Bicycle mod

Hi chaps. I have a small problem that I am sure someone on here can help me with.

I have a eco stepper electric bike and a journey to work that includes 2 very long and steep hills. and 1 very very steep short hill.

My bike is 6 speed shimano. The problem is that the 48 tooth front makes the hills imposible and then the flat out speed is geared too low for me, I am more of mid reving diesel not a high speed 2stroke.

I was wondering about putting on a 2 speed front gear ( or a 3) and manually moving the chain when said hills came along. The hills are worth stopping and doing that.

I have spoken to my local bike shop and they said I would have to fit a front shifter to prevent the chain from always moving to the lowest size sprocket. Is that correct? I always thought the chain wanted to stay put and the de railer mech had to shove it over to "encourage" it to change ring, the mech is not normally doing anything?

I was quoted approx £150 .

I can get a 50/34 for approx £55 from amazon

Chain set.

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Bike

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Thanks

Gary

Reply to
Gary
Loading thread data ...

You might get a better reply in uk.rec.cycling.moderated.

Reply to
Martin Bonner

Wow - you've spent more on one bike than I have in a lifetime!

If is that steep you should consider getting off and walking. You'll be going no slower than pedalling and its a lot less effort.

After changing the chain from one gear to the other more than twice you'll find it such a faff and dirty job, you'll not do it again!

Fitting a front chain set with changer is dependent on the down tube, its shape and diameter. Looking at the bike that might be the reason it's £150 as it might have to be a bespoke design.

Reply to
Fredxxx

You could try using a proper form of transport & not a child's toy.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

It is members only: new comers are not encouraged or welcome and you will get the following response as the post is rejected:

"However, we regret it has not been accepted. Unfortunately, we have found it necessary to operate an informal probationary period for new posters."

How one stops being on probation is not clear.

Reply to
Judith

For God's sake give it a rest!

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

+1 we can do without the sort of 'attention' that type of post generates.
Reply to
Andy Burns

I know SFA about bikes, but I assume you've considered changing the sizes/ratios of the sprocket-set on the rear wheel.

Reply to
Chris Hogg

Here are some points to consider:

  1. A six speed cassette will have a six speed chain. The chainset is for
9 speed chains. A six speed chain may well be wider than a 9 speed chain. Will it be compatible with your existing chain-cassette-derailleur ?

  1. Will the existing rear derailleur be able to cope with the new gear ranges since the chain will need to be longer as the new chainring is bigger than your existing chainring. It will have to take up the slack in the chain when you have shifted onto the inner (smaller) chainring.

  2. The design of the frame looks like you won't be able to fit a front derailleur, which makes points 1, 2 & your original idea undo-able.

  1. Can you change the rear cassette to another 6 speed which has a wider spread of gears? Eg. If you currently have a 28-14 cassette then changing to a 32-11 might solve your problem.

  2. 6 speed might not give you enough options. You might be able to fit a
7/8 speed cassette. A bit old design now, but then I haven't seen 6 speed since the early 90's. This might give you the gear range needed and your chain might be compatible as well. you will need a new gear shifter.

  1. Consider a 9/10/11 speed cassette. Your existing chain won't be compatible. you're existing chainring may or may not be compatible with the narrower chain needed. You will need a new gear shifter.

  2. The bike isn't suitable for what you are doing. Get a reasonable quality bike with a wide range of gears. You may find that without the weight of the battery, motor & chunky frame you could cycle up the hills yourself.

  1. You can buy retro fit electric motor units for existing bikes. Find a bike which enables you to achieve what you want and add one of these units. That way you have the best of both worlds.

Hope that helps

Reply to
Rob

The rears are standard and the six choices are ok but not for a 1 in 4 hill. thus i need high and very low ratio.

By the way. I posted to this group as it is mostly filled with normal people that have experience and know how on a large range of subjects.

cheers.

Reply to
Gary

The lack of support for the front drailer mech is the obvious problem. To walk up the hills takes 20 mins. The motor is good on this bike but cannot cope with the hill even with me peddling.

I can pedle a mountain bike up the hill ( in 3 sections) and with a lot of puffing. as the total journey is 10 miles and the journey is only stuymed by the hills at one end it is realy infuriating not to be able to pedal up the hill.

I clocked myself at 41mph going down the hill. took less than 2 mins.

Thanks for the input.

Reply to
Gary

Just how much are you willing to spend, is 500 quid too much?

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Reply to
A right charlie

You are Jeremy Clarkson AICMFP! :-)

A pushbike (strange form of name for a pedalled bicycle) is not a toy, it's a clever means of extending the range and speed of a pedestrian by the clever use of the technology of wheels and gears.

I well remember that month, back in my late teens, when I was forced to use a 3 speed pushbike to travel a 10 mile route to RAF Haydock (OSA, so don't ask!) on account my 13 month old BSA Bantam D14 fractured its crankpin during a lunchtime excursion around Haydock.

I stripped the engine down in the workshop at work to try and fix it but, when faced with the broken crankpin, I had the joy of persuading BSA to replace the whole crank under warranty, an endevour which did succeed but it took a whole month before I was finally able to reassemble the bike.

In the meantime, I was cycling the shortest route daily (there simply wasn't a viable public transport solution to my commuter needs), discovering hidden slopes I'd previously been totally oblivious of when riding the same roue on the motorbike. I soon discovered which way each "Dead Level" section of road sloped. :-(

The funny thing is that my best time for the journey was the very first one which I did in 45 minutes (10 miles). This left me so knackered, I was barely recovered in time to tackle the homeward journey that first day.

