as I suspect it is putting way to much weight onto the bottle mount screws. It may work better with the Bacchetta Recurve seat now on the bike but I haven’t investigated that further. I may do that if the current rack mount does not work out.

The Samsung 36V Frame mounted battery has its “electronics” in the head of the slider and this is where the cable comes out to allow connection to the motor. With both the Topeak rack and the rack I am now using the platforms are narrow enough to not cause any issues with the power cable coming out from the bottom of the slider. The connector from the battery is a 2 Pin 5A Locking Male Chassis IP67 Waterproof Plug as shown above

As I mentioned early on, I didn’t allow for the need for a longer power cable and hence did not have Paul at EM3EV make something up for me. This meant that I had to cut off the connectors at both the battery end and the motor end and to then make up my own power cable.

I decided to make up my power cable using 45 Amp Anderson Powerpole connectors as recommend by ebikes.ca and 12AWG wire but with hindsight I think 14AWG with 30 Amp Powerpoles would probably be a simply approach. One thing to watch out for if you go with Anderson Powerpole connectors, is that there non-genuine ones available in eBay. Genuine connectors have a letter A on the connection end. I have purchased 30 Amp Anderson Powerpole connectors at a reasonable price from eBay seller, connector-tech_als and 45 amp connectors from bit-deals. I wrapped up the power cable in braided heatshrink sleeve from Jaycar to try and get a tidier and protected finish to the cabling.

Battery Charger – Samsung 36V Frame Mounted Battery

As my bike is used for commuting duties and my commute is 42 km each way I have factored in that I will need to charge the battery at the office as well as home, hence I purchased as part of my kit from EM3EV two battery charges. Paul recommended a different charger for the office, a fan-less one as it operates silently so I have two different chargers.

The charger I have for home use (in the shed) is a LT200A-10M-AL Li-Ion Battery Charger – 42v dc 2.5A with Fan which Paul at EM3EV supplied with an Australian plug (nice touch). I have only had to use it once so far and it worked a treat. The second light comes on when the battery is fully charged and I think it stops charging but the charger itself does not turn off. Nothing fancy here.

The charger for the office is a Modiarty Li-Ion Battery MDA1154200200 charger. This is not as tidy a setup as the LT200A-10M-AL Li-Ion Battery Charger but again you can see from the photo that Paul set it up with an Australian plug, just not as neat as he had to use Anderson Powerpoles. I have yet to put this charger to the test.

There ends the write-up of the installation of the Bafang BBS01 to my Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT.

Programming the Bafang (8Fun) BBS0X Mid-Drive Motor

The Bafang BBS01 and BBS02 mid-drive motors have some limited setting changes that can be made by user using the C961 display. The Bafang C961 manual documents these options. The keen members over at Endless Sphere have of course explored options to get into the programming of the Bafang BBS01 and BBS02 beyond the limitations of the changing settings on the C961. This has been discussed extensively in this thread at Endless Sphere.

The big issue is being able to get a connection into the Bafang BBS01 and BBS02 wiring loom as Bafang use what appears to be a propriety connector. You can see various attempts at achieving this in the thread, none of these outcomes are nice neat off the shelf options as yet. That said, there is on the market out of Europe a ELFEi display extension which appears to be a Bafang connector. Using this cable, cutting off one end and wiring it into a USB To RS-232 TTL UART PL2303HX Auto Converter USB to COM Module Cable SK should provide a computer (PC) to Bafang controller connection for programming. I have purchased the USB To RS232 TTL UART PL2303HX Auto Converter from eBay seller soccer-kids for AU$1.98 but that is as far as I have gone. The related drivers for the USB to RS-232 converter can be found at ProlificUSA. The key information about the wiring is that: Black cable—–GND Green cable—–TXD White cable—–RXD Red cable ——-VCC

The best instructions I have come across at Endless Sphere on the wiring is in this thread and one of the better ideas for making a connector using Sugru is in this thread.

