What have you done with your gearing?

[Jeremy McCreary]

Have you modified your ebike's gearing? Why? Satisfied? How many tries? Any lessons learned?

Please share your gearing odyssey. Tell us enough about your ebike and riding style and conditions to give your answers some context. Thanks!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I'll go first. I'm a 75 year-old recreational rider in so-so shape. I ride a 65-pound, 500W torque-sensing rear hub-drive — mostly on a mix of flats and short, steep grades of up to 16% (max 22% so far) with some offroad.

Always pedal with a workout on every ride. Use PAS 1/9 over 90% of the time. To maintain the 75-85 rpm cadence that my knees and I strongly prefer, I use gearing first, then PAS. Occasional blips of throttle provide any needed bursts of speed, as knees require. Little interest in speeds above 25 mph.

Took 3 mods to arrive at what seems to be optimal gearing...

Stock. 42t chainring (not narrow-wide), 9-speed 11-34t cassette, 34.0-105.0 gear inches.

Mod 1. New 38t chainring, same stock 11-34t cassette, 30.7-95.0 gear inches.

Mod 2. Back to stock 42t chainring but upgraded to 10-speed 11-42t cassette and matching derailleur, 27.5-105.0 gear inches.

Mod 3 (current). New narrow-wide 40t chainring, same 11-42t cassette, 26.2-100.0 gear inches.

Went to Mod 1 for better climbing, but the 34.0" bottom gear was still too high, and the 95.0" top gear was a little too low. Planned to live with it, but 3 months later, the stock Shimano Alivio derailleur failed and took the stock chain with it.

Took that opportunity to revise gearing again — hence Mod 2. Worked well till I started encountering even steeper hills (18-22%). That left me wishing for an even lower bottom gear, but planned to live with it till the chain started dropping off the chainring in bottom gear on the steepest grades (probably suboptimal chain line). Seemed like a narrow-wide chainring was in order — hence Mod 3.

Current Mod 3 seems ideal for my riding style and conditions. Fingers crossed, no chain drops so far. Since hub motor heating has never been a problem, my LBS mechanic suggested more assist on the steepest hills to reduce chain tension in bottom gear (remember, it's a hub-drive). I try, but old low-assist habits die hard.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Let be me next.

My Vado 5.0/6.0 came with a 48T chainring and a 11-46T cassette for speed. When I was about to ride in high mountains, I replaced the chainring with a 38T Shimano steel one that gave me terrific climbing capabilities. When I returned to the plains, I chose a Garbaruk 42T chainring, giving me the balance between off-road gearing and decent speed on the pavement. It is a 11 speed drivetrain giving me proper spacing between the gears.

With my Vado SL, the 44T chainring size felt adequate but I hated big jumps between the gears with the stock 11-42T cassette. As "the cadence is the King", I followed the advice of the Forum member @TS25 and replaced the cassette with a 11-36T one, 10-speed.

I could not be happier with both mods!

 

[EMGX]

I'm always messing around with my bikes, both regular and "e". Usually with gearing to facilitate hill climbing.
My BH Gravel X came with 48/36 chainrings and 10-28 cassette. During a 3 day tour in eastern Oregon with the bike loaded for camping I ended up getting off and walking on a few mile continuous steep climb. It was a 73 mile day with a 400wh battery and 30 miles of rolling hills after this climb so I only used eco mode to conserve battery (at the end of the day I still had over 30% battery but I didn't know I'd have that much left). Anyway after that episode I changed the chainrings to 44/32 (32 was smallest possible). Still wanted lower and changed cassette to 34t largest cog still wanted lower so went to 40t largest cog which required longer b screw for the 105 derailleur. Now happy with the current gearing.
BTW I also used a 10 speed cassette instead of 11 speed for a stronger chain. The 105 tolerates the 10 speed but with loss of the usual silky smooth shifting. I'm ok with that trade off.

 

[mfgrep]

Stefan...Can you describe the difference with the 11-36T versus the stock cassette? In doing this did you change the crank as well?

 

[fooferdoggie]

my trek came with a 11-42 and a 48t chainring. but I dont like the spacing on that cassette so went back to a 11-42 and then a 42t chainring. now it climbs so well but I can still do 28 if needed. my bulls came with a 11-32 but a 50 or 52t chainring. climbed like a ping. went with a 46t chainring I think.
our tandem was geared way too high and my wife was peddling 10rpms faster then me. the motor tops out at 19 its not like you need much higher gearing. so its changed so she is around 2rpms slower then me so now its Dailed in with a 11-42 cassette and a 36t chainring. we can climb about anything and when we get about 22 mph we just coast.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Stefan...Can you describe the difference with the 11-36T versus the stock cassette? In doing this did you change the crank as well?

The stock 11-42T cassette (Shimano Deore; I know nothing of SRAM) had big jumps between several most used gears. It meant I was grinding in some gear but spinning in the next. I wanted to be able to pedal at 70-80 rpm for the most of my rides.

