Haibike sDuro HardSeven SL 2015 Yamaha (7 Month 1600 Miles)

[chris_n]

I would think that the presence of a BMS on the output side of the high charge battery would help, and also, had carebeen taken to ensure the batteries were at same or similar voltages and capacities (as in your case) would make it entirely safe while teh two batteries remain in step, but what about as they age and one starts to have lower capacity than the other?

Capacity has absolutely nothing to do with it, age doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is voltage. As you say there is a BMS on each battery that will restrict the current but if the voltage difference is small then very little current will flow anyway. When the batteries are straight off the charger in my instance the voltage is identical. YMMV.
I carried out this modification on my 2016 Haibike in either 2017 or 2018. I have covered many thousands of kilometres up and down the Alps without issue.

 

[Deleted member 16246]

Capacity has absolutely nothing to do with it, age doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is voltage. As you say there is a BMS on each battery that will restrict the current but if the voltage difference is small then very little current will flow anyway. When the batteries are straight off the charger in my instance the voltage is identical. YMMV.
I carried out this modification on my 2016 Haibike in either 2017 or 2018. I have covered many thousands of kilometres up and down the Alps without issue.

I mentioned capacity and age because those factors would influence whether the two batteries could get out of balance as regards voltage.

When battery builders parallel up groups of cells in a battery, they install battery management systems to try to keep the parallelled groups operating at the same potential. I would have thought that if someone was combining two batteries the same kind of precautions would be wise.

Nevertheless - you have been doing what you describe without incident.

 

[chris_n]

I mentioned capacity and age because those factors would influence whether the two batteries could get out of balance as regards voltage.

When battery builders parallel up groups of cells in a battery, they install battery management systems to try to keep the parallelled groups operating at the same potential. I would have thought that if someone was combining two batteries the same kind of precautions would be wise.

Nevertheless - you have been doing what you describe without incident.

They can't get out of balance when they are connected in parallel. Individual cells can of course fail but then the protection is supplied by the BMS in the individual battery. If the capacities are different then the batteries respond by sharing the load proportionally. If one battery is 22 Ah and the second is 11Ah then the 22Ah would provide 2/3 of the current.

 

[Nealh]

The fires and incidents you watch are rare but do occur, one has to put into perspective these events and then consider what actually occurred and why.
One has no knowing of the battery history and care, any voltage or whether it has been in a crash or damaged.
Inappropriate battery current draw and marrying up product with the controller requirement, a diy build or shorting due to bad or wrong wire thickness.

In the most part if one knows what he is doing then they are generally safe, follow the accepted methods and use the info from the specialist bike forums. On here you will find info, the pedelec .de forum and ES in the US is a huge platform of resources.

One will find a few major fire stories on the ES forum from the diy fraternity there that have part destroyed their homes and pets.
It's not just ebike batteries there are many other sources of potential hazards as more everyday products use lithium.

 

[chris_n]

One will find a few major fire stories on the ES forum from the diy fraternity there that have part destroyed their homes and pets.

Yeah but have you seen some of the s**t they call ebikes on there
Of course there is a risk with any stored energy whether it is electrical or otherwise ( springs, pressure, gravity etc) but if the risks are known, understood and assessed then they can be minimised. For instance checking security of all connectors regularly and providing strain relief on fixed connections as well as checking voltage before connecting. In some respects running 2 batteries in parallel reduces the risk of fire by reducing the stress on the individual cells.

 

[georgehenry]

Finding a reason to ride…..

Following my retirement and some pretty dull Winter Weather, The Haibike has not been ridden as much as it was when it was my means of getting to work and back.



However with a few colder but sunnier days and a basic need by my body to be more active I have done three rides, two of 18 miles, and one of 28 miles, and have really enjoyed them all, and feel much better for having made the effort.

Although I have not been riding my Haibike Yamaha as much I have been riding my old rear hub bike a lot, probably not far short of every day for popping to the shops and many other errands. But I have to face the facts that the rear hub bike does not require me to work any where near as hard as the crank drive Haibike Yamaha.

