Help! Converting folder bike to cassette
- Thread starter Peter.Bridge
- Start date
fwiw when fitting my conversion kit to a bike with an exiting 7 speed freewheel i upgraded to 8 speed with an 11tooth top gear replacing the 12or 13 tooth top gear on the existing 7 speed freewheel iirc. in addition to the budget shimmano cassette i bought a shimmano 8spd derailer, a microline 8speed twist grip selector, and a shimmano multi speed chain. all ebay if i recall correctly
It was pretty easy going until i had a total blackout tunning the gears in (I started with the bike right side up and memorised the 2 screws as top and bottom. then flipped the bike and didnt flip the screw orientation in my head... aargghhhh!)
I have access to all gears, though the twistgrip selector needed a real grip n twist to pull some gears. Its 'worn in' over time but is still a bit stiff and if waning to incrementally change gears can easily let you slip past 1 or 2 due to the extra effort to twist. it works - cable is free and oil helped but its a budget part I would not recommend.
It was pretty easy going until i had a total blackout tunning the gears in (I started with the bike right side up and memorised the 2 screws as top and bottom. then flipped the bike and didnt flip the screw orientation in my head... aargghhhh!)
I have access to all gears, though the twistgrip selector needed a real grip n twist to pull some gears. Its 'worn in' over time but is still a bit stiff and if waning to incrementally change gears can easily let you slip past 1 or 2 due to the extra effort to twist. it works - cable is free and oil helped but its a budget part I would not recommend.
There is no need to change the derailleur on systems like this, there is no such thing as a 7 speed or 8 speed derailleur. The difference in how they work is all in the shifter, changingthe derailleur actually increases the chances of getting something wrong by routing the cable incorrectly leading to symptoms like the post above. You will however need to set the limit screws to suit the new setup.
Guess i fell for the cunning plan of a clever misleading product description author. Im sure it wont be the last time either.. .
I don't maintain my freewheels and the DNP on my 20" froze its pawls at 3K miles. The one on my wife's 20" bike froze up a few months later when she crossed 3K miles. I did not know that you could loosen them up with a long soak in penetrating oil. A short soak didn't work and I bought replacements. I'm coming up on the 2nd 3000 mile milestone. Thank you all! I will try lubrication if it comes up,
For a relative or my wife, I wouldn't want to be responsible for a front motor getting loose. I give them rear motors, but I will hazard a front hub for my own bikes. I've marked the axle nuts on those bikes with ink. They haven't moved.
For a relative or my wife, I wouldn't want to be responsible for a front motor getting loose. I give them rear motors, but I will hazard a front hub for my own bikes. I've marked the axle nuts on those bikes with ink. They haven't moved.
I think the design of those freewheel to cassette converters is fundamentally flawed, limiting their lifespan. If you take the ratchet mechanism apart to reach the pawls, you will see how flimsy it is. I had more than one popping out into pieces just by the twisting force the extractor socket exerting on the body of the freewheel when I removed the freewheel to replace. When you have a motor with freehub body, the latter is well protected against water and dirt ingress. No such feature is on those freewheels.
Last edited:
Strange, what make is it? I have a Shimano Tourney Revoshift 8 Speed that works perfectly.
How is your cable adjustment? A symptom of an overtight cable is changing two gears at a time.
afaik cable isnt overtight, but its been a year+ since fitting so still worth a check.. Cheers..
It's better to lubricate it to prevent it from jamming. 3-in-One oil has three functions: penetrate, protect, lubricate. That's why you should use specifically 3-in-One and not any oil.
A lot of the cheap Carrera Intercity's you see are the older rim braked versions which I think have steel forks. Folding bikes with disc brakes don't seem that common, maybe the rotors are more likely to get bent. You do see a lot of them new on ebay though with 20" wheels and disc brakes but if they are being sold by Chinese sellers from some warehouse in the UK or Europe I question if they have proper UK/European certification. I feel like importing a bike from aliexpress they are classed as personal imports despite being warehoused in the UK when the seller states they are based in China but ships more locally.
Just agreed to buy a nearly new Carrera Intercity disc 8 from Facebook, picking it up this evening. Will double check the forks, wouldn't be completely surprised if they are magnetic
This buyer seemed very happy with it
Last edited:
Haha - they are not aluminium ! Unless aluminium has become magnetic !
(This bike was bought new March this year, I wouldn't guarantee all the forks are steel !)
Yes - I think these are probably manufactured in bulk in China (seems very good quality to me) and it wouldn't surprise me if the early ones had aluminium forks and then they changed to steel or if the they were all always steel and it was just an error in the spec. 12.25 kg as is - although there is no stand on this one. Maybe they didn't bother fitting it. It literally hasn't been ridden. So I think I will do another akm-74 front hub conversion and I'll get a battery from Woosh , maybe a frog battery, I think my mother in law will be happier with a battery that you can remove and charge.
Halford's change spec on a lot of their stuff. Maybe the budget disc model with mechanical disc brakes has steel forks and the higher spec model is aluminium to give a weight saving with the dearer model or maybe originally was steel but they changed to aluminium. The original Carrera Intercity had proper tapered and curved fork blades to give a springy suspension effect but to be honest if you are fitting a hub motor then the thicker more straight steel blades are probably better which you have. I remember the Carrera Subway has had chromoly steel, high tensile steel and aluminium forks depending on model and age. I personally couldn't tell the difference between high tensile steel and chromoly steel myself but the chromoly steel forks used to have it written on them.
Related Articles
-
Swytch announce new conversion kit with ‘pocket-sized’ battery- Started by: Pedelecs
-
New Swytch launches on Indiegogo, raises £100k in first hour- Started by: Pedelecs
-
Swytch to unveil 70% smaller, 50% lighter conversion kit- Started by: Pedelecs