Toughest, gnarliest, strongest... 26" wheel?

[LeftieBiker]

I recently bought a 26" hubmotor/wheel kit (Das Kit) from an Ebay seller. When it arrived I put it in the garage for 'quarantine' for a few days. Since the box was in good shape I didn't examine it closely. I looked at it yesterday, and happened to see that the dimensions of the box are, at the largest, 24" x 24". I assume that what is in there is actually a 20" wheel kit. My intent is to send it back, but oddly, Ebay has deleted the listing! If I end up stuck with it, who makes a good, strong, affordable 26" wheel suitable for a moderately heavy e-bike? Price is more a consideration than weight of the wheel. I'd also have to buy spokes, and then have a bike shop re-lace the hubmotor to the kit. Why go to all that effort and expense? It's the same motor my Magnum Metro has, and that one is too damned noisy now for me to enjoy rides in warm weather. Even if this ends up costing me $500 (the kit was $299) it's cheaper than getting a whole new bike and then trying to unload this one. Plus, I've already bought a new freecassette, brake rotor, and tire.

 

[Balmorhea]

A 26 inch bicycle wheel has an outside diameter of not more than 22.5 inches before the tire is mounted. The diameter of the tire bead is 559mm, or 22”.

 

[Buckow]

If you want to use Mtb parts, these are some of the options I can recommend.
Cush Core will help a lot protecting the rim. https://www.cushcore.com/kit-specs/
These are very solid rims. https://www.dtswiss.com/en/products/rims/mtb/free-ride/fr-560

 

[Balmorhea]

These are very solid rims. https://www.dtswiss.com/en/products/rims/mtb/free-ride/fr-560

570 grams? I’m sure they’re fine for the mass of metal in them, but that’s only so much metal. About the same as Rhyno Lite (565g claimed), but less than Alex DM24 (660g claimed). Probably stiffer than either one, but much less able to withstand spoke tension than DM24.

 

[LeftieBiker]

A 26 inch bicycle wheel has an outside diameter of not more than 22.5 inches before the tire is mounted. The diameter of the tire bead is 559mm, or 22”.

Heh! I thought of that possibility, but then I thought "No - they wouldn't do that. Tires are different heights! It would result in chaos!" I'll be damned. Thanks. Now I've looked like a fool once again, but hopefully it will save me lots of time and money.

 

[LeftieBiker]

If you want to use Mtb parts, these are some of the options I can recommend.
Cush Core will help a lot protecting the rim. https://www.cushcore.com/kit-specs/
These are very solid rims. https://www.dtswiss.com/en/products/rims/mtb/free-ride/fr-560

Thanks. If the Das Kit wheel turns out to be junk I'll keep these in mind.

 

[ZeroEm]

"looked like a fool" no fools here only students of fun!

 

[markz]

What is the size of the tire 17 x ?? decimal "#.##" or fractional "##/##"
What tires are you using (brand/model) ?

edit

Nov 05, 2011

These days

Put a motorcycle rim, spokes, and tire on it and be done with your problems. Then you'll even get to use proper tires that have to meet DOT testing standards instead of the crap bike stuff. FWIW my 17" rims end up as 24" diameter wheels with the street tire I have, so you may be looking for 18" rims but so much is dependent on the tire you mount. While some weight weenies may whine, you'll notice that not a single member ever suggested the opposite (going back to crap unrated, untested, and generally more expensive bicycle rims and tires) after running a proper wheel.

Ebikes are not bicycles, and the sooner people stop treating them as bicycles, the faster ebikes will advance.

 

[John in CR]

What is the size of the tire 17 x ?? decimal "#.##" or fractional "##/##"
What tires are you using (brand/model) ?

edit

Nov 05, 2011

These days

Put a motorcycle rim, spokes, and tire on it and be done with your problems. Then you'll even get to use proper tires that have to meet DOT testing standards instead of the crap bike stuff. FWIW my 17" rims end up as 24" diameter wheels with the street tire I have, so you may be looking for 18" rims but so much is dependent on the tire you mount. While some weight weenies may whine, you'll notice that not a single member ever suggested the opposite (going back to crap unrated, untested, and generally more expensive bicycle rims and tires) after running a proper wheel.

Ebikes are not bicycles, and the sooner people stop treating them as bicycles, the faster ebikes will advance.

These days??? It hasn't changed in decades and is quite simple. https://www.denniskirk.com/learn/tire-sizes-explained

Note however that many of the smaller lighter tires don't give the standardized sizing info and instead use something like 17 X 3.0, meaning a 17" rim and 3" tire which can vary in the actual true width and aspect ratio, though 17" and 3" wide with a 17" + 2x3" for a total OD of the wheel of 23" will be fairly close.