These three rides have basically followed my old cross country route to work but instead of work have been ending up at The Lidl to buy snacks from its excellent bakery for Lunch with my two adult children when I have returned home. There is no Lidl in my home town.



I had to work a far bit harder on my first ride on Thursday the 13th of January, unlucky for me, than I had originally intended. I set of at about 10:50, getting to The Lidl at about 12:00 midday for a quick shop and dash back to The Railway Station to catch the train back home to coordinate with my son's work from home lunch hour.

However when I got to The Station, there had been an incident and the Train was cancelled, so I had to ride the 10 miles home instead, at a pace that would get me home in time for my son's lunch hour, a round trip distance of 28 miles, and close to the maximum range of my bike ridden in the way I did.

I used more higher assistance on the road to travel faster. I managed my battery consumption to go as fast as possible but have enough left to get me up the last steep hill back to my house and had 15% left when I got home.



The other two rides, went more to plan, with a total ridden distance of 18 miles, mostly made up of my cross country route with a bit of pavement to get me the last bit to The Lidl and then back to The Station to catch the train to get me back to my home Town.

With much more battery left, I could frivolously blast it back from The Station to my house up a very steep hill, in high assist. My rear hub bike cannot get up that hill, but the Haibike Yamaha has not problems.

So 64 miles ridden in six days, and I feel better for it.

The total mileage has crept up to 14,548.

 

[georgehenry]

15.000 Miles.

Now ridden for leisure and fitness I broke through the 15,000 mile barrier on Monday the 7th of February 2022.

A lovely sunny blustery ride of 20 miles.

After not riding her that much after my retirement in October 2021, I have started doing so again. I ride my cross country route to work but rather than work as my destination I now end up at The Lidl instead.

I then ride to the train Station and catch a train back home. The mileage varies depending on the tracks I choose but seems to end up around 16 to 20 miles.

I set off from home a few minutes before eleven and aim to get to The Lidl at twelve, for a quick shop and back to the Station to catch the 12:34, with one change of trains to catch the 13:04 to my home town and a steep up hill ride to get me back home by 13:15.

So Two and a quarter hours for a lovely ride, a good dose of exercise, and a useful shop.

All appears to be well with the bike.

I changed the chain when it hit the wear limit the other day to prolong the life of the rear cassette and chain ring. This cassette has completed 750 miles.

In just over a month my Yamaha Haibike will be seven years old.

The original 400Wh battery continues to work well. In the top half of the battery it works as it always has but from half full to empty it reduces more quickly especially if higher power levels are used.

The warranty replaced motor will soon be five years old after the first one was replaced free of charge at the end of my second year of ownership, and this replacement motor has now completed just over 9,000 miles.

I do not need the higher gearing I have that I used to need to get me home from work as quickly as possible and will probably change my 42 tooth chain ring for a 38 tooth one, replacing the 8th and 9th gear cogs that have 14 and 12 teeth respectively now with ones that have 13 and 11 teeth.

I will have to see how a 38 as opposed to a 42 tooth chain ring combines with my 36 tooth bottom gear. Hopefully I will be able to climb steeper slopes than I can at the moment.

 

[soundwave]

for £220 you can have the motor overhauled buy peter its better safe than sorry the more miles you put on it.

Repair & Overhaul Service (OLD) - eBike Motor Centre (Performance Line Bearings)

Within the UK we offer a full repair and overhaul service for Bosch, Brose, Impulse, Panasonic and Yamaha ebike motors. Please note: We do not currently support Shimano motors. To send us your motor: If you can, remove your motor or have your local bike shop remove it for you, then just follow...

www.ebikemotorcentre.com

if i kept riding my bike with the transfer gear like that it would fail at some point as worn down and if it snapped and broke the controller board end of motor as cant get new ones.

 

[georgehenry]

Probably good advice soundwave.

