I have replaced my stock Rad Runner motor, controller and display, and have the old supposed 750 watt Bafang (it is not 750, at least compared to the replacement motor) motor available. Any suggestions on installing it on the front wheel, for a two wheel drive bike? Would I need a separate controller and throttle and battery, or could it be integrated in with the current setup? I ride on the beach a lot, and the extra "umph" would be nice in soft sand and such?
Front wheel drive
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FlatSix911
Well-Known Member
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- USA
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- Silicon Valley
Go with a dual drive if you want to rock soft sand and snow... there is no substitute for AWD.
AHicks
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Snow Bird - Summer S.E. Michigan, Winter Gulf Coast North Central Fl.
My first question would be will it even fit? (I don't think so)
Second issue maybe, would be for the battery. That thing is only going to be able to supply about 20a continuous, and the hot rod kit you've installed is able to dump most of that into the rear motor. Where would the power for a second motor come from?
Regarding the need for a second controller (and throttle) I think I would want one. That would allow the bike to be ridden with power to the rear wheel only -OR- both at the same time. I don't think you would want to run both motors on a single (35a max?) controller even if you were able. You always want to keep some extra "headroom" with your controller capacity to prevent it from being an amperage bottleneck, and prevent it from overheating.
Edit: another thought. Generally suspension forks don't work out well (not for long anyway) with front wheel drive kits. Solid forks a much better plan.
Second issue maybe, would be for the battery. That thing is only going to be able to supply about 20a continuous, and the hot rod kit you've installed is able to dump most of that into the rear motor. Where would the power for a second motor come from?
Regarding the need for a second controller (and throttle) I think I would want one. That would allow the bike to be ridden with power to the rear wheel only -OR- both at the same time. I don't think you would want to run both motors on a single (35a max?) controller even if you were able. You always want to keep some extra "headroom" with your controller capacity to prevent it from being an amperage bottleneck, and prevent it from overheating.
Edit: another thought. Generally suspension forks don't work out well (not for long anyway) with front wheel drive kits. Solid forks a much better plan.
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Sierratim
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- Region
- USA
- City
- Nevada City, CA & Paradise Valley, AZ
For my first DIY ebike conversion I went with front wheel drive. I changed our the inexpensive shocks for classic CroMoly forks for strength. I also changed out the headset bearings for BMX downhill bearings, again for more strength. I was volunteering at the local Bicycle Kitchen back then so I was lucky to have access to advise from a number of perspectives and to inexpensive parts.
JRA
Well-Known Member
Go with a dual drive if you want to rock soft sand and snow... there is no substitute for AWD.
But isn't having a front hub motor and your input into the rear wheel via the drive train effectively AWD? At least that is how it works for me on my front hub bikes.
Sierratim
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Nevada City, CA & Paradise Valley, AZ
BTW - The prebuilt front wheel hub motors I used came with double walled rims fitted with spoke eyelets and heavy gauge spokes (13ga I believe). One was mis-laced having spokes that blocked access to the valve stem hole. Quite a job relacing with the heavy gauge shorter spokes, but the wheels did last the life of the battery packs so no problems. I think a lighter front wheel build would have had problems with structural integrity. I'd suggest you look into the same upgrades for your front wheel.
Excellent! Thanks for all of the suggestions and info!
JRA
Well-Known Member
I run my Grin All Axle, 4.0kg DD, using 14ga. Sapim Strong spokes 1x and 32h/i23 WTB rims and have had 0 issues in a couple thousand miles with structural integrity.
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