Throttle use with trigger shifters?

[Electric Earth]

I'm still on my first e-bike, so I don't know much beyond my current set-up. My throttle is too bulky to use my trigger shifter normally, so I have the shifter flipped up awkwardly behind the throttle. Will most half-twist throttles(seems like most prefer those, so I'm gonna try one) work with trigger shifters as long as there isn't a switch built in below the handlebar, or is the throttle mechanism just too bulky to fit between the shifter and bars? If they'll work together, any suggestions on a cheap one to test and see if I like the half-twist style? My current throttle has a cut-off switch and battery bar LCD. It would be nice to keep them if possible. I'm not interested in losing my front shifter, so simply using a left side throttle won't solve my problem. So basically...
1. Will a half-twist work with trigger shifters?
2. If so, any cheap suggestions to try it out?
3. If it won't work with trigger shifters, what are the options for trigger shifters and a throttle?
Current throttle - https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/WUXING-electric-twist-bike-throttle_60812319786.html?spm=a2700.7724857.normalList.6.10411fc8LlS61A&s=p

 

[markz]

I prefer the thumb throttles myself.
https://evfittinggreentime.aliexpress.com/store/group/Thumb-finger-Throttle/313864_259130609.html?spm=2114.12010608.0.0.17e56bfetQrOjf


https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/High-quality-36V-Thumb-Throttle-for-36V-E-bike-Conversion-Kit-with-battery-indicator-on-off/313864_583410607.html?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.6.24626712HvtB7o
They are universal, left or right side, unlike the other older ones with the swooping back piece.

Do you have a one piece brake lever / shifters or the brake levers as one piece and shifters as another.
You can get longer brake levers, place the throttle between the shifter and lever mount. Thats what I did last night for the CCM ebike.

The 108X may work for you. I do have that throttle but its stored away.

 

[amberwolf]

Cheapest suggestion is to put the throttle on the bars backwards. Might require removing the far outboard end of the grip so it can slip over teh bar and pass thru to the clamp on the inboard end (whcih will now be at the end of the handlebar).

The throttle operation will now be reversed, but the clamp/etc end won't be in the way of the trigger.

If this works for you, but you prefer the original operation direction, then you could use a lefthand throttle on the right side, in this same orientation, with the outboard end up by your shifter and hte clamp/wire/etc at the end of teh bar.

 

[donn]

Thumb throttle for me too, like markz's references. I installed it next to the right trigger shifter, on the outside, and the two get along OK.

I didn't like operating the half twist-throttle at all.

 

[Electric Earth]

Thanks for the suggestions! Maybe I'll try a thumb throttle. And I guess a project is in order to chop the end off of the current throttle and run it backwards to at least make things work better for now. Sounds like it's worth a shot. I need to maintenance the bike some anyway, so I may as well do it all tonight. Unfortunately a longer brake lever isn't much of an option since I'm running a hydraulic brake and a lever swap wouldn't be very simple.

 

[Tolkano]

Use a grip shift on the left side mounted upside down, then whatever throttle you want on the right

 

[Chalo]

If you switch your front trigger shifter for a thumbshifter (good quality new ones are made by SunRace and Microshift), then you can use a left side twist throttle or thumb throttle. They're available in 3 speed indexed and full sweep friction versions.

https://www.amazon.com/SunRace-SLM96-Friction-Mount-Shifter/dp/B00EHK7PEI

I use a 9sp index thumbshifter on the right, with a right side thumb throttle.

 

[markz]

I have not shifted a gear is years!
I just started to pedal again, just cuz my old used battery lost a bunch of capacity and I was running out of juice once a week. I can only get 18km out of my current pack, so 18 x 20wh/km = 380Wh / 36V = 10Ah and I have 20Ah pack so its half lost. Not bad for charging atleast once a day, in the summer it would be 2 or 3 times a day. Luckily building a new pack with new cells and not buying used tool packs.
Even if you were to pedal, you dont even need that many gears, 5 is more then enough, then think about when you are going to pedal, on take offs, up hills and a few fake pedaling every now and then :wink:

 

[Electric Earth]

Ive found I prefer to pedal. Hours on the bike without pedaling gets uncomfortable to me. And I use my bike for bike delivery, so put on a pretty good amount of miles each shift. Pedaling lets me get those miles without a massive battery pack(not that I wouldn't love one, but don't have the money to spend on one). I'm not sure what size battery I'd need to do 30mi without pedaling, but I'm sure it's a big one. There are a pretty good amount of medium sized hills here too, so I climb a lot. I find I use my middle ring a lot, but definitely also switch into the big ring often when doing a long stretch of flat or downhill. So, unfortunately I need to keep the gears both front and rear. I would love to be able to ditch the front one. Maybe someday I'll be able to build a sweet 48v bike with a massive battery and just set it up more like a comfortable moped and not pedal much.

