A bicycle drive apparatus comprises a bicycle crankset, a bicycle transmission, a drive assistance electric motor, a crank variation determining sensor and a microcomputer. The crank variation determining sensor is arranged to determine a variation value related to rotation of the bicycle crankset. The microcomputer includes a shift command section, a limiting section, a determining section and a limitation cancelling section. The shift command section issues a shift command commanding the bicycle transmission to change gears. The limiting section limits an output of the drive assistance electric motor upon issuance of the shift command. The determining section determines completion of a gear shift operation upon the variation value being within a prescribed range. The limitation cancelling section cancels the limitation of the output of the drive assistance motor upon the determining section determining the completion of the gear shift operation.