I don't think its fair to generalise like that, I've seen cheap 24V ebikes with tiny geared hubs and even with the small wheels the motors are only producing a peak of around 12-15Nm, some of the direct drive hub motors are delivering maybe 30Nm in restricted mode 250W(400W peak) and 40Nm in unrestricted mode maybe (400-600W and peak of 1000W) or something like that and then you have geared hubs at up to about 45Nm typically as a maximum. Obviously those who use direct drive hub motors at 1500W and beyond go significantly beyond those figures. A huge part in addition is the gearing, you can gear a bike for climbing.

Power = torque * rotational speed.

Let's say your motor No1 is a direct drive and your motor No 2 is geared and has a ratio of 5 to 1 reduction for example. Both climb the same hill at the same speed.

You can see that the rotor of motor No 2 spins therefore 5 times faster than the rotor of motor number 1 and only needs to produce a fifth of the force to get to the same result. It's the same with your car, you shift your gear down on hills to make life easier for your motor.

 

If the motor stalls, all electrical power you send into the motor will be converted into heat. Your conversion yield electrical energy into mechanical energy is zero.

If you don't put any load on the motor, it will reach a maximum 'no load' speed. Your conversion yield is also zero because of the zero load.

Therefore, it's fundamental for electric motor to have a sweet zone and if you are not running your motor in its sweet zone, you are wasting your battery.

The disadvantage of direct drive motors becomes clear: their sweet zone is at comparatively higher speed compared to geared hub motors and crank drive motors. The sweet zone of a typical 200mm wide direct drive motor is about 200RPM-400RPM, for a typical geared hub motor about 100RPM-250RPM. In the context of street legal pedelecs, direct drive motors are good for small wheels (16"-20") and geared hubs for 26"-29" wheels (crank drive motors are more flexible, between 20RPM-100RPM depending on models). The other disadvantage of direct drive motors is magnetic striction. The magnetostriction acts like a brake. That is because their rotor moves with your wheel, whether it is powered or not. You feel it when you pedal without power. Magnetic striction alone should be a sufficient reason to deter manufacturers to fit direct drive hub motors to their bikes.

Edited June 3, 20223 yr by Woosh

Oh dear another one who doesn't understand that 1kw kits are;

1. Not legal.

2. Likely not suitable for the inteneded use.

3. Unlikely the bought battery can sustain more then 30a continuous for the kit linked to.

 

Still looking into the specifics. Happy to take my chances on 1.

Well you got a brilliant deal on that battery then but it does restrict you somewhat. Anyway which bike are you aiming to get or are you basing it on the most suitable ebike kit?

 

Yes I think I'll be basing it on the kit since they are hard to get 2nd hand! There seems to be a few things I need to balance even when the costs are within the same ballpark.

 

The choice right now seems to be Freewheel 1000W kit at £200ish vs Cassette 500W at £307

 

BFSWX02 48V 500W

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Conversion-Wheel-Electric-BAFANG-Display/dp/B09R7TDWHJ?th=1&psc=1

The battery has very little detail on the spec's, no idea of cells used or current rating. Many of these sellers simply plonk a 1000w rating ona 48v battery and often they just aren't up to the job. One simply doesn't just buy a battery on the off chance like has been done and then decide a 1kw chepa hub kit will be fine, I bet the Op doesn't even know how to match a battery and controller together for effective use and safety.

The battery has very little detail on the spec's, no idea of cells used or current rating. Many of these sellers simply plonk a 1000w rating ona 48v battery and often they just aren't up to the job. One simply doesn't just buy a battery on the off chance like has been done and then decide a 1kw chepa hub kit will be fine, I bet the Op doesn't even know how to match a battery and controller together for effective use and safety.

 

I am the OP.. just trying to learn that's why I'm here!

