I’ve been waiting for a long time for someone to hit the market with a 36T aftermarket chainring for the BBSHD. The stock 46T steel chainring makes a great Frisbee-From-Hell but you would be certifiably insane to use it on any real ebike build. Lekkie has built a 42T BBSHD chainring that has been around almost as long as the BBSHD has been on the market, which is a great size for most commuter builds. Now Lekkie offers a total of 3 different sized chainrings for almost any application, the 36T, 42T and 48T with more sizes on the way. We’ll be seeing 52T, 28 and 32T chainrings in the not too distant future. The Lekkie Bling Rings are currently available in red or black, but other colors are coming for the popular sizes.
48T, 42T, 36T, Available now 52T, 32T & 28T coming soon to a dealer new you
I tested the 36T BBSHD for 2 weeks in a variety of different conditions and I was impressed by the way it performed. It was everything I expected a Lekkie ring to be. For a giant fat tired ebike like the Phat Phuk with 5.5″ tires the 36T was the idea chainring size allowing me to have a decent top speed but still be able to slog my way through almost a foot of heavy powder with relative ease whilst still staying away from the 1st and 2nd grannies.
A chainring Lego Batman would love. Black on black.
Over the last year, as I started getting into higher and higher powered ebikes and started plowing through deeper and deeper powder I found every single one of my BBSHD builds getting the 42T chainrings downsized to the 30T Luna mighty mini chainring. There is a lot of things I like about the 30T mighty mini, at $56 it is impossibly cheap and it is also incredibly light at 68 grams (the stock 46T BBSHD chainring is an insane 560g). The biggest problem with the 30T mighty mini is that the chainring is just too small. What ends up happening is that you get to spend most of your time riding in the middle of your cassette when weaving through the trees at <10mph but if you want to go fast the chainring tops out at less than 25mph. Because you’re limited with a 11T cog as the smallest cog in the rear, at above 20mph the motor is spinning so darn fast that is completely impossible to pedal and keep up. This severely limits the usefulness of the 30T mighty mini on amost commuter ebikes, even if it’s a 29er (larger wheel sizes means smaller chainrings).
The 36T Lekkie Bling Ring is the perfect size for singletrack with 26″ tired fatbikes. I can still ride most of the time in the middle of the chainring and have a chain line that is not messed up too bad, any yet can still pedal along at 25mph, with a top speed of closer to 30mph (with RPMs so fast that you can’t keep up). With a 36T chainring, I can still slog through the heaviest, wet powder up steep hills with ease. The BBSHD loves small chainrings and it goes from being a ho-hum drive unit to a wheelie popping machine with anything 36T or less. For singletrack trail riding, the improved torque is worth the loss of a few mph of top speeds. If you’re using your ebike to transport 2 or 3 people at a time then you really must have a smaller chainring or you’re going to put way too much stress on the BBSHD nylon gear. So far with hundreds of miles riding every day I’ve had 2 Nylon gears on the BBSHD fail, both while running it with a 60+ Amp controllers (stock is 30 Amps).
The 30T luna ring shown over the 36T Lekkie
The weight of the 36T Lekkie Bling ring I got was 110g which was a bit more than the 68g of the 30T Luna chainring but still well within the realm of reason for a 7075 Alloy T6 heat-treated and anodized narrow/wide chainring. The Lekkie chainring will work well with anything from single speed to 11-speed chains and I tested mine with a 10-speed chain. In the two weeks I tested it, the chain only came off twice while on the 2nd granny gear and both times I was pushing uphill through some seriously heavy and wet powder running a 60Amp Ludacris controller. I started looking more closely at the 30T Luna chainring which also has a pretty bad chain line (the 42T chainrings have massive offsets which will make your chain line much prettier) and I realized that the 30T chainring is so small that the aluminum secondary reduction cover actually works as a chainguard to keep the chain from coming off the 30T luna ring. Ironically although I have had no problems this winter with the chains coming off the 30T Luna ring, today when I went back to riding the Luna chainring the chain jumped off twice and got stuck between the chainring and the case. Might be my chains are getting too loose, or it could be the ice that keeps forming on them, or it could be the rust from the road salt. Who knows? All I know is that with the stock BBSxx steel chainrings I always had nothing but chain problems, and decent narrow wide chainrings are the only thing I use anymore.
In the biggest granny, the chain line can get a little whacked out, the 42T and larger rings have a lot more offset back toward the ebike giving you a better chain line. You know what happens when granny gets out of line.
The 36T Lekkie Bling ring is available directly through Lekkie’s New Zealand website for $120 (in Kiwi dollars) or you can buy it from a wide list of sellers worldwide listed on his website here. The cheapest I could find the 36T Bling Ring stateside was Lunacycle at $75 here. I would just add in the cost of an aftermarket chainring of some sort into any budget for a BBSxx ebike, as all the chainrings that Bafang sells with the drive units are complete junk.
