Easy Freewheel (rear cassette) Change on my RadMini Under $50

G

Gregory Benner

New Member
Love my new RadMini, but found the gearing a bit low for my tastes. Lower than the Rover, probably due to 20" v 26" wheels. After looking on another thread and call Rad, I did the following.

Purchased a DP 11/28 Freewheel on Amazon for $32 (free shipping with Prime). (DNP Epoch Freewheel 7spd 11-28 Nickel Plated)

Purchased the "special" rear cassette tool from Rad for $5.00 (the guy in tech said many shops didn't have the specific tool for the Rad Ebike).

Took it the local shop, they charged me $10 to change it. The mechanic at first said they had all the tools needed, but later said he did need the special tool from Rad. Just FYI.

It's more than a 20% change in top gear (11 v 14) and is quite noticeable when cruising at speeds in excess of 15 mph. The low gear (28) is unchanged.
 
I bought the DNP 11/30's for our 20" folders. Didn't need the freewheel tool because I had bare motors with no freewheels, but the special tool is just a freewheel remover with a bigger hole to accommodate a 12mm e-bike axle. Regular axles are 10 mm.

Meanwhile my wife's bike has a 52T frontgear, while mine is 48T. Makes a difference, as my pedals still spin too fast at 18 mph.

I read where the bikerista crowd gives DNP bad knocks for durability. Maybe they pan anything that doesn't cost $100 or more. I hope our freewheels last a while.
 
That's interesting? The specs say list the front sprocket as 42 T (?). I find rather easy cadence 20 mph, haven't changed the controller to allow higher mph. Are your 52 and 48T RadMinis? Has Rad used different ones, or did you change your?

Your correct on the tool, really flat I purchased one since the shop I went to didn't have one. He said the same thing, re: axle size.
 
Made this same move (DP 11/28 Freewheel from Amazon) on my 2018 Rad City, for the same reason. Very pleased with the results. Much more usable gearing across the entire range of speeds I use.
 
Any ideas if I will need to add any links or get a new derailleur using the DPN 30-11? I read somewhere the derailleur can only do a 28 teeth ring at the largest... or will there be a chain length issue?
 
Regarding the City, original chain length worked fine. I would imagine yours would as well.
 
Thanks for sharing your experience! Just got my RadCity and this was my immediate urge to alter as well, within the first mile of riding.

Can you elaborate (with link?) what you are referring to below though? I can't find it on radpowerbikes.com
Gregory Benner said:
Purchased the "special" rear cassette tool from Rad for $5.00 (the guy in tech said many shops didn't have the specific tool for the Rad Ebike).... The mechanic at first said they had all the tools needed, but later said he did need the special tool from Rad.
Click to expand...
 
AHicks said:
Made this same move (DP 11/28 Freewheel from Amazon) on my 2018 Rad City, for the same reason. Very pleased with the results. Much more usable gearing across the entire range of speeds I use.
Click to expand...

Gears. Love em...constantly calculating ratios...

Found a freewheel maker who has a few high quality 7 speed units for a reasonable $60 price...IRD. Especially attractive is a 13-32. I'm spinning out the 14 tooth (85") at 22 mph, but there's no way I'd ever push a 11 tooth 108" gear on a 60# bike...my knees would rebel. 13 teeth will give me that extra zip, but keep the low for that nasty escarpment steep climb. 13-15-17-21-24-28-32. Gear 6 is the all important one for me, and that would be 80" vs. 75", with a 5th of 70" vs. 66" in back of it.

They say it's based on Shimano 600 with h.d. bearings and pawls and will fit a 126mm hub...emailed Rad tech to ask about the City dropout spacing.

https://store.interlocracing.com/drco.html
 
larry-new said:
there's no way I'd ever push a 11 tooth 108" gear on a 60# bike...my knees would rebel. 13 teeth will give me that extra zip, but keep the low for that nasty escarpment steep climb.
Click to expand...
The point of the 11 tooth sprocket is for when you are on level ground and/or already up to speed; you wouldn't want to use 14, 13, or 11 on a climb. With the 14 tooth, once you get ~> 20mph it's hard to contribute much human power to the electric assist because you have to spin so fast. Arguably it would be easier on your knees because you can slow down the pedaling action 30% while still contributing as little or as much "human assist" as you'd like.
 