 

[JBG]

Try this low profile throttle.

https://lunacycle.com/bafang-half-twist-throttle-right-side/

Should work with trigger shifters. I got one myself, but I’ve not put it on because both the throttle and my cable are female connectors. I’m not sure where to get an affordable adapter.

 

[markz]

-

110% would work with trigger shifters. Nice find!

No need for an adapter, you dont really need wire strippers so you could just use a knife and carefully strip the insulation off, its thin gauge wire but use some electrical tape for the ghetto fix. Better to use a soldering iron and a bit of heat shrink and some commonly used connectors, but connectors arent really that necessary. Its only 3 wires!

To Be Honest with yallzzzzzz I have literally used electrical tape on phase wires and battery wires. Now I did tape the fuckoutta them, and yes it was temporary. Those are like 12awg or 10awg wire, so really thick conductors, your throttle wires are thin, I dunno what gauge but like 24awg perhaps.

 

[dogman dan]

I find you just need to mount the throttle about 3/8 inch away from the shifter body. then interference is eliminated for half twist, or thumb throttles. Sometimes the bars are a bit short for that, so jam a broomstick up the bar, and get another half inch length back, and cover it with the grip. I personally prefer half twist throttles. A brake handle can cause you to mount a thumb throttle at awkward angles, meaning you must change your brakes and then get used to that.

If you seldom shift though, friction shifter can be a great solution too. Most of my street cargo bikes would just stay in one gear all day, often a very high gear, so going to a friction shifter was effortless on those bikes. I keep the trigger on off road bikes though.

 

[Voltron]

I went thru a bunch of different setups of every type of trigger and twist grip shifter, and is really hard to get a combo that feels natural actually using all the gears.... ended up with a twist rear and thumb lever front. Works out pretty well.

 

[markz]

ended up with a twist rear and thumb lever front. Works out pretty well.

Neat! Wouldnt take long to get used to that!

 

[Voltron]

Yes.. All the other combos either wouldn't fit past the throttle, or sat a funny distance from ones thumb. I actually end up using the front shifting with the thumb a lot with the bigger jumps between gears instead of the back, esp in city traffic, as you need to run thru the gears so fast in the back to keep up with the acceleration.

 

[markz]

gears

What are those? :wink: :lol:

 

[dogman dan]

What are those? Exactly why I needed very little to shift gears on my street rides. They just lived in the highest gear 99% of the time. In other words, you need low gear when it breaks and you pedal home, only.

Off road, the hills much steeper, and you might pick out about three gears you use when its steep, and not pedal at all when its not.

Another approach that works really well with twist shifters, is to ditch the front shifter entirely, and mount the twist shifter upside down on the left side. You can lock the front shifter on the high gear ring with a clamp and a short bit of the cable. Or remove it.

But personally, for trigger shifters I never had any trouble with just moving the shifter and brake handle as far inside as it can go, depending on the bend of the bars, and then just mount throttles a with a half inch gap. Again, not shifting all that much even off road, it never bothered me. Brakes I never did use more than two fingers on the handle, so no problem with them being shoved a bit to the inside.

 

[markz]

That is one thing that doesn't make much sense with the new fangled regular bicycles out on the market, single front crank gear with 12sp 10-50t rear cassette. Less hassle with the front derailleur but is it really. Its just a "Gotta have the newest thing" and bicycle companies push it because they can get $100 for that 10-50t rear cassette, maybe save a few grams here and there. Getting into the e-grin game, talking 9kg for a motor then add the battery, prefer reliability then always fussing around on the e-ride. Its all in what the rider wants outta his e-fun.

.

 

[Chalo]

That is one thing that doesn't make much sense with the new fangled regular bicycles out on the market, single front crank gear with 12sp 10-50t rear cassette. Less hassle with the front derailleur but is it really. Its just a "Gotta have the newest thing" and bicycle companies push it because they can get $100 for that 10-50t rear cassette, maybe save a few grams here and there.

Front derailleurs suck today, and they've sucked all along. They shift sluggishly, make noise, wear out, and dump the chain where it can jam and screw up the bike's frame.

I was using obsolescent and out-of-fashion freewheel sprocket boards almost twenty years ago to get adequate gear range without the suckitude of the front derailleur. Back then, 12-38t on a 7-speed freewheel body was as good as I could do.

I don't go fast enough to want the high end of that range anymore, but I sure appreciate the 16-40t stack on my bike today-- and my chain does too.

