Ebike drive train

I’m still on the slow but inevitable journey to buying an ebike. I’m now considering the finer details of what should be on it and have a bike shop willing to swap standard build kit bits out.

So … drivetrain. I’ve read a lot of ebikes chewing through drive trains and, being a Shimano groupset lover, I’m interested in their Cues drivetrain.

Does anyone have any experience of Cues or any overall drivetrain advice for an ebike?

I’ve gone 10 speed on my e-bike using the deore cassette. It’s one piece so my reckoning is that all the power will be applied evenly to the free wheel.

They also come up dirt cheap every now and then, so stock up.

11spd for me, XT shifter and mech, SRAM XG-1150 10-42 cassette and PG-1130 chains, steel 34T chainring on a Bosch CX system.

I  almost immediately changed the cassette to a 11/42 (12 sp) on the back. I found that a 50 or 52t was just silly and not needed.

I had a spare cassette in the parts bin to let me do this – a stupidly expensive CNC job, and after 900miles the aluminium section needs replacing (£150 for two cogs!). So yes, I’d recommend a cheaper, more durable group set.

In 900 miles I’ve needed to replace, frame bearings, lower headset bearing, rear mech (Axs) & half the cassette…

Running the xt linkglide on my Marin, 400 miles in and I have been very pleased.

Shifting is different, it doesn’t change with the same urgency as conventional hyperglide. But it does allow you to keep peddling (an e bike) whilst shifting without the awful crunching that comes from hyperglide.

As the e-bikes have a touch of over run the soft-pedal gear change has to be delayed longer which if you have e bikes and normal mountain bikes is a tricky thing to adapt to if you regularly ride both.

with cues now compatible the range looks really good value, I just wanted the xt shifter so had to go 11 speed.

My Rise (Shimano EP8) came with a mix of Deore /SLX 12sp. I killed it pretty quickly because I didn’t replace the chain early enough.

I then got ~1800 miles out of an XT cassette and 2 xt chains. I’ve just fitted another XT cassette with a XTR chain this time and hoping for a few more miles out of this combo. Most of my riding is places where it’s either dry and gritty or wet and gritty. I use Putoline instead of lube.

I think a lot of people who chew through drivetrain are spanking it in boost mode everywhere using the motor rather than the gears. The argument I see for going back to 10sp is that you don’t need the range of 12sp on an ebike. That can only mean relying too much on the assistance and not riding it like you would a normal bike.

If youread too much on the Internet, you’ll be convinced that you need a full steel cassette, steel freehub and stupid heavy wheels otherwise your ebike will explode in a fireball. It’s unlikely that will happen… I think so long as you’re looking after the drivetrain, it’ll last just fine.

The Microspline freehub is far, far better than the HG in terms of not getting chewed up. I used to have to chisel the cassette off when I had 10 or 11 speed. Even on my ebike, the MS hasn’t got a mark on it when I take the cassette off.

I’d like to try Cues but unless it came on a bike I’d bought, I probably won’t bother.

If the mech is more robust it might be worth it because the SLX and XT 12sp have been terrible for bending/ snapping!

If you’re buying an ebike, to me it makes more sense to run what you get on the bike and see how well it lasts rather than upgrade or change it out of the box?

I’m running a mix  1×11 SRAM gubbins on mine, but it has an air of fragility about it and once it’s worn out/exploded, I’m going Linkglide, no question. You’re trading a bit of added weight – which is neither here nor there on an emtb – for durability and robustness, which makes sense to me. And it’s affordable with it.

I think there’s a slight proviso here, that the load on the drivetrain does depend to an extent, on how you ride. If you’re someone who’s hammering around at full-chat and changing gear with limited mechanical sympathy, you’re more likely to destroy things in short order.

I don’t ride e-bikes often, but when I do, I find myself changing gear significantly more carefully than I would with a normal bike.

As regards gearing, bear in mind that e-bikes work best at a high cadence, so if you’re riding somewhere hilly, even if assistance allows you to crank slowly up things, you may still be better off with lower gearing that allows you to spin faster to reduce strain on the motor. You see a lot of people thunking up things at a low cadence, but it’s not a great way to ride.

Awaiting arrival of my first ebike, and have wondered the same as op

However I’m not going to swap anything out, why not just see how it goes and then look at options

As has been mentioned above I think some of it is that many people who use e-bikes have never ridden bikes before so have no mechanical sympathy or understanding of cadence ie use the motor.

I do think electric shifting does makes sense on an ebike and increases precise shifting ie reducing wear

Shimanos autoshift on Di2 will also make you spin at the right cadence

I’ve had good results with LinkGlide – it does shift slower but less violently (if the motor is working then soft pedalling as you switch gears doesn’t reduce the chain tension enough to get smooth shifts as on a normal bike). The cassette works well for 2-3 times as long as a normal SLX cassette. I have a steel free hub so it doesn’t get chewed up.

