too many gears

[ros 361]

hi. can anybody tell me why one would want 13 gears on an electric mtb ? My Levo has 12 t and the new ones have 13 t , which means everything is dragging in the dirt etc .Have had my bike for coming up to three years now and have some serious hills in Cornwall and rarely the bottom two . I would appreciate your comments please

 

[StuE]

10 or even 9 gears would probably fine on an emtb, but not it's not fashionable which lets face it is what drives a lot of the choices both manufacturers and buyers make

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

I swapped straight to 11 speed.

 

[harrysmalls]

What does one have to do to swap to a smaller set? The chain, the cassette, and the shifter? I only use 6-7 gears in my 12-set. It's annoying to shift so much.

 

[maynard]

13 ? I thought 1x 12 was Max amount. ??

 

[Zimmerframe]

What does one have to do to swap to a smaller set? The chain, the cassette, and the shifter? I only use 6-7 gears in my 12-set. It's annoying to shift so much.

It's got reverse ....

 

[RustyIron]

Some people don't ride trails that are very steep.
Some people don't ride trails that are really fast.
Some people can get along just fine with fewer cogs.

 

[DtEW]

Some people ride with too much assistance, and then complain that they never have to use the low gears.

The Venn diagram of these people have a strong commonality with those who believe 12-speed small cogs (10T & 12T) are weak to the point of defect... but not much commonality with those who have the sense to up/down-size their chainring so that they distribute their cassette usage more evenly for wherever personal output and assistance level they have/use.

 

[Mikerb]

Gearing is not just a bout the number of cogs. There is also the top and bottom gear ratio to consider as well as the gap between gears. No one says you have to use all of them!! I have 11 speed on my Levo and 12 speed on my Whyte. I dont think I have ever used No 11 on the Levo or no 12 on the Whyte! But also consider this................the majority of 1x shifters do not have any gear indication but then if your gear ratios are pretty close together and there are no big shifts in ratio it really does not matter if you are in gear 5 or gear 6!!

To answer your question. Obviously you would need to change the cassette. whatever cassette you chose will be designed for a specific freehub, which may not be the freehub you currently have. Even after changing the cassette and freehub you may need spacers behind the cassette to take up any extra axle length on your rear hub and the end cap/cone a djustment for your rear hub may have to be changed to suit.
Then of course you need to fit a rear mech to suit the cassette/gear range, and that rear mech will need a specific shifter. A much thicker chain will probably also require a new chainring.

Is all of that worth the expense and hassle? About the only justification is to move to a set up where replacement parts....especially the cassette....are significantly cheaper to replace or significantly more robust.

 

[salko]

My Levo has 12 t and the new ones have 13 t , which means everything is dragging in the dirt etc .

Where on earth did you find ANY Levo with 13 speed? I believe this is some kind of misunderstanding ...

 

[Mikerb]

Where on earth did you find Levo with 13 speed? I believe this is some kind of misunderstanding ...

the only 13 speed I know of is Campag Egar designed for gravel bikes. Have not seen any EMTB brand proposing to use it.

 

[Jackware]

As the OP mentioned 'dragging in the dirt' maybe a change to 10 speed system with a Zee derailleur would be the solution?

 

[MB1]

I’ve got SRAM EX1 8 speed. 90% of the time it’s more than adequate, proved bomb proof and reliable; 1.5k with no obvious wear. As with everything, the other 10% I could just do with a gear in between. Climbing a long steep fire track last week , I was following 2 ebikes with 12sp and I was constantly swapping 2 cogs and only just keeping up. It all preferences but gut feeling tells me 10 is a sweet spot.

 

[Another rider]

My hardtail Cube is 10 speed and that always seemed plenty to me. My Focus Jam2 is 12 speed and I often think it's far more than I actually need and means it's more prone to wear and the chains and cassette are more expensive when you need to replace them. I think the manufacturers fit 12 speed gears because they can convince buyers that more gear ratios is always better and they are competing with other manufacturers who are doing the same. These 10 and 12-speed gear systems probably are very much needed if you're riding a non-electric bike and that's what they were designed for. Maybe in time we'll get products designed specifically for E-MTBs that are less prone to wearing out so quickly?
At some stage I will probably downgrade the Focus and I've been thinking 8 speed would probably be fine as long as the spread of ratios was much the same.

 

[lodom]

I just thinking about this. I've had my Levo Comp for about a month. The trails here in the SE US are mostly rolling but can be steep in some sections. I can ride for 3 hours and only use trail mode and 3 of the cogs in the small half. With there being more stress on the drive than on my a-bike, seems like it would be more durable with an 8-speed with thicker chain.

 

[Manc44]

I noticed "missing" gears more when I got a motor, compared to not having one, riding my eMTB on the roads.

This is why I now run a 13-23t cassette (on a triple), that even has an 18t as well as a 16t.

The 24x23 gear is just about right for the silliest of hills (25%-30%) assuming the motor is on.

I never know if this forum is for people with eMTBs (that ride them wherever) or you have to be speeding around singletracks or your ownership of an eMTB doesn't count here. I always have to mention I only ride on the road, since my gearing is higher than it would be on usual MTB terrain. My tyres are also thinner and semi-slick.

 

[KnollyBro]

I am not married to a 12 speed setup but I can't seem to find a 9 or 10 speed 10-50 cassette.