 

[georgehenry]

Signs of Spring in the balmy South

I enjoyed a very nice 20 mile sunny ride on Wednesday but was quite shocked at how warm it was. My Yamaha display shows the temperature and it peaked at 17 degrees and mostly showed 15 degrees.



I had put a long sleeved thermal top under a wind proof cycling jacket and shed the jacket at the first gate I needed to open.



Later in the ride I saw some Spring flowers protruding through the leaf mold.



Though I think there is still time for a cold snap and believe that one has been forecast.



I will enjoy the sun and warmer temperatures while they are there.



Mileage on my 2015 Yamaha Haibike is now 15,042.

 

[soundwave]

 

[georgehenry]

Hi soundwave, its a difficult one to work out when to get this second motor overhauled.

It is currently quiet and there is no play when you flex the pedal arms.

The weather is hopefully improving and a prime time to enjoy riding the bike. I am inclined to do it at the end of the year, but that could easily have added a thousand miles, and I would be sorry if it suddenly failed for want of some maintenance.

Maybe it is better to treat these electric motors like they do in aviation and pick a time period or mileage or combination of the two and get the motor overhauled at that chosen mileage/time what ever, and just do it.

I have had a really good run, so far with this bike, and at the age it is and miles it has covered it may be getting to a point that it is better to buy a new bike. If I keep it, I will need to buy a new battery at some point. It has done really well, and still performs very well, but at seven years old in March, it perhaps cannot be expected to keep this up for much longer.

However the increasing cost of crank drive bikes makes keeping one going that you already have and like probably worthwhile.

 

[soundwave]

id email peter and see what he says but like my motor the transfer gear is made of plastic so taking the side of and putting some new grease on them wont hurt and check for any wear to components or rust.

 

[Charliefox]

15.000 Miles.

Now ridden for leisure and fitness I broke through the 15,000 mile barrier on Monday the 7th of February 2022.

A lovely sunny blustery ride of 20 miles.

After not riding her that much after my retirement in October 2021, I have started doing so again. I ride my cross country route to work but rather than work as my destination I now end up at The Lidl instead.

I then ride to the train Station and catch a train back home. The mileage varies depending on the tracks I choose but seems to end up around 16 to 20 miles.

I set off from home a few minutes before eleven and aim to get to The Lidl at twelve, for a quick shop and back to the Station to catch the 12:34, with one change of trains to catch the 13:04 to my home town and a steep up hill ride to get me back home by 13:15.

So Two and a quarter hours for a lovely ride, a good dose of exercise, and a useful shop.

All appears to be well with the bike.

I changed the chain when it hit the wear limit the other day to prolong the life of the rear cassette and chain ring. This cassette has completed 750 miles.

In just over a month my Yamaha Haibike will be seven years old.

The original 400Wh battery continues to work well. In the top half of the battery it works as it always has but from half full to empty it reduces more quickly especially if higher power levels are used.

The warranty replaced motor will soon be five years old after the first one was replaced free of charge at the end of my second year of ownership, and this replacement motor has now completed just over 9,000 miles.

I do not need the higher gearing I have that I used to need to get me home from work as quickly as possible and will probably change my 42 tooth chain ring for a 38 tooth one, replacing the 8th and 9th gear cogs that have 14 and 12 teeth respectively now with ones that have 13 and 11 teeth.

I will have to see how a 38 as opposed to a 42 tooth chain ring combines with my 36 tooth bottom gear. Hopefully I will be able to climb steeper slopes than I can at the moment.

My 2019 Giant E+3 has the 36 tooth crank and a 10 speed 11-36 cassette. I find this excellent for climbing and get 16-17 maximum speed under power on the flat. Nowhere near your amazing mileage though...a mere 1600 I think. Not sure because I have to remove my wireless cyclometer in the coldest months (below freezing in the bike shed) or the sender unit packs up and I have to replace the whole lot! Naturally I check its battery to make sure that's not the reason for the failure.

