Giant Full E+2 Replacement Cassette and Chain

Gilbert

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jun 22, 2018
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Hello All, I'm preparing to replace the cassette and chain on my Giant Full E+2 and thought I might upgrade while I am at it.

At the moment the components are: -

Shimano HG50 11x36 10 speed cassette
KMC X.10e, e-bike specific chain

I've done around 700 miles since new and the cassette is showing signs of wear with a couple of teeth chipped. I'm doing around 25 miles a day (a cycle to work and back) and maybe 40 to 50 miles at the weekend. So it won't be long till I need to replace the cassette and possibly the chain.

Any recommendations for upgrades to chain and cassette? Looking for durability and smooth shifting (as usual).

Cheers.
 

chris_n

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 29, 2016
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Hello All, I'm preparing to replace the cassette and chain on my Giant Full E+2 and thought I might upgrade while I am at it.

At the moment the components are: -

Shimano HG50 11x36 10 speed cassette
KMC X.10e, e-bike specific chain

I've done around 700 miles since new and the cassette is showing signs of wear with a couple of teeth chipped. I'm doing around 25 miles a day (a cycle to work and back) and maybe 40 to 50 miles at the weekend. So it won't be long till I need to replace the cassette and possibly the chain.

Any recommendations for upgrades to chain and cassette? Looking for durability and smooth shifting (as usual).

Cheers.
Are you sure the cassette teeth are chipped? Modern cassettes have shaped teeth to improve shifting. I doubt very much that the cassette is worn after 700 miles, if it is then maybe you need to look at your shifting technique.
 

Gilbert

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jun 22, 2018
7
3
58
You're right. This is my inexperience of this matter. I had another look and the "chipped" teeth are in a regular pattern on the cogs. That's my lesson for today!

I'm still interested in looking at upgrade suggestions though and also any ideas on putting a bigger chain ring on the front. It's a "Custom forged crankset by FSA, 28/38T, 'Boost' 4-bolt 104BCD Yamaha specific spider" at the moment but I could do with slightly higher gearing on the big chain ring. I've seen a 44t FSA chain ring with the same BCD on ebay. Would I need a different chain length and possibly need to move my front derailleur?
 

chris_n

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Apr 29, 2016
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Don't know if 28/44 is feasible, maybe it is ok. I have 34/44 on my Haibike with a Sunrace 11-40 cassette. I did change the chain when I fitted them but I'm sure the standard chain was full length and would have fitted. I would just buy a chainwheel and see if it works, just be gentle and make sure the chain is long enough when on both big sprockets.
 
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Gubbins

Esteemed Pedelecer
You're right. This is my inexperience of this matter. I had another look and the "chipped" teeth are in a regular pattern on the cogs. That's my lesson for today!

I'm still interested in looking at upgrade suggestions though and also any ideas on putting a bigger chain ring on the front. It's a "Custom forged crankset by FSA, 28/38T, 'Boost' 4-bolt 104BCD Yamaha specific spider" at the moment but I could do with slightly higher gearing on the big chain ring. I've seen a 44t FSA chain ring with the same BCD on ebay. Would I need a different chain length and possibly need to move my front derailleur?
Just a warning about chainrings.. My Giant Road e+1 has an FSA 50/34 custom forged chainset and apparently its slightly different from all the other FSA rings so is only available from Giant. Just be wary of fitting an off the shelf ring, but if you do please let me know if its ok!
I rang LBS (All Terrain Cycles of Shipley) who confirmed this and can get them to order for typical prices.
 
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chris_n

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Apr 29, 2016
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Just a warning about chainrings.. My Giant Road e+1 has an FSA 50/34 custom forged chainset and apparently its slightly different from all the other FSA rings so is only available from Giant. Just be wary of fitting an off the shelf ring, but if you do please let me know if its ok!
I rang LBS (All Terrain Cycles of Shipley) who confirmed this and can get them to order for typical prices.
Your Road e has a 5 leg spider and I guess will take either 110 or 130 bcd rings. The mtbs are 4 leg and if they are the same as my Haibike standard 104bcd chainrings fit.
 

