What type of ebike motor do i need?

id also say, that mid drive can supply more torque, as it has the whole drivetrain to work with

That being said, i'm not sure i'd want a big mid drive on gravel bike, perhaps a TQ or hub drive is more suited? more aesthetically pleasing? 

ive got a front hub motor on my Cargo bike. Im impressed by its effectiveness, and ease of retrofitting to a bike, and the one ive got is quite old (and big, even at a legal 250watt) BUT.

• Its a significant mass on the wheel, with a roller clutch in it and it rattles and clatters over the bumps, and you can really feel it on the handling. I feel weight on the middle of the bike would just feel like weight on the bike, like having too many water bottles.
• There are wires everywhere, Battery to headunit, to motor, to wheel speed sensor, to crank speed sensor. Youve done well if you can install one even vaguely tidily. 

I guess both of these would be mitigated somewhat by running a rear hub motor?

i would be looking at a lower power mid drive perhaps. One that doent require a headunit, so could be installed literally just motor, battery. (if such a thing exists)

Pace have gone down the hub route so maybe worth having a look at what's being said about that?

Press the words for the link. No idea how I did that!

If you are riding offroad at all, then mid drive all day long... You might be convinced right now, for whatever reason, that a hub drive motor will suffice, but longer term, your next bike, and the one after that, and the one after that etc etc... will all be mid drive...

Hub motors work well for applications where the dynamic mass of the bike isn't an important consideration, and where the rider doesn't need much in the way of torque... So on road, flattish terrain, bikes that aren't ridden in an especially sporty manner etc... As soon as you're in a situation where you'd notice the dynamic weight of the bike being so heavily rear biased, or you'd feel it lacking torque, you'll immediately wish you'd bought mid-drive...

Buy cheap, buy twice as they say!

Well I'd be riding it on and off road. So general gravel terain

The plan is to get back into riding after 18 months off, with an eventual transition back to normal bikes. If i get my fitness back I'd probably still keep it for big days out where I can rely on the motor at the end of the day,  but have it off most of the time.

I worry the mid mount will be ideal for a couple of months, then never get used. If it was an mtb it would be a no brainer, but for my purposes I'm torn

As someone who just had Mahle warranty a dead battery that was 8 months out of the 2 year warranty, I'm a fan of thier backup.

I don't like the one button iWoc controller. You learn morse code to use it.

Posted by: mboy

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As soon as you're in a situation where you'd notice the dynamic weight of the bike being so heavily rear biased, or you'd feel it lacking torque, you'll immediately wish you'd bought mid-drive...

And this is precisely why I didn't mind getting the child a proper pedal assist full sus. 

Given the way he was riding the hardtail with hub motor down some of the trails in Greno I could see he was beginning to learn some really good lines etc but all that weight in the rear was holding him back. 

Really is a big pendulum and doing anything even remotely tech is hard.

I'm hoping he'll come on a lot with the new one...

I have a hub motor road bike to me this is where they are ideal and flat gravel rides but anything remotely MTB I would go mid mounted simply for the balance as most have already said.

So the obrea denna is the firm favourite right now. Mid motor.  But if I use that will I actually build up fitness if I'm going on routes without huge amount of climbing? I'm assuming the motor woukd be on all the time because it'll be impossible to pedal otherwise? 

I also can't get over the fear of it packing up mid ride and me then struggling ro get home. Is that a genuine risk? I'm fairly confident I coukd get the hub based one home with my own legs!