A Tale of Two Chainrings

Well, I never thought I would say this, but “I love my Lekkie”. Let me explain. The ‘standard’ chainring shipped with the Bafang BBSHD motor is complete and total junk. It’s pressed steel, it’s heavy and it’s not a narrow-wide design (which helps a lot to keep your chain from derailing). I ordered a different Bafang chainring that was a better design but the offset (the distance between the chainring teeth and the inner mounting surface) was to small, hence the chainring set the chain too far out from center – confused yet? In fewer words, the chain alignment to the rear derailleur sucked. I think that explains it better.

So, what to do? The easy answer; spend more money! I did, and ended up with the 46 tooth Lekkie Bling Ring for the BBSHD motor. It’s $110 (yikes!!) if you buy it from anyone except Lekkie (they want $155) but it’s worth every penny. This is a really well designed chainring and works perfectly on Build #3 where the standard chainring was a disaster. Here’s what the Lekkie looks like installed:

A word of advice when installing your mid-drive motor; don’t cheap out on your chainring. This is an important part of the kit and you’ll need to spend a little bit more, but you’ll have no regrets when you do. I now have two new chainrings I’ll never use and that’s wasteful…

So what about the other chainring? While I was waiting for the Lekkie to arrive, I decided to go with a single chainring on Build #2. I purchased this combo from Amazon and I’m very happy with it. I got a new crankset with a 42 tooth chainring for $45 then purchased a second 48 tooth 104 BCD narrow-wide chainring for $23. Total outlay for crankset and 2 chainrings was $68, and these are well made parts. Here’s the 48 tooth chainring installed on build #2:

I really think running the 48 tooth chainring on the front is going to be too high a gear, but I want to try it out, then switch down to the 42 tooth chainring if necessary.

In a future post, I’ll assess the relative cost and performance differences between mid-drive and rear hub DIY builds, but at the moment it appears everything about the mid-drive kit costs more than a rear hub system. You’ll have to check back at a later date for that comparison as I’m looking at other components that will result in a better rear-hub build than the low-cost (relatively speaking) option I’m currently using for Builds 1 and 2.

**update**

Lekkie Chainring Advice

CHAIN COMPATIBILITY

The Lekkie Bling Ring is compatible with most chains up to 11-speed (known to work with some 12 speeds too). If your chain is not sitting well on the chainring try using a Shimano chain compatible with the number of gears. EG HG-X11 11 Speed. Note if the chain is tight on the teeth do not use.

GEOMETRY

The 42T and 46T offset gives you the best possible chainline without interfering with the motor. However chainstay interference is a big issue in building your bike – the larger the sprocket the closer the chainstay gets so you may need to use a spacer to clear the chainstay.

**update**

I test rode both Builds #2 and 3 yesterday. Build #3, the mid-drive, needs some work. I’m ordering a new chain that’s appropriate for the 9-speed cassette and I have to do some tuning since the pedal-assist system is way too aggressive. I think I know what parameters to tweak so will do that when the new chain arrives and we’ll take ‘er out for another spin.

Build #2 (rear-hub) is phenomenal! I really like the new 48-tooth chainring. The chain alignment is perfect. I can’t use my lowest gears since the rear derailleur contacts the hub motor casing – this is a common problem with the Voilamart rear-hub system. But since the motor puts so much power to the rear wheel, having access to the lower gears is unnecessary. I just adjust the rear derailleur so it can’t contact the hub motor and that’s that. Otherwise the cadence with the 48-tooth front gear is perfect for me. I’m happy…