SDURO Outer Chainring

[Stefan Mikes]

Looking at my severely worn chain ring, they can start right there at the front chain rings and make them forged steel instead of aluminum.

I looked, looked, and looked for steel chainrings and guess what? Only available in MTB sizes, notably Wolf Tooth. Well, my e-bikes allow fairly easy replacement of the chainring - no need to remove the spider. The most smart but OEM solution can be found in Vado/Como. You just screw the chainring bolt into threaded spider. Funnily enough, it is hardly possible to buy replacement bolts, though If these bolts are damaged, standard MTB bolts with nut may be used but then you need to remove the motor cover... (luckily, the latter is easy to do without special tools).

 

[Brooks]

That chainring wore like that because you never changed the chain. The KMC ebike chain is 136 links vs a regular chain which is 116 links. My bike needs the longer chain regardless if it's made better. Keep this in mind.
Buy new cassettes with the steel carrier holding the cogs together.. they are heavier and cheaper. The alloy carrier might not handle the mighty torque of the 500 watts peak power plus your 200 watts added on top.
My 2017 6.0 Fullnine has 44 tooth FSA alloy ring, and unknown 32 tooth steel ring.

 

[bob armani]

In most of cases, "e-bike rated" is a marketing hype to justify high price. Big brands may install high-end cassettes in their e-bikes but don't use anything that could not be found on corresponding traditional bikes. Don't think "e-bike rated cassette" would last any longer.

Next week, I'm replacing chain in my Trance E+ with "e-bike rated" KMC chain; same model as originally fetched with my e-MTB. This time, I'm going to put a note of the replacement date and odometer status, so I could have hard data on the chain durability. (The 12-speed, 130-link chain is very expensive).

At the same time, I'm going for an experiment. It is very difficult to find a 12-speed, 104 BCD chainring bigger than 38T. An Asian manufacturer VXM has come with a variety of large 104 BCD chainrings, reportedly good up to 12 speed (we'll see). If it works, I'm replacing the 36T chainring of my Trance E+ with a 48T. The purpose is to utilize more of larger cassette cogs at the same or slower cadence. I'm also replacing off-road tyres with Johnny Watts. The ultimate purpose is to convert my Giant from e-MTB to a full-suspension gravel-capable e-bike. Meaning, fast ride on sealed roads and switching to gravel and dirt. The bike will be deprived some of its "mountain" capabilities but there are no hills where I live...

Those are some very nice mods to fit your personal needs indeed! I am beginning to learn more and more about these tricky components that will need replacing now and again. Before this, I was oblivious to the choices or the lack thereof. I have been having to cross-reference and confirm OEM stock numbers making sure it was the correct/actual part. Some of the vendors get their parts directly from "bike builders" bypassing the mfg actual part #s causing confusion for the consumer in this space.

 

[bob armani]

In most of cases, "e-bike rated" is a marketing hype to justify high price. Big brands may install high-end cassettes in their e-bikes but don't use anything that could not be found on corresponding traditional bikes. Don't think "e-bike rated cassette" would last any longer.

Next week, I'm replacing chain in my Trance E+ with "e-bike rated" KMC chain; same model as originally fetched with my e-MTB. This time, I'm going to put a note of the replacement date and odometer status, so I could have hard data on the chain durability. (The 12-speed, 130-link chain is very expensive).

At the same time, I'm going for an experiment. It is very difficult to find a 12-speed, 104 BCD chainring bigger than 38T. An Asian manufacturer VXM has come with a variety of large 104 BCD chainrings, reportedly good up to 12 speed (we'll see). If it works, I'm replacing the 36T chainring of my Trance E+ with a 48T. The purpose is to utilize more of larger cassette cogs at the same or slower cadence. I'm also replacing off-road tyres with Johnny Watts. The ultimate purpose is to convert my Giant from e-MTB to a full-suspension gravel-capable e-bike. Meaning, fast ride on sealed roads and switching to gravel and dirt. The bike will be deprived some of its "mountain" capabilities but there are no hills where I live...

Sounds about right, more market hype. Some posters were complaining the E-bike rated Shimano cassettes are retailing for approx $375-$400 dollars US. The equivalent of 7-8 non E-bike rated cassettes at that price point. Just crazy pricing IMO!

 

[bob armani]

Sounds great, Bob! Always thought that red and black H-Bike in your avatar was an All MTN, but then again, I forgot that they employed that paint scheme in a number of E-MTB's for that model year, including the Full-Fat Six.

Oh, that job was completed in July 2020 and I have 2 thousand miles on the new components, with no issues. My immediate problem here is that a very good local bike shop closed their doors about 3 years ago now, so any other shop is a good ride and leap of faith that they are going to do as good a job as my late, latmented trustworthy shop used to provide for me. So I figured it can't hurt to try my own repairs, within my abilities and with the help of youtube.

Your issues about finding scarce choices to upgrade is part of the reason why I stuck with the original gear ratios and parts (Shimano XT) on my H-Bike. And now, with the parts supply chain in rough shape, it has to make it triple hard to locate components. Fwiw, that rear Shimano cluster is all steel.

"that job was completed in July 2020 "-Way to go Mike!-Job well done and with 2000 mls on it to boot. Just goes to show you what bikers have to go through when your LBS decides to no longer exist.
I recently had a close call with the shop I have been dealing with for decades. They just sold to a new owner, however, they did confirm they were still keeping the same and original business model that was in effect for over 4 decades. Music to the ears considering we like to build a very nice rapport with them over the long term. I try to support them as much as I can whenever needed, especially during off season. Cheers!

 

[Mike TowpathTraveler]

What Brooks has stated is truth; we have to monitor chain life by looking at chain stretch. Based on chain stretch findings, replace. I'll certainly do that this time around.