Belt or chain, derailleur or hub?

[Stubod]

Hi all, newbie to forum so please be gentle.

I am currently looking to get back into cycling and get myself an e-bike. I have been looking at TREK as I understand they use Bosch Active line motors which seems to be the hardware of choice in this price range(?).

However I also note that some models now come with a belt rather than chain drive so will obviously only operate with hub gears. This is something that was not originally on my radar, but this combination would seem to offer a cleaner and a more reliable "maintenance free" system?

I am looking to spend about £2 - £2.5k and doing some "gentle" trips of probably no more than 30 / 40 miles range. Just wondering if any experts out there would be able to offer any opinions regarding the benefits or otherwise of going "belt & hub", or if I should be looking at any other bikes?

...many thanks for any replies.

 

[Woosh]

don't hang about too long.
bikes are selling fast at the moment because lots of people stop using public transports.
My guess is with the current lockdown in most of Europe, production is reduced while demand is higher than usual, we'll run out of commuter bikes by June.
We never had to keep customers waiting, but have used up all our prebuilt stock, we start queueing deliveries from Tuesday for a few days.

 

[Ippy]

..I looked at Volt as we have a main dealer a couple of miles away. But don't think they use Bosch motors?....some research suggests the Active Line is probably the best option in this price bracket at the mo?

They are a little more expensive, but the use the latest Shimano steps motor and system. Bosch seem to have flooded the market at the moment, but its good to have competition and choice, and the Shimano has the option of auto shifting if required.
Its not all about power, but the rider experience and what part you play in your journeys.

 

[Poolepete]

....must admit it what puts me off. My "manual" 21 speed derailleur suggests using front gear 1st with rear 123, middle ring front with 3,4,5 and 3rd front with 5,6,7 to limit "offset chain". However all crank motors only have one "front" gear and are expected to operate over the entire rear 7+ range!?.... or am I overthinking it?

I would say you are over thinking things. Never had a problem with chain breaks or any of the other things you fear. The biggest problem is the rate of chain wear (no difference I believe, whether you have hub or derailleur gears). I go through chains at the rate of about every 1500 miles. This is of course an issue particular to crank drive bikes. It's nothing that has stopped me from ordering a Bosch ALP powered bike for my wife (hopefully arriving this week!).

 

[Ocsid]

I would say you are over thinking things. Never had a problem with chain breaks or any of the other things you fear. The biggest problem is the rate of chain wear (no difference I believe, whether you have hub or derailleur gears). I go through chains at the rate of about every 1500 miles. This is of course an issue particular to crank drive bikes. It's nothing that has stopped me from ordering a Bosch ALP powered bike for my wife (hopefully arriving this week!).

I would suggest the chain wear could be very different indeed between a single speed drive to a hub gear and a multi speed deraileur, as several factors are markedly different.

• A single speed drive will use an eight of an inch roller chain, if not heavier duty, even just a 7 speed deraileur, a three thirty seconds of an inch chain, more than 7 gears the narrower it needs to be.
• The single speed chain correctly used will not need bending sideways.
• The single speed chain never needs to be forced off the sprocket or chain wheel, let alone at every gear change.
• The single speed chain can be kept clean, free from dirt in a full casing.
• The single speed chain drive can feature an oil bath casing.

 

[Woosh]

you could also argue that for esthetic reason, most the the e-bikes with hub gears don't have a fully enclosed chainguard nor oil bath.
On top of the wear of the chain, the single sprocket wears even faster than an ordinary 8-speed cassette.
The main reason for a hub gear is you will never have to worry about your chain coming off.

 

[Ocsid]

you could also argue that for esthetic reason, most the the e-bikes with hub gears don't have a fully enclosed chainguard nor oil bath.
On top of the wear of the chain, the single sprocket wears even faster than an ordinary 8-speed cassette.
The main reason for a hub gear is you will never have to worry about your chain coming off.

Not necessarily, in that the sprocket is wider so has lower surface pressure, throughout its life runs with a healthy roller chain rather than with an abused one, and does not have its tooth flanks rubbed by the chain being forced on and off its sides.
Whatever undoubted attributes a deraileur gearing system brings, engineering refinement is not one of them, it is nearly always running compromised to a greater or lesser extent.

 

[Emily Joy]

Odd looking in some ways, but might be what you want.

Electra Bicycle Company | Bikes & Accessories - Electra Bikes (GB)

The only hard part about riding an Electra bike is choosing which one to get. They're all easy to ride and they look amazing.

www.electrabike.com

US site but they come up with quite a few UK distributors.

I have cycled Townie along Los Angeles beach last January and found it rather heavy going.