I’m probably a worst case scenario with transmission wear because I mostly commute or lap the steeps or try to fit a ride into much less time on my ebike, so it’s lots of max power in higher gears, and my usual MTB is a singlespeed hardtail and my pedalling approach is similarly high intensity with lower cadence moments when I’m on the ebike.

When I wore out the 11 speed cassette I switched to a 10 speed LinkGlide one which is lighter and cheaper. Still using the 11 speed XT LinkGlide mech and shifter.

I have run XT on my ebike for about five years and it has been fine. I don’t find it wears that much more than a normal bike but I am not a boost masher. The stuck cassette thing is often down to the freehub. I had this problem on my DT Swiss wheels but it disappeared when I switched to a steel freehub.

Our Turbo Levos are running a mixture of SRAM Eagle depending what they came with from XX1 AXS to GX AXS. No problems at all and when the time comes to replace will still use the same. Our Enduros are running the same so makes it easier on spares.

Our 2018 Turbo Levo is running SRAM 11 speed and when it comes to replacing will use some of the 12 speed we have in the spares box

None of us are Turbo blasters and I’m sure that it makes a difference on the life span of the drivetrain

I’ll be keeping SRAM AXS Transmission GX on mine to see how it goes. It’s a mid power.

Not something I was after and I did deliberate whether to have it replaced with XT immediately. That would entail a bike shop job due to needing a motor drop, unguided internal routing, and a cable through the headset, plus the cost of the parts. Then I’d have maybe £500 of the original stuff to sell on. Didn’t really have the appetite for that right now, although of course should I swap later I’ve just postponed the hassle and cost.

Only thing I’m swapping is the 34T chainring for a 32T so I can have better cadence for using the lower power modes, and allow less use of the aluminium biggest cog on the cassette. Unfortunate that the 32T ring only comes in aluminium though. Apparently it’s quite sensitive to not having the proper ring.

As an aside , am I putting my ebike drive train under more pressure than Cav in a sprint?

Probably not but I wonder how often his get replaced?

“As an aside , am I putting my ebike drive train under more pressure than Cav in a sprint?”

Definitely not. But how clean and well lubed is his, and how long does he sprint for?

Google says pro cyclists do about 250W average power during the TdF. An ebike in turbo will do 250W continuously, plus whatever power you’re adding, and seems to get up to 600W+ for bursts, plus whatever you can add for a burst.

I don’t know much about road bikes but it looks like they’re running bigger chainrings and bigger sprockets which spreads the wear better.

With turbo plus sprinting pedalling I’ve worn out a Microshift cassette to the point of skipping in 200 miles, with almost no chain wear.

I was expecting mine to be worse tbh. Came with SLX 12 speed and I’ve changed the chain once in 1200km and it is still running fine. It is a worn chain that kills it all so being proactive with that is key – Think I changed mine just before 0.5 wear. Picked up a full steel Deore 12 speed cassette for when I need to change it.

“ It is a worn chain that kills it all”

With a full power ebike you can wear the sprockets out with an almost unworn chain.

With turbo plus sprinting pedalling I’ve worn out a Microshift cassette to the point of skipping in 200 miles, with almost no chain wear.

Not a surprise. If you’re halfway fit that’s a lot of power through a probably not particularly hard wearing cassette.

Singlespeeders wreck cassettes.

Exactly! That’s why I’m so glad that LinkGlide exists!

My LBS were telling me they have an “eccentric” customer who rides a chipped ebike around town on full power all the time in top gear – once a fortnight he brings the bike in to have the smallest sprocket changed because he wears it out that fast.

Interested in this. The problem I find on an ebike is you’re often using the bigger gears / smaller cogs, which wear faster.

I’ll be interested in the gear usage stats that comes out of the AXS app. Should be useful to inform whether to replace it and with what e.g. Linkglide

I went 10 speed linkglide, works well and can still climb all the hills in the peaks with a more even spread of gears..

I’d argue that most regular bikes I’ve ridden would benefit from steel freehub bodies as pretty much every alloy one I’ve had has been chewed to bits after a short while.

I am on my second ebike, and 6th motor. The first was still on the original drivetrain (4 motors) when I sold it. I used 3 chains, hotwaxed, and rotated every 100km or so.  I did break the axle on the original rear hub, and burst the hub shell at the ratchet ring on another rear wheel. I think it was about 4500km when I sold it, but had to keep track with all the motors!

I use the same regime on my 2nd bike (another Levo).

In both cases I used a full steel 11sp or 12sp Sram cassette, and matching Sram chains. If treated well, with a suitable riding style, and sympathetic gearshifts, an ebike drivetrain should have a reasonable longevity.

I hear crazy stories of needing a new cassette after 300km. WTF? New rider, crap maintenance, poor cadence, non-sympathetic shifting, mashing in Turbo everywhere. Probably endless crank strikes too.