 

[georgehenry]

My Haibike Yamaha is 2015, so I have had longer to accumulate miles. I bought it as a commuting bike to get me to work and back, usually a 24 mile round trip, and ridden in that way a bike quickly adds miles.

I may end up with a 36 tooth chain ring like you, but I think I will try a 38 first. My current cassette has a 36 tooth bottom gear, and gears 8 and 9 respectively have 14 and 12 teeth.

Using a bicycle gearing chart it appears that a 38 tooth chain ring will lower my gearing in my bottom 36 tooth gear by around 10%.

When I fit the 38 tooth chain ring I intend to also swap those 14 and 12 teeth cogs for 13 and 11 teeth ones as this should allow me to ride at a fast pace under power should I wish to do so. Those 13 and 11 tooth cogs should have very similar gearing with the 38 tooth chain ring as my 14 and 12 tooth cogs have with my 42 tooth chain ring.

Anyway that's the theory.

 

[georgehenry]

Caught out by the Rail replacement bus service

Noticing the weather was going to be bad today I charged up the battery of my Haibike Yamaha yesterday and took it for a mostly off road ride, just for fun and exercise in yesterdays sunny weather.

I checked the train times for getting back home and there were two an hour from my destination back to my home town.

I enjoyed a really great cross country blast of around a hour and ten minutes managing to coordinate with a home bound train.

I have to change trains at Guildford and the next train had been replaced by a bus which was an unexpected shock.

So I had to ride six miles further from Guildford back to Godalming. For two thirds of my extra ride I took the scenic route along the tow path of The River Wey, but popped back onto the road when quite close to Godalming to get back home a bit quicker.

26 miles ridden in total, 15,068 total miles on the bike now. Just over 50% of my 400Wh battery used.

 

[georgehenry]

Cycle,Walk,Cycle Sandwich

I was definitely an active 60 year old on Thursday. I had made plans to go to a friends house that according to google maps is 16.1 miles away by road.

I took a mostly cross country route via Witley and Thursely commons to the village of Thursely and then through that very pretty village to access a byway open to all traffic into the very beautiful Devils Punch Bowl and enjoy a mostly single track route through it ending up adjacent to the National Trust and back onto the road.

It is a lot of climbing from my home in Godalming to the top of the Devils Punch Bowl. There are great views and countryside and I used my lowest eco setting, but still chomped through around 45% of my 400Wh battery with all the climbing. By not going on the road I had also ridden further, although I did not know it at that point, around 15 miles with another 6 to go.

I had taken about 40 minutes to get to that point and had around 25 minutes to get to my mates house, 6 miles further.

However I would now be riding on the road, mostly downhill, still in eco, but on a bike that can assist above the cut off, with high enough gearing for me to hold speeds in the 20 to 25mph range. This allowed me to make very good time on the remaining journey.

Also as I got close to my friends house and encountered some hills I could see that I had enough battery left for me to use a higher assist setting to maintain my speed up the hills. So I made it easily with about 10 minutes to spar, and lots of fun was had.

I could charge my battery at my friends house so knew I would have a full battery for the ride home, and there was time for a cup of tea before we went in my friends car to another mutual friends house in another village and all went for a walk.

However the walk ended up being 10 miles. Further and longer than I had expected!

Then back to my friends house to get back on the bike to ride home.

I was not under the time pressure on the way home and could explore an off road area I had not ridden in before, Ludshott common. Another beautiful area of common land. I was a little worried about getting lost on the new common but kept my route simple and found my way to the other side without mishap.

I then did the same mountain bike route through The Devils Punch Bowl, using the same great single tracks with stunning views, exiting via the same byway that connects to a country lane descending into Thursley Village past The Church into the centre of the Village.

Then back onto Thursley Common leading to Witley common for more off road fun back to Milford. Then on the road to Godalming Town Centre to buy something for the Kids and my own Tea. Then I rode back home that involves riding up a quite long hill.

