Front vs. rear hub motor

Somewhere on this site is a discussion on the pros and cons of front hub motor vs. rear hub motor; however, I can't find it. I am planning to install a hub motor on a GT Avalanche that I use in the winter with wide rims and wide studded tires. Thoughts are that with a front motor, a person will have 2-wheel drive. Anyone have experience or viewpoint on this?

It's in FAQ url lists. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=26625

FWIW, back when I was doing the research to build my bike. It didn't take long, reading the horror stories of front hub failures, to decide if a failure was to ever happen, better it be on the back hub. Broken drop outs, Broken or bent forks, Cracked head tubes, Various forms of hub seizing caused from mechanical and electrical failures, the list goes on. The point is, if any of these things happen with a front hub, wile you are at any kind of speed, it's not going to end well. If it happens on a rear motor, your rear tire locks up and at worst you might slide and lay the bike down. Bicycles are simply not designed to withstand the forces imparted on their frames and forks from a front mounted motor.

Those points about the stresses and catostrophic failures with the motor foward are definitely points worthy of consideration. I am curious if those situations occurred with the 1,000 watt/60v motors. I am looking at a geared 350+ watt, 36v amped electric motor. I am not interested in these 64 year young bones traveling much faster than 20 mph on a bicycle.

With a geared drive motor there are more moving parts to break. It doesn't take copious amounts of power for a failure to happen. As I recently found out, just a little bit of water on your motor's phase wire plugs =s instant regen. I wasn't even going 2mph when it did it. The bike dumped me as I was in the middle of getting off of it, but had it been a front drive motor and had I been at speed the accident would have been much much worse.

The fact is, most if not all hub motors in regular use are made in China. China isn't well known for having great quality control. Is it worth the risk?

another point is having the front hub wash out on you under power...it will only happen once then you will wish you got a rear
when the rear slips it is natural to correct when the front washes out it happens so fast

Definitely rear motor for a snow or ice bike. You'll do better to have good traction on the powered wheel. On loose dirt a front hub starts to slip because of less weight on it than a rear wheel. I can only imagine how bad it would be on a plowed road in winter. You can of course learn to enjoy the slippage, but sliding the rear is much safer and eaiser.

Dry pavement, I still love a front hub. Got at least 7000 miles of riding on one, likely more. But on dirt it's rear hub all the way baby.

i have a 500watt front hub with shock suspension and no problems as long as you not turning at full throttle....only an idiot would do that....keep it under 20mph and you should be fine.

Build a bike like you would choose a horse. We like them with a powerful hind and light front. Those that are heavy on the front, are unfit for riding.

MadRhino said:

Those that are heavy on the front, are unfit for riding.

Click to expand...

More cushion for the pushin' 8)

MadRhino said:

Build a bike like you would choose a horse. We like them with a powerful hind and light front. Those that are heavy on the front, are unfit for riding.

Click to expand...

My front-heavy bike with a front hub motor can carry your rear-heavy one, but the reverse is not true. It's fit for riding and for day to day living.

Chalo said:

MadRhino said:

Build a bike like you would choose a horse. We like them with a powerful hind and light front. Those that are heavy on the front, are unfit for riding.

Click to expand...

My front-heavy bike with a front hub motor can carry your rear-heavy one, but the reverse is not true. It's fit for riding and for day to day living.

Click to expand...

Is it not the case that it depends on where you are carrying it?

markz said:

Chalo said:

MadRhino said:

Build a bike like you would choose a horse. We like them with a powerful hind and light front. Those that are heavy on the front, are unfit for riding.

Click to expand...

My front-heavy bike with a front hub motor can carry your rear-heavy one, but the reverse is not true. It's fit for riding and for day to day living.

Click to expand...

Is it not the case that it depends on where you are carrying it?

Click to expand...

My bike can tote an e-MTB to the mechanic, the pawn shop, or the metal recycler with equal ease!

Well, if I had it to do all over again, I would have gone with a rear hub motor. As it stands, I am over 16000 miles on my front hub motor, a generic hub motor from yescomusa. However, I am on my third frame and 4th fork. I should be on my 5th fork except that I have been riding on a front alloy fork with a cracked dropout for 14 months now. My low cost front fork dropouts are so good I don't even need to buy a new fork. (And for that northern California snob, even Grin has been developing inside the dropout torque arms. )

Here is the skinny on front hub DD motors, if you use a front hub motor on a mountain bike frame.

I used a non-suspension fork for months, but every time I hit a pot hole at speed it felt like bomb is exploding underneath me. I have run 2.5 inch tires with that steel fork and the big tire didn't help much. I went to a suspension fork and it helped a lot. (The explosions became big bumps instead because the springs kind of helped). However the motor keeps extending the suspension fork instead of letting the fork compress so suspension forks are not the panacea. And, before I could even use the motor on a suspension fork, I had to customize the fork dropout width to make the motor axle fit in a perfect line. It has to fit perfectly so the dropouts don't crack apart, which they might do anyway on a very cold nights ride. ....(Are you great with a file to make a perfect dropout adjustment?) It can be done, just don't think it is going to be fast. You got to go slow to make it perfect.

Even then, the motor is heavy and it affects the ride. It takes a bit of experience to keep from washing out on fast turns in slick conditions....Not to mention those unexpected situations where the wheel can wash out.

On the other hand, it might be more efficient because it is constantly pulling. And, you never have to worry about chain and sprocket issues.

I would say this. If you already have a big beach cruiser with big tires and want to have a slow ebike that is easy to install on your steel front forks, then a front hub motor is fine. If you want speed and handling and a suspension fork, go with a rear hub motor.

One of the things that tends to happen with some shock forks is they wear out faster from the constant pulling of the front motor. They tend to get sticky, and when you see a bump coming you have to get off the throttle for the shock to work.

Chalo said:

MadRhino said:

Build a bike like you would choose a horse. We like them with a powerful hind and light front. Those that are heavy on the front, are unfit for riding.

Click to expand...

My front-heavy bike with a front hub motor can carry your rear-heavy one, but the reverse is not true. It's fit for riding and for day to day living.

Click to expand...

Fit for riding doesn’t mean the same thing for everyone obviously. I know some who are happy riding a carriage horse.

Rear.