Endless Sphere member, pexio, has documented with photos the build of a programming cable using the ELFEi display extension. This is not the cheapest option but looks the neatest and simplest way to go. Paul at EM3EV.com is now selling the V2 display cable for approximately US$9.00 so maybe a better source [an email to Paul maybe required if the cable is not currently listed on the website].

Resources – E-Bikes

Spare Parts for the Bafang (8Fun) BBS0X mid-drive motors

Thread at Endless Sphere detailing known sources of spare parts and the spare parts available for the Bafang (8Fun) BBS0X mid-drive motors Chainring Adaptors – 104 BCD and 130 BCD – Added July 7, 2014 Endless Sphere member – crossbreak – Thread – 104 BCD and 130 BCD chainring adaptors Endless Sphere member – eride – Thread – 130 BCD chainring adaptors eBay seller hi-powercyles – 104 BCD chainring adaptor California Ebike – 130 BCD chainring adaptor



Programming the Bafang (8Fun) BBS0X mid-drive motors

Programming the motors beyond the limited options with the C961 display are discussed in this thread at Endless Sphere. Programming the Bafang (8Fun) BBS0X mid-drive motors using the ELFEi display extension – Endless Sphere – Added July 5, 2014 BBS0X Installation with a Cycle Analyst V3 – Discussed at Endless Sphere. Based on the experiences reported in this thread I am not going down this path at this stage

Tracking Warranty (and non-warranty) Repair Claims

Reporting unique instances of warranty (and non-warranty) repair claims – Endless Sphere – The object being to properly track possible faults with the Bafang mid-drives.

Repairing the Bafang BBS0X Mid-Drive Motors

Declic Eco (from France) have posted a strip-down video on You Tube showing how to strip down BBS01 and BBS02 Bafang mid-drive motors – Added July 27, 2014

General E-Bike Helpful Guides

Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT – Other Modifications and Rider’s Review

The previous section of this blog post has focused on the conversion of the Giro 20 ATT to an e-assisted recumbent. This remaining section documents my experiences with and changes to the bike itself. My use of the bike is primarily as a e-assisted commuting recumbent so the changes I have made are with this usage in mind.

Setting The Riding Position

My Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT came with the Bacchetta’s Euromesh seat. I believe this is the standard configuration that Flying Furniture sold the bikes in Australia. However it has become clear to me, more so since I started riding my LoGo P-38, that a more upright riding position is what I prefer and the Euromesh seat is not for me. I believe I gave it a fair shot and I actually spent some time and money including the fitting of a ADEM 2 Headrest but it really just didn’t work out so In July 2014 I fitted a Bacchetta Recurve seat which I hope will tick all the boxes for me. I have kept the write up on my experience with trying to setup the Euromesh seat for information purposes and you will find this below in the archive section of this blog post.

I purchased my Bacchetta Recurve seat directly from Bacchetta. Removal of the Euromesh seat was pretty straight forward as was the installation of the Recurve seat. The most time consuming part was getting the seat position correct. The Bacchetta bike owner’s manual provides some guidance to swapping out the seats.

Terracycle Velogenesis clamps

My Giro came with the Bacchetta EuroMesh seat (now replaced with a Bacchetta Recurve seat) and the grenade pins (pull pins) used to set the seat angle. My first change to the seat was to replace the grenade pins with Bacchetta seat stay clamps (which seem to be Terracycle Velogenesis clamps). The clamps that I have fitted to my bike are the 1/2 to 5/8 (12.7 to 15.9 mm) diameter clamps. The clamps are reported to improve the rigidity of the seat and hence the ability to transfer power to the wheels. I have no reason to doubt these claims. I have scanned the installation instructions for the Terracycle Velogenesis clamps which can be download from my Dropbox.