 

I've found this kit which includes the same battery so I've got to assume a 500W kit will be OK

 

https://yosepowershop.com/collections/e-bike-kit/products/e-bike-conversion-kit-48v-500w-26-rear-motor-fit-for-freewheel-with-48v13ah-down-tube-lithium-ion-battery-and-charger

 

And the battery - 30A Max so 20 continuous should be fine?

https://yosepowershop.com/collections/48v-battery/products/48v-13ah-e-bike-lithium-battery

Edited June 4, 20223 yr by Max1980

Power = torque * rotational speed.

Let's say your motor No1 is a direct drive and your motor No 2 is geared and has a ratio of 5 to 1 reduction for example. Both climb the same hill at the same speed.

You can see that the rotor of motor No 2 spins therefore 5 times faster than the rotor of motor number 1 and only needs to produce a fifth of the force to get to the same result. It's the same with your car, you shift your gear down on hills to make life easier for your motor.

 

If the motor stalls, all electrical power you send into the motor will be converted into heat. Your conversion yield electrical energy into mechanical energy is zero.

If you don't put any load on the motor, it will reach a maximum 'no load' speed. Your conversion yield is also zero because of the zero load.

Therefore, it's fundamental for electric motor to have a sweet zone and if you are not running your motor in its sweet zone, you are wasting your battery.

The disadvantage of direct drive motors becomes clear: their sweet zone is at comparatively higher speed compared to geared hub motors and crank drive motors. The sweet zone of a typical 200mm wide direct drive motor is about 200RPM-400RPM, for a typical geared hub motor about 100RPM-250RPM. In the context of street legal pedelecs, direct drive motors are good for small wheels (16"-20") and geared hubs for 26"-29" wheels (crank drive motors are more flexible, between 20RPM-100RPM depending on models). The other disadvantage of direct drive motors is magnetic striction. The magnetostriction acts like a brake. That is because their rotor moves with your wheel, whether it is powered or not. You feel it when you pedal without power. Magnetic striction alone should be a sufficient reason to deter manufacturers to fit direct drive hub motors to their bikes.

 

I think the end torque figure is what you need to go by, I think everyone pretty much knows how geared hub motors work by providing extra torque but at a lower speed and thats fine which is why direct drive motors are so large they provide their torque by being physically larger than geared hubs and ultimately you end up with greater weight on the bike but I think you have to look at the whole spectrum of advantages and disadvantages as shown in that Grin video to make an informed and fair choice. Geared motors have the most resistance of all ebike systems so they have a clutch type plate to allow freewheeling however one of the most efficient motor systems I have seen was a geared hub without a clutch plate and with regen enabled. Yes there was more drag more drag than a direct drive motor but then regen was super efficient and the drag was not terrible on the flats. The drag is often over-stated on direct drive motors it is noticeable for sure but its not like it prevents you cycling on flats or slight inclines and when going downhill you can enable regen which adds to overall range. The direct drive assists up hill quite well but you still have to provide some effort, on flats you have to work a tiny bit harder than a normal bike and going downhill you work a little bit harder sometimes if its a slight decline and still have to peddle to enable regen but on steeper hills you can coast although I guess this is down to how aggressive the regen braking is set. Ultimately a direct drive hub motor ebike ends up levelling the amount of effort on the bike for any gradient and makes the world seem a bit flatter. Compare this to a normal bike where going up hills need intensive effort, flats need minor effort and downhill needs no effort at all.

The battery has very little detail on the spec's, no idea of cells used or current rating. Many of these sellers simply plonk a 1000w rating ona 48v battery and often they just aren't up to the job. One simply doesn't just buy a battery on the off chance like has been done and then decide a 1kw chepa hub kit will be fine, I bet the Op doesn't even know how to match a battery and controller together for effective use and safety.

