Converting a Montague Boston?

[Dewey]

How did they make the front chainring work? Chain guide? More offset chainring?

The 10mm offset on the TSDZ2 isn't enough for the cassette's first two gears on my bike.

I recall they swapped out the rear derailleur on my first go round before I asked them to convert the bike to a Nexus 8 IGH, then for the second bike I bought a pedal bike that was already equipped with the Nexus 8 IGH and had them swap over the rear sprocket to work with the front chainring.

 

[indianajo]

Do you have any recommendations for the front hub install kit/parts? Looking to do this with the Montague Allston.

What do you weigh? What terrain do you live in? is there any cargo? How fast will be your average speed? Does the allston have a steel front fork? If not, does it have a standard size head tube so a steel front fork can be installed?
I like geared hubmotors from ebikeling.com and the MAC from lunabike and others. Quick acceleration, will start 330 lb gross on a 15% grade, pretty thrifty with watthours in hills. I cross 77 hills in 27 miles twice a week in summer. OTOH my average speed is 8 to 10 mph, so quick acceleration is more important to me than top speed. There is also california ebike but I don't know their URL.
If you want to go a lot faster, or have long steep grades as beach to sierra routes in California, instead you want a direct drive hub motor. they don't accelerate very fast, but they really come on at 15 to 28 mph. They also don't burn the windings on steep grades that drag the bike down to 6 mph for >25 minutes. Geared hub motors will burn on long steep grades.
BTW I ride front hub motor exclusively, except 4 months I had a rear dd hub. Rear DD motor weighed the back of the bike down a lot when I was dragging it over the steps of the garage. Made the bike fall over more often when I was loading groceries in the panniers, too. I find the front hub motor much more balanced, but don't try to ride it on ice, wet rock or steel, or wet smooth wood bridge decks. DD hub motor used about 15% more watthours on my hilly route, than the Mac12 geared hubmotor I have now. Ebikeling motor was in the middle on watthours used.
I made the torque arms out of scrap bed frame steel - high carbon. The clamp is box fan frame folded & drilled, much stronger than hose clamps. I caged the battery in aluminum angle, and the custom design has thwarted 2 thieves that removed some screws while I was shopping (the wrong ones). I hung the controller off the seatpost 1st time with spam can lid. Kept controller out of the rain. The Mac controller the wires were too short to reach under the seat, so I hung that under the battery mount on the front. One angle aluminum required to do that. I have the motor axle double nutted so the nuts won't loosen and allow it to walk or twist in the fork.

 

[nate_lynch]

Thanks for all the questions @indianajo and the advice @Timpo !

I'm 150 lbs, riding on mostly flat, urban paved terrain, occasional gravel roads. Average speed 20 mph or less. Allston has a chromoly fork, am unsure on size but believe if's standard? It sounds like I definitely should stick to the geared hub motor, and I'll definitely check out ebikeling.com, the MAC and GRIN technologies.

One thing I'm worried about since I'm not very familiar with the installation/safety process: the front hub is unique (this video breaks it down). I'm not sure if this makes it more difficult/impossible to install the hub motor? And one of the advantages of this bike is that it's easy to take the front wheel off since the rest of the bike folds. Wires aside, is that going to be made impossible/difficult with one of the installs above?

 

[indianajo]

Getting the motor in the front fork is no problem. Well, on the Huffy savannah, I had to grind the slot out a little. Finding the 2 extra nuts to keep the motor still is waaaay harder. And you have to take the connector off & replace, if it is the rectangular white one.
Getting the crank off to install a PAS pickup may be impossible. I have 6 prof grade industrial pullers, and I never managed to get one off. I use the throttle only on my rig. Since my bike has geared hub, it doesn't drag power off. I ride power off 80% of the time, reserving power for hills after the 60th and for days with a 25 mph headwind that drug me down to 5 mph in 2018 (never again).
Grin are great people, and the customs people are not. Some poster had his cables stuck in Memphis for 14 weeks while he & grin sent boatloads of paperwork. If you send parts back because they are wrong or defective, you fill out the customs paperwork. You were warned.

In addition, check out GMAC motor by Grin Technologies.
It's a MAC motor modified by Grin.

The gmac is a motor modified to drag as badly as a middrive when the power is off. Great if you are never going to ride unpowered, like when the rain takes your throttle out. I'm age 70, I need the exercise of pedaling unpowered, but no more 6 hour 27 miles days like September 2018. Not coming home when the wind is high is not an option when I'm out of groceries or money, or I have a dentist appointment in town.

