New guy from San Diego

[Zyzyx]

Hey guys, Planing my first e-bike build right now and wanted your opinion! I will be using my bike for my commute to work and back and there is one large hill that i must climb on the way. I was originally going to go with a hub motor but Im worried that it wouldn't handle the hill ( I usually have to get off and walk it up and Im in fairly good shape, dont know the grade). Any thoughts on a mid drive from luna cycles or should the hub motor be able to handle it? Any advice would be appreciated!

[OptimusPrime]

Depends on the hub motor. This one will do the trick more smoothly, more reliably, more quietly, and with less drama than a mid drive.
http://lunacycle.com/hot-new/golden-...-complete-kit/

That said, it will be heavier and it will be harder to change a flat tire.

[Francis Focar]

This page is about hot rodding e bikes, but it is interesting, and has a lot of usefull information. https://www.electricbike.com/modified-hub-motor

[Zyzyx]

Sounds like a plan! I see it has options for a gear cassette and "torque arm". Do you know off hand what the torque arm would be used for? Or any thing else I should look out for before buying?

[LI-ghtcycle]

Hub motors aren't bad at all for climbing hills, however, on average since they only have "one speed" you end up using more power when it's not efficient (many of the smaller less expensive hub motors work best at wide open throttle (WOT) but if you gear for the hill, you're also going to loose some top speed on the flat.

Mid-Drives such as the Bafang BBSXX motors are the best plug & play if you don't mind the effort it takes to install one, just remember you can go fast OR far, not both!

And when using a mid drive, to keep it happy and efficient, if it's hard to pedal, it will be hard on the motor/gears too, so just shift down for where you can pedal more at a "spin" with lower effort than when you have to stand on the pedals climbing a hill slow for example.

I use a DD (direct drive, no gears) hub motor AS a mid-drive on a stretched cruiser, and it's very effective and efficient, but that is a very large hub motor (Cromotor) and I built it to both carry a heavy trailer of 150lbs & go fast at a race track when I swap in a higher voltage battery.

I ride it to work with bike & rider I toping out at 444lbs gross,

your needs might be served with a much smaller motor if you choose to go this route, but honestly it's really hard to beat a BBS02 750w Bafang for the entry level builder, if you can build up a bike from a frame, you can most likely also install & maintain a Bafang BBSXX motor kit.

The BBSHD is going to be a better choice if you plan on really getting speed and/or climbing lots of steep hills fast.

The BBS02 is less powerful, and won't be as durable at if you're going to go 25MPH+ on a regular basis, but if you don't mind sticking to bicycle speeds most of the time at under 20 MPH, then it would work fine.

That said, for short bursts, I have had a BBS02 going 28 MPH no problem! Just not something I would do on a regular basis unless I had a larger battery capacity (close to something like a 52v 15+ah) & the BBSHD would take that kind of riding a lot better.

[Zyzyx]

Nevermind on the torque arm question I think I found the answer. Thank you guys for your responses I have some thinking to do!

One more question, Pros and Cons for front hub vs rear hub? Thanks again!

[g725s]

Nevermind on the torque arm question I think I found the answer. Thank you guys for your responses I have some thinking to do!

One more question, Pros and Cons for front hub vs rear hub? Thanks again!

For hill climbing I would think the rear wheel because of weight is greater on the real wheel, so more secure contact with the pavement.

And that way you could also do a wheelie all the way up the hill. (what no wheelie emoticon?)

In fact, this got me thinking to how much fun you can have doing electrified wheelies:

Hands down a rear hub or mid drive!

[LI-ghtcycle]

For hill climbing I would think the rear wheel because of weight is greater on the real wheel, so more secure contact with the pavement.

And that way you could also do a wheelie all the way up the hill. (what no wheelie emoticon?)

In fact, this got me thinking to how much fun you can have doing electrified wheelies:

Hands down a rear hub or mid drive!

+1

I personally have not used a front hub motor, but I hear from people who do, especially climbing hills that the less weight that is one the front can be a problem, and the tire can have a tendency to spin because of less traction depending on the steepness of the hill.

