Sensible Cassette Set up

[Alistair Staley]

I agree Gary’s delivery sometimes lacks a bit of, how can I put it... light and shade? Personally though I am glad knowledgeable posters like him contribute here, it is very useful to those of us with less experience and I simply choose to look past the sometimes abrupt delivery to the content.

From your brief posting history it does look like you are on some kind of crusade against him; seems rather pointless to me, we all know it will not change his contributions. IMO it’s best to leave moderation to the mods.

 

[Alistair Staley]

I wouldn’t describe it as a crusade that would imply that I cared about his self centred diatribes.

 

[mark.ai]

Ribble Endurance SLe

Argh, that is a cool bike you linked, which I really don't need …

Luckily it is white, and the battery is not (easily) removable, so problem avoided

 

[Gary]

Argh, that is a cool bike you linked, which I really don't need …

Luckily it is white, and the battery is not (easily) removable, so problem avoided

If you're looking for more reasons to discount it it also has a hub gear that is aparently quite draggy above the daft* 15mph assist speed.

*matter of opinion but even dafter on roadbikes than mtbs IMO

 

[MattyB]

If you're looking for more reasons to discount it it also has a hub gear that is aparently quite draggy above the daft* 15mph assist speed.

*matter of opinion but even dafter on roadbikes than mtbs IMO

I rode the hub motored Orbea Gain at the NEC; the course was too short with too many people to ride it at speeds I would on the road, but I thought it disengaged very smoothly and could not feel any discernible drag between 15 and 20mph. Don’t know whether the Ribble uses the same power train though.

 

[R120]

Pretty sure the Ribble is the same as the Orbea - i would be looking at this for the same money though - you can take the Fazua motor and battery out too and ride it like a normal bike.

 

[Gary]

Bloody hell... these marketeers know exactly how to get my money...

Just glad the promo pic is a big ugly long headtube size and not nice n compact (Ie. the size I'd buy)

[edit] Just looked up the Geometry, huge headtube'd munter in the pic above might actually be the 56

pheeeeew

 

[Kernow]

Sadly the SRAM 8 speed is still geared for an analogue bike 11-48T -so all their hype about it being Emtb specific is a load of BS.

Also £400 for a cassette that is not fit for purpose! come on....

XG-899 E-BLOCK™ CASSETTE7

I think a better option (for me ) would be the Hope Downhill Cassette 7 speed 10-24
DH Cassette | Hope Tech | Made in Barnoldswick, England
It has the same 11 speed spacing so the chain and Shifter can Remain - and I would be able to use a short cage mech (Saint or Zee)
On the other hand, for the hope cassette I will need a hope hub - which will give me the chance to build a new wheel - maybe with a carbon rim!

Your clearly not riding any serious off road climbs , don’t know what front ring you have but with a 36 front I can easily find climbs where I am using the 48t , and a normal wing climb them at all unless the bionic man is riding it and Iam not alone in that for sure .
No idea what you mean by riding 900w iether ,

 

[R120]

Bloody hell... these marketeers know exactly how to get my money...

Just glad the promo pic is a big ugly long headtube size and not nice n compact (Ie. the size I'd buy)

[edit] Just looked up the Geometry, huge headtube'd munter in the pic above might actually be the 56

pheeeeew

Bad pic but they actually look pretty good in the flesh, i didn't clock it as having a motor until Joe from freeborn pointed it out

 

[MattyB]

Your clearly not riding any serious off road climbs , don’t know what front ring you have but with a 36 front I can easily find climbs where I am using the 48t , and a normal wing climb them at all unless the bionic man is riding it and Iam not alone in that for sure .
No idea what you mean by riding 900w iether ,

Agreed on first point. He clarrified a while ago that he was talking about riding with two batteries of cumulative capacity 900Wh, somehow he had dropped the h which led to the confusion...

 

[Gary]

Bad pic but they actually look pretty good in the flesh,

Cheers.
it's not just looks though. My TCR is a medium. (I generally size down slightly with roadbikes too) it has a 150mm headtube (internal oversized headset so no stack) and I run a -10deg stem with 10mm ish conical spacer (the lowest one that works with the headset standard). My previous bike was lower, I was originally going to find a flush top spacer and drop the TCR to the same height but got used to it. I certainly wouldn't want to go any higher though.
The M Cube has a 167mm headtube and looks to still require that 10mm conical spacer (But even if it doesn't it's still too high).
Stays are also almost 25mm too long but I assume this is partly for bigger tyre clearance. it also has 10mm more BB drop than aTCR which validates the larger tyres ting.
The rest of the geometry isn't actually too bad at all.

