What's the best maintenance free bike?

JohnCade

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 16, 2014
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If you treat your bike as you would your wife it will work better and longer! Whatever you ride, leaving things until they go rusty, seize up or fall off is not the way. 10 minutes of preventative maintenance is worth a day of fannying about when things go wrong.
I'll resist the temptation to mention servicing the old lady.
 

trex

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May 15, 2011
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low maintenance: V-brakes or Magura hydraulic brakes, steel forks + NCX seat post, rack battery, Nexus hub gear, fully enclosed chain, BBS01 motor, Shimano crankset, puncture proof tyres.
 
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awol

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Sep 4, 2013
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Brake issues - Ensure pads don't catch and the calipers are correctly aligned so the pads have full flat surface area grip on the disc. I too had trouble having to adjust my brakes (Tektro cable calipers) too often and still had poor braking. I changed to Avid BB7 calipers which have a huge amount more braking power and I haven't needed to adjust them since fitting.
Flat tyres - First ensure they are up to pressure then try the usual Marathon Plus tyres but if you still get punctures then also add some thicker rubber thorn resistant inner tubes too.
Chain issues - Have you a front derialiuer and trying to use the large front ring with the large back one or small front with small rear causing excess sideways movement and mis-alignment?
Also carefully apply 'Extreme Wet' oil if you want to leave it quite a while without going rusty, that stuff isn't shifted by water.
Wiring issues - Cable tie them all solid. I have this issue and it's on my to-do list to sort.
Battery wobbling - I would look at where it's pivoting at to decide how to secure it more.
 
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Gringo

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Jun 18, 2013
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If you treat your bike as you would your wife it will work better and longer!
Humm so that's where I went wrong and divorced :(
treating your wife as you would your bike didn't work, I think the pressure washer was the last straw:D
 
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flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
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Back to the original question:

What's the best maintenance free bike?

It would include these where possible:

Roller brakes front and rear, not the strongest but almost never need any attention and there's no adjustment to do.

Rolloff hub gear.

Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres.

Standard Panasonic crank power unit, with the Panasonic batteries intended for it giving service as far as into the fifth year.

Sealed oilbath chaincase.

It wouldn't break any performance records, but such an e-bike could just run and run day after day without fail for years.
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Geebee

Esteemed Pedelecer
Mar 26, 2010
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Back to the original question:

What's the best maintenance free bike?

It would include these where possible:

Roller brakes front and rear, not the strongest but almost never need any attention and there's no adjustment to do.
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My only disagreement, they are hopless in hilly terrain, they are good as a rear assist brake with V-brakes or similar on the front, going off riding a bike with a roller rear and a V-brake front, the braking power difference is massive.
 

cwah

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Jun 3, 2011
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Sorry I was quite busy today, but I've been reading through all comments. Very interesting and helpful as usual.

So if I summarise:
- Avid BB7 hydraulic disc brake or drum brakes
- I already have marathon plus tyre. It still doesn't avoid punctures. I'm trying the new Apple with 3mm linen. Still have puncture. No solutions yet
- Internal geared hub. Alfine 8 probably better than rolhoff as the later is more expensive than gold.
- Chain issue is a combination of rain/rust and maintenance which annoys me. Misalignment and else. Where can I find a sealed oilbath chaincase?
- Can the BBS02 be used instead of Panasonic unit? What about direct drive motors?
- Wiring is more about the connectors than anything else. Where can I find small, stealthy and reliable connectors? I'm using hobbyking JST-XH one because they are cheap and small. But not that reliable and not that small.
 
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The modern kits have waterproof connectors and harnesses - like the BBS01/2. Doesn't your new Q100H setup have them?

BB7 is a cable brake. Get a bike with decent hydraulic brakes. Forget drum and roller brakes.
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
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My only disagreement, they are hopless in hilly terrain, they are good as a rear assist brake with V-brakes or similar on the front, going off riding a bike with a roller rear and a V-brake front, the braking power difference is massive.
Of course, that's why I said they aren't the strongest, but I was answering the questioner's brief and they are the only virtually maintenance free bicycle brake.
.
 
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axolotl

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May 8, 2014
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Please note _ Crappy derailleurs are used on All pro & competition bikes.
You just need a bit of gumption to get the best out of them.
Indeed they are. But the OP asked about low maintenance bikes, not ultimate performance. It's true that derailleurs are slightly lighter in weight and allow slightly faster gear changes in some circumstances, so for the absolute highest performance, they do have the edge - I would never deny that. However, for low maintenance and ease of use, hub gears are vastly superior.

It's a question of fitness for purpose, like with flecc's point about roller brakes. They're not the last word in performance, but they're practically maintenance free, which is what a lot of us commuters want.
 

axolotl

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May 8, 2014
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No, I don't think so. For any purpose other than all-out racing (and geeky people who actually love tinkering with their bikes for fun), derailleurs are indeed pretty crappy.

Consider the situation with cars: what passes for acceptable in racing cars (e.g. straight cut non-synchro gears, no starter motor, etc) would be unthinkable in a road car but a small weight or power advantage makes sense in racing where absolute performance outweighs every other factor, such as usability and reliability.

Unfortunately, because most of the bike tech we use was developed for racing rather than everyday use, derailleurs are far more commonly used than they should be. For commuters and utility users, they make no sense at all.
 

trex

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May 15, 2011
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I have often compared my CD 8-speed derailleur against 3-speed hub gear, . On most days, the Nexus wins. Inaudible chain noise, no fuss shifting,.
It should be more popular really, e-bikes don't need many gears and the 3-speed Nexus is not heavy..The Shimano roller brakes that come with it also never need servicing,
 

cwah

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 3, 2011
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My q100h has the latest waterproof connectors. That said, I'm not sure the motor can be rust free.


I'm strongly thinking about a chain drive such as the bbs02 because it can allow to go slow or fast. And most of all, it doesn't need torque arm so changing flat tyre should be much easier.

However, why would a crank drive better than a hub drive?

I would expect the crank to wear over time, chain to rust... and pain to happen.

Best would maybe be a crank drive with nexus and belt drive?

Where can I find this?
 

axolotl

Pedelecer
May 8, 2014
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However, why would a crank drive better than a hub drive?
For my anyway, it's because it allows you to use the rear hub for your gears. If you go for hub drive, you're stuck with crappy derailleurs. I suppose you could put the motor hub on the front wheel instead, but that's not ideal.

Ridden correctly, a crank drive has the potential to be more efficient than a hub too, but that does depend a lot on riding style.
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
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However, why would a crank drive better than a hub drive?

Best would maybe be a crank drive with nexus and belt drive?

Where can I find this?
It's debatable whether a crank drive can be more efficient than a hub motor, I doubt there's much in it if both are optimally designed.

However, a crank drive can be more owner friendly, since punctures, tube and tyre changes, spoke repairs etc are so much easier on unpowered wheels. Those benefits can be offset by chain and sprocket wear increases, so a shaft or belt drive are then better options.

I don't know of a belt drive, hub gear, crank motor e-bike at present, but I've no doubt the new Chinese crank drives and the new Yamaha were designed to allow for belt use. It should be easy to convert one, using parts for an existing belt drive unpowered bike.
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flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
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Thanks John, I missed that one, good to know there is a quality one available.
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