Wow, I'm glad I stumbled upon this topic while clicking around. I'm still in research mode, reading up on as much as I can, absorbing all the information out there. (besides, I'm in a country right now where cycling is a really bad idea, not doable at all, so it I'll have to wait until I move back to Europe, ...)
I very much like the second bike, the grey one. That's spot on for what I'm aiming for/looking at. A city bike with fenders, a commuter style bicycle. And essentially a bicycle first and foremost, and an e-bike second (in looks/feel). The reason I'm glad to find this topic is that without actual testing, and just going by the info available online, you're automatically ending up at mid-drive solutions while doing research. I had it in my mind that this was the inevitable conclusion. (even if I prefer the simple engineering elegance of a hub drive).
But it seems that the typical pro-/con- lists/arguments are just too coarse and simplified, and that the differences are more subtle and not as black and white (you know the type: mid drive=more torque, leveraging the gears, opposed the typical downsides of hub drives). The way they make it look is that hub drives are the way of the past, and that everyone is, and should be, jumping on the mid drive train. Especially now that mainstream bicycle manufacturers are using the bosch and yamaha mid drive systems in a well integrated package.
But now I'm thinking that it really depends on what you want out of it, and that hub drives could be totally fine. So basically, it reaffirms to me that hub drives are a valid approach, and it will definitely make my first e-bike easier to build.
A very nice build!
