Gearing?

[steve.c]

Hi. Going on from my previous thread which didn't go very far!! can you replace individual cogs on a 7 speed freewheel !! At the moment my freewheel is 14-16-18-20-22-24-34 what I would like is to change the lowest two to 15-17 and keep the rest!. The reason is that I live in Exeter and commute 10 mile to work & 10 miles back and rarely use the Lowest cog and even the 16 cog is hard work??Because of the terrain, any suggestions would be great! (or change the front sprocket??). Steve.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I'm not sure I understand what you want. Do you want to climb hills better or do you want to go faster. Changing the two smaller cogs makes you pedal faster at high speed . Most people want it the other way round because they can't pedal fast enough with electric assist. If you want to climb hills better, you need to change the lower gears - the 24 and 34 - but they're already very low. Could you explain what you're trying to achieve

 

[flecc]

This was my previous answer for reference:

Swap Cogs thread

 

[andyh2]

With a cassette type of rear cog cluster you can get individual sprockets or mix and complete cassettes to customise your gearing.

If it is a freewheel then you can't get individual sprockets for it. You have to change the whole freewheel. It is freewheel then I think 14 largest 1st sprocket you can get with readily available freewheels.

The difference between a freewheel and cassette is shown in Fleccs link to Harris Cyclery. A freewheel to cassette change would require a hub change. (or a complete new wheel).

If you change the front chainring it will have the advantage of lowering the gears across the whole range ie giving you a lower bottom gear for easier hill climbing as well as reducing your highest couple of gears so that they're in a more useful range for you.

 

[flecc]

A cassette isn't possible with that rear wheel hub motor though, only freewheels fit over the larger 12 mm spindle.

 

[steve.c]

Hi. What I'm trying to say is that the 7th gear you can only use going down hill & not on the flat as it's to hard unless in hi power mode. Anyway it was just a thought. Steve.

 

[andyh2]

Hadn't picked up it's a rear motor so definitely freewheel with no cassette option.

From what you're saying changing chainring at front would be best to lower all gears. Plenty of steep hills in Devon so having an even lower bottom gear would be a bonus.