Water Bottle Cages – Bacchetta Recurve Seat

The water bottle cages that came with the bike where pretty standard “wire” style cages. Nothing special and whilst reasonably easy to use as top mount cages, having read pretty positive comments on the Catamount CatCage side entry water bottle cages initially secured two black ones from an eBay seller, bicyclists_retreat. However this cages have relocated to my LoGo P-38 and I have not been able to obtain a second set. As I still wanted side entry water bottle cages I purchased a set of SKS Slidecage Bottle Cages which are an adjustable plastic cage. So far these have worked out well and having side-entry water bottle cages does make accessing my water on the go easy for sure.

Kickstand for the Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

I am a fan of kickstands, particularly on my bikes used for touring so the Giro 20 ATT had to get one. My first preference was an Evolution ‘Chetta Kickstand sold by Calhourn Cycles but they wanted to charge as much for the kickstand as they did for postage to Australia so I gave it a miss. Instead I went with a Bacchetta Kickstand for Disc Tab dropout which is a Greenfield Stablizer rear mount kickstand with a special Bacchetta disc mounting tab. Looking at the photos it may well be the same kickstand anyway. Mounting was pretty straight forward other than the disc mounting tab from Bacchetta came with two 5 mm bolts instead of a 5 mm and 6 mm bolt. The mounting tab does not look like a great design but it is working well so far as long as the bolt is done up super tight.

Having used the Bacchetta Kickstand for Disc Tab for awhile I would have to say that I am not overly impressed with it. They way it is attached to the bike (the lower bolt is simply a bolt with big washers which goes through the large hole in the frame to “clamp” the kickstand to the bike) is not the best. A nyloc nut or thread locker is differently needed to reduce the chances of it coming loose, which it has done. Also the stand is okay but not fantastic at supporting the bike. I so much prefer my Hebie Bipod 605 NL which I have fitted to my Surly Long Haul Trucker.

I have scanned the installation instructions for the Bacchetta Kickstand for Disc Tab Dropouts which can be download from my Dropbox.

Mudguards (Fenders) for the Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

The Planet Bike Hardcore Recumbent mudguard I originally fitted to the bike have migrated to my LoGo P-38 (that bike is turning into a bit of thief! 🙂 ) and I have now fitted a set of Bacchetta fenders (mudguards) which are specifically sized for the Giro 20. These mudguards are a nice fit and I found them easy to fit and to adjust to the correct position. One think I found was that I did have to shorten the stays but that seems pretty standard practice with mudguards of this type.

I also like to the way the stays are attached to the mudguards which allows for some flexibility in positioning whilst providing a more secure fastening.

The Bacchetta Fender set is not sold as a disk ready set of mudguards but I found no issues fitting them on my bike which has Avid BB7 front and rear. I just made up a spacer with a piece of aluminium tubing to push the stay out and clear of the disk caliper.

Frame Protection – Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

I have fitted a length of BBB TubeSkin (BBP-60) frame protector to the stick forward of the head-tube and to the rear of the tube to under the seat. BBB TubeSkin is a thick adhesive pad designed to protect the bike’s down tube (or frame in this case) against dirt. Given the way one mounts and dismounts a recumbent I expect the TubeSkin helping to protect against shoe scuffs as well. I found a 50 mm x 500 mm length was enough for my Giro 20 ATT. The TubeSkin has worked well but it does cop a bit of abuse and by the looks will need replacing sooner rather than later, so it is something to treat as a maintenance item for sure.

Lights – Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

DiNottee 400L front light and three PDW Radbot 1000 rear lights (see the archive below for the details) but the e-assist conversion I have now gone over completely to a Busch & Muller lighting setup. On the front I have a Bacchetta One Arm Bandit (OAB) mounted to the front

derailleur

post which I use to mount my front light, which is a Busch & Muller Lumotec IQ Premium 80 Lux e-bike specific light (Item 1752Q42/6N0491) . Getting a Busch & Muller e-bike specific light turned out to be quite tricky but I was able to track down and purchase from from Michael Huhn at Elektrofahrrad24 , a German e-bike retailer. Michael was really helpful in updating his commerce software to accept orders from Australia and in reducing the postage cost to a more competitive rate.