 

I think Yose batteries have a good reputation but they are a trading house mainly I think rebranding products manufactured by other companies. My Hailong battery packs (not Yose) appear to be extremely similar. I think mine are also the exact same 624Wh capacity and mine uses the Samsung cells 2500mAh which were good quality cells of ok capacity and the Yose pack might be the same. I saw someone split apart the battery pack I have on either youtube or a web page and they were definitely Samsung cells in there but that doesn't mean every pack has Samsung cells of course. The typical 1000W kits do seem to vary what is the minimum pairing, I've seen the requirement as 48V 10Ah to 48V 12Ah but that is capacity not its sustained current or max current figures. However I think if you put the controller into restricted power mode for reduced legal speed in the EU/UK you can get away with a smaller capacity battery, I have in memory that it was 7-8Ah but not sure as it was a long time since I read it, I'm pretty sure it was a single figure.

 

I honestly don't think the OP will have any issue with that battery and pairing it to a lower end 48V kit but I could be wrong of course.

I am the OP.. just trying to learn that's why I'm here!

 

I've found this kit which includes the same battery so I've got to assume a 500W kit will be OK

 

https://yosepowershop.com/collections/e-bike-kit/products/e-bike-conversion-kit-48v-500w-26-rear-motor-fit-for-freewheel-with-48v13ah-down-tube-lithium-ion-battery-and-charger

 

And the battery - 30A Max so 20 continuous should be fine?

https://yosepowershop.com/collections/48v-battery/products/48v-13ah-e-bike-lithium-battery

 

Those links seem to be going to the US Yose site. The kit at the top already includes a battery and it has a built in controller so not suitable for use with your battery. However I have to say it looks like a powerful geared hub motor with 67Nm peak torque. If you could find the same wheel and a separate controller kit that would be suitable for use with your battery. However legally it is 500W and maybe no legal UK/EU restricted mode.

 

Maybe you should try to focus on a 500W 48V geared hub motor. That could be a good match. Bafang used to do one and I'm sure there are other options, these are super power hub motors right up close to middle spec mid-drive motors for hill climbing performance.

 

I bought a cheap kit myself on Amazon a while back. I've not fitted it to a bike yet but the paperwork and web page detail was vague, its a 20" wheel with a rear hub of 48V and 500W and when I found something similar on aliexpress they had a chart for torque and the spec similar to mine was 85Nm peak torque in 20" wheel size. The image on Amazon showed a small hub motor but on arrival it was much, much larger there was hardly much length of spoke at all. If you want high torque but the reliability and simplicity of a hub motor then a beefy geared hub motor could be a great option.

 

I don't know if it will help you but I wonder if this Bafang wheel currently on offer could be over-volted to 48V from its stock 36V? Perhaps someone else knows the model knows. It's the G020 model I believe.

 

https://www.sportsdirect.com/pinnacle-mercury-e-power-motor-917726#colcode=91772603

I am the OP.. just trying to learn that's why I'm here!

 

I've found this kit which includes the same battery so I've got to assume a 500W kit will be OK

 

https://yosepowershop.com/collections/e-bike-kit/products/e-bike-conversion-kit-48v-500w-26-rear-motor-fit-for-freewheel-with-48v13ah-down-tube-lithium-ion-battery-and-charger

 

And the battery - 30A Max so 20 continuous should be fine?

https://yosepowershop.com/collections/48v-battery/products/48v-13ah-e-bike-lithium-battery

 

I've been using a 36V 19.2ah battery composed of (non-terrible quality, apparently) LG MH-1 cells for (about) 1600 miles on my 250W bbs01b, and it's now only charging to 41.9V, and I've only been drawing 15A. I don't know much about ebike batteries in general, but I'd say your battery will fare worse at 20A, with whatever cells that battery pack contains.

 

Have you jumped the gun a bit with your battery purchase?

Edited June 4, 20223 yr by guerney

I've been using a 36V 19.2ah battery composed of (non-terrible quality, apparently) LG MH-1 cells for (about) 1600 miles on my 250W bbs01b, and it's now only charging to 41.9V, and I've only been drawing 15A. I don't know much about ebike batteries in general, but I'd say your battery will fare worse at 20A, with whatever cells that battery pack contains.