An exceptionally fit young man on a fixie racing bike set of just ahead of me up the hill. I upped the assist and overtook, saying hello. He then slip streamed me up the Hill. I very rarely use the maximum assist, but did so and took my speed up to 18 miles an hour up the hill, but no gaps appeared between him and me, and he managed to stick right behind me.

I told him I was impressed, and asked how far he had come. Worplesdon he replied about 10 miles away.

When I got home I checked how far I had ridden expecting about 30 miles, but was a little taken aback that I had actually ridden 42 miles. I think a reasonably direct rout to my friends house is about 16 miles. but all my diversions off road had added five miles each way to that.

So a 10 mile walk and a 42 mile cycle ride.

Not bad for a now retired old codger.

Although my gearing is not low enough for steep technical off road tracks and I am contemplating changing it, the ability to maintain a good speed on the road came in handy today.

I am still using the gearing I used when commuting to work and back. That was a compromise between being able to climb off road and being able to complete the 10 mile ride home on the road in 30 minutes. So I have a 42 tooth chain ring and a 12/36 cassette.

My mileage has crept up to 15,132.

 

[georgehenry]

Alternative Lidl

I had charged my battery with a view to riding cross country to Farnham Lidl and then get the train back yesterday.

When I checked the train service they were all cancelled due to trees down, and as I had a full battery I needed an alternative destination.

I headed to Guildford instead.

I use the tow path of the River Wey Navigation to get to Guildford from Godalming.

To access that I used a bridle path that is pretty tricky with some technical elements that need some commitment. Last time I bottled it but this time I cleaned it with no mishaps.

Basically it is a steep in places rocky and others sandy track down the side of a valley where in places the track is narrow with a deep square cut centre rut with cambered edges. You cannot ride in the rut, so you need to ride the cambered edge, swapping sides occasionally where you can. A great sense of achievement when yo manage it without stopping.

After that you have much easier car wide stony tracks to take you after about a quarter of a mile over a pretty bridge and onto the tow path. A pretty ride with for 99% of it no assist required. There were some trees down but a managed to get over them. The biggest required taking the panniers off as it reached just above my waist and heaving the bike over it. I then clambered around where the ripped out root bowl at its base allowed.

I needed to get to the other side of Guildford and the tow path takes you through an old wharehouse industrial part where there are now blocks of flats and a industrial retail estate. Useful as I took a detour to buy some mastic and masking tape from a very good trade paint/decoration unit for the enviable job of replacing some around a bath at home.

Then cross a busy road with the aid of crossing lights with illuminated sign for a bike when you pressed the button. Do my shopping and ride back on the road. I had only used 10% of my battery getting there, so fancied burning through some in higher assist and speed on the way home.

Another diversion into Godalming for a bit more shopping, and back home.

22 miles in total. Total Mileage 15,154. I bought the bike in March 2015 and check the mileage on the bikes anniversary. It will be seven years old this March. Since its last anniversary I have ridden 2,010 so far.

 

[georgehenry]

15,298 mile, 7 Year Update

Well at this point, I am just pleased that the bike keeps working. This was the last year of commuting to work, that finished in October 2021 when I retired. When I worked out how many miles I had ridden it was more than I expected at 2,154 for the year.



In truth it did not get much use for a few months after I retired, but then I started riding it again, and feeling a lot better for doing so. I now use it for fitness and fun, and ride it mostly on my old route to work, but instead of work end up at a supermarket with a good bakery to buy some fresh stuff for my grown up kids and my own lunch. Then ride to The Railway Station and catch the train back to my home town, ride home and have lunch with my kids.



As a retired Train Driver I am lucky to get free travel on the railway and after my ride to the Super Market am often able to catch up chatting to the crew on the first train I travel on that I mostly still know on my journey home, the route of which I used to drive when I was a Train Driver.



I can vary my route, but I seem to mostly do about 20 miles by the time I get home.

