'ey up from Rotherham

[Roberticus]

Hi Folks,

Found lots of interesting info on here,so I thought I should join in !
Have been cycling yonks and am ,or was, pretty fit. Then managed to have a heart attack just before my 59th birthday.
Back cycling now,but somewhat constrained by heart rate limits set by my cardio nurse/physio. which rules out most hills ,which is a problem as it's quite hilly round yer.
My missus has a Cube mountain bike which I converted for her,so that I didn't have to work out flattish routes
whenever we ride together. Took it for a trial run on one of my favourite road routes and it was great.
Managed to do some hills without exceeding my upper h/r limit.
Now looking to convert my Genesis Croix de Fer with front hub motor, 'cos it's my favourite bike and I don't want to lose any gears !
Cheers,
Rob

 

[Gaz]

Hello Rob

Bit of a wake up call then, but good you're still on two wheels.

Gaz

 

[Woosh]

Now looking to convert my Genesis Croix de Fer with front hub motor, 'cos it's my favourite bike and I don't want to lose any gears !

front hub conversion is OK but why do you think you'll lose any gears with rear hub conversion?

 

[Roberticus]

I have shimano 105 11 speed on the bike. I was under the impression (probably wrongly !) that you can only get 7 or 8 rear cassettes ?

 

[anotherkiwi]

I have shimano 105 11 speed on the bike. I was under the impression (probably wrongly !) that you can only get 7 or 8 rear cassettes ?

You can stretch the frame to fit 11 speed cassettes. A wide range 1 X 11 speed hub motor / cassette combination is a good solution.

 

[Roberticus]

That's interesting. Although I wouldn't want to go 1 x as I like to spin and I haven't enjoyed 1x drives that I have tried previously. Also I need to be able to keep a decent cadence for hill climbing as I can no longer slog out of the saddle due to limited upper heart rate, and I do use most of my gears

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You can stretch the frame to fit 11 speed cassettes. A wide range 1 X 11 speed hub motor / cassette combination is a good solution.

9 and 10 speed are the same width as 7 and 8 speed cassettes. Any stretching required is because of the motor width - nothing to do with the width of the cassette. It's different with free-wheels though. generally 7 speed is as wide as you can go because of the lack of availability of 9, 10, 11 speed ones and 8 speed uses the same chain as 7 speed, so is wider.

 

[anotherkiwi]

That's interesting. Although I wouldn't want to go 1 x as I like to spin and I haven't enjoyed 1x drives that I have tried previously. Also I need to be able to keep a decent cadence for hill climbing as I can no longer slog out of the saddle due to limited upper heart rate, and I do use most of my gears

I have gotten out of the saddle to climb a hill once in the last 3 years! And that was because I was too lazy to change down...

When I was riding a hub motor pedelec I rode a 1 X 7 speed 48:14-34 setup. I never needed more gears and I ride in the mountains of the Basque Country. Nowadays I have 42-32:11-32 8 speed cassette and a mid drive.

Trust me 1 X 11 is plenty if you have the right cassette on your motor, don't forget you have 5 levels of assistance to replace your chainwheel gears.

 

[Roberticus]

I'm probably being a bit of a dimwit (not hard!) , but why would I need to lose a front chainring ? Seems like extra work !

 

[soundwave]

I'm probably being a bit of a dimwit (not hard!) , but why would I need to lose a front chainring ? Seems like extra work !

 

[Roberticus]

Sorry I think I've missed something ! .?

 

[soundwave]

Sorry I think I've missed something ! .?

 

[anotherkiwi]

You don't have to lose it of course it is just that with a motor it often becomes useless.

On my hub motor bike I had a triple chainwheel and never used it on anything but the big cog in over 3600 km. I then moved on to a mid drive and as I stalled it once on a test run I mounted a double - one for normal riding and a small chainring for anything over about 13%. No derailleur, I shift by hand when I get into the mountains and where the downhills are so steep I hardly ever pedal so no need for the big ring.

 

[Hightechpete]

You don't have to lose it of course it is just that with a motor it often becomes useless.

Unless you run out of 'juice'.