Most Durable Drivetrain

[Jamo]

what is the best combo for durability?

Have had an xt derailleur / slx 12spd cassette / shimano chain on my trek rail for for around 4 months and it’s done. Chain at 0.75 wear so thought I might get away with replacing chain only but new chain skipping like mad, absolutely no use. So will change the cassette too and also the jockey wheels in the mech as I noticed they resemble ninja stars now. I dont record miles that I’ve done but i have 2 bikes so dont ride the rail every week and was quite surprised they are this far gone in this timescale.

quite fancy trying a steel cassette like the sram nx though i’ll need to get an 11spd freehub if I want to go that route.

anybody found a marked improvement in durability with any particular drivetrain combo or is just a case of ‘it is what it is’ and suck it up....

ta

 

[Gary]

Zee FR mech and (11-36)10 speed deore cassette with low end sram 10 speed chain.
Easily the most durable and cost effective clutched mech setup available.
You still have the choice of zee, Saint, deore or slx for your 10 speed shifter. All work well but are slightly different in feel and actuation

 

[Jamze]

Zee FR mech and (11-36)10 speed deore cassette with low end sram 10 speed chain.
Easily the most durable and cost effective clutched mech setup available.
You still have the choice of zee, Saint, deore or slx for your 10 speed shifter. All work well but are slightly different in feel and actuation

Bookmarked for when my transmission wears out...??

 

[Jamo]

Good shout Gary

think i was being influenced by not wanting to get another freehub but it might be better in the longrun just to do it now

 

[Jamo]

Next stage is to decide which hub to convert to the 11spd shimano freehub. Took off the bontrager shimano spline freehub from the line30 wheel. The internals are pretty churned up, swarf and score marks. Cleaned out and looks serviceable but again not filling me with confidence for longevity, despite being rated for the torque of an ebike.

Also have wheelsets with hope pro 4 and dt swiss 240 ratchet. Has anybody used these for extended periods on e-bikes?. I have a feeling the hope pawls might not be the best for this but the ratchet system on the dt could be fine if i go back to a 36 or 18t ratchet (currently has a 54 in there which i’d worry could just get stripped on a ebike).

 

[Jamze]

I'd go Hope. Not necessarily for durability, but for their great support and spares availability. Are they both Boost or will they need adapters/redish?

 

[Jamo]

They’re all boost already mate. Are hope pro 4’s ok string enough for e bike abuse?

 

[Jamze]

They’re all boost already mate. Are hope pro 4’s ok string enough for e bike abuse?

No experience, but it's what Hope use on their Fortus 30 with a steel freehub body.

 

[Duggan]

My 12 speed sram Gx group set is wearing well, the chain is only reading between 0.25 and 0.5 after 250 miles of mixed conditions. I’ll replace the chain at 0.5 to limit the cassette getting worn.

 

[Jamze]

My 12sp GX (NX cassette) is wearing fine, it's just more than I need I reckon. A tough, 10-speed setup with a lower profile rear mech and cheap chains would be perfect I reckon. Also, prefer Shimano shifting, SRAM always a bit clunky IMO.

 

[Sander23]

What chain wear checkers do you guys use?
I have a BBB chain tool but it only has a 0.75-1% indicator.
I've seen this one on AliExpress,
€ 0,68 28%OFF | Bike Current Meter Fiets Chain Checker Wear Indicator Meetinstrument Gauge Reparatie Checker Racefiets Accessoires

Page Not Found - Aliexpress.com

Seems almost identical to the Parktool one except the price being 8.5€ against allmost 40€ for the Parktool.

 

[Jamze]

I have a few 3-point ones. Park and Pedros do them. Usually around £10-15 from memory.

 

[neiloxford]

SRAM 12 speed cassettes work perfectly with the Shimano 12 speed.

I have an XT derailleur and shifter, and a SRAM SX cassette.

I would put on either a NX 12 speed cassette or a deore 12 speed cassette.

If microspline freehub I would go with deore.The SHIMANO DEORE 12-speed MICROSPLINE cassette (CS-M6100) is made from 12 durable steel sprockets and comes in a 10-51T gear ratio. Complete with the unmatched shifting quality of HYPERGLIDE+ technology you can shift both up and down this cassette under load, making SHIMANO DEORE shifting smoother than ever before.

If shimano 11 speed freehub I would go with SRAM PG-1230 NX cassette. Designed so you can reach 12 speed without upgrading your hub or wheel, the SRAM PG-1230 NX Eagle MTB Cassette ticks all the boxes. Covering an 11-50T range, this cassette fits right on your 'splined-drive' freehubs, giving you all the power you need to tackle challenging climbs. Whatsmore, it's also suitable to meet the added demands of E-MTB. Material: 8 lightweight, stamped steel cogs and 4 high-strength steel cogs pinned onto an aluminium spider

I would put on a more expensive chain, like XT as they last longer.

 

[Duggan]

What chain wear checkers do you guys use?
I have a BBB chain tool but it only has a 0.75-1% indicator.
I've seen this one on AliExpress,
€ 0,68 28%OFF | Bike Current Meter Fiets Chain Checker Wear Indicator Meetinstrument Gauge Reparatie Checker Racefiets Accessoires

Page Not Found - Aliexpress.com

Seems almost identical to the Parktool one except the price being 8.5€ against allmost 40€ for the Parktool.