Gubbins

Esteemed Pedelecer
Your Road e has a 5 leg spider and I guess will take either 110 or 130 bcd rings. The mtbs are 4 leg and if they are the same as my Haibike standard 104bcd chainrings fit.
It's not the fittings, I think it's the offset that's different. Mine has the same bolt fittings as any other double set up and I read on a forum that they will fit on the spider but are then wrong wirh regard to the chainline or sumsuch. LBS checked and agreed and as I am going to buy from them anyway and prices are simular they have no reason to not be honest. All I am saying is check it out first and if you buy a std one I am interested to see if it works out. There must be a reason for a custom set up .
Most big bike retailers take bits back if they don't fit.
 

anotherkiwi

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Jan 26, 2015
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Last time I had a close look the motor is offset to the left and the front derailleur is standard so the chainline should be normal?
 

chris_n

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Apr 29, 2016
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It's not the fittings, I think it's the offset that's different. Mine has the same bolt fittings as any other double set up and I read on a forum that they will fit on the spider but are then wrong wirh regard to the chainline or sumsuch. LBS checked and agreed and as I am going to buy from them anyway and prices are simular they have no reason to not be honest. All I am saying is check it out first and if you buy a std one I am interested to see if it works out. There must be a reason for a custom set up .
Most big bike retailers take bits back if they don't fit.
Do you have a link to the forum? I seriously doubt standard chain rings wouldn't fit. If they were going to make something different there would be no point in using half a standard.
 

Gubbins

Esteemed Pedelecer
Don't know how to copy forums so copied the relevant bits..
It's definitely not as simple as any 110mm FSA chainrings fitting exactly the same as the 'custom' ones supplied with the Giant Road E+. The rings @soundwave linked to for instance I think have a different bolthole thickness and the outer a different teethline dishing, meaning a straight swap will result in a slightly different chainline and chainring gap, and potentially problems with the chainring bolts bottoming out before tightening fully against the thinner chainring arms.

Fortunately Giant stores can supply exact replacement chainrings for their Road E+ bikes - I already got an extra set thrown in when I was bartering over the price of my Road E+1 (although they weren't in stock and had to be ordered in and posted to me). The bad news is the RRP would have been £80 for the 50/34 pair. In any case, they should last much longer than 3,600km.

As an aside, as a fairly strong/fit rider I find the 50t chainring too small, particularly during non-winter months when I ride quite a bit faster on both e-bikes and non-e-bikes. I therefore decided to investigate the options for fitting a larger chainring to my 2016 Road E+1.

On close examination of the space available between the 50t ring and the chainstay, I could see it was going to be touch and go whether a larger ring would even fit, due to the way the chainstay flares outwards immediately past the outer ring's teeth. I nevertheless thought there was a fighting chance a 52t ring would fit IF I also fitted some chainring spacers to offset the 52t ring outwards to help ensure that the teeth cleared the flaring chainstay.

It was a very close-run thing, but when I did the first phase of my proof-of-concept testing, I found the 52t ring JUST cleared the chainstay when 1.2mm chainring spacers are used.

I went for the FSA Unisex Pro Road N10/11 110BCD Chainring ('Unisex' - how ridiculous!). However, as mentioned, this has a different (thinner) bolthole thickness and teeth-offset (i.e. dishing) compared with the fitted 50t ring, meaning the use of chainring spacers of some kind becomes essential anyway.

For this experiment, I established that 1.2mm was the minimum spacer thickness needed to clear the chainstay. I haven't actually ridden the 52t ring yet, as I only tested clearance in the workstand before removing the 52t again for the winter, so don't know how shifting between rings may be affected by changing the ring separation. I'm not too bothered if shifting is compromised, as I only use the 34t ring for 10 metres at the start and 10 metres at the finish of my commute, spending the whole of the ride in the big ring, even the steep hills.

I may of course find, when I eventually test-ride the 52t set-up, that whilst the teeth cleared the chainstay during static testing in the workstand the forces going through the chainset during riding may flex it enough to mean the teeth do make contact with the chainstay, in which case switching to thicker (e.g. 2.0mm) chainring spacers may provide enough clearance. I've got various sets of spacers from SJS Cycles to play with: chainring spacers.

Lastly, @Gubbins, how did you get the chainring assembly off the bottom bracket shaft? Was it just a case of using the left crank for leverage against the locknut spanner? One Giant shop said they use a special tool to grip the large chainring when undoing the locknut - they couldn't confirm whether it was possible to buy this tool as consumer rather than retailer, though. So far I've just undone the chainring bolts in situ, but it is a royal pain in the backside trying to refit the chainring nuts and holding them in place while tightening the bolts back up - this is due to the motor housing severely obstructing access.
 

chris_n

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Apr 29, 2016
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Half of that is because he's fitting a bigger chainring. As far as the offset / dishing goes as long as you have a pair they should fit, maybe you need to adjust the front mech.
As I said I used standard FSA ones on my MTB no problem.
 

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