Converting someone elses bike
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FrothNinja
Veteran
Lot of the rear hub conversion kits become problematic when the cassette wears out. Our LBS curses these Amazon / elCheapo ebikes & kits because so many of them are near impossible to get spares for & are often far from long lasting.
Do they come with their own cassette then? Is it non standard or something? I converted a bike using a kit from Woosh but just transferred the Shimano 8 speed cassette and disc rotor to the new wheel.
FrothNinja
Veteran
It varies, and if they do they are often non-standard, least ways, not a standard easily available in the UK
Good reason to stick to reputable suppliers I guess. Very happy with the presales and aftersales support from Woosh. The only compatibility issue I had was the dropouts on my bike were a little narrow, had to flex the triangle a bit to drop the wheel in.
FrothNinja
Veteran
That's good, hope it continues if you need repairs or spares.
bonzobanana
Guru
Yes I think that is why freewheels are popular on hub motors despite being the wrong choice for normal bikes. It's just a thread on the hub motor so there is no freehub mechanism to service and replace. Also while freewheels can wobble a bit due to poorly aligned threads on the freewheel and the hub, hub motors seem pretty decent so if you use a good quality freewheel like a Shimano then its not a problem especially as many such ebikes have 1x drivetrains because of the hub motor assistance so they are very easy to dial in.
However it should be stated because a hub motor works in parallel to the drivetrain and not through it, freehub mechanisms generally get a much easier life than on a mid-drive motor for example so they should still last a reasonable amount of time. Also most of the cheap hub motor ebikes are freewheel based not freehub so its really the mid-level hub motor ebikes that have the issue with failing freehubs not the cheap ones which are almost exclusively freewheel based with easy screw on replacements. On one of the US forums someone who I think did 60,000km or miles on his direct drive hub motor had only gone through 2 cassettes/freewheels however that was probably a powerful hub motor so took even more wear off the drivetrain than normal especially if a twist and go ebike. I can't remember if they were cassettes or freewheels and many people write cassette too when its actually a freewheel.
I'd also point out that people that buy cheaper brand freewheels often with a much greater cog range like 11-32T and 9 speed find such freewheels are rubbish on a normal bike and fail relatively quickly but actually give very good service on a ebike because much of the load is shared by the ebike hub motor. So you can get chains and freewheels that are good enough for an ebike but not good enough for a normal bicycle.