As the Bacchetta One Arm Bandit is not designed for mounting European lights, I had to drill a hole in to the mount to allow the bolting of the standard Busch & Muller light bracket to the mount. So far it has worked out well. The Busch & Muller Lumotec IQ Premium 80 Lux is working okay on the bike. The only downside with this light is that it lacks the sensor feature found on other high end Busch & Muller lights. I am probably being a bit picky here as really it draws such little power running it continuously is not a big issue so I just leave it switched on and it just powers up whenever the battery is turned on.

which has come off my Surly Long Haul Trucker (it is getting a Busch & Muller Toplight Line Brake Plus as a replacement).

Garmin Edge 810 and Sigma Sport ANT+ Sensors – Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT Installation

I use a Garmin Edge 810 GPS as my bike computer and whilst it can be used without a speed or cadence sensor my preference is to use a speed sensor (no reliance on the satellites required) and I also like to gather cadence data.

The single cadence/speed sensors such as the Garmin GSC-10 don’t work on recumbent bike like the Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT; rather separate cadence and speed sensors are required. Sigma Sports are one manufacturer that do a separate ANT+ cadence (model No. 20503) sensor and separate ANT + speed sensor (model No. 20502) as part of their ROX 10.0 model. Whilst my previous experience with the ROX 9.0 had me sworn off Sigma Sports products I relented and purchased a pair of sensors from Bike24 in Germany.

Installation of the Sigma Sports ROX 10.0 cadence sensor is simple with o-rings and cable-ties supplied for mounting the sensor and the magnet. The magnet is a two-part magnet which provides some flexibility if you have a larger than normal gap between the crank arm and your mounting point for the sensor; actually it is a really neat feature. What I also like about the sensor is that it has a battery test button (just press on the Sigma Sports logo) and a green light will come on if the battery is good. Spinning the pedal will then light up the green light if there is a good connection with the magnet. Makes testing that much easier. Sigma Sports claim that the battery in the Sigma Sports ROX 10.0 cadence and speed sensors have a life of 1.4 years and that re-pairing is not required after battery replacement.

Since I fitted the sensors in April 2014 the sensors have worked without any issues, however the speed sensor magnet on the wheel didn’t last long with the clip holding it on to the spoke breaking. I have since replaced it with a an old Garmin GSC-10 magnet I had.

Mirrors – Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

The bike came with one Busch & Müller Cyclestar 901/3 (5 cm) 50 mm mirror fitted. This has now been moved over to my LoGo P-38 and replaced with two Busch & Muller Cyclestar 80 mm mirrors (903/3). These are much bigger being 80 mm and whilst I was bit overwhelmed with their size when I first purchased them, they have proven to be a great buy. They really work well on this bike. Interestingly these mirrors are approved for e-bikes in Switzerland so maybe I have made the right decision here. I initially tried out a Zefal Spy Mirror that I had but on this bike I find the Busch & Müller Cyclestar mirror to be much more effective. That said, two mirrors are a must in my view.

Handlebar Grips – Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

One other significant change I made to the bike from standard was to remove the SRAM twist-shifters and replace them with SRAM X0 9-speed trigger shifter (right side only) and my favourite handlebar grips, Ergon GP1. I now have Ergon grips on three of my bikes. They just work so well on this bike as well as on my LoGo P-38.

Pump Mounting – Lezyne Micro Floor Drive – HP – Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

My pump of choice on my touring and commuter bikes are Lezyne pumps and in particular the Lezyne Micro Floor Drive HP and HV pumps. On my Giro 20 ATT I initially carried a Micro Floor Drive HP pump which I had mounted at the front of the boom using the braze-ons that are found under the front of the boom. The pump fits nicely and clears the crank-arm. These braze-on are also useful for mounting headlights I believe.