Transmission
I started the year with a rear cassette that had 1,022 miles on it and had a replaced top gear 12 tooth cog and new chain both with 45 miles on them. The tactic of changing the chain on its wear limit to extend the life of my rear cassette, and putting a new top gear cog on for all the fast road miles I did riding home from work at night on the road worked better than I expected and extended the life of that cassette and transmission by another 1,098.



When they finally wore out at the end of September 2021 I changed the whole lot with a new chain ring, chain and rear cassette. At the same time the rear derailleur was stripped and cleaned and had new jockey wheels fitted. That cassette goes into my 8th year of ownership with 1,032 miles on it.

As I now ride just for fun without the regular need to ride at speed on the road, I have thought about lowering the gearing to allow me to climb steeper more technical tracks off road where I now mostly use the bike.

I have now got all the parts to make the change I think will work best. Dropping 4 teeth on the front chain ring down to a 38 tooth one from the current 42 tooth one. That will drop my gearing in gears 1 to 7 by 10%. However I will replace my 8 and 9 gear cogs with one tooth smaller ones, currently I have a 14 tooth gear 8 and a 12 tooth gear 9 and that will change to a 13 tooth gear 8 and a 11 tooth gear 9. That should retain my bikes current ability to ride at speeds in the 20 to 25 mph range on the now rare occasions I want to or find a need to.

New Rear Wheel



The new rear wheel I had built for me has been brilliant since I had it done in October 2020. I changed the tyre before the winter replacing like with like with another gravity 2.35 tyre, this time a Schwalbe Hans Dampf run tubeless.

Battery



All that really needs to be said is that I am still using the original 400Wh battery at the end of my seventh year of ownership after riding 15,298 miles. The first 50% of the batteries capacity seems to be almost as resilient as it ever was. I still use exactly the same percentage of my battery riding my 14 mile off road route to the next town as I did when it was new. Around 30%. From 50% it can disappear pretty rapidly, but that was also true also when it was new especially if you put a heavy load on it, so now not quite the resilience it had when it was new. However the performance is certainly not collapsing at all.

Motor

I mentioned last year that I had stopped mentioning the motor in these annual catch ups which shows that I am now taking it too much for granted. This is my second motor after the first one was replaced right at the end of the two year warranty when it developed play in the bearings at 6012 miles. So this second motor is well into uncharted waters both in terms of its age at five years old now and of the mileage it has covered at 9,298 miles. There are no signs of play in the bearings which I check by flexing the pedal arms and it works just as it should. I may well take soundwaves advise and get it fully serviced by The Bearing man before the winter if not sooner.

Breakages

I had one strange thing occur when I inverted the bike to oil the chain when a screw fell out. I discovered it was from the plastic receptacle where the battery connects to the bike. I needed to use a longer screw than the one that fell out and now make sure I adjust the top battery catch/lock so that the battery is held firmly.

The bracket that holds my left hand handlebar control unit broke. You can buy the the unit including the the display bracket for just under a £100, but as all I needed was a bracket I have managed to fix it back in place with a bodge which works fine.

Conclusion



I think I have really had my monies worth out of my £1750 purchase price in March 2015. It has saved both fuel and wear and tear on my car and bought itself in fuel savings alone some time ago.

But forgetting money, it is just damned good fun. Crank drives are just so capable off road where they really excel.

 

[georgehenry]

Windy ride and missed train connection.....

I had a great in places wildly windy and sporadically sunny cross country ride from where I live in Godalming to Farnham and then back on the train. The ride was dry but followed a night of rain so there was some standing water and water logged ground to contend with on my off road route. This was my third similar ride of the week and should have moved my mileage total for this week to 60 miles, but today's ride ended up being longer due to my first train being delayed and me missing the connecting train to get me back to Godalming from Guildford

If I had waited for the next connecting service I would not have got back home in time for lunch with my adult kids, and as I had a lot of the stuff we were going to eat I had to find another solution.

