We all love our mountain bikes and, thanks to Sram, we now have the transmissions that we always craved, even Shimano joined the party. Not wanting to be left behind, Bosch has fine tuned its electric bike systems to match the riders’ needs of high cadence, rapid gear changes and aggressive riding. Perfect, you might imagine.

But, there is a problem.

Your average mountain biker and above all e-bike rider is not the high cadence and experienced rider that we see in the media or bike brand promotions; the one that all these technologies are aimed at.

Modern bikes can handle the hard climbing and single track associated with our mountain biking passion but e-bikes are grossly under geared for the flat and roads. I virtually never use my 10 tooth sprocket but most e-bike riders do and virtually live in that tiny  sprocket.

I used to reckon that 1,000kms was the maximum I could get out of a mountain bike chain. Some e-bike riders are wearing a chain in as little as 500kms; and trashing the 10, 11 and 12 tooth sprockets along the way. That’s £100 to £400 for each cassette and £30 plus for the chain, every service! To their credit, Shimano will be providing the 10 & 12 tooth sprockets as an aftermarket item in the 2025 summer.

To avoid this expense you need to do two things. First buy a chain checking tool. Second, ride your e-bike like a mountain bike, not a motor bike. Use the gears. That does not mean riding without the pedal assist but if you use the smallest sprockets a lot, check your chain even more regularly.