Top Tube Frame Bag – Alpkit Fuel Pod – Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

When I am riding, whether it is just going out for a ride or commuting to the office I like to take my camera with me, which at the moment is an Olympus OM-D EM-1 with a Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f/1.8 wide prime lens. I also plan to add a Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 12-40 mm f/2.8 PRO lens to the mix and hence was looking for a suitable top-tube bag which could carry the camera and lens whilst providing reasonable protection and reasonably quick access. So far the Alpkit Fuel Pod is ticking that box after I made up some inserts to protect the camera and lens.

Mounting the Fuel Pod was pretty straight forward. It comes with loops sewn along the bottom and two ends of the bag, but no Velcro straps. The loops are also quite small, so Velcro no more than 20 mm wide would be ideal. I did’t have any suitable lengths to hand so used zip ties which are working well actually.

The Alpkit Fuel Pod is a one compartment top-tube bag, it is not a camera bag so I had to make up some inserts to provide an element of protection for the camera. I found given the dimensions of the OM-D EM-1 that a piece of an old sleeping mat was ideal for the base. I then lined the sides of the Fuel Pod with some 3mm high density foam I had to hand and I used the same foam padding to make a divider come battery card pocket to provide protection between the camera and my future lens.

The camera is a tight fit but I do find it reasonably easy to remove and reinsert. Not super fast by any means so not a quick grab to snap that fleeting moment but it works in terms of providing reasonably easy access to my camera. At this point in time I don’t have my zoom lens so I have my hood for the 17 mm lens in the spot it will go. This seems to work okay and hopefully the lens will fit okay (my concern is the height).

Access to the camera is via a double zip arrangement with a piece of cord design to facilitate a single pool. It works okay but the cords where not tied on properly. I also find the piece of Velcro is a bit of a pain and slows down accessing the camera.

Riding the bike I do brush against the Fuel Pod when I first head-off but after a short period I no longer notice this so I am either pedalling slightly differently or it is simply not bothering me.

All up I am pretty happy with the setup so far, but once I am carrying a zoom will be the real test of the bag and oh riding in the rain.

Cameras on my Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

As a regularly commuter I have decided some time ago to run cameras on the bike I use for commuting which is Giro 20 ATT. My cameras of choice are a Contour HD 1080P which I have had since 2010. This camera is now regulated to rear camera duties and is mounted to the bike using the Contour waterproof housing and a RAM mount.

On the front I have a GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition which is mounted using a K-Edge GoPro GO Big handlebar mount off the Tweener bars. This has worked well so far with no vibration being noticeable. That said one has to be willing to live with feet going round and round in the video 🙂

Component Specification – Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

This tables summaries the specification of my Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT as it is currently configured.

Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT Specification

Component Details Frame Bacchetta Custom Ovalized Aluminum w/Disc Brake Tab - Medium/Large Frame Size Fork Bacchetta Aluminum, w/Disc Brake Tab, 1-1/8" Seat Bacchetta Recurve Seat Bacchetta Seat Stay Clamps (Velogenesis) - 1/2" Handlebar Bacchetta Aluminium "Tweener" Stem Bacchetta "B-Pivot" Adjustable Stem Rear Derailleur SRAM X9 Front Derailleur MicroSHIFT 9 Speed Triple Shifters SRAM X9 9-Speed Twist Shifters Crankset Truvativ GXP Firex 48/36/26 170 mm Bottom Bracket Truvativ GXP Pedals Platform pedals - unknown brand and model Headset FSA Orbit-X, 1-1/8" Threadless Cassette SRAM PG950 11-34t, 9 Speed Chain KMC Z99 BB Height 27.25" Wheelbase 47" Weight (On-Road) Front Brake Avid BB7 Disc Rear Brake Avid BB7 Disc Brake Levers Avid Speed Dial 7 Front Wheel Alex DM18, 20" (406), w/disc hubs Rear Wheel Alex DA16, 26" (559), w/disc hubs Front Tyre Schwalbe Durano HS399 20 x 1 1/8 (28 mm) - 28-406 Rear Tyre Kenda Kwest, 26" x 1.25" - 32-559 Idlers Bacchetta Rack - Rear Unknown brand and model Mudguards Bacchetta Fender Set Rear Bag Brain Box Mirror Zefal Spy Mirror - RHS Bell Fitted Water Bottle Cage SKS Slidecage Bottle Cage, Black Frame Protection BBB TubeSkin