 

[JES2020]

Getting the motor in the front fork is no problem. Well, on the Huffy savannah, I had to grind the slot out a little. Finding the 2 extra nuts to keep the motor still is waaaay harder. And you have to take the connector off & replace, if it is the rectangular white one.
Getting the crank off to install a PAS pickup may be impossible. I have 6 prof grade industrial pullers, and I never managed to get one off. I use the throttle only on my rig. Since my bike has geared hub, it doesn't drag power off. I ride power off 80% of the time, reserving power for hills after the 60th and for days with a 25 mph headwind that drug me down to 5 mph in 2018 (never again).
Grin are great people, and the customs people are not. Some poster had his cables stuck in Memphis for 14 weeks while he & grin sent boatloads of paperwork. If you send parts back because they are wrong or defective, you fill out the customs paperwork. You were warned.

The gmac is a motor modified to drag as badly as a middrive when the power is off. Great if you are never going to ride unpowered, like when the rain takes your throttle out. I'm age 70, I need the exercise of pedaling unpowered, but no more 6 hour 27 miles days like September 2018. Not coming home when the wind is high is not an option when I'm out of groceries or money, or I have a dentist appointment in town.

Do you have any recommendations for the front hub install kit/parts? Looking to do this with the Montague Allston.

Sorry for the late reply, didn't get any notification for some reason. I see you have gotten a lot of good advice already.
Just a pointer for front wheel hub, you absolutely MUST install at least one torque bar as the front forks are much weaker than the rear.
As far as PAS sensors, go you can avoid having to hassle with removing the crank by getting a two piece sensor see link below.

Amazon.com : Xigeapg Mountain Bike Modified Speed Sensor 12 Magnets PAS Pedal Assist Sensor for Imortor Booster : Sports & Outdoors

Amazon.com : Xigeapg Mountain Bike Modified Speed Sensor 12 Magnets PAS Pedal Assist Sensor for Imortor Booster : Sports & Outdoors

www.amazon.com

Some modification may be necessary but not complicated, IE you may have to sand or epoxy the magnet ring for proper fit.
Good luck
JES

 

[Art Deco]

The Montague Boston is a single speed so no worries about the drivetrain. Mid-drive offers best balance and IMO is the way to go for Montague folders. OP could choose the Tongsheng TSDZ2 motor if he wants a torque sensor

The TSDZ2 sounds interesting. But I would want gearing for hills, too.

 

[Art Deco]

Grin All Axle is direct drive, just so you know, if that matters to you.

Also do you want to keep your quick release? or will you be upgrading to thru axle fork for more safety?
I don't know that skinny shaft (quick release) can handle rotational torque & added weight.. I don't know if it's designed for that.

Do you want to retain quick release function for front wheel?
If that's the case, forget about the front hub motor.
You will need to install torque arm, and you will require tools to take off your front wheel.

I'd recommend going mid-drive, if quick release function is important to you.

This. I'm wondering about installing a QR on a middrive that came with thru axles, and don't really want to give up the thru axel . Other bikers like them.

 

[Dewey]

The TSDZ2 sounds interesting. But I would want gearing for hills, too.

Yes, the Paratrooper model is more popular for conversion because it has both a suspension fork and 3x8 gearing that with a TSDZ2 could translate into 1x8 or 2x8 with that motors dual chainring option.

 

[EMGX]

This. I'm wondering about installing a QR on a middrive that came with thru axles, and don't really want to give up the thru axel . Other bikers like them.

There are adapters to allow thru axle hubs to be used in QR dropouts but I don't think that they could work on a bike with thru axle dropouts. I'm interested to know if that's incorrect though.
The Montague looks like a great platform for a TSDZ2 installation.
Within the past couple months I've done a rear wheel geared hub motor installation and a front wheel geared hub installation. Tomorrow another TSDZ2 scheduled to arrive for installation on a Walmart Schwinn Hybrid bike that I've made several changes to over the years, it is a great bike that I have toured some on but would have had more fun with assist for hills/wind. Overall I prefer the mid drive installation and associated benefits it provides over the hub motors. Maybe my experience with the Schwinn will change that perception but I doubt it, will see. I have 34t and 44t 110BCD spare chainrings in the parts bin and will check the chainline to see if a dual front sprocket will work with this bike, doesn't seem likely though.