Hey look, it’s a video of everyone’s favorite crazy Aussie, Bruno, showing off 6000K of wear on a Lekkie 42T ring. It still has plenty of life left on it.
The Lekkie rings are all custom designed specifically for the BBSHD
If and when you order this chainring you should be aware that the BBS02 and the BBSHD have completely different hole patterns and are NOT compatible. Make sure you get the chainring that matches your drive unit. It’s important to pick the right size chainring for the application you’re using it for. For most singletrack fatties, singletrack 29ers, cargo bikes or tandems I recommend the 30T or 36T. If you have a commuter 26″, fatty or 29er then the 42T is a good size. If you have a smaller wheeled folding bike, recumbent or a trike then the 48T or 52T is probably the way to go. This is assuming that you have a normal rear cassette that goes from about 11T-36T. If you are using a 3-speed IGH and have an odd sized cog then all bets are off. I like using the Nexus-3 with a 18T rear cog and a 30T front chainring fortrail ridingilriding, but it tops out at around 25mph. If you want high top speed then go with a bigger chainring, for more torque and wheelie popping power then go for the lower tooth chainrings.
You can see that the 36T lekkie has about the same offset as the 30T Luna ring. Nitrile gloves are for more than just prostate exams.
So would I recommend the 36T Lekkie Bling Ring? At this point, I have 3 other Lekkie Bling Rings and I’ve been very happy with every one of them so far. The crew at Lekkie does not seem to skimp on the material and the machining from what I can see is pretty solid. When there is more competition, that is always good for the consumer, so I openly welcome this new addition to the BBSHD chainring arena.
May the best ring win.
Ride On.
The 36T ring is much smaller than the crappy ass 46T steel stock ring, are you tired of hearing how much I hate the stock chainring yet?
ElectricBike-Blog.com 
Karl, I have found that I get a better chainline with bikes that have a 194mm rear dropout, than with bikes that have a 170mm rear dropout. Have you found that to be true as well, and is the bike shown a 170mm dropout bike? I’m looking at buying a “Boris The Brut Sprung” with a 15 or 17 inch frame, because I’m 5’6″. It has a 194mm rear dropout, and the 20 speed SRAM setup with the steel cassette. I have a BBSHD already with a 30t mini chainring and a Shark 13.5 Ah battery. How well do the Bluto forks handle drops when the temperature is over 40 degrees? I want to finally get an aluminum-framed bike that can handle some punishment.
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I’ve noticed the same thing about the 197 millimeter hubs. The Bluto doesn’t seem to have any problems as long as the temperature is above freezing.
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Which has the better chainline do you think, the KHS, or the Motobecane?
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I’ve been waiting for a 32! I emailed Lekie – they don’t have an option to purchase on their site yet. Will Eric offer them? I’d like to purchase two. Thanks, Matt Feder
>
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The 32 is coming.
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pretty cool seeing all this stuff develop in this young new market
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Hmmm. I’m going to have to be unaligned with your opinions about larger chainrings. If all you do is ride in the snow on a fat bike that’s great and a smaller 36t chainring will do for you. But for me, being a city commuter/suburbanite rider I prefer at least a 46t. Anything smaller just leaves you spinning in wind. I currently ride a 48t/16t freewheel setup. I might change to 48t/17 or a 50/18. But if I ride with an ebike I would most certainly go to a 50t/16t just for that little bit more going down hill or on the flats.
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My 26″ commuter has a 52T. No regrets. I thought I made it pretty clear in the article that 42T+ is the only way to go for a commuter. I think even a 46T is too small honestly. If you want to be able to pedal along on the downhills, I like the 52T.
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Ahhh. My apologies then. For me 50/16 is too big a ratio, considering the hills around my way. But, I might be convinced that something bigger than 50t would be appropriate with an eBike. My problem with eBikes is weight. I’m not a weight weenie, but I hate lugging around 40 50 and 60 lbs bikes as well. I’m waiting on the sub 30 lb., Sub $1k ebike to show up….Which doesn’t exist. The sub 30 lbs does, but it costs $3500 minimum.
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Dare I say, I like my 46T stock steel ninja frisbee chainrings? My two bbshd bikes, a fs 26″ and a 700 cc bike are mostly commuters. I want to peddle at 30mph, so the larger chainring works for me! And it will last forever. I even like the anti-fashion of it.
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I have 4 of them I would sell really cheap. Might even pay you to take them off my hands.
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Yeaaaahhhh this 36T is a really awesome size for monster torque and still getting you some speed!!
Thanks for linking my video… I serviced many bikes now with more than 8000km clocked on the Lekkie ring, the delivery guys destroy bikes and the Lekkie aluminium chainring is always looking like new with minimal wear!!