Capital and Maintenance Costs – Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

With this table I am attempting to track the capital cost of the Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT, i.e., the bike itself and modifications to same which either extend its life or improve its functionality and the maintenance cost, i.e., the operating cost. With the operating cost I am also tracking the approximate cost per kilometre. This amount is updated whenever new costs are incurred.

Date Item/Activity Costs Total Capital Costs of the Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT 3,043.80 Total Maintenace Cost of the Logo Lightning P-38 62.68 Operating Cost Per Kilomtre Ridden as at May 1, 2014 0.08 Kilometres Ridden - July 2014 753 Capital Items July, 2013 Purchase of the bike 1,100.00 July, 2013 Bacchetta Kickstand for Disc Tab Dropout 43.47 July, 2013 Bacchetta OAB (One Armed Bandit) Light Mount 34.78 July, 2013 Bacchetta Shipping and Handling 14.14 July, 2013 Bacchetta Seat Stay Clamps - Velogenesis 1/2" - 5/8" 21.74 April, 2014 Bafang BBS01 36V 350W Mid Drive Kit 475.47 April, 2014 36V Samsung Frame Mounted Battery Pack 541.66 April, 2014 Aluminium Case Charger x 2 129.86 April, 2014 EM3EV Postage and Handling 274.68 April, 2014 SKS Slidecage Bottle Cage, Black 17.31 April, 2014 Bacchetta Fender (Mudguard) Set 95.99 April, 2014 Busch & Muller Toplight Line Plus Rear Light 45.89 April, 2014 Sigma Sport ANT+ Cadence Transmitter 20503 for ROX 10.0 25.99 April, 2014 Sigma Sport ANT+ Speed Transmitter 20502 for ROX 10.0 25.99 April, 2014 Busch & Mller Cyclestar 80 Mirror 903/3 42.03 June, 2014 Busch & Muller Lumotec IQ Cyo 80 Lux 154.8 July, 2014 Bacchetta Recurve seat Maintenance Items July, 2013 Swissstop Organic Disc Brake Pads D17 Green - Avid BB7 27.28 July, 2013 Transfil Shimano MTB Tandem Brake Cable Inner x 2 6.8 July, 2013 Transfil Shimano Indexed Tandem Gear Cable Inner x 2 11.6 July, 2013 BBB TubeSkin Kit BBP60 x 2 17

Service History – Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

In this final table I tracking the Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT service history; a bit like the service history for a motor vehicle.

Date Kilometres Details October 19, 2014 1,136 Completed standard service October 11, 2014 1,058 Repaired puncture in rear tyre - Kenda August 24,2014 899 Re-programmed the Bafang BBS-01 to settings more suitabel for commuting August 8, 2014 787 Bafang C961 Fault: Throttle not responding and battery status indicator indicating full charged battery after 57 kilometres of riding July 13, 2014 753 Removed the Bacchetta Euromesh seat and replaced it with a Bacchetta Recurve seat June 22, 2014 753 Installation of a Busch & Muller Lumotec IQ Cyo Premium42/6V e-bike light June 22, 2014 753 Installation of a Busch & Muller Toplight Line brake plus 323ALTV June 8, 2014 730 Completed installation of a Bafang BBS01 mid-drive. Fine tuning to come. October 13, 2013 582 Fitted an ADEM 2 Headrest and SuperFlash Light Mount October 13, 2013 582 Updated rear lighting setup to three PDW Radbot 1000 rear lights August 17, 2013 197 Installed a Bontrager ANT+ digital cadence sensor (part no. 426479) and a ANT+ digital speed sensor (part no. 426433) August 17, 2013 197 Installed a Bacchetta Kickstand for Disc Tab dropout. August 17, 2013 197 Replaced the existing bottle cages with two side mount CatCage Side Water Bottle cages. August 17, 2013 197 Installed a pair of Terracycle Velogenesis clamps to the EuroMesh seat. July 28, 2013 0 Completed a standard service to bring the bike into operation July 28, 2013 0 Installed DiNottee 400L front lights

