Giant Road E 1x11 Drivetrain Conversion

[Hairy Pete]

Love my Giant Road E+1 but struggle with shifting between the front rings. It all works as it should but for the need to double shift to keep a decent cadence and the odd incedence of chain suck causing visible damage to the chainstay...
So,
Do we need 22 gears on an e-bike?
I have removed the double ring and fitted a Hope 42T narrow wide ring instead using some short bolts and fitting on the outside of the spider. Chain line is good as the 42T fits in the centre of what was the custom FSA set and 42-36 is getting me up 20% with reasonable ease with 42-11 being more than fast enough for me on the flat.
I now have 11 consecutive gears which change as smooth as ever, and it looks much better...
Anyone else thought of doing this?

 

[PDoz]

My full e pro - race face narrow wide, it's been fantastic.

 

[Hairy Pete]

My full e pro - race face narrow wide, it's been fantastic.

I see you have kept the front mech! I was a bit concerned about dropping the chain without one but I neednt have worried and its a much cleaner look without it.

 

[PDoz]

I see you have kept the front mech! I was a bit concerned about dropping the chain without one but I neednt have worried and its a much cleaner look without it.

No, I removed the mech - that's a guard / guide to reduce the risk of losing the chain ( taken off a giant trance that was on the shop floor because the lbs didn't have any in stock)

 

[DaveMatthews]

Nicely done!
I almost bought a 2018 Dirt E+ which is 2x9
When I found out the 2019 Fathom E+ was 1x10 I went for that and didn't miss the second chain ring at all!

 

[Kristjan]

My 2018 Toughroad GXE has the 1x11 with SRAM Apex - it's brilliant so I'd say no, we don't need 22 gears on an e-bike. My wife has a 2017 Quick-E and I don't think she's ever used the smaller front ring. The Apex deraillier has the clutch in it keeping the chain nice and snug so I haven't had a single issue with dropping the chain despite no guard/guide up front. I think the 1x drivetrain makes a lot of sense, especially on e-bikes. I think giant didn't think too much and just added motors to bikes - and it seems as years go on we are seeing more 1x (for example, the Quick-E is now a 10 speed). Wonder if the same will happen with the Road-E?

 

[RabH]

I actually prefer to have 22 gears as I tend to use very little assist when I first set off as I mostly do longer rides and save my battery for the return journey! I have an average mileage of 63.3 miles over 36 rides so far so having 22 gears lets me keep my cadence ticking over! I can see why a lot of people prefer the single ring though, it makes sense for sure!

 

[cheekee]

I have converted my giant dirt E+2 to a single chainring setup (44 tooth). I had to use 2mm spacers on the spider to move the chainring over so to be able to fit a chain guide correctly. I swapped the chainring bolts from single to double to account for the spacers.

 

[cheekee]

I think it's much better.