2023 Crust Evasion, CYC Photon motor, Alfine 8 drivetrain

[ncmired]

Another Crust Evasion is electrified, possibly to the dismay of the frame designer. Don't like it? Don't sell framesets.

The initial component compliment is as follows, and will no doubt change after a few longer distance rides:

• Crust Evasion frameset, large, steel tubes with fattish tire clearances and adjustable, replaceable 135mm rear dropouts with an inboard (within the frame triangle) disk caliper mount
• 17-25AH downtube tray-mount removable battery
• CYC Photon motor, CYC 500C display, 34T chainring, no brake or shift sensors
• microSHIFT Advent 9-speed, 11-38T freehub, replaced with Shimano Alfine 8-speed IGH
• Wipperman Connex 10s0 10-speed chain
• Origin8 Vortex 27.5x2" tires
• Velocity Cliffhanger 27.5 disc rims
• TRP SPYRE-C cable brake calipers
• Nitto flat bars, Paul Components brake levers
• Velo Orange Rannoneur front rack

After IGH switch:

[73Eldo]

That is a fairly compact looking motor. How does the gap between the shaft and motor housing compare to the BBS line? It kinda looks like it can't be any more than a BBS so if you have an less traditional frame design you still may not fit.

It looks like that frame leaves lots of room for a chain ring, did they do something odd so there isn't room for the gear case?

Whats the leather strap for?

[ncmired]

Hi 73Eldo - the motor feels tiny in comparison, and the motor to BB gap is quite a bit wider actually - there's no concave radius to deal with, like with the BBS motors. The motor would likely fit on a fair amount of carbon frames, eccentric BBs, and situations where the tubing comes in on both sides of the BB flat.

For the drive side chain stay, the frame has a short length of flat stock - fairly common on cross or mountain steel frames these days, I think. It'll clear up to about 42T (tested with a BBSHD Luna Eclipse and a BBS02 40T Lekkie):

Unfortunately, there's no kickstand plate.

The leather strap makes carrying the bike up a flight of stairs easier.

[73Eldo]

That BB area looks almost made for a mid drive. Its nice that at least with the size you are running the tire isn't touching the down tube. I don't get why so many bikes are like that especially with fatter tires. Just an extra inch there would make a lot of things easier.

What do so many designers have against leaving or making a spot for a kickstand? I do remember when I was 20 not caring. I would lay my bikes down all the time and didn't think anything of bending over to pick it up. Now I almost wish the kickstand was motorized too. After lifting my leg to get off the bike I don't have the energy left to put the stand down.

[ncmired]

The chainstay plate does help our cause quite a bit.

I'll try to type calmly about bicycle frame designers (especially via frameset sellers) and their snootiness about kickstand provisions. I've read that some designers feel that the standard flat stock kickstand plates adversely affects handling. Yeh, sure - uh-huh. Some others don't like the look - fine, provide some M5-6 bosses down there then, something, as a starting point for those who want to mount a kickstand anyway - DAMMIT!

[ncmired]

I had an unused Alfine 8 IGH 650B Cliffhanger wheel, so now the bike rolls with an IGH instead of the 9-speed derailleur gear.

[Retrorockit]

34t is my idea of a middle chain ring. Do the overdrive ratios in the IGH work well with that setup?.
I added some Shimano RT86 ICE Tech bimetal rotors to my BB7s and really liked the results. I started a thread on it. Should work with the Spires too. Probably easier.

[ncmired]

Hi Retrorockit - I'm still fiddling with the front chainring ratios, and have 34T, 38T, and 42T Photon rings on hand. For the back, 13-24T sprockets are readily available, past 17 with offsets for an almost perfect chain line. Good chain line and I use 1/8 chains, slightly off I use 3/32.

So here's the bike's ratios with a 27.5x2" tire, 34T front and (in the middle of the range) 20T back.

For no/dead battery or a torqued sensed 80 cadence, giving a real low steep hill gear and a good analog bike & battery sipping speed in the 1:1 5th cruising gear:

Here are the 160 cadence Photon throttle-only speeds - a good hill speed, 3rd gear for range, 1:1 5th gear cruising speed, and a good top speed for heavy traffic situations (8th being too high for most conditions I suspect):

No worries about chain drops, good chain wrap on the sprocket & ring, and no appreciable sprocket wear - just chains, and that's easy. The availability of new Shimano SG-S501 hubs (especially 36-spoke in silver) is drying up though, so this may be the last one I do.

I'm happy with my plain-jane rotors so far, but maybe down the road ...

[Retrorockit]

I gear so I'm still pedaling at 30mph. It's interesting. Some bikes the motor assist quits at 20mph. It looks like for yours pedal assist drops off there.

[ncmired]

If I geared higher, the motor will torque-assist past twenty MPH (settable in the CYC phone app). On the Photon bikes, I'm biasing towards range and/or carrying smaller batteries, and I will usually be riding with analog bike and/or Bosch system riders.

But as you know, having the ability to blast is helpful in some circumstances!

You've probably written it before, but at what still-contributing pedal cadence are you turning at 30MPH?