Pendleton Somerby E-Bike: Damaged rear wheel - wear and tear

Hey, fellow pedelecs enthusiasts,

I've been a proud owner of the Pendleton Somerby e-bike for a couple of years now, using it as my trusty steed for daily commuting, school runs, and shopping trips. Clocking in 5,000 miles + during this time, it's been a reliable companion, save for the occasional brake replacement and a minor issue with the saddle.

However, recently, I encountered a setback that I hadn't anticipated. Pulling over from work, I noticed a loss of pressure in the rear wheel. Initially attributing it to a puncture, I discovered that the culprit was far more insidious – the brake caliper had damaged the rim over time. Now, I'm faced with the daunting task of replacing the entire wheel with the motor, a costly endeavour that nearly equals the fifth value of the bike itself.

It's disheartening to think that a perfectly functional motor will now likely end up as scrap due to irreparable damage to the rim. Upon seeking advice from a Halfords employee, I learned that this damage is considered normal wear and tear. I can't help but wonder if there could have been a way to prevent or mitigate this issue.

Which brings me to my question: Is there a way to upgrade the Pendleton Somerby e-bike to feature disc brakes instead? Disc brakes are known for their superior stopping power and reduced wear on rims, potentially sparing future owners from facing a similar predicament.

I'm reaching out to the community for insights, advice, or experiences with such upgrades. Have any of you attempted a similar conversion, or do you have recommendations for compatible disc brake systems? Any input would be greatly appreciated as I explore options to future-proof my beloved Pendleton Somerby e-bike.

Kind regards

take it to a real local bike shop that can build wheels from scratch.

if there are no post mounts for a disc brake then it wont work.

There are many tutorials online. I have never done it myself, but it looks doable. Good luck.

........ However, recently, I encountered a setback that I hadn't anticipated. Pulling over from work, I noticed a loss of pressure in the rear wheel. Initially attributing it to a puncture, I discovered that the culprit was far more insidious – the brake caliper had damaged the rim over time. Now, I'm faced with the daunting task of replacing the entire wheel with the motor,.............

 

Kind regards

It is quite normal for rim brakes to wear wheel rims down although if you've only done 5,000 miles ish, then this is a bit on the low side of normal. Having said that if you've done a lot of braking in dirty/gritty conditions and especially if the brake blocks have ended up with metal framents embedded in them, the rim wear will be increased. (tip - periodically look at your brake blocks and remove embedded grit etc).

The Somerby frame does not have them means to mount a disc brake caliper iirc.

As for the wheel, find a bike shop that builds wheels as they will remove the rear hub motor and build it into a new rim, even using the existing spokes ithe new rim is the same ERD (Effective Rim Diameter) as the original. This might cost around £70+ though.

Or rebuild it yourself as Az implicitly suggests above. It probably won't be as good as a wheel build by an expert, but may well be as good as rebuilt by the LBS (***), and very likely better than the original wheel.

Also, after the experience of building it you will be really tuned in to how to keep it trued and well tensioned.

Come to think of it, it may be that the short life of the original wheel was that it went out of true, so there was rubbing on one particular point on the rim which made it wear through.

Fwiw i replaced a rear wheel rim last summer, I watched a couple of youtubes on the subject, and the only problem i encountered was sizing the spokes for the new rim, amazon prime no quible returns sorted that tho..

Tools needed are a cheap spoke spanner £2-3 MIne was a ring with different spoke sized castelations, taping over all the wrong sizes saved me aLOT of time.. and an old spoke with its thread sanded down makes a great insertion tool for sunken/recessed rims.. and the front forks of an upturnrd bike make an ideal balancing stand.

Get a shop to do it.

Its no just a simple buy a bunch of spokes and a rim. What length of spokes, paired to which rim. is the rim suitable, what gauge of spoke ?, single, double butted ?.

Then theres dishing. All requiring a bit more in the tool department.

Do you have a wheel building/truing stand ? oops, more money

By the time you've got all that its cost you 3x that having one built would have cost.

And 4 months have past.

Last year I built a wheel for the first time. I found out that it's not the scary dark art it's made out to be.

There's some great and easy to follow tutorials on Grin cycles. There's also a calculator, with a tutorial video, to work out spoke length having measured the motor. It took me around 3 hours to build the wheel and about the same to research and psych myself up to it..

