8 speed rear derailleur with clutch

[flecc]

I don't think the original groupset is bad its used on many standard bikes without issues. If you fit it to a ebike with a mid-drive motor the story is different that motor adds hugely to the riders own power and the story is very different. On a hub motor ebike because the motor is independent of the drivetrain you can fit pretty much garbage components and they work great and last much, much longer than a standard bike because it reduces the load on the drivetrain. Some derailleurs don't have a clutch but they do have a stronger spring that means they apply a bit more tension to the chain but a clutch is the ideal solution I'm sure.

Agreed that the mid motor is probably implicated here. I used the Acera rear mechanism on my two e-bikes for many years without any problems at all, but both had hub motors. I like the Acera, its very large idlers make it more efficient:

 

[Bonzo Banana]

Good to hear you have got it sorted.

If you add a good quality narrow wide chain ring to what you have already done, I would be surprised if the chain ever came off.

My 2015 Haibike sduro Yamaha came with a small chain guide, but I don't know if your Habikes have that. It was not that effective, but I have kept it.

Fitting a narrow wide chain ring for me was a game changer as I ride quite aggressively off road, really bouncing around at times and found it really annoying if I drooped the chain of the chain ring. That all stopped after I fitted the narrow wide chain ring.

I'm really surprised I would of thought that was standard for mid-drive ebikes because they almost always have a 1x drivetrain so no downside to fitting a narrow wide chainring. One of the huge benefits of going to a 1x drivetrain on standard bikes is narrow wide chainring and better chain retention. I guess maybe it was a model where component pricing was critical in order to reach a certain price point at retail.

You look on amazon, ebay etc a lightweight oval or round 38T narrow wide chainring start at about £3-4. I'm planning to build up a gravel bike using one. I realise its a different fitting for most mid-drive motors but they aren't dear. This one starts at £5 including bolts. Admittedly for mid-drive you would probably want a steel chainring not aluminium.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/JGbike-Chainring-Mountain-Bicycle-crankset/dp/B07WLT9XQR

 

[georgehenry]

Be cautious, the really cheap narrow wide chain rings are not that good.

 

[guerney]

A couple of months in, the bike has been perfect. There is now decent tension much less chain bounce, with and without the clutch engaged (we leave it engaged), gear changes are much smoother, better gear range (8sp Vs 10sp), and if the chain does come off, it's now thin enough to refit at the side of the road.

Haibike should never have sold the SDuro 1.0 with such a low spec groupset IMHO. I would complain to them, but their customer support is totally non existent. My advice, never buy a Haibike, get a Cube or something else. They shouldn't be allowe to sell faulty stuff without consequences.

Whilst I'm happy the issue is resolved, we are at least £250 out of pocket on diagnosis and replacements, and that money could ahve been spent upfront buying a higher spec bike from the range with a bigger battery and motor.

What a long and costly journey to a resolution! Glad to hear that your bike is now working as it should.

 

[Bonzo Banana]

Be cautious, the really cheap narrow wide chain rings are not that good.

I'm sure that is a fair point but the price of such chainrings is all over the place. I bought one at £2.99 and next week the same chainring is £14.99. It's like they price them low just to get a few sales and decent reviews and then completely change the price. I'm using one on a Saracen Pylon bike at the moment and its working well so far and I'm a very heavy rider but I'm not going to pretend I've put the miles in yet probably no more than 200 miles in total.

 

[georgehenry]

I could not find the 52 tooth chain ring I wanted for my old Oxygen Emate during lock down and bought a cheap narrow wide one off ebay, just to have one if I needed to change it. You can run a rear hub bike many miles and in my case sometimes years beyond when you should have changed the cassette, chain ring and chain and I carried on using it and have only now put a new transmission on.

I spoiled my old Oxygen Emate with a new cassette, chain ring and chain. I put on the cheap one I had bought during lock down. It may bed in as it is probably made of soft alloy, but it really is not very good. I will ride it for a while to see whether it wears in!

I also recently bought a 36 volt 15Ah battery from Yose for £165.62 delivered including a charger, and after using it on a few shopping trips now, it feels a very strong resilient battery. From my perspective a bargain.

With my crank drive bike when I was commuting to work cross country and then riding it home on the road fast the dive train took a pounding and my top gear with the least teeth (12) would wear out before the rest of the cassette. I found cheap copy replacement top gear cogs to extend the life of my cassette and would change the chain on the wear limit and at the same time put one of these cheap top gear cogs on to replace the worn one. They worked really well.

Now I have retired I have just lowered the overall gearing on that bike by replacing the 42 tooth chain ring with a 38 tooth one, and bought an 11 tooth copy replacement top gear cog to allow me to occasionally ride at higher speed on the road on the rare occasion I might want or need to. I bought the cog from the same company and it would not fit, it was obviously too wide.

So you are right, buying parts of the internet, you can find cheap parts can be remarkably good and expensive parts not as good as you expected, so like you I will sometimes buy a cheaper bit to find out!