For my ebike use case it’s all about total cost of ownership going forward
I commute 80km/day on my current E8000 mid drive which has done 40,000+km, and to date has been trouble free
This distance is very high for a mid drive, and I’m concerned its probably getting close to eventually failing or will start to have reliability issues
With this in mind I recently did a service on the drive unit as it is out of warranty
The inside was as clean as the day it was assembled with no signs of water ingress or rust
The bearings still felt smooth and showed no signs of wear, so all I did was apply new grease to the gearing and closed it up again
My worry is if it eventually does fail, repairing it is not an option as Shimano will not sell spare parts direct, and only want to sell you a new drive unit (currently nil stock in Australia) which retails anywhere from AUD1,600 - AUD1,800.
When I bought the ebike new in 2018 for AUD3,500, I was told at that time a new drive unit was approx AUD800
Based on the info I have found online (including from the good folks here at EBR) hub motors are a simple design, cheap to buy and maintain, and have a good reputation for high speed trouble free operation on relatively flat terrain which makes up 90% of my commute route
As I have a couple of non power assisted bikes in my collection, I’ve decided to take out some insurance and use one as a host bike for a hub drive kit, of which I can readily get spares for and maintain myself
I don’t know which hub kit I will get as yet, and I’m still researching
Open to any suggestions
The Shengyi SX and the GMAC kits both from Grin look promising and have made it to my short list
My only concern with either motor is that Grin don’t sell spare gear sets and I can’t find anyone else who does