 

Have you jumped the gun a bit with your battery purchase?

 

It's a 624Wh battery but 20A at 48V would be 960W so you'd be getting less than 40 minutes of assistance time if it was taking 20A all the time or about 12 miles maybe of range. People are getting around 40-60Km range or about 25 to 40 miles with such batteries with direct drive motors, less for hilly areas. So average current is more like a third to a half of that. It does of course depend how you use it. If you have regen enabled and only use assistance for hills with the throttle you could be getting close to 200 miles range. Yes 200 miles is just a theoretical number that I can't prove but it is in theory possible if you only use assistance for steeper hills and use regen where possible. Admittedly regen would mask the average current used because the battery would be getting a charge for maybe 5-20% of the journey.

 

A quick look shows your motor has peak torque around 80Nm and to achieve that it probably uses a very high current drain from the battery, maybe not as much as Bosch but its likely peaking well above 600W maybe reaching 700W. It's a much more powerful motor than the 1000W direct drive motor despite its 250W rating assuming the 1000W motor comes with a fairly entry level controller that can only peak for short periods at 1000W and rarely does. I guess the issue is how long each motor can sustain its peak power but from what I understand mid-drive motors can peak at higher wattage for longer because they are internally geared and based around a very high rpm small motor. The range of rpm these motors can operate at is well beyond a direct drive hub motor. The hub motor controller will try to increase torque by lowering voltage and increasing current to the motor but can only do so much.

 

I did a quick google and your motor consumes 630W at 80Nm but there is also mention of a 100Nm version that probably peaks well above 700W probably close to Bosch current levels. So its quite possible your battery is getting a rougher time with regard current draw. Also as the controller drops voltage and increases current a 48V 12.5Ah battery is equivalent of a 36V 16.7Ah or a 24V 25Ah or a 12V 50Ah or a 6V 100Ah etc. So it can produce 8x the current at 6V to create torque. I'm not saying it does that I don't know what is the range of voltage and current it can send to the motor hub but a 48V battery is capable of higher current at lower voltage than a 36V battery of the same Ah.

Maybe you should try to focus on a 500W 48V geared hub motor. That could be a good match. Bafang used to do one and I'm sure there are other options, these are super power hub motors right up close to middle spec mid-drive motors for hill climbing performance.

 

I don't know if it will help you but I wonder if this Bafang wheel currently on offer could be over-volted to 48V from its stock 36V? Perhaps someone else knows the model knows. It's the G020 model I believe.

 

https://www.sportsdirect.com/pinnacle-mercury-e-power-motor-917726#colcode=91772603

 

Wow that is really cheap! £150 for this and that's the whole kit (I think) for £200.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Conversion-Control-Controller-Display-Without/dp/B094VK2B2Y/ref=sr_1_10?crid=1V587ABSFNKS4&keywords=kit+lcd3&qid=1654387934&sprefix=kit+lcd3%2Caps%2C64&sr=8-10

 

 

This is the other one I'm looking at. I believe it's from the same line.

 

BFSWX02 48V 500W - G020.500D/DC mode

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Conversion-Wheel-Electric-BAFANG-Display/dp/B09R7TDWHJ?th=1&psc=1

 

 

I guess the question is whether it's worth spending more for the native 48v hub kit?

Wow that is really cheap! £150 for this and that's the whole kit (I think) for £200.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Conversion-Control-Controller-Display-Without/dp/B094VK2B2Y/ref=sr_1_10?crid=1V587ABSFNKS4&keywords=kit+lcd3&qid=1654387934&sprefix=kit+lcd3%2Caps%2C64&sr=8-10

 

 

This is the other one I'm looking at. I believe it's from the same line.