36T is starting to sell like crazy here specially for heavy commercial cargo bikes carrying ridiculous loads uphill. Yeaahhh everyone needs POWEEEEERRRR =]
*I’m always recommending your programming hacking article to everyone… I probably sent that link over thousand times already hahaha
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Yeah, so far the 36T seems ideal. The 30T was a little to little (but great price). Have you tried smaller crank arms? I went from the Bafangs 170mm arms to 114MM arms. On paper, it would seem that the smaller arms would make you crank faster. But.. your legs are moving LESS. This is a trick I learned from cross country bike riders. Try it.
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I think I should point out that the smaller crank arms are for being able to pedal along at speed. I use (mostly) my BBSHD in the woods.The smaller arms won’t help your motor much at low trail speeds(but pedaling along won’t hurt ). I like to be able to pedal at speed so it doesn’t look like I have a motorcycle. Which actually, I do. The definition of a electric motor is: MOTOR. A gas engine is ; ENGINE. Every hear of a Suzuki Enginecycle? Point this out to your lawyer.
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Before I saw that Luna was carrying new Bling Ring sizes, I ordered a 36T BBSHD chainring from “PreciAlps”. French company. Haven’t received it yet so I can’t say anything more. They sell 32T, 34T, 36T and 42T.
Know anything about these? They look a lot like Lekkie stuff from the website photos.
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Haven’t tried them, couldn’t say.
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I have everysize rings from precialps and i can only recommend those for everyone!Really good quality with fair price.
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I got my 36T from PreciAlps and I agree with Jani. Nice quality and good price. I do wish they’d put a little more offset on it though. Its same as MightyMini (about 8mm). As the 36T circumference allows the chain to ride just outside the reduction gear housing, it could handle 5mm more.
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Is it possible to buy 2 leekie blingrings for BBSHD (, ie 36T+42T) and with spacers use them for a dual setup??
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Not easily. There are people that have done that but they usually use the standard BCD104 adapters and then mount a normal chainring on both sides. Don’t shift the front derailleur while under load or the chain will come apart.
Karl
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is the offset on the new rings going to be same at the 42 T ?
Ive been using a leekie 42 for some time – and the chain line is -while no where near perfect- about as good as i have found.
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No, the 36T has slightly less offset and is farther away from the bike frame by a couple of mm.
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@Karl would the 36T be OK for a single speed setup (one chainring and one cog) on a Fat bike 26er (18″ medium) and bbshd plus the Sturmey Archer SX-RK3 with the stock 18T cog (its free lol). Or should I consider the 42T chainring? If not the 36T, then what should be the best combination? SA cogs, at least the cheap ones are 13-24T. I’m wondering if the 36T lekkie and a 24T SA cog would work for single track trails where I still have to access via a few miles of tarmac roads? Thankfully between my house and the trails is only 1.34 miles of asphalt. So most of the riding will be on single-track and old jeep forest service dirt roads. I’m not looking at racing but I do want to have some fun so maybe like 5-15mph max on the trails but at least 25-35mph max on the tarmac.
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I use a 30T chainring with a 15T cog for trailriding. If you want to build a commuter then you’ll want to go with the 42T and the 18T. There is no setup with the SA 3 speed that will work really well for trailriding and commuting, it just doesn’t have enough range.
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So your 30T mini and the 15T cog produce the exact same ratio as the 36T Lekkie and the stock 18T SA cog according to Sheldon Brown’s calculator. So my instinct was correct, the 36T plus the SA 18T would be just fine and give me 5.2mm of offset which is more than the 30T mighty mini gives. This should give an even better chainline according to this video of the same setup https://youtu.be/PzFzHrqsywU?t=2m9s
Karl, that video above is near identical to what I am trying to build, except like you, I do want more speed then his produces as he uses it completely off-trail. I am also going to get the 16T, 20T, 22T and 24T cogs just to tinker some and to satisfy my curiosity. But I hope that 5.2mm of offset on the 36T is enough on a Fat Bike with a 170mm hub. Do you know what the exact official offset is on the 30T? Thanks man, I am soooo happy that you replied after this much time from the article release. You made my day… Rod
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Oh wait, I was on the assumption that the Mini 30T had almost no offset whatsoever (lots of articles say so), but the Luna chart below is showing 8mm? And now it is showing 7.2mm for the Lekkie 36T when the Lekkie is 5.2mm? Now I am confused. My whole reasoning to go with the Lekkie 36T was because I wanted a few more mm of offset over the 30T mini, but it’s actually less offset??? Hmm, now I am suddenly going back to the drawing board, lol. Now I am liking the 30T even more if it’s really 8mm of offset, and even the Luna One.
Luna Chainring offset chart. Is this 7.2mm a typo when the specs clearly say 5.2mm? So the 30T is even better at 8mm? Thanks again Karl. https://electricbike.com/forum/forum/knowledge-base/motors-and-kits/bbshd/20359-bbshd-chainring-offset-guide
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