[Closed] Which electric conversion front wheel?

Why front wheel? its the worst way to convert IMO

Hi TJ - to be fair we have no expertise here, but we had thought front wheel would be easiest and quickest conversion? Can you elaborate on why it's a bad idea, and what your recommendation would be?

Hi

I’ve been investigating conversions for the good lady’s bike.

Below was the one I thought was best. (Price, uk dealer, possibility of warranty, what the product did, ability to answer the phone, reply to emails etc) and they had a good range of batteries.

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?tskit

Just to be clear I have not bought or tried the kit (it’s a post lockdown trip for a demo as I would want to ‘feel’ how good it is before buying) but i felt putting a hub motor would be lighter and (easier to swap out) and I much prefer the idea of the torque sensing drive ( as opposed to throttles and brake sensors).They did reply to my long email with many questions and they gave clear, and what I thought to be good answers.

Sadly ;<) I’m inclined to agree with TJ and was going to do the rear hub.

This is based around no hub motor experience whatsoever but as she rides gentle offroad(blue) I felt that having a lighter front end was better than a heavy front end as ime if you can get the front wheel over you’ll probably get over, if it digs in it’s not good news(also the battery’s I looked at are water bottle mount ones so at the front on her bike), so extra weight to front and rear = balance (*this might not be accurate) but poss better than two weights at front.

If you do go ahead, good luck, and a post about what you used, how it went etc would be great.

Cheers

our Yuba Longtail cargo bike has a front wheel motor, a giant "8FUN" (Bafang?) lump. i was a bit wary of it at first, but for our use case its been faultless.

We are riding around town on a bike that does not really want to hustle along at any great speed, on 26" x 1.9" slicks, but the only indication ive had of the wheel spinning was on compacted snow.

Its a geared motor, with a built in freewheel mechanism/clutch, so with the motor off, a flat battery, or in excess of 15mph ish, its no different to a normal bike, although the whole assembly must weight 5-10kg.

When you drop off curbs, or take rougher tracks, you can hear the freewheel clutch rattling around in the hub, i wouldnt put one on a mountain bike, but then i woudlnt put a rear hub motor on an MTB either, having the weight on either end would be horrible.

Bafang do make a very popular (and reportedly very good), mid drive conversion for a regular bottom bracket.

If i was buying again i would go with one of those, though i have no direct experience of them myself.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Electric-Bafang-Drive-Lithium-Battery/dp/B00XV6GKKY

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bafang-Mid-Drive-Conversion-built-Controller/dp/B01GCIZ1U2

Front wheel is the easiest to covert but the worst to ride IMO. Its pulls the bike, thus you can get traction issues and it makes it odd going round corners. It will not have torque sensing unless you put in a torque sensing BB which is expensive and you still need cadence sensors fitted to the chainring and probably brake lever cutouts

Rear wheel mounts are better because the drive is more natural and can have torque sensing built it but not usually with cheaper kits

BB mount with torque sensing like my tongsheng are best.

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tongsheng-tsdz2-ebike-kit/

torque sensing makes it much more natural to ride as the harder you pedal the harder the motor works. ( the bafeng does not have this and is heavier/ bulkier) BB mount means the motor drive goes thru the gears which make climbing hills at low speed much better as the motor is in its best working range more. the tongsheng also allows you to alter the sensitivity of the torque sensing

Depending on the disability ( i am assuming one) of the individual cadence sensing may make more sense as the motor just puts out the power yo have it set to no matter how hard yo turn the pedals but it requires you to alter the power settings on the go ie turn it up for hills

The tongsheng is also the lightest I think of all kits

If yo are anywhere near edinburgh you are welcome to see my kit to try it out

bafang mid drive on a cargo bike here which regularly tows a kiddy trailer

its coped admirably and hasnt failed yet - its been in there 5 years now and is on its second battery

I've been umming and ahhing this too.

My bike isn't suitable for either mid (step-through frame with an oversized downtube). Or rear-drive (hub geared). I'd be annoyed to lose the dynamo but it's the least bad option as lights would just be powered off the battery instead.

It's that or find a new frame/bike,

I have no experience here, except that I got overtaken on my Silly Commuter Race yesterday by an overweight lady on an old BSO. I got very confused when I could see (from behind) neither a battery or a hub motor.

Imagine my relief when it finally clicked and I spotted that huge front hub.

tinas - you might well be able to fit a midmount to your bike - I got it on my tandem with a horizontal boom tube that in about 4" across ( just with a bit of fiddling / grinding)

tinas – you might well be able to fit a midmount to your bike – I got it on my tandem with a horizontal boom tube that in about 4″ across ( just with a bit of fiddling / grinding)

There's a plate gusset under the downtube/BB on the OFO so there isn't clearance for the motor part unfortunately. Otherwise, it would have made it the ultimate (cheap) utility/cargo bike.

I'm keeping an eye out for something like an old 26" slot dropout inbred. It'd lose the step-through practicality but solve the rest of the issues.