The cheap derailleur drivechain on one of the electric assist bikes at the nature reserve was completely worn out after a year of use, often towing a trailer. So I took the opportunity to fit a Nexus Inter 5E SG-C7000-5D hub, and at the same time upgraded the cheap cable disc brakes to hydraulic disks.

The assistance is a Bafang 250W mid motor.

As I usually do after making major changes to a bike, I rode it (for about 70 kms in all) to check for bedding-in defects. As I didn't have access to the trailer I used heavily-laden panniers (about 30 Kg) instead.

The Shimano hydraulic brakes were better than the old ones, but, in my opinion, no better than properly set up V-brakes with good brake pads.

The 5-speed hub was interesting. I set it up with a 38T chainring and 30T rear sprocket, which gives what is (for me, in the context of non-assisted bikes) rather high gears 32, 41, 52, 67, 85. This is almost the same overall gearing as the derailleur it replaced, but with bigger jumps between each gear.

Most of the time I used only the 3 middle gears, of these the most used was the 67" gear, where the assistance would continue up until just over 25 km/h.

In some situations (tail wind or downhill) it was possible to go faster with the 85" gear, but with no assistance.

For gentle uphills, the bike managed to keep at about 25 km/h in the 67" gear. When I felt speed dropping off on moderate hills I changed to the 52" gear and speed kept to about 22 km/h. On even steeper hills I used the 41" gear, which was good for about 18 km/h. I had to search out a really steep hill (a bit steeper than 1 in 4) to really have need of the lowest gear.

With the electric assist, the rather large jumps between gears (about 27%) didn't bother me. I didn't miss the closer gear spacing I prefer on my non-assist bikes.

I'll see how it goes in normal use, but the Nexus Inter 5 seems to be a reasonable choice for a utility electric assist bike. With just one sprocket, maintenance should be easier, and with the combination of the big 30T rear sprocket and KMC E1 chain the transmission should last longer than the original setup. 


   

Thanks for the post Andre.
The travel parts of each Journal were written after the day’s ride with a few tweaks later on.  They made a public diary for each trip.  They also gave me a bit of security as others knew where I was and if the worst happened where my pieces might be found!
Photos were taken by my ancient iphone 5SE.  Sadly now replaced as Apple would not allow it to take current ios updates.
I am starting to plan out my next trip - Sri Lanka in 2026.  This time on a Raven Tour.  The Sherpa I used in India earlier this year is now owned by another member of this Forum and has a new life.

Spam?

Mmmmaybe, Andy. Watching closely.
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My impession is the market for nuttled-axle Rohloffs is much smaller than for q/r.

Best, Dan.

Hello all,

Clearout of titanium hub nuts for Rohloff, Alfine and Sram hubs.

£9.99 a pair plus £1.99 postage.

Kind regards

A friend of mine has red Ortlieb City version of the Roller panniers, I think they look just fine.  Attached photo.

Do you have a red matching jersey to wear?

Look at the bright side.  With enough UV, the red might turn to pink, so you might eventually get rid of that red color.