Bacchetta Specific and General Related Recumbent Resources

Archived Changes to the Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

This part of the blog is keep track of and record changes I have made to the bike but which are no in longer play, e.g., my efforts at setting up the Bacchetta Euromesh seat.

Setting up the Bacchetta Euromesh Seat

I have followed as best I can the advice provided by Bacchetta and also that advice as provided by Easy Street Recumbents. I used my phone and an app to try to estimate the angles. This video gives an idea of where I ended up with the initial process

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I have since reclined the EuroMesh seat a little more but then decided to put going further back on hold for the moment until I get more comfortable with the bike and develop my “recumbent legs.” I had intend to recline the seat another 0.5 to 1 cm at the 1,000 kilometre mark and then to revisit the recline again at 1,500 kilometres but it didn’t make it past the 753 kilometre mark.

One issue I experienced very early into my riding the Giro was that I was getting really tensed up shoulders and quite bad neck pains. For example after commuting to work in the morning (42 km) and then riding home again in the late afternoon I found myself with about 10 to 15 kilometres to go with very painful neck and shoulders; bad enough to make riding quite difficult. Clearly my riding position was such that I could continue down this path. Initially I padded out the back of the seat at the shoulder level to bring my shoulders forward. This took around five centimetres of hard foam to achieve a reasonable outcome … not exactly ideal and it really looked tacky on the bike. Researching this issue pointed me to fitting a headrest.

ADEM 2 Headrest for the Bacchetta Euromesh Seat

I took the plunge and ordered an ADEM 2 Headrest for the Bacchetta Euromesh seat with the SuperFlash tail light bracket, a cost of $177 delivered; yep recumbent parts are not cheap and they can prove to be a costly mistake. Thankfully in my case, this has turned out to be a wise purchase. I am quite amazed at the improvement that has come from fitting the ADEM 2 headrest. It has so far proven to be a well spent $177, well it would have been had I kept the Euromesh seat on the bike.

Crankset Changes

With the fitting of the ADEM 2 Headrest and introducing a little more recline I found the standard FSA Gossamer 53/39/30 crankset crank arms where to long for me so I have now fitted a Stronglight Impact Triple Silver 165mm 48/38/28 Crankset. This turned out to be a bit of a drama as I went with the recommended bottom bracket, a 115 mm square threaded bottom bracket which turned out to be too long. The longer length has meant I cannot get the Microshift RS 439 SS front derailleur to shift the chain on the big chain ring: it simply does not have enough reach. I now have a 110 mm bottom bracket on order to hopefully resolve the issue. In the meantime I am riding the bike using the small and middle chain rings and shorter crank arms are working out well. The Stronglight Impact Triple was migrated over to my LoGo P-38 and the OEM FSA Gossamer 53/29/30 was re-installed. With the latest changes to the bike, this crankset has been removed and replaced by the Bafang BBS01 mid-drive motor.

Lights – Bacchetta Giro 20 ATT

My medium term intention is to set up the Giro 20 ATT with a dynamo for next winter but in the meantime I am using a DiNottee 400L front light and three PDW Radbot 1000 rear lights. With my plan to mount a dynamo front light and thinking I would have foot flash problems I purchased a Bacchetta One Arm Bandit (OAB) to mount a front light but I haven’t bothered to fit it as yet. I have found that mounting the DiNottee 400L directly to the derailleur post has worked fine for me and I am not being bothered by foot flash.

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