Super jumbo 46t to 50t cassettes are expensive at the moment because they're still the new hotness, but in a short time they'll be boring and normally cheap. Clutched derailleurs have to make the transition too; otherwise those big flywheel sprockets are a nuisance because they spool the chain over the top when you stop pedaling suddenly.

SRAM has decided to make a very smart 8 speed, wide range cassette machined from tool steel, specifically intended for mid drive e-bikes. But they've decided it should sell for $390! My guess is they're going for the cost-no-object sort of fool, but there are only so many of those (and they're fickle about their hobby spending).
https://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/products/xg-899-e-block-cassette

 

[markz]

Front derailleurs suck today, and they've sucked all along. They shift sluggishly, make noise, wear out, and dump the chain where it can jam and screw up the bike's frame.

I always liked the ability to go small chain to large rear to climb the rare 15-20% slope

I was using obsolescent and out-of-fashion freewheel sprocket boards almost twenty years ago to get adequate gear range without the suckitude of the front derailleur. Back then, 12-38t on a 7-speed freewheel body was as good as I could do.

Your saying that even today, in todays high tech'iness they haven't solved that problem? With the rears they got the "Shadow" with its crisp engagement so those dont help?

I don't go fast enough to want the high end of that range anymore, but I sure appreciate the 16-40t stack on my bike today-- and my chain does too.
I know what you mean, I just went from 10S 36V to 15S 55.5V and its super crazy fast for me

Super jumbo 46t to 50t cassettes are expensive at the moment because they're still the new hotness, but in a short time they'll be boring and normally cheap. Clutched derailleurs have to make the transition too; otherwise those big flywheel sprockets are a nuisance because they spool the chain over the top when you stop pedaling suddenly.


OK well I will check out the prices right now, since chain reaction cycle has gone down hill in some departments I will check out JensonUSA, here is the filtered 12spd cheapest is $75, then jumps to a hun. a quick jump over to Amazon, $45 of a brand I do not recognize Ztto MTB, then $80 from SRAM. While a nice 7spd is $15. Around here there aint much, a mile long 3-5% that involved a very short 10-15%. While I can get around the other 15% with the e-juice. Regular bike pedaling vs ebike, not sure how much you do, but can assume from your comments you like to break an old school sweat, pumping them pedals.

SRAM has decided to make a very smart 8 speed, wide range cassette machined from tool steel, specifically intended for mid drive e-bikes. But they've decided it should sell for $390! My guess is they're going for the cost-no-object sort of fool, but there are only so many of those (and they're fickle about their hobby spending).
https://www.sram.com/sram/mountain/products/xg-899-e-block-cassette

Smart SRAM link 351
So whats your go to freewheel/cassette?

 

[Chalo]

So whats your go to freewheel/cassette?

At the moment, I like the 11-40 SunRace CSM680 for 8 speed and CSM980 for 9 speed. They're affordable, and with plenty of ratios, I can stay off the 11t or replace it with a larger sized Miche single sprocket.

That's what I'm doing with my e-bike at the moment-- using 8 sprockets from a 9 speed cassette on a 7 speed freehub body (omitting the 13t), and sticking the 15t sprocket behind the others as a spacer. With a 16t Miche sprocket on the small end, I have 16-18-21-24-28-34-40 sprockets to choose from. I use a single 48t chainring. With 48/16, I can cruise along with the motor. The other gears are for steep hill climbing or running without motor power.

 

[markz]

I am in the same boat with my fat bike.
I love rapid fire Shimano (not SRAM), but they just dont fit because of brake levers, throttle and shifters.
Friction thumb was what I was thinking of buying.
Be nice to find some cheap ones with extra long thumb levers.


Then there are bar end shifters which doesnt seem practical for my needs.
https://www.modernbike.com/s?search=sunrace+shifters


Old Skool road shifters
On the stem
https://www.modernbike.com/sunrace-slr30-7spd-shifter-levers


On the downtube/toptube
https://www.modernbike.com/sunrace-slr03-downtube-friction-shifters-6-7-8-spd

 

[flat tire]

The correct way to do what the OP wanted is as follows:

1) get motor powerful enough you only need 1 front chainring

2) move rear trigger shifter to left hand side of bars, mounting upside down

3) right hand can properly hold onto the bars using a full twist throttle while concurrently covering the brake

 

[Voltron]

Yes of course, because there's only one correct way to do it..

Especially when the op states that he wants to keep his front shifting.

 

[Bigwheel]

I use a 10spd. grip shift on the right with a thumb throttle directly inboard of it. Works fine. Don't have a front der. but that would remain the same anyway.