In the thumbnail is my freehub after running a new set of wheels for 1700 km. From how I understand the “anti-bite” feature, it should prevent the cassette from gouging further into the soft metal of the splines, by taking up those forces on the strip of steel on one of the splines. And that seems like a reasonable idea, since further gouging beyond a cosmetic issue would prevent removal of the cassette.
My question is whether the higher torque caused by a mid-drive torque might one day overwhelm the steel strip, resulting in a locked cassette to the freehub. So far, I don’t see any evidence of the strip giving way, and I’m normally under the assumption that the allowable torques of standard bicycles – although tested by ebikes – should still tolerate this sort of application.
Does anyone know of scenarios where the anti-bite strip fails in-situ? Note that this isn’t a particularly pricey freehub, and I mostly built up this wheel as a long-term test to see how long it would last. For when it does fail, I plan to rebuild with a DT Swiss hub, finances allowing.
Yes, eventually it will fail and the disc will be stuck to the freehub body. It happened to me before i swapped to a different freehub body.
Just use a different freehub meant for higher torque. I’m a brute with my gear so i use sram XD. No more marks and never broken.
Oh yeah, this makes perfect sense to see with a mid drive. I don’t know how much would the steel strips be able to resist. You’d probably have to ride it a bit more and check again to see if it got worse.
I had bite marks on a DT240 I used with a mid drive ten years ago. I ended up replacing the freehub body with a steel version. They used to sell it as a replacement option. I don’t know if they still do.
When you replaced your freehub body, was that due to too much accumulated wear or was it preventative?
Separately, future looking, I’m still slightly on the fence with the more numerous star teeth for DT Swiss hubs (24, 36, 54?) in the context of an ebike. Even though I think I’d like the shorter engagement, would the teeth hold up over time? But perhaps I’m overthinking the torque concern. Idk.
was that due to too much accumulated wear
It was due to wear.
Separately, future looking, I’m still slightly on the fence with the more numerous star teeth for DT Swiss hubs (24, 36, 54?) in the context of an ebike. Even though I think I’d like the shorter engagement, would the teeth hold up over time? But perhaps I’m overthinking the torque concern. Idk.
I don’t recall how many teeth mine had. I don’t think it was 54. I didn’t have any issues with the ratchet. Plus the ratchet is replaceable in case you manage to kill it. The mid-drive I used could generate over 120Nm at the crankset continuous. That’s a lot of torque. It snapped an Ultegra chain in less than 1500km. The DT ratchet didn’t give me any problems over the ~10000km I rode it for.
What mid-drive are you using?
I’ve got a Bikonit MD750, which I believe has a Bafang G510 mid-drive. As it happens, I’ve also ripped a chain apart, but that was due to user-error off a red light, more than it was due to excessive torque.
Plus the ratchet is replaceable in case you manage to kill it
This is reassuring to know. Thanks!
Oh yeah a G510 can put a ton of torque through the drivetrain. Easily as much as the system I used. BTW I had pretty decent luck with KMC X11e EPT. It’s an ebike-specific chain. That today I’d probably use Shimano LinkGlide (CUES) drivetrain since the whole thing is made beefier for use with mid-drives. I don’t know if LinkGlide chains are compatible with standard Shimano/SRAM systems.
Currently, I’m having good luck with my KMC e9 EPT chain; I’ve not totally understood how KMC’s lineup works, so I’m not sure whether x9e or e9 are substantially similar or not.
