SRAM eMTB specific drivetrain launched

Steve A

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 28, 2016
704
414
Ashford, UK
Eddie, just been nosey but are you adding another bike to your stable, if so which one. Also, are you keeping your existing bikes. :)
 
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Denis99

Pedelecer
May 26, 2016
137
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I have the new sram ex1 gear system on my new ebike.

Only had two rides on it, but these are my thoughts.

Chainline is very good, can only be a good thing long term.
Gear changes are very quick and positive, very Shimano like.
Can only change one gear at a time, which actually is a good thing. The steps between the ratios mean you wouldn't want to change anymore than one at a time.
Cassette price is daft at the moment, I'm sure it will drop over time as it becomes more commonplace on ebikes.

Makes you ride in a slightly lower gear and keep your cadence up rather than slogging a big gear.

So far, so good, I like it.
 

Steve A

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 28, 2016
704
414
Ashford, UK
Denis,
Good to hear your feed back ref sram ex1. In all the years i've been riding and actually playing around with cassette ratios. The goal was to minimise large changes in gear ratios. This was clearly to improve smoothness, reduce chain stress etc.
It will be interesting to see how this new system fairs in terms of wear, stretch and frequency of aligning gears.
 

Denis99

Pedelecer
May 26, 2016
137
120
69
South Wales
www.instagram.com
Not based on extended use or evidence, but here are a few thoughts I've had when riding the system.

The chain is 10 speed, so a little bit more robust than the 11 or even 12 speed varieties, so this is a step in the right direction.

The chainline is much improved, and the current 10,11 or 12 speed chain lines, with a single chainwheel up front do cause a lot of stress on the chain.

The cassette sprockets have been designed to shift smoothly across a single sprocket, there isn't the thud that you can sometimes get when shifting say two sprockets on the cassette.
Actually shifts very well and cleanly, to be expected at this early stage though.

Will definitely use 2 chains in rotation though, and keep the drivechain clean, which I have always done anyway.
 
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Denis99

Pedelecer
May 26, 2016
137
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69
South Wales
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Just a update after a few more miles of trail riding experience.

The system will only move one gear at a time either up or down the cassette, no multiple shifting, has to be done in sequence if you want to bang through the gears.

Very smooth, up or down..

No dropped chain anywhere.

Definitely uses less battery energy, which has to be a good thing. I thought this might have been SRAM marketing line, but it isn't.
It achieves this by having much larger than say 10,11 or even 12 speed by keeping you in a slightly lower gear when climbing.
This enables you to spin the entire gear a bit more than applying too much power or torque through the drivechain.
Therefore, you are pedalling a little faster with the battery assisting the total power.
Does actually work, and climbing is even easier.

Good system overall, hope the price of a replacement cassette comes down by the time I wear it out.
 
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soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
16,851
6,486
12spd eagle is about the same price group set wise and id go for that tbh.

my 11spd cassette was around the same price when it was new end of 2014 and only now can you get 11spd cassete under 100 quid for sram.

lets just hope shimano or e13 comes out with something ebike specific.
 

Steve A

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 28, 2016
704
414
Ashford, UK
Question is do you really need a specific groupset for e-bikes, (this group of bikes now being huge, from tourers to downhill. Infact, do you need e-bike specific tyres etc etc. IMHO, this is marketing hogwash. I've had sram, but i'm sticking to my shimano xt groupset, served me well over the years when others fell.
There's alot of good tech that has come along, but a lot of fads as well. Secret is trying to make your way through it. I've recently read that fat bikes are now out of favour with certain bike manufacturers.
 

anotherkiwi

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 26, 2015
7,845
5,786
The European Union
Question is do you really need a specific groupset for e-bikes, (this group of bikes now being huge, from tourers to downhill. Infact, do you need e-bike specific tyres etc etc. IMHO, this is marketing hogwash. I've had sram, but i'm sticking to my shimano xt groupset, served me well over the years when others fell.
There's alot of good tech that has come along, but a lot of fads as well. Secret is trying to make your way through it. I've recently read that fat bikes are now out of favour with certain bike manufacturers.
Yes. A 7-8 speed cassette with wider, equal gear spacing is of more use on an e-bike than a 10 speed cassette designed for human pedal power alone.
Tyres, yes for s-pedelecs, ordinary bike tyres won't take nicely to being used to climb hills at 45 km/h on a regular basis. For normal pedelecs no.
 

Steve A

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 28, 2016
704
414
Ashford, UK
Afraid, we'll have to disagree on this. IMHO and from past experience these variants make little or no difference to the average rider. My old high end road bike made very little difference to me vs a cat rider using that bike.

Example. I know someone who works for schwalbe in Germany. They have been producing marathon tyre for ages and they rebranded a version saying for e-bikes. I asked him what the difference was vs other marathons from 2015, and he said the NAME ONLY.
It's marketing hogwash, and i'm the first sucker to take up new tech.
Look, through axles i get, disc brakes i get, boost less so and the list goes on.
There are many bike rider on 29ers / road bikes who can still ride much faster than the average joe on an e-bike, so let's not kid ourselves.

Enough said.
 

anotherkiwi

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 26, 2015
7,845
5,786
The European Union
Afraid, we'll have to disagree on this. IMHO and from past experience these variants make little or no difference to the average rider. My old high end road bike made very little difference to me vs a cat rider using that bike.

Example. I know someone who works for schwalbe in Germany. They have been producing marathon tyre for ages and they rebranded a version saying for e-bikes. I asked him what the difference was vs other marathons from 2015, and he said the NAME ONLY.
It's marketing hogwash, and i'm the first sucker to take up new tech.
Look, through axles i get, disc brakes i get, boost less so and the list goes on.
There are many bike rider on 29ers / road bikes who can still ride much faster than the average joe on an e-bike, so let's not kid ourselves.

Enough said.
I was not talking about e-bike/pedelec tyres in the above post. The EU label required for s-pedelec tyres means testing, if an existing tyre passed that test is proof of the excellent quality of Schwalbe tyres. Some Big Bens did, others did not.
 

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