rear hub motor riding styles affects on chains

[Gordon71]

Over time I've developed a fairly specific riding style. My rides are generally in the 15-25 mile range. I have no interest in speed and usually ride in the 10-15 mph range. I don't shift much and am generally in either 3rd or 4th gear (out of 7) I pretty much never use 1st or 2nd and 5-7 only on long flat straight stretches that are few where I ride. I do change PAS quite often but mostly in either 2 or 3 with 4 & 5 for steeper hills. I was just pondering whether my style is more or less harder on chains than if I shifted a lot or doesn't make much difference at all.

 

[AHicks]

Over time I've developed a fairly specific riding style. My rides are generally in the 15-25 mile range. I have no interest in speed and usually ride in the 10-15 mph range. I don't shift much and am generally in either 3rd or 4th gear (out of 7) I pretty much never use 1st or 2nd and 5-7 only on long flat straight stretches that are few where I ride. I do change PAS quite often but mostly in either 2 or 3 with 4 & 5 for steeper hills. I was just pondering whether my style is more or less harder on chains than if I shifted a lot or doesn't make much difference at all.

Your riding habits sound good from where I'm sitting. Mine are very similar, but my emphasis would be for PAS1 and gears 3-5 mostly (fewer hills?), with occasional use of 6. 7 rarely used. Thinking here is a lot of this may have to do with controller programing too though. All of my bikes have been switched to KT controllers.

 

[Gordon71]

Your riding habits sound good from where I'm sitting. Mine are very similar, but my emphasis would be for PAS1 and gears 3-5 mostly (fewer hills?), with occasional use of 6. 7 rarely used. Thinking here is a lot of this may have to do with controller programing too though. All of my bikes have been switched to KT controllers.

OK, Do you think during shifting there is more chain wear as it jumps for cog to cog than just from turning the wheel? I think you are in Florida? where I would guess fewer hills than Maine although I've never been there. Does the KT controller deliver more power that stock Rad ones?

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

My drivetrain war story probably favors the OP's riding style over mine. I ride at PAS 1/9 at least 95% of the time and use gearing to solve cadence problems whenever possible. Just the way I like to roll on my 500W rear hub-drive in this land of many short, steep hills. Together, the bike and I weigh about 120 kg.

War story: Ended up replacing the entire drivetrain at only 900 miles, with the KMC chain, Shimano cassette, and the pantograph bearings on the 9-speed Shimano Alivio derailleur all severely worn. Root cause unknown (I suspect a defective derailleur now), but my bike mechanic said that our sandy, salty coastal enviroment and my low-assist, low-gear riding style on the many hills were major contributing factors.

He suggested that I ride my hub-drive at higher PAS to prolong drivetrain life — especially uphill. In other words, ride more like the OP.

Frankly, my riding style's not gonna change. So I beefed up the entire drivetrain, added a 27-inch lowest gear, and got a lot more fastidious about shifting technique and maintenance instead. That was 300 mi ago. Fingers crossed.

 

[Gordon71]

My drivetrain war story probably favors the OP's riding style over mine. I ride at PAS 1/9 at least 95% of the time and use gearing to solve cadence problems whenever possible. Just the way I like to roll on my 500W rear hub-drive in this land of many short, steep hills. Together, the bike and I weigh about 120 kg.

War story: Ended up replacing the entire drivetrain at only 900 miles, with the KMC chain, Shimano cassette, and the pantograph bearings on the 9-speed Shimano Alivio derailleur all severely worn. Root cause unknown (I suspect a defective derailleur now), but my bike mechanic said that our sandy, salty coastal enviroment and my low-assist, low-gear riding style on the many hills were major contributing factors.

He suggested that I ride my hub-drive at higher PAS to prolong drivetrain life — especially uphill. In other words, ride more like the OP.

Frankly, my riding style's not gonna change. So I beefed up the entire drivetrain, added a 27-inch lowest gear, and got a lot more fastidious about shifting technique and maintenance instead. That was 300 mi ago. Fingers crossed.

900 miles? Wow, that's too bad. I replaced my stock chain at around 2,000 miles with KMC. I've got a little over 4300 miles on it now and it's still good. I live on the coast too but here it's rocky rather than sandy.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

900 miles? Wow, that's too bad. I replaced my stock chain at around 2,000 miles with KMC. I've got a little over 4300 miles on it now and it's still good. I live on the coast too but here it's rocky rather than sandy.

