Woosh rear hub kit (XF08C cassette freehub)

[DanD]

Hi,

I've just completed my first conversion using the Woosh XF08C kit, rear hub motor with cassette freehub and I chose the version which included the battery mounted on a rear carrier. The whole process has gone very smoothly and I'm really pleased with the outcome.

The bike to be converted is my wife's 2007 Dawes Oasis.

My pre-sales queries to Woosh were answered speedily and ensured that the kit I'd chosen was appropriate (I wanted to keep it's current 7 speed Shimano Hyperglide cassette) and the advice highlighted the need for the following options:

• Inline brake sensors as the bike has combined rapid fire brakes/shifters (the inline sensors are very neat and easy to fit)
• Left side pedal sensor as the bike has a triple chainset plus a chainguard which means there's no space on the right side (sensor was very easy to fit)

Additional tools/components:

• 4mm cassette spacer (the XF08C freehub is 8-11 speed so needed a spacer for 7 speed cassette)
• Cassette tool for solid axles (I only realised this after attempting to use my normal cassette tool, but this didn't have the required through-hole for the axle/motor cable)
• New tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Greenguard (26x2.00)

Here are the pictures taken before the conversion showing the bottom bracket which helped ensure choice of the correct pedal sensor:




Once the cassette had been swapped over, fitting the new rear wheel was very straightforward as the bike has 135mm width rear dropouts. I retained the two thin washers on either side of the axle and fitted the anti-turn washers on the outer sides with the nuts. The axle was a pretty tight fit in the dropouts, but it all fitted securely. I had to tweak the bracket attaching the chainguard as the chain line was now slightly closer to the chainstay, but this was a good outcome as the bike previously had a habit of the chain occasionally dropping off the cassette and jamming between the smallest sprocket and chainstay. Fitting the rear rack was also straightforward, it was almost a direct swap for the previous rack and it allows plenty of adjustment (a choice of 4 holes for the upper arms and 3 for the stay height) which means that it fitted well. The left side pedal sensor fitted perfectly and was just a simple push on after removing the crank.

Probably the hardest job was removal and refitting of the handlebar grips to mount the throttle as they're a very tight fit. Stupidly, I removed both grips for some reason even though the throttle only required the right grip to be removed, I've no idea what I was thinking. I trimmed a small amount (approx 1cm) off the grip to make space for where I wanted to position the throttle. I also discovered that I needed to leave a small gap between the throttle and the brake/shifter to prevent the top trigger fouling on the throttle ring. The LCD control fitted really neatly in a central position on the bars and time will tell whether this position is easy to use of whether it needs to be position closer to the left grip. Fitting the inline brake sensors required shortening of both cable outers by about 3cm and then re-adjustment of both brakes. A small adjustment of the rear pads was needed due to the new rim.



The final item to fit was the speed sensor on the left chain stay and magnet. I chose a position where the sensor was closest to the spokes.




All that was left to do was decide on the routing of all the cables. I spent a long time thinking about what might look the neatest, but once I'd attached the main controller cable to the downtube the best positions for the other cables seemed a lot clearer. It really helped that the whole kit was supplied with the all of the cables connected to their sensors and this avoided any confusion and potential damage if I'd attempted to connect the wrong sensors. I used plenty of cable ties and some lengths of spiral cable tidy (from B&Q) and I was pretty pleased with the result.




I've done about 4 miles in my test rides and although this is my first experience with an e-bike, I found the assistance from the rear hub motor very natural and I quickly felt comfortable using either the different levels of PAS or the throttle. The rim brakes provide plenty of braking power and the brake sensors work perfectly. I've also tried riding the bike without the battery attached and the small additional weight of the hub motor isn't noticeable and there's no resistance from the motor. It rides just as it did previously, but of course it's far more preferable to have the battery attached.

The fitting instructions provided with the Woosh kit were comprehensive and easy to follow and combined with all the information available on this forum it all went very smoothly. I'm a very happy Woosh customer and I hope my wife enjoys using it as much as I have during both my test rides and the process of the conversion (it's her combined Christmas/Birthday present).