I use one of these

 

[Sander23]

I use one of these

View attachment 44500

How about this one? Seems identical only 10dollar shipped

 

[Sander23]

My ex1 drivetrain 2month old on my deristricted haibike,
done a 800-900 km on it yet, alot better then my previous XT drivetrain Wich I had so much trouble with(also eating the casette like crazy)

 

[Gary]

What sort of "trouble"?
EX1 is massively more expensive (like 10x) and LESS durable than what I recommended above.

2 months/500miles longevity is nothing to be bragging about with any drivetrain.

I'm currently at 3000+ miles without any fannying about swapping chains.

 

[Sander23]

I use my bike for offroad trail and alot commuting . And with my XT drivetrain it start skipping afterevery 500 -600 km every ttime no matter what even went to plenty of bikestores.
Renewed casettes, sprockets used kmc and wipperman chain but that didn't matter
XT casette cost 75€ + a kmc/wipperman chain around 50 euro
My ex1 casette +ex1 chain cost me a 325€ and haven't skipped yet.
Big improvement for me imo

 

[Gary]

Maffs int u strong point den?

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

I am building up a new bike and am going to use a Shimano 10 speed drivetrain

1 - A Shimano drivetrain comprising 10 speed cassette, shifter, chain and derailleur is only £110
2 - Comparably, a SINGLE XT 12 speed cassette is £112, and is over 100 grams heavier than the 10 speed cassette
3 - I barely ever use the dinner plate cog and actually think 10 speeds make more sense on an EEB
4 - I'd rather spend the savings on better suspension
5 - Gary has been telling us this all along and he is right!

 

[Aitrui]

I had to changed my EX1 casette after around 5200km, because the 4th started skipping. I changed the smallest cheap rear ones (3 cog in a set) 4 times in this time frame, with the front ones and EX1 chains. I still don't like how this drivetrain need to be perfectly aligned to get a good shifting, but I guess that's how Sram works.

I was thinking to replace the whole set with a shimano one, but in my case the costs in a long term would be nearly equivalent, if I bought a shimano ones I like (no small cogs available, only casette, I use the bike derestricted half of the miles commuting) , and decided not to.

The casette costed 250 euro on ebay, brand new, the small cogs around 15-18 euro, the chain 23 euro.

 

[RickBullotta]

Next stage is to decide which hub to convert to the 11spd shimano freehub. Took off the bontrager shimano spline freehub from the line30 wheel. The internals are pretty churned up, swarf and score marks. Cleaned out and looks serviceable but again not filling me with confidence for longevity, despite being rated for the torque of an ebike.

Also have wheelsets with hope pro 4 and dt swiss 240 ratchet. Has anybody used these for extended periods on e-bikes?. I have a feeling the hope pawls might not be the best for this but the ratchet system on the dt could be fine if i go back to a 36 or 18t ratchet (currently has a 54 in there which i’d worry could just get stripped on a ebike).

Short version: alloy Shimano HG freehub bodies + eMTB = bad combo. No such issues with Microspline or SRAM XD.

 

[Jamze]

Short version: alloy Shimano HG freehub bodies + eMTB = bad combo. No such issues with Microspline or SRAM XD.

Can you give a slightly longer version? What breaks?

 

[Gary]

Nothing breaks. The alu HG Freehub body splines get slightly pitted. No differently to on normal bikes. Tighten the cassette lock ring properly tight and the issue is MINIMAL. If it worries you buy a steel HG Freehub body.

 

[RickBullotta]

Nothing breaks. The alu HG Freehub body splines get slightly pitted. No differ ent to on normal bikes. Tighten the lock ring properly tight and the issue is MINIMAL. If it worries you uy a steel HG Freehub body.

"Slightly"? Not my experience, even when torqued properly, on I9 hubs. Got bad enough to the point where the cogs were spinning on the freehub under load. And unfortunately, not all hub manufacturers offer steel FH bodies. But, easy solution = new bike with Microspline. ;-)

Kidding, sort of, about the new bike reason. But I do treat these alloy FH bodies as a "consumable item" with my Shuttle and keep a spare around. I9 pretty much said "yeah, not recommended for eMTBs".

So perhaps it's unique to the I9 hydra FH. But still sucky. And soon to be reconciled with the Rise gets here...

 

[Jamze]

Ah OK. Yep, my alu Hope freehub body is marked but works fine. Got thousands of (human-power) miles on that. Cheapie Formula one that came with my eeb is unmarked after 400 miles, so no probs yet ??

 

[Gary]

I tell you what is sucky on a Ebike .
Stupid little 10t and9t sprockets that offer a tiny amount of chain wrap and wear out in no time.

There's no way I'd want either XD or Microspline 9/10t cassettes on an Eeb

 

[RickBullotta]

I tell you what is sucky on a Ebike .
Stupid little 10t and9t sprockets that offer a tiny amount of chain wrap and wear out in no time.

There's no way I'd want either XD or Microspline 9/10t cassettes on an Eeb

Ha. Truth. Those were a stupid idea on any bike, much less an eMTB. The fact that the pulley wheels are 12T+ should tell us something...

 

[Jamo]

I’m going to get a steel freehub, likely for the hope hub wheelset I have. I’m not sure 240 hubs were built with ebike torque in mind. I’ll get the 11spd and that will give me plenty of options going forward.

 

[conbocha]

La duración y vida de una transmisión, parte por un buen mantenimiento, limpieza y lubricado. Yo recomiendo hacerlo después de cada salida, en seco, sin agua. Así lo hago yo y llevo 5000 km en una e bike sin llegar al 0.5 de desgaste.