Yes, that's why I switched to the 11 tooth. I couldn't keep up much beyond 15mph or so. The 11 tooth allows me to "stay up" to speeds of at least 20 mph. Not that I see that speed frequently, but there are times, and I like to keep the pressure on the pedals about the same no matter my speed (consistent cadence). At the same time, I'm no longer spending the bulk of my time in the top gear I have available either, with just very rare usage of my bottom gears (1st thru 4th). It's like my personal speed/cadence matches this free wheel unit much better. Instead of using the top 2 gears most of the time, I'm frequently using more like 5 or 6 of the available choices.
 
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Rad got back to me and said the City dropouts were 135mm and they don't recommend using a shorter freewheel, and that it was important for the integrity of the rear wheel assembly that the freewheel be the same size.

I don't exactly see how this makes sense...so I asked IRD if their freewheel would replace a Shimano MFTZ2 14-34. We'll see what they say.

IRD said no problem with fit, so that'll be my upgrade, and I'll probably go to Schwalbe 26x1.5 Marathon Plus at the same time, while I've got the rear wheel off.
 
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larry-new said:
Rad got back to me and said the City dropouts were 135mm and they don't recommend using a shorter freewheel, and that it was important for the integrity of the rear wheel assembly that the freewheel be the same size.
Click to expand...
I also don't understand this. I thought it's been established that the DNP is actually a bit "thicker" than the stock freewheel, so one must remove the stock spacer when doing the swap? (btw I'm assuming "shorter freewheel" means narrower/ less thick measured horizontally). EDIT: my comparison is based on photos in cayjak's excellent thread about this mod, here, note in particular the photos on this post)

Perhaps what they're saying is that we should be still using a spacer of some kind, but on the outside of the freewheel??? Again, to me, looking at cayjak's photos it looks like we have the opposite problem if anything, the freewheel could be a bit thicker even when the spacer is in place (which I don't think cayjak ever depicted in a photo, unfortunately)
 
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I don't know anything about the Rad City, so I can't comment on RAD's statement about the dropout width. What I can say is the DNP freewheel I used on my Mini is almost exactly the same "height" (width) as the stock freewheel + spacer. The DNP + the spacer was a very tight fit in the dropouts due to the increased width of the rear wheel assembly. Once I removed the spacer, then the rear wheel assembly (with DNP) fit perfectly into the rear dropouts. Plus, as noted, the new gear set also ended up in the same place in relation to the chain line.

But, like I say, my experience is with the Mini only, so take it for what it is worth.
 
cayjak said:
I don't know anything about the Rad City, so I can't comment on RAD's statement about the dropout width. What I can say is the DNP freewheel I used on my Mini is almost exactly the same "height" (width) as the stock freewheel + spacer. The DNP + the spacer was a very tight fit in the dropouts due to the increased width of the rear wheel assembly. Once I removed the spacer, then the rear wheel assembly (with DNP) fit perfectly into the rear dropouts. Plus, as noted, the new gear set also ended up in the same place in relation to the chain line.

But, like I say, my experience is with the Mini only, so take it for what it is worth.
Click to expand...

Same with me, perfect fit and alignment with the DNP leaving the spacer out. And, it required no adjustment, actually shifts quicker and more positive with the DNP.
 
Crazy amazon pricing, It's always been around 30 bucks,
I'm buying one off ebay.
www.ebay.com

Dnp Freewheel for sale | eBay

Get the best deals for Dnp Freewheel at eBay.com. We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items!
www.ebay.com
 
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