CYC Photon 2

The offer

What CYC Photon 2 actually is

CYC Photon 2 is one configuration from CYC Motor, made in Hong Kong, filed here as a mid-drive. The family is Photon, generation Catalogue. Light torque mid-drive. Rated 250 or 750 W, peak 2000 W, 135 Nm, 3.5 kg. Kit only — battery is extra.

In the box, as this record has it: Photon 2 motor, Controller, Torque sensor. Still required before the bike moves under its own assist: Battery 36–72 V, Charger, Shell: BSA or BB92. A cheaper advert for the same family name is not this list. If the battery, the charger or the throttle differs, it is a different configuration and it gets a different page.

CYC rates Photon 2 at 250 W and at 750 W. Peak is 2000 W. The Great Britain checker uses 250 W only when that is the continuous rating of the controller you buy.

The price on the card is the maker’s published figure in USD, or Maker list when no figure was published. Allowances for a missing pack, a charger and workshop time sit in the complete-cost band. They are not a second product and they are not a promise that a random pack will talk to this controller.

The bicycle

The frame this motor is asking for

CYC Motor lists CYC Photon 2 against Mountain, Hybrid, Road bicycles, for Hills, Commuting, Touring. Wheel sizes on the card: 700c, 26, 27.5. The mechanical interface is BSA 68–120 mm and BB92. Brakes are disc.

A mid-drive takes the bottom bracket’s job. The shell width, the thread or the press-fit standard, and the chainstay clearance decide it. The bike’s own gears then multiply whatever the motor puts into the chainring, which is why a modest continuous rating can still climb if the shell is the right one.

Pedals stay. This configuration is a bicycle with assistance, not a motorcycle conversion. Sensor on the card: torque. Cut-off on the card: 15.5 mph. Throttle: not fitted.

The numbers

250 W is not the whole story

Continuous rated power for CYC Photon 2 is 250 W. Claimed peak is 2000 W. Torque is 135 Nm. 135 Nm manufacturer figure. Motor mass is 3.5 kg. System mass, once the named parts are on the bike, is Photon 2 motor, Controller, Torque sensor.

Peak is a short claim. Street rules, including the Great Britain check on this site, use continuous rated power and the speed at which assistance stops. A controller that can be unlocked does not change the record of the motor as sold. CYC Photon 2 is filed in the 25 km/h class: 250 W pedelec class used across the EU, Great Britain and Australia.

In this class the useful comparison is torque and mass, not a bigger watt sticker. A 250 W torque-sensing mid-drive and a 250 W cadence hub do not feel alike, and neither of them becomes legal somewhere else just because the sticker matches.

Pack and charger

The motor is not a finished electrical system

CYC Photon 2 is sold as a motor. Voltage class is 52 V. Energy in this offer: no watt-hour figure in this offer. No battery model is invented to fill the gap. The complete-cost band holds an allowance so a finished bike can be budgeted without pretending a pack was included.

The charger follows the pack, not the motor slogan. Budget the charger once the pack model is fixed. Similar voltage, a connector that happens to fit, or the word universal is not a match. The controller in Included controller expects the pack the manual names.

If you already own a pack, the workshop question is the continuous discharge rate, the connector pinout and whether the battery management system will talk to this controller. Those three are not on a watt sticker.

Mid-drive

How CYC Motor uses this layout

Mid-drive. CYC Photon 2 sits at the bottom bracket and drives a chainring, so the bicycle’s gears become the motor’s gears. Climbing in a low gear is the point. Spinning a tiny ring on the flat, at the motor’s expense, is how chains and cassettes die early.

The shell on this record is BSA 68–120 mm and BB92. Press-fit, a worn cartridge, or a carbon shell with a hopeful adapter is a workshop measurement, not a yes from the listing. Chainline is the quiet failure: the chain climbs, the stay rubs, the clutch chatters.

Torque sensing means the motor follows how hard you push, not only that the crank is turning. It feels closer to a stronger pair of legs. It also means the sensor, the spindle and the controller are one system.

The workshop

A workshop path, written as a sequence

CYC Photon 2 is a workshop install in this record. Doing it yourself does not rewrite the path into a pass. It means the documented route was not the one you took, and the result stays conditional until someone competent has seen the bike.

Warranty as published: Maker warranty. Term is on the invoice.. Labour in the cost band is separate from the offer. A brake service the bike already needed, a new chain, or a hanger alignment is not folded into CYC Motor’s price to make the total look neat.

The sensible order is measure, then mount, then connect, then the first assisted roll in the stand. Connectors are keyed for a reason. The torque arm, the axle nuts and the connector boots are one inspection at the end, not three trips.

After it is on

The first month, and the parts that wear

Chains and cassettes wear faster because the motor can hold a high torque in a small gear. Shift before the load spikes. A worn cassette is a workshop line, not a reason to suspect the motor first. Keep the chainring that shipped with the kit until you have a reason, in writing, to change the ratio.

Keep the named charger with the pack you actually fitted. Store the pack cool, part-charged if it will sit, and not in a hallway that is your only exit. CYC Motor’s display, if one is included, is paired to this controller generation. A screen from the next family is not a spare.

My Garage on this device can hold the configuration, who fitted it, and what was still open. That note is for you and for the next workshop. It is not a certificate. If a later notice lands on this configuration, the record is where it should show.

Read next to it

• Bafang BBS02BBafang · Mid-drive · Off-road
• Bafang BBSHDBafang · Mid-drive · Off-road
• Bafang BBS01Bafang · Mid-drive · 25 km/h
• Bafang M620 UltraBafang · Mid-drive · Off-road

From the library

• What a conversion kit actually includesA motor wheel and a complete system are not the same product. The page should say which one you are looking at.
• Watts, torque, and the sticker that does not mean rangeContinuous watts, peak watts and newton-metres describe different moments. Mixing them is how a listing looks twice as strong as the motor you will live with.
• Speed classes, from 25 km/h to off-roadThe class is a property of the kit as sold. The road you may use it on is a property of the country, and sometimes of the state or the canton.
• Bottom brackets: 68, 73, and the shells that are not BSAA mid-drive does not sit beside the bracket. It becomes the bracket. Width and thread are the fit.
• Cadence sensing and torque sensingOne motor notices that you are turning the pedals. The other notices how hard. The ride, the wiring and the price all change with that choice.
• Batteries, chargers, and why 'it fits' is not enoughVoltage and a connector are not a compatibility test. The safe question is whether this exact pack and this exact charger are the combination the system names.