Rear hub vs. mid drive motor for hilly terrain

mid motor hands down as it lets you use the bike gearing to help. Plus you don't need as big of a motor. like a 500 watt dapu mid drive will let you spin a about 12mph up a 14 degree grade. my 350 watt Bosch 14 is some work the dapu 16 is the same effort.
 
I can positively confirm: Mid-drive motor e-bikes are for hills. (I have both types of e-bikes). You would need a very powerful geared hub-motor to help you climbing as easily as the 250 W nominal Specialized/Brose 1.2s mid-drive motor of my Vado 5. Hub motors also tend to overheat during long climbs.
 
I can positively confirm: Mid-drive motor e-bikes are for hills. (I have both types of e-bikes). You would need a very powerful geared hub-motor to help you climbing as easily as the 250 W nominal Specialized/Brose 1.2s mid-drive motor of my Vado 5. Hub motors also tend to overheat during long climbs.
This.

Stefan, have you tried Stromer (St3/5)?
 
No, Johnny. I know about the Direct Drive hub motors and am not particularly interested in Stromers. If I had money to burn, that would be a Riese & Mueller. More important is, all class e-MTBs are mid-drive motor driven.
 
No, Johnny. I know about the Direct Drive hub motors and am not particularly interested in Stromers. If I had money to burn, that would be a Riese & Mueller. More important is, all class e-MTBs are mid-drive motor driven.

For emtb mid drive is the way to go, no doubt. I also do agree that Stromer's are way overpriced. However I have to say given a little speed to begin with they can climb very well (St3 was significantly more powerful and climbed better than my bosch cx). Again they are not for trails or any technical stuff.

Imo RM is as overpriced as Stromer(Their only appeal to me is their full suspension offerings with Rohloff).
 
Without denying or arguing the point that the mid drives can out climb a gear driven hub, all else being equal, I'm a fan of the hub drive for anything shy of off road use. That said, "better" will depend on your expectations. Throttle, after having one, is a must for this rider, and not always possible with a mid drive. Even if the mid drive does have one, to shift gears the throttle must be temporarily relaxed just prior and during the shift to prevent unnecessary drive train wear (kinda like pushing the clutch in on a manual shift car/truck). While fine with some drivers, thinking others might have an issue. My opinion, FWIW.
 
At this point the 250w designation is a joke. All current manufacturers mid drives are at least 500w+ worldwide. Given that even they are able to overheat given the right circumstances like an extended climb in high mode in a too high of a gear.

My DD front hub motors will climb stupid steep loose gravel roads easily in the proper gear range and keeping an eye on the thermostat reading, that also has a cut off temp.

I also prefer a mid drive for mtb use but feel that they are wanting compared to my hub setups for roadish use. That is why I have both.
 
At this point the 250w designation is a joke. All current manufacturers mid drives are at least 500w+ worldwide. Given that even they are able to overheat given the right circumstances like an extended climb in high mode in a too high of a gear.

My DD front hub motors will climb stupid steep loose gravel roads easily in the proper gear range and keeping an eye on the thermostat reading, that also has a cut off temp.

I also prefer a mid drive for mtb use but feel that they are wanting compared to my hub setups for roadish use. That is why I have both.
agree, i do love a hub motor for commuting!
 
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