 

BFSWX02 48V 500W - G020.500D/DC mode

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Conversion-Wheel-Electric-BAFANG-Display/dp/B09R7TDWHJ?th=1&psc=1

 

 

I guess the question is whether it's worth spending more for the native 48v hub kit?

 

That top amazon kit wouldn't be suitable for the Bafang based wheel. You need to pair the correct type of controller, that sports direct wheel will be 250W/350W and will need a suitable controller with the correct connector for the wheel and there will be other important parts of the spec to match. I think I've read such a wheel can be paired with KT-15A and KT-17A controllers with the correct cable to match that motor but you'd need to do some research with the seller to check for compatibility. A quick look on amazon shows this;

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08C7YXKK5

 

Which seems to have a suitable connection for the Bafang motor. Also its dual 36V/48V so in theory would work with your existing battery but then how would the Bafang motor cope with 48V when designed for 36V. A quick look shows the Bafang motor under its older product name has been over-volted to 59V. The G020 is the new name for SWX02.

 

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/overvolting-bafang-swx02-to-59v-after-1000-miles.38697/

 

Unfortunately though until you have the sports direct wheel in your mitts its not worth buying anything extra. They have a poor reputation for customer service and over-selling or mis-describing products so you could end up with nothing or something very different to what you expected. They could have only 3 of these wheels to sell but taken orders for 50 etc. If they have loads then why? Perhaps the bikes came fitted with the wrong hub motors and so they have had to sell them separately and wait for replacement wheels to fit to the bikes. If they are the wrong motors then they won't be as description. Likely higher wattage motors perhaps not legal in the UK market etc hence the big discounting. All a bit of a mystery but definitely worth a punt for a Bafang hub motor at that price.

Unfortunately though until you have the sports direct wheel in your mitts its not worth buying anything extra.

 

Have ordered the hub, will be interesting to see what turns up tomorrow:) much appreciated, I'm quite excited now!

 

Totally missed the controller connections, nice one thanks. Need get my head around that too. The KT-17A and LCD3 seem to be frequently recommended so that seems like the route to go, well within safe range for battery and can limit the maximum draw if needed.

 

If I understand correctly the 36V hub run at 48V will give me 25-33% more speed and torque at the original 7-15A draw and still acceptable 30-60m range.

will be interesting to know whats written on the hub..............

will be interesting to know whats written on the hub..............

 

It's shipped, looks like I got the last one.. my guess is the original bike is out of warranty so they are selling the spares. They don't sell any other Ebikes with the same rim size.

It's shipped, looks like I got the last one.. my guess is the original bike is out of warranty so they are selling the spares. They don't sell any other Ebikes with the same rim size.

 

I ordered one myself and also shipped so we will see what happens. Best of luck to the both of us. Yes they may have had a certain number of spare wheels for warranty claims but then found out the hub motors are more reliable than they expected and just weren't using those spare wheels. There is a video on youtube of the Bafang factory and they buy all their hub motors from another factory but assemble them themselves and have a great testing regime so typically Bafang motors have a excellent reputation for reliability because they go out the door with better final assembly and proper testing which isn't always true of other manufacturers. Maybe Evan's were used to other hub motors with a much higher failure rate. In which case its an even bigger bargain.

 

However with that said it could all going horribly wrong being sports direct and we get something nothing like the description and will have to rely on their not so awesome returns process. What else could they claim to have a £255 value on such an ebike though. It's got to be the motor but will it come laced to a rim or just the hub motor if so this will be the first wheel I've ever fully laced or will it be the wrong model wheel which they bought as spares but were actually fitted with the wrong spec motor not suitable for the Mercury. I've seen the Pinnacle Mercury get some pretty glowing reviews, often described as a Carrera Subway ebike beater as it has a more reliable motor setup than the Suntour HESC system of the Subway. Although the Subway has a torque sensor so delivers its power in the same way as most mid-drive ebikes. However most people will take reliability over performance and poor reliability.

 

I ordered one myself and also shipped so we will see what happens.