For an entry level first time build, the rear DD hub motor is possibly the simplest and most cost effective (minimum entry level price) e-bike going.

That said, I would still choose a mid-drive personally since in the end you generally find out that spending more $$$ generally at the beginning pays off in the end.

I have a customer that had us convert a Magna bicycle for her, with a DD rear hub, and she is happy with it, however she now realizes with all the up-grades she has had to make to the lower-end bicycle that she started with, in the end, she could have had a mid-drive that is better balanced (less prone to wanting to fall over due to the increased weight in the rear wheel, necessitating a heavier duty double leg kickstand, avoid the aluminum ones since they start to bend in about 3 - 6 months ), lighter weight over all, and more efficient (more miles of range at a higher average speed) bike for the same $$$. And she needs a spare battery as a hub motor generally limits your range considerably compared to a mid-drive.

If you have the opportunity, test ride some bikes locally to see the differences, I started with a Amped Bikes DD rear hub (same as 9c 9 x 7 that I built for my father to use) and as far as I know, it is still running some 7+ years later in the hands of someone else locally.

However, unless you are gentle with the throttle and not running in too high of gear, generally speaking, any geared motor (hub or mid-drive) will still require more care than a DD hub.

My father had a mini-stroke almost 10 years ago, and cannot ride with a geared hub motor because he is unable to start the bike with his legs first and THEN add motor power (he has balance issues along with other difficulties resulting from a serious crash on his bicycle caused by a mini-stroke) and went through a couple Amped Bikes 350 Watt rear geared hub motors before realizing he needed to go back to a DD hub.

He also has difficulty shifting gears on a bike, so for him, the solid " Kalashnikov Rifle" like dependability of a DD rear hub motor just makes sense. I would hesitate to get him using a BBSXX system simply because his head injury prevents him from making as informed of decisions on such things as a proper gear selection for the speed/load he is wanting, yet he still rides about 6 miles daily and loves it! (he rides mostly on the flat, we do have some serious hills here in Oregon City, but he rarely changes his route, I have been encouraging him to go on short trips to places like the barber shop to use more gears and climb about 3/4 of the 2 mile long hill here that averages 5 - 7% grade)

So, lots of choices, bottom line, your needs would probably be best served by test riding a few different types of E-Bike and seeing what you need and go from there. : )

[SDharlie]

Hey guys, Planing my first e-bike build right now and wanted your opinion! I will be using my bike for my commute to work and back and there is one large hill that i must climb on the way. I was originally going to go with a hub motor but Im worried that it wouldn't handle the hill ( I usually have to get off and walk it up and Im in fairly good shape, dont know the grade). Any thoughts on a mid drive from luna cycles or should the hub motor be able to handle it? Any advice would be appreciated!

How you doing. San Diego here too. I have 4 bikes. 2 with hub motors and 2 with BBSHD 1000W mid drives. I would say for hills the mid drive is the way to go. Ive burned out too many hub motors and they are not easy to repair. The BBSHD can be taken apart and broken parts replaced. You are welcome to come over and test ride all of my 4 bikes. Checkout this video where I ride up the hill from Blacks Beach - probably the steepest hill in San Diego - no peddling and my easy gear was slipping so I had to use the 2nd easiest gear. Keep in mind my bike is super heavy and I had a cooler and umbrella

[Zyzyx]

How you doing. San Diego here too. I have 4 bikes. 2 with hub motors and 2 with BBSHD 1000W mid drives. I would say for hills the mid drive is the way to go. Ive burned out too many hub motors and they are not easy to repair. The BBSHD can be taken apart and broken parts replaced. You are welcome to come over and test ride all of my 4 bikes. Checkout this video where I ride up the hill from Blacks Beach - probably the steepest hill in San Diego - no peddling and my easy gear was slipping so I had to use the 2nd easiest gear. Keep in mind my bike is super heavy and I had a cooler and umbrella

Thank you all for the replies! I already ordered the rear hub motor but I think it will do fine for my commute (I dont think its quite a steep as blacks beach lol) and I would love to come by sometime to try out the mid drives. Now I just have to wait for the kit to get here, Ill try to post pictures of the build once its done!