Ran into another small obstacle. After working on the bike for a few hours in the morning, I was in the house having a bite to eat. My wife heard a big bang in the garage. Turned out the rear wheel hub I had just installed with a new tube and old tire blew up. A big hole near the air inlet. So, had to buy two new tires and another new tube. Let me back track on that ... I HAD to buy one new tire. I ended up buying two to keep to the "new" old theme.
A bunch of parts arrived mid-afternoon. I've now added them to the bike.
The first part is the bottom bracket. You can see it at the right. It's a sealed unit ... a perfect fit with no more concerns about water or re-greasing. By the way, I had to order a new crankset extraction tool to get to the bottom bracket. My other one broke while trying to take this bike's crankset off. I did completely clean the inside of the frame and greased it. I use only synthetic oils and greases.
I then replaced the original crankset with a 1X crankset. Most ebikes do away with the front shifter and front derailler. I'll rely entire on the rear 8-speed derailleur. I know it limits this to 8 speeds only, but keep in mind that I'll also have 5 to 7 power assist levels through the electric motor.
The photo at the left also shows the new pedals.
And, as luck would have it, I also received the new derailler hanger. I did a lot of research, but still kept my fingers crossed that I was ordering the right hanger. Turned out to be a perfect fit. It's good to be observant and enjoy research ... there is nothing stamped on the old part to indicate a part number or any other identifying marks. Note that I did file the aluminum frame axle hanger. It just needed a bit of cleaning up, and a fine file did the job.
Over at the left is the new front disc brake and new wire-pull hydraulic brake caliper. This is a hybrid unit that I have used before when upgrading my other ebike. Hybrid wire-pull means that it works with your typical wire pull hand brakes. Most hydraulic brakes have a hydraulic oil reservoir built into the hand brake. This hybrid version does not, the hydraulic oil reservoir is built into the caliper. That means easier maintenance – but more importantly, it means that I can use the ebike hand brake levers that have a built in motor cut-off sensor ... when you apply the brakes, it cuts power to the motor. If I had a hydraulic reservoir built into the hand brake, I would need to install a special sensor to detect when that hand brake was applied. With a hybrid wire-pull hydraulic brake, I can use the ebike conversion kit hand brakes and still get all the benefits of hydraulic brakes. And to answer another possible question: why hydraulic? On an ebike, you are going a lot faster than just pedaling power. The legal limit is 32 kmh ... I want to make sure I can stop from that speed, and stop quickly. The right photo is the hybrid wire-pull hydraulic disc brake on the rear wheel. Ah, and note the torque arm to distribute the power of the motor to the frame.
The final work for today is mounting the Shimano Altus derailleur. This is a brand new unit as shown at the right.
The original Shimano Altus derailleur was damaged when it slammed the road surface. I may have been able to straighten out the old one, but I doubt it would have been functional as new. A new derailleur is not that expensive, well worth swapping out a damaged unit for new.
Although not pictured, the new tires are Kenda K1027 26-inch x 2.10 (Kenda Kadre, wire bead). I think the thread is a bit of a compromise between trail and street. Not overly agressive, but does provide good grip. Should be good on ice and snow too.
One other note: look closely at the frame. It is in good shape, but has a lot of scuff marks. I do plan on painting the bike a Candy Apple look (not sure yet if it will be Candy Apple Red or Candy Apple Green). Painting Candy Apple is an involved process. I want to make sure this frame is the final.