 

[Deus]

Great write up thank you

 

[Nealh]

Be careful with cable ties and they aren't so tight that they pinch the wire outer to tight as you can then also cause damage to the smaller internal wires.
I only use Velcro for fastening leccy wiring.

 

[D C]

Nice write up and a neat job, could I suggest considering moving the throttle to the left side, it makes it easier to use whilst changing gear at the same time.
Dave.

 

[DanD]

Thanks for the feedback and tips. I'll make a few tweaks once my wife has had a few test rides.

 

[PaulM]

Thanks for the write up. I was after the Aikema rear hub kit but Woosh are out of stock so are suggesting the XF08C. I'm hesitating because it's 5mm wider apparently with an OLD of 140mm cf 135mm for the Aikema. You said it was a tight fit after leaving some washers off the end of the axle? Tight enough to make taking the wheel out and putting it back in difficult e.g. for a puncture? I don't want to stress the rear triangle of the donor bike too much because it's aluminium.

 

[DanD]

Thanks for the write up. I was after the Aikema rear hub kit but Woosh are out of stock so are suggesting the XF08C. I'm hesitating because it's 5mm wider apparently with an OLD of 140mm cf 135mm for the Aikema. You said it was a tight fit after leaving some washers off the end of the axle? Tight enough to make taking the wheel out and putting it back in difficult e.g. for a puncture? I don't want to stress the rear triangle of the donor bike too much because it's aluminium.

No, the axle fit wasn't too bad and it's OK to remove for punctures etc. I think I was just being very cautious as I didn't want to put much strain on the aluminium stays. It's all been trouble free since completing the conversion.

 

[PaulM]

My kit has arrived, but it came with a right side sensor rather than the left side one I ordered. I bought a new 122mm BB anyway and will be using compact double with chain guard as the outer ring. Will probably be ok with the right side PAS sensor.

 

[Nealh]

If you want it on the lhs, tests it manually to see if works before fitting by reversing the magnet face.. Hold the sensor in the plain it is to be fixed and then pass the reversed magnet by it to see if the wheel rotates correctly.

 

[PaulM]

If you want it on the lhs, tests it manually to see if works before fitting by reversing the magnet face.. Hold the sensor in the plain it is to be fixed and then pass the reversed magnet by it to see if the wheel rotates correctly.

Thanks, but the Woosh left-hand side sensor is like a cap which goes on the end of the spindle. It looks neater and is easier install than the sensor plus disc arrangement which is why I ordered it. Don't know if it's functionally superior or inferior.

 

[PaulM]

It's a big struggle to fit the motor in the dropouts because of the hub's width. I moved the anti-turn washers to the outside of the dropouts and removed a washer from the axle on the non-drive side. The drive side needs a washer in place so the freehub can rotate. Defintely won't be taking the wheel out on the roadside.

 

[PaulM]

I couldn't get the rack to go on. One leg was twisted so the mounting bolt through it was angled and wouldn't go into the frame without cross-threading. So I've sent the rack back to Woosh along with the right-side PAS sensor, which wasn't what I ordered. Guess that's one advantage of using a UK supplier. I'd have been stuck if I'd bought direct from China.

 

[Woosh]

Hi Paul, Andy said he'll sort it when the rack arrives.

 

[PaulM]

Ok, I had my first ride today and everything works so thought it worth documenting the installation whilst I can recall it. Will try to post photos separately afterwards.

As mentioned above, fitting the wheel into the dropouts is something of a struggle since it’s significantly wider than 135mm even after omitting a 2mm washer from the non-drive side. To be fair my dropouts were more like 133mm which didn’t help. The anti-turn washers were a good fit into the drop-outs though.The bike is a Dawes Red Feather step-thru, alu 7005 frame, 26” wheels. I have bought some double ended inner tubes so that I won’t need to remove the rear wheel in order to fit a new inner tube in the event of a puncture.

The wheel with the motor was true and pretty wide, around 24mm internal width. It seemed to have a smaller diameter than normal. I had trouble getting my 40mm Marathon Racer to stay on the rim when I inflated it and I had to lower the brake pads. This might make mounting a Marathon Plus easier, however I have decided to buy a 47mm Marathon Greenguard.

