Wider range gearing on Eoe Epik Se

[Temecularider]

I just tested my bike after swapping the original seven speed 14-28T freewheel for a new 11-32T seven speed freewheel from Epoch, and its just what I wanted!

I had been a little disappointed to discover my bike gave me issues at both ends of the speed spectrum as bought, but now it seems a near perfect ride for me!

I live in a REALLY hilly area, and simply can't leave or return home without a couple nearly too-steep hills making me struggle, requiring a bit of zig-zag just to get up! Then, when finally cruising on some of the rare flat sections, I found the pedal assist took seemingly ALL the effort from the pedals unless I pedaled furiously at near 100rpm to hit over 16mph .... the little 20" wheels and 50-14T gear combo just could not get me to a speed where wind and friction allowed me to pedal in top gear with some feeling I was contributing a fair bit, robbing me of the exercise I wanted.

But now, I can climb "my hills" going straight up, no weaving ... granted, I'm breathing hard, but its doable, and I suspect soon I will be more fit and might only need that granny gear when I'm really tired. AND, I can cruise at 18-19mph now, and, while I DO feel a bit of warmth coming off my legs, my cadence is prolly around 85 rather than 100!

One thing, the removal tool needed drilled out in the center to accommodate the E-bike type larger axle.

 

[Temecularider]

I just tested my bike after swapping the original seven speed 14-28T freewheel for a new 11-32T seven speed freewheel from Epoch, and its just what I wanted!

I had been a little disappointed to discover my bike gave me issues at both ends of the speed spectrum as bought, but now it seems a near perfect ride for me!

I live in a REALLY hilly area, and simply can't leave or return home without a couple nearly too-steep hills making me struggle, requiring a bit of zig-zag just to get up! Then, when finally cruising on some of the rare flat sections, I found the pedal assist took seemingly ALL the effort from the pedals unless I pedaled furiously at near 100rpm to hit over 16mph .... the little 20" wheels and 50-14T gear combo just could not get me to a speed where wind and friction allowed me to pedal in top gear with some feeling I was contributing a fair bit, robbing me of the exercise I wanted.

But now, I can climb "my hills" going straight up, no weaving ... granted, I'm breathing hard, but its doable, and I suspect soon I will be more fit and might only need that granny gear when I'm really tired. AND, I can cruise at 18-19mph now, and, while I DO feel a bit of warmth coming off my legs, my cadence is prolly around 85 rather than 100!

One thing, the removal tool needed drilled out in the center to accommodate the E-bike type larger axle.

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Correction! I Thought could cruise easily now at 18-19mph o level one, but such is not the case! The flat ground I was going that speed proved to be slightly downhill, and a more scientific test the next day showed a two-way average on very level ground for three miles each direction in top gear revealed an average "comfortable", yet brisk speed of 16-17mph. I is now clear the most of the "flat ground speeds" I experienced prior were all slightly downill. I DO see a pronounced need to pedal a bit harder after a sort of plateau of 15mph is exceeded, and at first thought the motor was shutting off, but that was not the case ... though for sure the "level one" assist does seem to fall way off to where its not assisting much at all by 16-17mph.

But level "two" gives good boost to over 19mph, and level three pushes noticeably at a bit over 20mph. I also tested the thumb throttle speed with no pedaling, and saw not quite 22mh headed North and 21.5mph headed South on the same stretch. A total of 12 miles with around 3 miles on motor only on the fairly level road made the full charge light go off most of the time, but return when I slowed to below 15mph ... another two hilly miles, including my "steep ones" turned that light off and kept it off.

As the the climbing, I'm pleased, as I can get up my "steep hill" now with no zig-zag or standing up ... maintained speed in the 32T gear is about 4.5mh ... vs the near 6mph I had to maintain with the 28T prior.

 

[Temecularider]

-------

Correction! I Thought could cruise easily now at 18-19mph o level one, but such is not the case! The flat ground I was going that speed proved to be slightly downhill, and a more scientific test the next day showed a two-way average on very level ground for three miles each direction in top gear revealed an average "comfortable", yet brisk speed of 16-17mph. I is now clear the most of the "flat ground speeds" I experienced prior were all slightly downill. I DO see a pronounced need to pedal a bit harder after a sort of plateau of 15mph is exceeded, and at first thought the motor was shutting off, but that was not the case ... though for sure the "level one" assist does seem to fall way off to where its not assisting much at all by 16-17mph.

But level "two" gives good boost to over 19mph, and level three pushes noticeably at a bit over 20mph. I also tested the thumb throttle speed with no pedaling, and saw not quite 22mh headed North and 21.5mph headed South on the same stretch. A total of 12 miles with around 3 miles on motor only on the fairly level road made the full charge light go off most of the time, but return when I slowed to below 15mph ... another two hilly miles, including my "steep ones" turned that light off and kept it off.

As the the climbing, I'm pleased, as I can get up my "steep hill" now with no zig-zag or standing up ... maintained speed in the 32T gear is about 4.5mh ... vs the near 6mph I had to maintain with the 28T prior.

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So, not to leave well enough alone, I was visiting my Buddy's bike shop yesterday to pick up a cool new "mansaver seat" (Ism pro saddle) , and he fitted in a good, slightly used (and inexpensive) Sugino crankset that had a 53T big ring and was 7 ounces lighter. I now have a gear high enough to ride in the 6th position, saving the 11T for tailwinds and downhills, thus picking up some efficiency I suspect I would lose cruising in the 11T.

And the seat seems great in a short test ride, more riding tomorrow for sure.

 

[psychl]

I just had the local bike shop install the 11-32t speed freewheel and I like it a lot more. The combination makes hill climbing and and flat land pedaling much more effective. The battery on mine is only 9 amp which is not long lasting enough for me. I would like to see a 17 amp option for most bikes. The Juiced Cargo bike goes up to a 32 amp battery option! Admittedly, that has to be a pretty hefty battery.

 

[Josh]

Can you give me a link to everything I would need to complete this mod? Preferably amazon. I am deployed to korea and have problems with the language barrier at local bike shops. I need to learn to do this work myself. What freewheel removers would I need?

What do you lose when doing this mod? less range? More strain on motor?