8 speed drive train suggestions

[intramorph]

Hello I recently converted a Gary Fisher 29er into an e-bike. i quickly learnt that the power of the motor eats up at the aluminum drive train pretty quickly. I want to find an alternative that's preferably steel as opposed to the aluminum cassette i'm used to. Any input would be greatly appreciated . i'll go do some more research because i have an 8 speed cassette and because it's hard to find parts for it these days it may be wise to convert to 10 speed anyways. Thanks again
Edit: Thinking of buying this one here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/SRAM-PG-850...MAAOSwMVFXISBn
hope i'm not making a mistake =)

[Joe Remi]

Assuming it's a mid-drive kit, a gear sensor would go a long way towards easing the abuse on your chain and cassette. While it's true that steel cogs are going to be more durable than aluminum, you really shouldn't be shredding your drivetrain on a new build. It's always a good idea to ease up on the pedals to shift, and the gear sensor will completely cut the juice for it. If you install a new cassette, chain and sensor together, you should be good to go.

[AZguy]

I was chewing my 11speed driveline up with a BBSHD but still got 2000mi before replacing. Some excellent retuning of the controller parameters has dramatically reduced the wear on the driveline (and increased my average range 40% while slightly increasing my moving average speed!) so if you can tweak the parameters you might want to look into that...

[William]

Hi AZguy,

Can you explain what you did with the settings or link to a post that may have given you some direction? I'm using stock settings form LUNA now as I'm just sort of figuring things out, but haven't been on the bbs02 for long and I'm starting to have the chain slip on certain gears.

Thanks!

[AZguy]

There's a big sticky here:
DIY Builders Section
Custom Ebike Motor Programming
BBSHD PROGRAMMING

There's a ton of info in this thread and it is likely good to browse the whole thing if you got some time to kill. My last half dozen posts or so show the progression to where I was a few weeks ago - they're all on the last page or two. I'm constantly fiddling but the key for me has been:

* Ensure I'm always running current limited (constant power) and rarely if ever in speed limited (constant voltage) - the only reason for speed limited for me is to prevent over-cadence for my disability (missing left leg)

* Change the PAS current settings to increase exponentially instead of linearly

* Use all the PAS levels I can (1-9) by tying PAS 0 to the throttle instead of PAS 9 like most folks - this may or may not be appropriate for you

[fatEbike.LA]

High quality 10 and 11 speed clusters are nearly always made of alloy, what you want is the cheaper commuter oriented parts. They are made from steel and are much less likely to bend under torque or wear out prematurely. Also 10 and 11 speed chains are nearly always more expensive and wear out faster than 8-speed chain. Why do you need so many gears? Your chain alignment is probably so far off that only a few gears are useable long term anyway....

[AZguy]

...Why do you need so many gears? Your chain alignment is probably so far off that only a few gears are useable long term anyway....

Not sure who you were asking but my 11sp cassette is 11-46t giving me >4:1 max:min ratio and for the type of riding I do I could probably get away with 11-42t but I'm not interested in much less than 4:1.

My chain line is very good so no worries there. Ideally on an 11sp it would line up with 6th I guess and I'm more about 7th. I have no trouble shifting into any of the gear. They offer 11-42t steel cassettes but they are nearly 4x the cost so even if I only get 2000mi (I expect to do *much* better on this set after the tune - I expect closer to 3000mi) it's not worth it and I doubt steel cassette would even help! My steel chain is what wears out (well that and the top gear cog but that's an $8 replacement) and I'm of the discipline that once a chain has stretched (it had stretched nearly a full link when replaced and that's my metric) I change the rest of the driveline.

Anyway, I'm plenty happy replacing the driveline (~$110-120) at 2000mi and if I can get 3000mi see no reason to change a thing - tires are costing me considerably more (closer to $200 with tubes and stan's at ~2500mi) than the driveline at this point....

[intramorph]

I just wanted to upgrade the rear wheel cassette. Not sure how this thread got to this point but i only have 8 gears with sram ex-1 derailleur. Was simply looking for a stronger cassette that won't break the bank because the ex-1 special ones are 500$+ and honestly i don't think i need one of those.

[Joe Remi]

It got to this point because you shredded a drivetrain quickly, then surmised about going up to a 10-speed cassette. That opens up a lot of avenues for people to expound upon, as you see.

Yes, that 8-speed cassette looks good. I would add a gear sensor when you do the cassette and chain so both last longer next time.

[AZguy]

I've sort of concluded that the principle wear item, at least for my equipment and riding, is the chain more than anything else. I've been schooled that once the chain has stretched it will have produced wear on the cogs so when you replace the chain, replace everything.

In that context, I saw the EX1 and initially found it quite seductive (in some ways I still do =] ). But how much longer will the EX1 chain last over my present setup? To justify the cost (on a strictly ROI perspective) I'd need at least 5 times the mileage on the chain and I'm quit dubious about that.

So now that I'm on the second driveline on both my bikes I'm not seeing the advantage of expensive steel cogs or other expensive solution if I can get away with $100 or so every 2500-3000mi...

As always, YMMV!

[intramorph]

sounds good to me. Thanks for the input guys Keep on riding