The first rack had a misaligned rack leg, so sent it back to Woosh for a replacement. The replacement fitted the bike ok after I had filed away a weld that had gone inside the leg and stopped me setting the leg height. I set the minimum rack height in order to try to keep the CoG low. However, the battery rails and controller box mounting may not be accurately lined up because the battery and the box don’t mate perfectly on the right side which is the power connector side. The gap is 2mm+. The connection is made ok, so I have covered the gap with electrical tape to prevent any rain getting in.Also I can mount an Ortlieb pannier on the left but not on the right because of inadequate clearance of the rail from the battery.

I fitted the supplied brake levers with the power cuts-outs, putting both the display and the throttle on the left. The PAS sensor was a simple push fit on the LHS of the 122mm cartridge BB also supplied by Woosh. The cable connections were easy enough apart from the motor cable which needs a lot of effort to get it all the way into the modular cable (another reason for avoiding roadside rear wheel removal). I ran the PAS and modular cables on the left side of the bike. The motor cable exits on the right. I chose to run it up the seat stay to keep it away from the chain.

The chain alignment turned out to be pretty good running the chain on a 38T ring mounted on the inside of a compact double, with a chain guard as the outer “ring”. The cassette is 9 speed and the chain lines up straight between gear 5 and 6.

As I said it all works. The motor is more powerful than I was expecting. The torque can come in pretty suddenly, I’m wary of pedalling in a tight turn. It felt most natural at 13/14mph on the 4th of 5 power levels in 8th gear. I found myself knocking the power level back to 2 for starting off, and dropping the gear down to 4th. There is a delay to the assistance when starting off which seems to lengthen uncomfortably if trying to start off in gear 7 or 8. It also feels like there is a period of coasting when you stop pedalling. These are all just first impressions. I should reserve judgement until I have made some adjustments to the handlebar controls and ridden more.

Photos added. In the last you can see the small gap between the battery and the controller box which isn't present on the left hand side. Looking again at it, I think the controller box is slightly skewed in the rack. I'm not sure it's adjustabe. I think it's mounted via 4 round holes.

 

[Lillebo]

Hi

do you remember if the axel dimensions was something like this ? (144.8mm)

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/H52af9a1c25e54b01aaa8656521f2e523F.jpg

I´m planning on doing a similar conversion, with a bike dropout measurement of 135mm, and rearrange the washers to make it fit like you did. I just want to make sure it will fit, before I buy it.

 

[Woosh]

Hi

do you remember if the axel dimensions was something like this ? (144.8mm)

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/H52af9a1c25e54b01aaa8656521f2e523F.jpg

I´m planning on doing a similar conversion, with a bike dropout measurement of 135mm, and rearrange the washers to make it fit like you did. I just want to make sure it will fit, before I buy it.

The dropout (or OLD) of the XF08C is 140mm.

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?hubkits#motors

 

[PaulM]

When I changed the back tyre to a Greenguard, I struggled less with getting the wheel out and back in than I was anticipating. I was only able to remove one washer which was on the non-drive side. I had to leave the one on the drive side to maintain chain or cog clearance with the frame.

 

[PaulM]

A quick update. I managed a 47 mile commute last Thursday on a single charge. I used power setting 4 on the outward leg, holding 14 to 15 mph. Around and at junctions I reduce the power setting to level 2. On the return leg, with the battery indicator falling, I stepped the power level down to number 3 and worked hard to keep the bike at 12 mph. This is with a 15 Ah battery.

I've become more impressed with the motor and the left hand cadence sensor as I've used the bike. The sensor triggers the motor with a quarter revolution of the cranks. So as long as I have the bike in a low gear when I stop, it's a single push of my right leg to get it going again.

I'm not so enamoured with having so much weight at the back, and high up. My balance is impaired so I have to focus on keeping the bike vertical when I stop, reaching both feet to the ground or coming out of the saddle to stop. Hence I am debating whether to sell the bike on and buy an eBike with a frame integrated battery.