 

And it’s here! G020.250.DC 13

 

Very nice find! Thank god it’s on a rim too

I think the 13 at the end indicates windings which the more you have means more torque less speed I think and will mean the current draw is less so perhaps better suited for the fairly low capacity battery of the Pinnacle Mercury. I can't see the other side is it a freewheel thread or a freehub on the other side. I'm a bit confused by various specs online they say 36/43/48V but is that different models or the same model is compatible across all voltages. It reads like 48V compatibility is standard to me and you aren't hacking it as that is official.

 

The hub has hall sensors so you need a controller that supports hall sensors I believe. I think most of the cheaper ones support hall sensors but not sure or I may have got completely confused on that issue. Mines been despatched but I only went for cheapo standard delivery. I ordered 2 days before you so I'm presuming you coughed up for fast delivery.

 

This could be a case of the blind leading the blind as my ebike experience is not as extensive as some of the posters here so hopefully we can both get working ebikes out of this discounted wheel.

 

I was going to use a Pinnacle mountain bike frame that I had but now realise that is a 29er frame so I have a 27.5" Saracen frame I will use instead. I've got everything I need for the build except I'm not sure I have any particularly decent forks, probably have some Suntour XCM forks to use. The battery I have is a 48V 15Ah.

 

[mention=24131]Bonzo Banana[/mention] Yeah I couldn't wait It's a freehub I believe. The specs are all a bit confusing, my guess is it's just one model and companies just spec the windings and voltage they want. I'm guessing this was specced to hit the UK speed limit. I think most legal 48V kits use code 16 for the same reason.

 

Just reading this thread and it seems Woosh used code 13 for their Rio which had the same hub. They say it's safe up to around 24mph at 48V which points to a 17A controller. Should be more than enough for me!

 

That Saracen looks lovely! Can't wait to see the finished thing.

 

This hub has definitely opened up the budget a bit. I think I can get into something second hand with hydraulic breaks and front suspension (bad wrists). Somewhere between £150-250.

 

 

[mention=24131]Bonzo Banana[/mention] Yeah I couldn't wait It's a freehub I believe. The specs are all a bit confusing, my guess is it's just one model and companies just spec the windings and voltage they want. I'm guessing this was specced to hit the UK speed limit. I think most legal 48V kits use code 16 for the same reason.

 

Just reading this thread and it seems Woosh used code 13 for their Rio which had the same hub. They say it's safe up to around 24mph at 48V which points to a 17A controller. Should be more than enough for me!

 

That Saracen looks lovely! Can't wait to see the finished thing.

 

This hub has definitely opened up the budget a bit. I think I can get into something second hand with hydraulic breaks and front suspension (bad wrists). Somewhere between £150-250.

 

 

 

I'm not 100% sure of the frame yet as when I try to fit the hub there could be issues with dropout spacing and the dropout design. I may go with a frame with the beefiest looking dropout that will best fit a torque arm. However I have the Saracen frame and I think a Carrera Subway frame and that's it at 27.5" I wish I had a 27.5" steel disc frame to be honest. Makes life easier as you can bend dropouts if you have to and the material is denser so if you have to file out a dropout to suit its less compromised plus they are generally a stronger frame. You will need a torque arm, running 48V through it and its a pretty high torque motor hub anyway.

 

Once fitted it will be a little more difficult to remove than a standard rear wheel with quick release so bear this mind. You may want to run tubeless so you don't need to remove the wheel to repair punctures or you may perhaps want to go with a downhill inner tube and maybe a tyre liner. Just ways of reducing the need to remove the rear wheel.

I'm not 100% sure of the frame yet as when I try to fit the hub there could be issues with dropout spacing and the dropout design. I may go with a frame with the beefiest looking dropout that will best fit a torque arm. However I have the Saracen frame and I think a Carrera Subway frame and that's it at 27.5" I wish I had a 27.5" steel disc frame to be honest. Makes life easier as you can bend dropouts if you have to and the material is denser so if you have to file out a dropout to suit its less compromised plus they are generally a stronger frame. You will need a torque arm, running 48V through it and its a pretty high torque motor hub anyway.