Thereafter, I paced myself to do the trip in one hour. I was still pretty knackered at the end of each trip for the first week but I did notice that the recovery time dropped from the initial four or five hours down to about 2 by the start of the second week and 1 by the start of the 3rd week ending up being hardly winded during the last week. At no point did I ever attempt to better my one hour travel time.

I was one 'Happy Bunny' when I got the Bantam back on the road and was able to 'ditch the pushbike'. If it had been a shorter journey, say 5 or 6 miles, I might have persisted in my 'new found hobby' but the time saving, 20 minutes versus 60 each way, and the cheapness of petrol (and tax and insurance) put that novel idea right out of contention, so motorbike it was from then on.

These days, with the higher expenses involved even for a motorbike, and the congestion reducing average commute speeds to little better than 12mph, the pushbike has become a much more viable alternative with relatively short journeys around the 5 mile mark, provided you can trust to your wits to save you from the half wits.

The other thing in favour of such 'toy transport' is that it saves you the bother of joining a gym (and not going) since it undoubtedly improves your health, RTA hazard issues aside.

The best cyclists are ones who've had enough experience to learn roadcraft driving a car or, ideally, a motorbike for several years _then_ a car for several more. They have a better idea on how to make allowances for the difficulties of ICE powered vehicular traffic the cyclist can create and also an insight into what errors in judgment the car driver is likely to commit (most motorcyclists already have a sympathy for the cyclist).

The problems arise with cocky young cyclists who have no or virtually no car driving experience and car drivers with absolutely no motorbike riding experience. Such riders and drivers are the worst kind in that they have the least tolerance to _all_ other road users, not just to those using a mode of transport different to their current mode. The difference tends to amplify the arrogant disregard for the other users' needs and rights.

Ideally, especially in our obese and unfit society, it aught to be a legal requirement that before anyone can start a motorcycle training course that they have a valid cycling proficiency certificate with a minimum 12 months clocked up and likewise for those wishing to learn to drive a car insomuch as they'd be required to have passed their motorcycle test (with a concession to include sidecar combos for those not happy with riding a solo motorbike).

Such legislation, if successful (and it doesn't seem unrealistic now that we have the precedent of the anti-smoking laws) will undoubtedly improve road safety and the health of the nation (the increasing expenses of personal motorised transport will provide plenty of incentive "To Get Fit" :-).

Reply to
Johny B Good

I agree with the others, that bike dosent really lend it's self to having a front derailleur set fitted easily,

The easy solution would be to replace the rear gear set with one that you can fit your own choice of gears to, and fit a 'granny' gear as the lowest gear, i have a mountain bike from Switzerland, and it has a 7 speed rear gear set, but the largest gear on the stack is a big step up from the next one, it's like jumping 5 or 6 gears,

This is apparently common on bikes sold in mountain regions, in the granny gear i could probably pedal up the wall of my house, i've never found a hill i couldn't get up with that gear, but as soon as i shift out of it, i'm back to the more normal gear ranges for normal slopes and flat riding,

I can no longer ride a mountain style bike, so last year i bought my self a semi recumbrent style bike which has a backrest and it's riding position is like on a cruiser motorcycle (feet forwards, leaning back a bit)

I bought it with the plan to convert it to electric assist sometime, and i soon found out the the easy and cheap solution of fitting a hub motor would not work for me, one reason being the lack of weight on the front wheel due to the sitting position, but also i think they are unsuitable for anything but city riding on mainly flat roads, the motor has an ideal speed it wants to run at, and running it too slowly overheats it fast, not to mention the power consumption, most hub motored bikes are best running at about 12mph,

So i found crank mounted motors that drive the bike through the existing gear train, meaning the motor drives through your existing gears, and you can match the best motor speed to road speed, this is exactly how the electric version of my bike did it (my bike is a Giant Revive that only sold for a few years)

Of course this system costs a lot more, about £300 opposed to about 70 quid for a hub motor, and the batteries are extra, If i were to buy a ready made electric bike, i'd go for one by 'woosh bikes' and it's them i plan to get the bottom bracket drive motor from

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Reply to
Gazz

I think you'd be better off getting a new rear wheel built with a "freehub" that you could then fit with a 9 or 10 speed cassette with a mountain bike set of rings. You will need a MTB long arm changer and a new front chainring that will accept the slimmer chain.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

I reckon a wider ratio 6-speed cassette is the first thing to try, assuming one is available. As long as you don't have sporting aspirations, the wide-ish gaps between the gears shouldn't be a problem (although the existing rear deraileur might have problems with the extra chain slack). Bikes with many closely-spaced gears are a recent phenomenom, touring cyclists used to cope fine with big gaps between gears.

This might be the sort of job that a traditional small dingy bikeshop with cardboard boxes full of bits behind the counter could help with, if you can find one.

The unconventional frame design of your bike makes a front derailieur problematic.

If you don't mind me asking, can we assume you won't get any fitter? If you've only recently started cycling regularly, you might find those hills will shrink of their own accord.

Reply to
LumpHammer

Not while there are sill cyclists breathing.....

mwahahaha

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Just f*ck off to cyclist newsgroups then and don't draw their attention here.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

Gary scribbled...

Why not discuss your problem with the bike manufacturer? If their bike won't go up a hill, it's bloody useless innit.

Reply to
Jabba

TBH, it sounds more as if the problem is more the rider's expectations than the bike manufacturer's product. With the hill, add in a chunk of the rider (not getting the workout on the flat) being unable to provide enough assistance.

Remember, electric bikes have maximum speeds and power outputs prescribed by law.

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I've got a bicycle that's power-assisted-pedal. 550w, though, rather than the 200w cap, so it legally counts as a motorbike - so full proper helmet, plates, insurance, MOT, tax disc are all legal requirements. Except it's still

Reply to
Adrian

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