Very interesting. Do you ride many hills on a regular basis?

Have no doubt that sand had a lot to do with that 900-mile drivetrain failure. It's everywhere here. Did 4-5 beach rides in damp sand with the old drivetrain but rinsed it thoroughly each time. And 10-15% of my miles are offroad — often with a thin veneer of loose sand over hardpack. Wasn't fastidious about rinsing then, but I sure am now.

Still, others here ride in sandy environments with much bettter service life. One of several reasons I suspect a defective derailleur at the top of the failure cascade.

 

[Gordon71]

Very interesting. Do you ride many hills on a regular basis?

Have no doubt that sand had a lot to do with that 900-mile drivetrain failure. It's everywhere here. Did 4-5 beach rides in damp sand with the old drivetrain but rinsed it thoroughly each time. And 10-15% of my miles are offroad — often with a thin veneer of loose sand over hardpack. Wasn't fastidious about rinsing then, but I sure am now.

Still, others here ride in sandy environments with much bettter service life. One of several reasons I suspect a defective derailleur at the top of the failure cascade.

There are some hills every ride but most are not too long so only short bursts of PAS 4 and sometimes 5. Some groomed gravel trails and the occasional dirt rode.

 

[AHicks]

OK, Do you think during shifting there is more chain wear as it jumps for cog to cog than just from turning the wheel? I think you are in Florida? where I would guess fewer hills than Maine although I've never been there. Does the KT controller deliver more power that stock Rad ones?

Florida place is the reason you see me speaking of the more powerful bikes in our fleet on occasion. We're smack dab in the middle of one of the few areas in Florida with large rolling coastal hills (Gulf side north of Tampa). We can't go in any direction without starting and ending our ride among them. Anyway, I can tell you that I avoid running on the smallest gear in the rear any more than necessary to avoid wear. My most powerful bike, the 1500w Ultra mid drive, run strictly in this area with my rather largish butt on it, is doing fairly well, as are the other bikes. What is supposedly a chain eating monster has 1500 miles on the original chain that is showing just negligible wear. Another bike, a '17 RAD with a 1000w geared hub motor, has twice that many miles on it and is probably just coming up on the need to replace the original chain. This bike has taken out a bearing in the rear cluster, so it was replaced but just the one time. The chain was fine. The rest of the bikes are 500w geared hubs and they're also doing fine. No unusual wear at all. -Al

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Florida place is the reason you see me speaking of the more powerful bikes in our fleet on occasion. We're smack dab in the middle of one of the few areas in Florida with large rolling coastal hills (Gulf side north of Tampa). We can't go in any direction without starting and ending our ride among them. Anyway, I can tell you that I avoid running on the smallest gear in the rear any more than necessary to avoid wear. My most powerful bike, the 1500w Ultra mid drive, run strictly in this area with my rather largish butt on it, is doing fairly well, as are the other bikes. What is supposedly a chain eating monster has 1500 miles on the original chain that is showing just negligible wear. Another bike, a '17 RAD with a 1000w geared hub motor, has twice that many miles on it and is probably just coming up on the need to replace the original chain. This bike has taken out a bearing in the rear cluster, so it was replaced but just the one time. The chain was fine. The rest of the bikes are 500w geared hubs and they're also doing fine. No unusual wear at all. -Al

Since you also ride in a sand-, salt-, and hill-rich enviroment, this gives me hope that my new, improved drivetrain will last a lot longer than 900 miles.

How often do you clean and lube your chains?

 

[m@Robertson]

Drivetrain stress is so low on a hub drive bike, that your riding style will probably alter the chain wear from colossally long to really really long. Maybe other things you do will hasten the chain dying (I saw some mention of sand above) but thats independent of your ride style.

I have a hub bike that was once my main daily commuter that has I think 6600 miles on the original chain. I haven't even bothered to check it in at least a couple of years.

 

[AHicks]

Since you also ride in a sand-, salt-, and hill-rich enviroment, this gives me hope that my new, improved drivetrain will last a lot longer than 900 miles.

How often do you clean and lube your chains?

We're on pavement for the most part, with just some single track shortcuts and hard packed (lime stone) bike trails thrown in. I clean the chains twice a year, starting with a good squirt of high pressure air to blow out all the sand and dust prior to re-oiling as most would do. In short, nothing fancy. -Al