The Ultimate Mid-Drive Chain Care Thread

[PedalUma]

Sometimes I buy generic or not top brands. I purchased a box of sintered brake pads this week. 25 pairs with pins and stainless springs was $65. It came with some bonus parts. No one will know or care that they do not have a logo. Just that they stop very well. SRAM or Shimano would be $20 per pair at a bike shop. $20x25=$500. MicroShift makes a trigger shifter for Shimano IGH that is nicer than Shimano's and costs like $15 bucks. It is a big improvement over a twist shift.

 

[TomD]

Good to know, I guess I shouldn't have cheaped out going with the lowest price on eBay. Steep and cheap which is a reputable seller had it for a buck more than eBay but I didn't want to pay shipping so went the eBay route.

https://www.steepandcheap.com/b/shimano-cs-m4100-cassette?skid=SHIU1CC-SIL-S114

Here's a video showing the play in the cassette that I noticed.

Edit: just tightened up the cassette and the play is gone. I guess we'll see if this fixes my skipping issues. My torque wrench didn't fit the cassette tool so after hand tightening I applied wrench from 3:00 position to about 5:00 until it took a bit of force to tighten another notch. Hopefully I did it right and didn't tighten too much. Shrug.

 

[stompandgo]

Gudentight is good enough. I've never used a torque wrench on a cassette lockring.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Edit: just tightened up the cassette and the play is gone. I guess we'll see if this fixes my skipping issues. My torque wrench didn't fit the cassette tool so after hand tightening I applied wrench from 3:00 position to about 5:00 until it took a bit of force to tighten another notch. Hopefully I did it right and didn't tighten too much. Shrug.

I(dont use a torque on it jsut put a fair amount of tightening till it feels like it wont move anymore.

 

[TomD]

Well, tightening up the cassette didn't fix my issue, so I think I probably just needed a new cassette. Derailleur hanger angle looks good. The mechanic that came out to fix my broken spoke did adjust my b screw but I can't imagine that or barrel tension would be the issue since it's only skipping in the smallest cog under load. I guess I'll wait and see if a new cassette solves things when it arrives.

 

[PedalUma]

Well, tightening up the cassette didn't fix my issue, so I think I probably just needed a new cassette. Derailleur hanger angle looks good. The mechanic that came out to fix my broken spoke did adjust my b screw but I can't imagine that or barrel tension would be the issue since it's only skipping in the smallest cog under load. I guess I'll wait and see if a new cassette solves things when it arrives.

The thing to consider is the smallest cog may only have 5 teeth in contact with the chain at a time because it has 11 teeth. But with a 32 cog about 15 teeth are in contact with the chain. The load is better distributed; less concentrated. Sometimes you can just buy an 11-t cog, just replacing that.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

It is a 11-speed Shimano CS-M5100 with the 5 smallest sprockets replaced and matched (a custom build). So, the gear spread is 2 teeth apart for higher speeds but there is a distinct jump towards mountain gears at Gear 6 (whichever way you count the gears).

 

[fooferdoggie]

I find if I have slop in the cassette, a spacer is missing. Though that's pretty obvious.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Usually you get slop in a cassette from too much fast forwarding and rewinding.
Since switching to CD and MP3, it's a non issue.

 

[TomD]

Thanks, since I already have a cassette on the way, I'll put the small cog on the old cassette to see if that solves the problem. Since the new cassette is only 20 bucks more it would probably be pennywise and pound foolish not to replace the whole cassette. Maybe next time my outer cog wears out though!

 

[PedalUma]

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It is a 11-speed Shimano CS-M5100 with the 5 smallest sprockets replaced and matched (a custom build). So, the gear spread is 2 teeth apart for higher speeds but there is a distinct jump towards mountain gears at Gear 6 (whichever way you count the gears).

It is also why it takes longer to fully pull chain through to engage a large/low gear cog. And you need to back off pedal pressure to do it smoothly. On a climb I will go sideways to the slope when hitting the granny gears. 51-t is huge. It takes about 32cm of chain to fully engage. On a typical chainring that can be 3/4 of revolution of the crank to fully engage for most setups.

This bike is a 42 to 50-t Shimano Cues gravel setup. Under high load it is dropping the chain in low gears. Next week it is getting a chain guide which should help. It has a 10mm offset chainring but the motor pushed out the chainline. It worked great in the work stand but that is not under the load of a climb with a powerful motor.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

With the Wheeltop EDS OX2.0 electronic derailleur the shifting is immediate between any gear. You can actually depress the shifter button to go through the whole range in a very short time.