Don't need to buy a truing stand, I made one from two upright pieces of osb board with a slot cut into the top for the axle and some cable ties as reference indicators. To make up the wheel I used the metal core from a twin and earth cable drum to rest the hub motor in.

Spokes and nipples readily available on line.

Don't believe a word anyone at Halfrauds says, their only expertise is talking out of their *^+" .

Hey, fellow pedelecs enthusiasts,

 

I've been a proud owner of the Pendleton Somerby e-bike for a couple of years now, using it as my trusty steed for daily commuting, school runs, and shopping trips. Clocking in 5,000 miles + during this time, it's been a reliable companion, save for the occasional brake replacement and a minor issue with the saddle.

 

However, recently, I encountered a setback that I hadn't anticipated. Pulling over from work, I noticed a loss of pressure in the rear wheel. Initially attributing it to a puncture, I discovered that the culprit was far more insidious – the brake caliper had damaged the rim over time. Now, I'm faced with the daunting task of replacing the entire wheel with the motor, a costly endeavour that nearly equals the fifth value of the bike itself.

 

It's disheartening to think that a perfectly functional motor will now likely end up as scrap due to irreparable damage to the rim. Upon seeking advice from a Halfords employee, I learned that this damage is considered normal wear and tear. I can't help but wonder if there could have been a way to prevent or mitigate this issue.

 

Which brings me to my question: Is there a way to upgrade the Pendleton Somerby e-bike to feature disc brakes instead? Disc brakes are known for their superior stopping power and reduced wear on rims, potentially sparing future owners from facing a similar predicament.

 

I'm reaching out to the community for insights, advice, or experiences with such upgrades. Have any of you attempted a similar conversion, or do you have recommendations for compatible disc brake systems? Any input would be greatly appreciated as I explore options to future-proof my beloved Pendleton Somerby e-bike.

 

Kind regards

Buy a new rim from Ebay - should be about £20. When you get it, measure the internal diameter and add on 4mm. That's the ERD. Sometimes, they mention the ERD in the listing, but you should check it anyway because I've known the listings to be wrong.

Use this spoke calculator to get the length of the spokes:

Edd, an easy to use spoke calculator (leonard.io)

Buy the spokes from Ryans Spokes. Get 14g ones, regardless of what thickness the originals were:

About - Spokes From Ryan

Read this guide on how to build a wheel:

Wheelbuilding (sheldonbrown.com)

Build the wheel loosely on your lap, then transfer it to the bike for final cantering and truing. Use a couple of zip-ties around the frame and cut to the right length as truing guides.

If you are patient person and can follow simple instructions then one can build and true your own wheel. Lacing and truing I find quite theraputic , one just needs to find a couple of hours or do the task over a couple of sittings. Highly recommend trying and the satisfaction gained in carrying out a task that looks hard but tbh is really easy.

As mentioned rim about £20 , I buy a pair as it is often cheaper then buying a single (work that out ), spokes from Ryan about the same (14g SS sapim strongs). Ryan supplies the spoke length (mm) you require.

If not sure of spoke length or want to be sure of the right length , just ask away.

Once the rim and hub are laced one can true the wheel up on the bike .

A cable tie wrapped around the frame stay and cut off to length to use as the rim guide and all one needs is a good spoke spanner to adjust the spokes to true the wheel up, I quite like the Spokey ones .

One should be quite capable at the first try of getting the wheel tured to within 1mm or better. Just needs patience and if it gets a bit too much, leave it & come back to it a few hours later .

Well, there's lots of support from members to have a go at building your own wheel, a notion that I fully endorse for all of the reasons given - just go for it!

There are so many on-line resources (and free at that) to help the new builder, but personally I like to refer to my paper printout that I produced from a PDF book that I was happy to pay for (currently £9.00) by WheelPro.co.uk

Amongst other things there are good clear instructions on building a truing frame from wood and a dishing tool plus other guages all of which I built some 10+years ago I think, and still use when needed to this day.

As others have said, it is both rewarding and relaxing to build one's own wheels and out of the maybe half a dozen that I've built, all have proved entirely serviceable and several of them have been used on 1000+ mile fully loaded tours without issue.

Post 1 & 10 of the below thread shows my pair of rims and hubs before and after building them , one an alfine8 hub gears and the other a front Bafang g370 geared hub.

Roadrat Alfine 8 with G370 hub build. | Pedelecs - Electric Bike Community