How to choose the transmission with a mid drive MTB motor?
With the LIFT MTB electric crankset motor kit, we use a single chainring at the front, usually with 32 teeth, which is the most suitable assembly for most cases.
In this article we will see how to properly choose a transmission for electric bike according to your practice & bikes.
Single, double or triple plate transmission?
The use of a double or triple tray with a LIFT-MTB system would not really be of interest. The extra power available from theelectric motor will allow you to compensate largely.
You won’t need the small gears anymore, so you gain in weight and ease of use.
If you have a recent bike with a single chainring and a high amplitude cassette (e.g. 11/40, 11/42 or 10/50) such as 1×10 speed, 1×11 speed and 1×12 speed, which are coupled with the LIFT-MTB system, are ideal.
That’s why most of the current bikes are 90% single chainring
(Our narrow wide chainrings are compatible with 8 / 9 /10 /11 /12 speeds).
Note that if you have a small cassette under 11/34 or 11/36, adding in a second time a cassette with bigger rear sprocket steps like 11/42 available on our store, can be a good thing if you really want to climb very steep.
We propose on our store 8, 9 or 10 speed cassettes with a more “modern” stage with larger sprockets, which will allow a modification in single plate (1X) thanks to a very consequent stage.
It’s a good way to upgrade your 8v, 9v or 10v transmission at a lower cost (around 59euro) and have even more torque.
The advantage of our solution is that you keep the same derailleur, the same chain and the same shifter… and you will have the equivalent of a “modern” transmission at a lower cost!
Some interesting articles on the subjects:
http://www.bigbike-magazine.com/conseil-vtt-le-monoplateau-les-nuls
http://www.mtb-check.com/fr/essai-1×10-hope-trex-raceface-nw/
Picture of a “road” type rear cassette with small sprockets (11/23) which allows to have very precise ratios on flat roads, but which doesn’t offer a big torque to make steep climbs for electric bikes.
Picture of an “enduro” type rear cassette with bigger sprockets (11/42) which allows a big amplitude between the small and the big sprockets, thus increasing the torque and making it easier to climb steep hills for electric mountain bikes.
For your information, 1 tooth more on the rear cassette sprocket is equivalent to 2.5 teeth less on the front chainring.
So if you go from a transmission with an 11/32 cassette to an 11/42 cassette, (there are 10 more teeth on the biggest sprocket of the rear cassette).
It is as if we had 25 teeth less on the front plate, the difference is enormous and the gain of torque thanks to the change of k7 is a real plus in the very steep rise!
Video compilation of steep climb with the LIFT-MTB kit