It is 6 miles from Guildford back home so I decided to ride home as fast as the bike would allow. That turned out to be quite fast, and I made it. So I ended up riding 26 miles and had 35% of my battery left when I got home. So if that is to be believed and I had kept riding I would have run out of battery at 40 miles. Not bad for a 400Wh battery that is now over seven years old.

I pushed really hard myself so was quite knackered. Typically it was this trip that I had bought a bulk pack of 24 loo rolls that were tethered to my rear rack above the panniers which themselves contained 4 bottles of wine, 4 bottles of beer, and various bakery items, so not the lightest!


I often take a picture here, as it is the start of my off road route and there is a convenient tree stump to lean the bike against!

Lower Gearing



I am now running with my lower gearing using a 38 tooth narrow wide chain ring rather than the previous 42 tooth one with my Shimano Alvio HG400 9 speed cassette with 12/36.

The previous 42 tooth chain ring and 12/36 cassette was after a little experimentation the highest gearing I could get away with and still climb the steepest tracks on my off road ride to work. This was why I bought the bike originally, to use purely as a commuting bike to work, 12 to 16 miles cross country to work and then 10 miles home on the road.

So the bike had to fulfill two different and contradictory roles. Tackle a in places a challenging off road route to work with a low enough first gear to accomplish this and then be able to get me home on a 10 mile road journey in 30 minutes at an average speed of 20mph.



In retirement from work the Haibike's role has changed and lower gearing facilitates that change. It will mostly now be a bike for fitness and fun and to do so needs to be able to on occasion tackle the more difficult off road tracks available to me in my area. For this it needs the lower gearing. I would though still like to be able to pick up the pace on the road on the fewer occasions I might need to. (See my dash home from Guildford Station after missing my connection)

I did not change the cassette when I put the 38 tooth chain ring on despite it having 1072 miles on it, as it had been running well with the old 42 tooth chain ring and under wear limit chain with no skipping in gears.

However when I put the new 38 tooth chain ring on I also put a new chain on, and despite the old chain being under the wear limit I have found the new one skipping in some gears. I thought I would add a few miles to see if the skipping in gears settled down and it largely has but still with the occasional cog skip under power. Each ride it gets better though. I could put the old chain back on, but as it has settled down so much over the first 40 miles I will hope it does completely as my mileage rises. I guess it tells me the cassette is more worn than I thought.



My new lower gearing allows me to ride without power more easily. The 2015 Yamaha system rides very well without any assistance seemingly adding no resistance from the motor, but like all electric bikes it is heavy and the lower gearing allows me to get off the line and ride against gradients more easily. It also allows me to use eco the lowest power setting to climb the steeper tracks and overcome technical obstacles like steps and rocks and roots I mentioned above without resorting to a higher power level.

I have been using these 12/36 Shimano cassettes for a number of years now as they were relatively inexpensive and mostly lasted over a thousand miles and sometimes two. I bought a batch of amazon one winter when I saw them being sold at £12.50 delivered. I have the last one of that batch sitting on a garage shelf.

I also discovered recently almost by accident a 9 speed sunrace cassette I was not aware with 11/36 gearing, for £23.99 delivered on ebay. The sunrace slightly increases my overall gearing range to 327%, compared to the 300% of my Shimano 12/36.

Yesterday I remembered that I had made up a spar rear wheel for the Haibike that had two top gears of 13 teeth and 11 teeth matching that of the sunrace, so I pumped up its tyre and swapped it into the Haibike to see how those gears worked in practice with the 38 tooth chain ring.

My first attempt at a quick blast to see how those top gears worked with my 38 tooth chain ring was unsuccessful as I lost my electric drive and remembered I needed to swap the speed sensor magnet over as well as the wheel.

Once that was sorted I found that the 13th tooth and 11 tooth gear allowed me to ride in the 20 to 25 mph range. So the sunrace cassette could give me the best of both worlds with both lower gearing for climbing and the same ability as before to ride at higher speed on the road.

I bought one, so if my cassette continues to give me bother I can try out the sunrace.

My total mileage now stands at 15,358, and 66 miles for this week.