 

[Rotwilder]

My Rotwild has 22 gears plus 4 power settings=88 different levels when I purchased the bike I insisted it had the double chain set 30/39 for if the battery failed. I’ve had 3 motor failures and a couple of empty batteries. I use 11-40 cassette and when you’re far from home with no power except for yourself, and throw in a few hills-suddenly you’re using those cogs in the low range! And when you get home it’s you, only weaker

 

[Mr-EPIC-3]

I have 2 eMTBs, Wire Peak Comp using a 8-speed (12-46) and a AllMtn-5 using a 9-speed (11-42). Plenty of gear to climb any hills in my area and chains on a 8-speed and 9-speed are half the cost of a 11-speed or 12-speed chain.

 

[folmonty]

Just from parts availability and cost going from 12 to 10 or even 9 would make sense in a lot of cases. Will cross that bridge when I come to it.

 

[boBE]

Changing from 12 speed to 11 I had to change :cassette; shifter; derailleur. I also took 4 links out of the chain but the original 12 speed chain works ok. The 11-32 cassette had to be slightly modified since it is a road cassette (1.85 mm wider than a MTB part). The result is I now have a much tighter gear spacing and can maintain cadence better on the flat trails I ride.

 

[Mikerb]

I noticed "missing" gears more when I got a motor, compared to not having one, riding my eMTB on the roads.

This is why I now run a 13-23t cassette (on a triple), that even has an 18t as well as a 16t.

The 24x23 gear is just about right for the silliest of hills (25%-30%) assuming the motor is on.

I never know if this forum is for people with eMTBs (that ride them wherever) or you have to be speeding around singletracks or your ownership of an eMTB doesn't count here. I always have to mention I only ride on the road, since my gearing is higher than it would be on usual MTB terrain. My tyres are also thinner and semi-slick.

well the forum name suggests it is for mountain bikes with motors!...............and a mountain bike is primarilly designed to be ridden OFF road.

 

[Cyclopath1000]

2018 commencal meta with ex1. Second cassette now 1/2 work 3600 miles. Probably 5th chain. Bought all the ten speed goodies including a Shimano 11-46 cs deore m4100...flipped my meta upside down to let the fork wipers soak and compared the two cassettes for jumps etc.. just didn't feels the love from the Shimano cassette and just paid the piper an extravantly insane price for yet a third ex1. The spacing on the cassette is so superior. No contest. Why should I trade down to save a few bucks while everyone else chicks their whole ride seemingly yearly... Nah this still is the way.

 

[Cyclopath1000]

Wow ! That advent x h series looks mighty fine. That will be then for my 4th cassette I already purchased the ex1 because I don't want to drop the motor etc to re do the shift cable seeing it's 3 years old. It's not an insurmountable task but if you are going to do that might as well do all the bearings. So that's why I'll wait. It all works.

 

[harrysmalls]

Could one not remove 1 gear on each end and shorten travel with limit screws? I don't have an issue with my eMTB, as I don't have to shift often. But on my pedal hardtail, I only use 1/2/3/6/8/11/12 of the 12 gears. It sure would help to not have to skip so many. My thumb actually gets sore from shifting so much.

 

[Beekeeper]

Wife has 10 speed and I have 11 speed. Both Shimano drive trains. She gets double the mileage out of her cassettes and chains as I do.

however, I get double the life out of my brake pads as she does. I have Shimano XT and hers is the BR MT-200

 

[Sander23]

2018 commencal meta with ex1. Second cassette now 1/2 work 3600 miles. Probably 5th chain. Bought all the ten speed goodies including a Shimano 11-46 cs deore m4100...flipped my meta upside down to let the fork wipers soak and compared the two cassettes for jumps etc.. just didn't feels the love from the Shimano cassette and just paid the piper an extravantly insane price for yet a third ex1. The spacing on the cassette is so superior. No contest. Why should I trade down to save a few bucks while everyone else chicks their whole ride seemingly yearly... Nah this still is the way.

Where have you found the cassette? The all seem to be out of stock

 

[Manc44]

well the forum name suggests it is for mountain bikes with motors!...............and a mountain bike is primarily designed to be ridden OFF road.

Oh I agree with you but, I found a road bike, cyclocross, gravel bike, hybrid bike and all the other variants people usually ride on the road, either don't have disc brakes, don't have suspension, or both. My argument is, cars and motorbikes have suspension on the roads, would be intolerable without it, so bicycles should have suspension.

Saying that I did just swap back to my hardtail, but it's again got me wanting a suspension frame - one where the battery can fit in the main triangle, which is why I swapped to this hardtail in the first place, to get the battery off my handlebars.

 

[geehaw]

Interesting looking at the comments. I typically use eco mode and on steep hills with rocky switchbacks I'm in the low gears and often on 51t. What goes up must come down and I'm in the high gears up to 10t on some DH tracks. Guess if you only use boost or ride flattish trails you can probably get away with fewer gears. I'd have to be in boost about 30% of the time if I had 46t max low gear.

 

[Rostle32]

My 2020 Trek Rail 7 came with stock shimano 10-51 12 speed set-up,and after I think, the second cassette was worn, I researched goin 10 speed ( due scarcity of 12 speed stuff and doubling of prices, cheers COVID!!and glad I did! Plenty of climbing on the edge of the dales, never thought the need for the 51T ! ( my 18 kenevo only had 11-42) So I purchased 10 speed 11-42 and shifter, freehub, mech,etc, and all is dandy in the world, chain and cassette can be had for around £50