Rail (625Wh) Rail badly needing upgraded drivetrain!

the_ace

New Member
Oct 12, 2022
11
5
West Lothian
My e13 chainring has eaten itself on the 2nd ride out so i'm binning all e13 parts off it and fitting Hope in its place, has anyone converted to 10 speed or fitted a stronger chain? We badly need an ebike specific drivetrain asap!
 

Philly G

Well-known member
Jun 29, 2020
692
517
New Zealand
Shimano Linkglide is the ebike specific drivetrain that you're wishing for TESTED: Shimano Linkglide XT M8130 Groupset
but you will need to change everything to use it, derailleur, shifter, cassette...but in my experience it's not necessary, I'm still on the original 12sp drivetrain after some 2500 kms, and although I have replaced the chain, this was due to normal wear rather than damage. Sympathetic shifting is the key , ease off the power to shift. What happened that your chainring was toast after just 2 rides?
 

steve_sordy

Wedding Crasher
Nov 5, 2018
9,107
9,595
Lincolnshire, UK
..........................We badly need an ebike specific drivetrain asap!
There is one it's an 8-speed set up with chain (nice and strong), but you need the 8-speed cassette, shifter and mech to go with it. It is by Sram. I have tried it on a test bike and I didn't like it one bit! I just couldn't find a gear that I liked, it was either too high or too low. It is also expensive to buy, but may last a long time.
 

the_ace

New Member
Oct 12, 2022
11
5
West Lothian
The cause of the failure was the lockring coming loose after 30 miles, could be an assembly error but from my experience of e13 products i’ll be binning them before they damage anything else. Just waiting for my lockring tool then the hope chainring can go on 💪
 

Philly G

Well-known member
Jun 29, 2020
692
517
New Zealand
The lockring coming loose is a common Rail issue...you'll need some loctite threadlock and a torque wrench that reads anti-clockwise...you should have no more issues after that 😉👍
 

the_ace

New Member
Oct 12, 2022
11
5
West Lothian
It would be an idea for the bike shop I bought it from to have these things too I have no idea how thats not being communicated to the shops selling these bikes! Hopefully once the Hope parts are on and chain replaced i’ll get a decent run of reliability from it 😂
 

Philly G

Well-known member
Jun 29, 2020
692
517
New Zealand
The bike shops should be torqueing the lockring nut to spec when assembling, but they don't seem to use loctite on that part, and since the specified torque is only 30-ish nm, and it's a reverse thread, it tends to loosen as you pedal...yes once you've sorted it, and with your new parts, you should be trouble-free 🤟
 

the_ace

New Member
Oct 12, 2022
11
5
West Lothian
Why Trek aren’t recognising this issue and communicating a solution to the sellers is beyond me, makes me wonder what else they are over looking. I’ll keep upgrading til I find a reliable solution 🤟
 

Paulquattro

E*POWAH Elite
May 7, 2020
2,358
1,302
The Darkside
The lockring coming loose is a common Rail issue...you'll need some loctite threadlock and a torque wrench that reads anti-clockwise...you should have no more issues after that 😉👍
To be fair Its a common Bosch issue, its happened on loads of makes
Loctite is definitely key thou
 

BobMtnBkr

Member
Mar 17, 2022
55
21
Williamsburg VA
Not a mechanical but… noticed I trashed the 21 & 18 T gears on the OEM cassette on my ’21 Rail 9.8 XT in less than 300 miles. Seems the emtb mode allows the bike to ride singletrack woods trails in just 1 or 2 gears. I rarely use the other gears. My last couple rides I dropped the power to “tour” mode, which forced me to shift to higher gears in order to ride on other sprockets.

Funny thing is my OEM chain still reads within tolerance according to my park chain tool.

Do we really need to replace cassettes every 300 miles?
 

Paulquattro

E*POWAH Elite
May 7, 2020
2,358
1,302
The Darkside
Not a mechanical but… noticed I trashed the 21 & 18 T gears on the OEM cassette on my ’21 Rail 9.8 XT in less than 300 miles. Seems the emtb mode allows the bike to ride singletrack woods trails in just 1 or 2 gears. I rarely use the other gears. My last couple rides I dropped the power to “tour” mode, which forced me to shift to higher gears in order to ride on other sprockets.

Funny thing is my OEM chain still reads within tolerance according to my park chain tool.

Do we really need to replace cassettes every 300 miles?
No
I get around 3 chains and 2.5k to a cassette but im 50/50 on off road as i use my bike for a commuter too.
 

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