And you thought I was just fussy about mtb geometry, eh?

 

[Wiltshire Warrior]

happy days ....as I have removed the the "granny" gears by fitting this
CS-HG700-11

It has brought my back wheel down to 3KG, so I thought I would check the bike on the scales and with the 400Wh battery in it is bang on 21KG, which is really noticable when lifting it.

I have tested the 105 Cassette and it works pefectly on my XT shifter. I found the steepest hills near home and in 34 and spinning fast in eco it is sitting comfortably at 8MPH.

the plan is to try it out over 100 miles and see if I want to go back to Granny gears, If I decide to stick with it I will shorten the chain.

It certainly looks a lot smarter than the 1/2 KG SLX

 

[Gary]

which is really noticable when lifting it.

You've saved 100g mate. about half the weight of the mudguard you've added. 100g on a cassette won't change the riding characteristics of the bike much at all. It does all add up though
You have incredibly well calibrated biceps if you can feel a 100g difference lifting a 21kg bike

Ps. shorten your chain.

 

[Stumpy]

One good reason to leave things as they are....

 

[Gary]

One good reason to leave things as they are....

eh?

 

[Wiltshire Warrior]

You've saved 100g mate. about half the weight of the mudguard you've added. 100g on a cassette won't change the riding characteristics of the bike much at all. It does all add up though
You have incredibly well calibrated biceps if you can feel a 100g difference lifting a 21kg bike

Ps. shorten your chain.

Dont forget I hav removed the inner tubes, swapped most of the bolts for Ti, 400Wah battery is 200G lighter than the 500Wh and the 105 cassette is 379g compared to 500g SLX but has made a big difference on the back wheel when handling it, even though its on 120g!

 

[Kernow]

Dont forget I hav removed the inner tubes, swapped most of the bolts for Ti, 400Wah battery is 200G lighter than the 500Wh and the 105 cassette is 379g compared to 500g SLX but has made a big difference on the back wheel when handling it, even though its on 120g!

Can’t you change your front sprocket on that bike to get taller gears for road , ? Surely the way to go is some lighter tyres with road , or hybrid tread , or even lighter wheels . Or just buy a hybrid bike

 

[Gary]

Forget?
how could I forget when you failed to mention it and instead put the weight saving down to your new wondercassette. Which in Shimano's line up is exactly the same level of kit as SLX.

I totally agree Emtbs handle far better at a decent weight. And 21kg is a great weight if durability and range aren't compromised.

From what you've said here I still think you could have chosen a more suitable (and far lighter) bike for the riding you actually do.

 

[Stumpy]

One good reason to leave things as they are....

eh?

Sorry..... I should have been more specific - this particular bit (of that very long story)...

"F*@k" I thought. Not so much that the motor had popped but because I was at the bottom of a big hill, in the middle of the forest, miles from anywhere As it happens, apart from using the lower half of my cassette more in one ride than I have for the whole time I've owned the bike, the ride home wasn't too bad, hard work in places but manageable (but not fun).

 

[Gary]

Ah... Thanks for the explanation @Stumpy.
Funnily enough I got the dreaded flashing RED light on mine tonight at the bottom of the last hill home to my road (the one that's the same gradient as WWs one in Cheddar) so was pretty glad of the 37 and 42t sprockets half way up when it shut down. My pedalling* legs are usually still pretty fresh at the end of an Ebike ride but it's still a heavy bike to pedal uphill at the end of the day without the motor assisting.

*differentiated from pumping/squatting/jumping etc. tiredness

 

[Wiltshire Warrior]

Great news - I have done 38 miles this morning and 8 miles this afternoon and I love the 105 R7000 11-34 compared to the SLX 11-42, heres why:

1 - The 105 has Sil-Tec surface treatment technology (PTFE plating) - and after 40 miles off roading today the bike was plastered in mud up to 1cm deep - but the cassette was almost perfectly clean!

2- Gear changing is smoother - silky smooth- not sure why but maybe the smaller difference in the cogs sizes?

3- I didnt miss the 37t and 42T at all infact with 34T I am able cruise up very steep hills at 7-8mph but not using Turbo - too much power so Tour was spot on.

and for the sharp eyed here yes this 38.2 miles but the 500Wh died at 31 miles.

So next week I am going to plan a route with 3000 feet in and see how that pans out.