New bike with weird front dropout - Need to fit front hub

[Electricmover]

So I have gotten hold of this used bike and are going to make something out of it. I have been a tinker for quite some time.

Anyway the dropout looks superweird and I think the previous owner have welded on some adjuster metal-plates there to make his previous wheel fit or something.

Anyway, the axle of the fronthub is a lot thinner. Now, could I just put this fronthub on there and go ride the bike or do they have to be exactly the same? Axle and dropout. If you look at the third video below, after clamping on the bolts hard on both sides, to make it stick to the bike, the wheel actually spins pretty well and looks like it might work problem-free. Do you think I could just put a torque arm on to there as an extra safety and then get out biking with this thing?

ow's Video - Nov 24, 2024

veed.io

ow's Video - Nov 24, 2024

veed.io

ow's Video - Nov 24, 2024

www.veed.io

 

[JRA]

Does look like someone grafted "torque" washers, I use the term torque loosely as they never work well, to the original fork dropouts. If you current motor's axle is thinner than the washers under load, as with a person aboard adding weight, the motor will spin and tear out the wiring most likely. You could solve all issues by getting a set of torque arms that are generally available in most ebike kit sites that put the axle load onto the fork directly instead of the dropouts.

 

[gromike]

Does the front wheel have a working brake? Does the wheel mount solidly into the modified dropouts.
Personally, I would replace the forks with something unmodified, and then do good brakes and torque arm.
An ebike is heavier and travels faster, so you're gambling with your life if the bike's structure, the front wheel forks and steering in particular, isn't up to snuff.

 

[Electricmover]

Does look like someone grafted "torque" washers, I use the term torque loosely as they never work well, to the original fork dropouts. If you current motor's axle is thinner than the washers under load, as with a person aboard adding weight, the motor will spin and tear out the wiring most likely. You could solve all issues by getting a set of torque arms that are generally available in most ebike kit sites that put the axle load onto the fork directly instead of the dropouts.

Hmm I have clamped it in with the bolts so I guess it is quite tight.

Do you mean an ordinary torque arm that just prevents the wheel from coming of if it spins out of the dropout? Kind of like this simple one here would work?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006063498630.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.5.5ea81802uepRkh

 

[Electricmover]

Does the front wheel have a working brake? Does the wheel mount solidly into the modified dropouts.
Personally, I would replace the forks with something unmodified, and then do good brakes and torque arm.
An ebike is heavier and travels faster, so you're gambling with your life if the bike's structure, the front wheel forks and steering in particular, isn't up to snuff.

It mounts solidly when clamped in towards the middle via the bolts. But as you can see from my second/middle video above it is smaller in diameter than the dropout holes. So it sits in place via sideways pressure. Maybe a torque arm would be enough to hold this together? So if it gets loose the wheel does not leave the bike. Just makes it dysfunctional for a while.

 

[Electricmover]

You could solve all issues by getting a set of torque arms that are generally available in most ebike kit sites that put the axle load onto the fork directly instead of the dropouts.

Is that what it does? I thought those things were only so that the wheel did not come off when extra torque was applied or something. Hmm good to know. So what they also do is to load the fork instead of the dropouts huh? ok

But then the hole in the torque arm is the one most important right? That they fit snugly around the axle of the wheel axle?