The Forum user asked if I would be OK without the "granny gear" or the biggest cog to which I said yes. He said choose Shimano Deore XT CS-M771 10 speed cassette 11-36T. The cassette has no granny gear but its mostly used sprockets are only 2 teeth apart making the cadence range pretty narrow.

No need to do anything on the chainring or cranks side, and no change of the derailleur required. The only thing I had to do was using a shorter 116-link 10-speed chain, which is very easy to buy (another benefit).

There are no long ascents where I live. Some can be 10% grade but are as short as I can manage them in the SL Turbo mode with hard pedalling. That thing would not work in the mountains!

 

[Viking1]

Nothing, just a clean and lube. Nothing with the Gazelle either, very happy with the current ratios.

 

[Elkman]

My Specialized Creo came with a 11-46 cassette and a 46-tooth chainring. I replaced the cassette with a 11-34T to have tighter gear spacing. I also replaced the derailleur with one with a shorter cage. No issues with the existing chain.

 

[PSm]

Have you modified your ebike's gearing? Why? Satisfied? How many tries? Any lessons learned?

Please share your gearing odyssey. Tell us enough about your ebike and riding style and conditions to give your answers some context. Thanks!

2015 E-bike, Volt Bike Elegant, 3 speed internal Shimano hub. Was fine as a starter e-bike, but battery range was low. Great to have internal hub and no derailleur. 3 gears were just enough for most situations

2017 Juiced Bike CrossCurrent Air - much more power and range. 9 speeds if I recall. Was able to do anything and go anywhere. Specific gearing didn’t really matter to me, since e-bike power handled any variables needed. Got 12000+ miles out of it, then donated

2021 Ride1UP Roadster v2 - just one gear and a carbon belt. Big single gear 64x20, but all I need, since it’s an e-bike. Maybe 8000 miles now? Fantastic bike. Many 60 mile rides, some 80-100 mile rides. 7000 ft elevation gain rides. And lightweight too, 33 lbs OEM and about 40 lbs loaded with added external battery, tools, water, food…

2023 State Bike Black Label Single Speed Track based analog bike. Another fantastic and affordable, lightweight bike. 17 1/2 lbs, and a great next step from a Single Speed e-bike. One gear and no electric motor makes it tough, but a fantastic challenge and workout. Ended up customizing with brakes and a dual rear freewheel, that you can manually change on the road while stopped. Love this bike. Was well under $1000.

2023 Canyon Roadlite geared 1x11 geared analog bike. Use this for the hills and mountains, when not riding the single speed e-bike or analog bike.

To be honest, I enjoy the single speed bikes (e-bike and analog) the most. They cover 90% of riding situations, are lighter, simpler, have less to maintain or go wrong, and have been excellent in getting me in better shape. I find myself cheating and not working as hard, if I have gears.

That said, having gears really helps my knees for the very hilly rides and mountains. Especially for the longer rides and gran fondos. And with the e-bike, just use the PAS levels as gears, and that’s good enough for me. Oh, but I did customize my single speed e-bike with an aftermarket EggRider display, where I was able to set each PAS for my desired assist level. PAS 1/2/3/4/5 = 20/100/250/350/500 watts assist.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Specialized Vado SL. First e bike bought 3 years ago this month. Live in a very hilly area which is why I wanted an E bike. Most local hills are between 16 - 25% gradient. Short but steep and twisty.

I realised pretty quickly that the gearing was too high for the 35nm motor to cope. Plus I read on here that most motors work better with smooth faster spinning cadence.

First swapped the 44T chainring for a Raceface 38T narrow wide. Didn’t need to shorten the chain. This worked great for over a year. But then - of course- got to thinking how much better it could be with lower gears. So swapped the cassette from the 11-42 to an 11-46. Still 10 speed. The Deore derailleur coped surprisingly well despite spec being max 42. However after several months something changed and the cage began to rub in the 46T cog when in the 42T so recently I swapped it out for a new Deore the one designed for 46T cogs forgotten it’s code. While at it I got a new chain and replaced the now worn Raceface 38T for another one the same. With my 4th winter approaching thought the drive train could use some refreshing.

Anyway the 38T & 11-46 gets me over any hill. Yes I still have to work and in the really steep ones work very hard but that’s the point. I wanted a bike to get fit, that would help me get up the steep hills but not make it too easy or there’s no point. I’m not worried about the top end or going fast. Going downhill on 20% gradients on potholed narrow twisty lanes is like mountain biking and I get through about 3 sets of brake pads a year. It’s nice to be coasting & getting my breath back while clinging on for dear life.

The only future changes I could see is I am curious what a 36T chainring might do. I go off-road quite a bit, gravel forestry roads, bridleways and some single track - avoiding jumps and drop offs. But the 36 chainring might make this easier. Think I would feel it in the top end and spin out too much, but curious to try. After all I see full sus emtbs around here going on the lanes and tracks like I do but with much lower gearing. I’ll see. Right now it’s all good.

 

[fooferdoggie]

on our e tandem the motor cuts off at 19mph and we usually cruise about 18.7 to 19moh so no need for the high gearing it came with. so we have a 11-42 on back and a 36t chainring and we can climb any hill out there. about killed us doing a 22% grade.