 

Once fitted it will be a little more difficult to remove than a standard rear wheel with quick release so bear this mind. You may want to run tubeless so you don't need to remove the wheel to repair punctures or you may perhaps want to go with a downhill inner tube and maybe a tyre liner. Just ways of reducing the need to remove the rear wheel.

 

I've seen a few Subway conversions, here's hoping it's straight forward!

 

I'm looking at a Carrera Vulcan locally as it has front suspension and hydraulic brakes. Should be well within budget even with new wheels. The 27.5" size has limited the options somewhat but it's not a massive issue.

 

Now to source a controller that won't take a month to arrive!

I've seen a few Subway conversions, here's hoping it's straight forward!

 

I'm looking at a Carrera Vulcan locally as it has front suspension and hydraulic brakes. Should be well within budget even with new wheels. The 27.5" size has limited the options somewhat but it's not a massive issue.

 

Now to source a controller that won't take a month to arrive!

I'm keeping to mechanical disc brakes just so I can use standard cut off brake levers.

My wheel has arrived, very minimal OEM packaging. Includes a bag of nuts/bolts etc but no paperwork at all included with the wheel apart from receipt on the outside of the box. Definitely looks fairly small, not much surface area to dissipate heat and can't be a particularly large planetary gear setup. Still bigger than a lot of geared hubs you see nowadays like the Swytch kit hub but as someone used to direct drive hubs very small. Very nicely made and a freehub, amazing value.

Finally found some time to get back into the project. I managed to find an unloved Carrera Vulcan that used to be an ebike conversion for £100. Ideally I would have spent more for one in good condition but there isn't much available locally. It's a bit of a frankenbike at the moment unfortunately.

 

Anyway -

 

Couple of issues -

 

1 - The shifters are 8 speed but the rear cassette is a Shimano HG400-9 which has 9 cogs. I am unsure what size chain is on it currently.

 

Does it matter if I can't get to the smallest cog?

 

If so am I better off buying 9 speed shifters, removing a cog (assuming this is possible) or swapping for an 8 speed?

 

I'm planning on paying a local bike shop to sort the gears out once I've got the wheel fitted at least.

Finally found some time to get back into the project. I managed to find an unloved Carrera Vulcan that used to be an ebike conversion for £100. Ideally I would have spent more for one in good condition but there isn't much available locally. It's a bit of a frankenbike at the moment unfortunately.

 

Anyway -

 

Couple of issues -

 

1 - The shifters are 8 speed but the rear cassette is a Shimano HG400-9 which has 9 cogs. I am unsure what size chain is on it currently.

 

Does it matter if I can't get to the smallest cog?

 

If so am I better off buying 9 speed shifters, removing a cog (assuming this is possible) or swapping for an 8 speed?

 

I'm planning on paying a local bike shop to sort the gears out once I've got the wheel fitted at least.

If its a 9 speed cassette I would go for a 9 speed shifter as the cheapest solution unless of course the 9 speed cassette is heavily worn and you might as well just get a 8 speed cassette anyway.

 

Aliexpress does reasonably priced shifters. I've had a quick look so not recommending this as you may find cheaper;

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001700787492.html

 

If you see a chain that says 5-7 speed compatible its a 7 speed chain which will also work on 5 and 6 speed but may not last as long as has thinner side plates. So if you have lets say an 8 speed cassette and a choice of a 5-8 speed chain or a 8-9 speed chain the 5-8 speed chain is the best option as its an actual 8 speed chain but still works on 5,6 and 7 speed cassettes.

 

Do you have a picture of the bike you bought, I'm curious plus if you have any additional questions it helps to see the bike you have.