firstlight
New member
- Local time
- 9:14 AM
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2022
- Messages
- 2
Long story short I've got a ride1up limited that I've had for 6 months and put over 1500 miles on, and it is great as a commuter bike and for smooth easy trails, but I want something more suitable for actual mountain biking trails to have ready for next spring. I have burned out a couple controllers and motor cables on the limited because the wiring and controller are very undersized for what the motor can do in my opinion and has basically zero ventilation being inside the frame. I can't resist going up steep trails and this bike isn't meant for it, I could get a different higher-powered controller and mount it in my rack bag and probably solve the overheating problem but I do want to go full suspension, hence my seeking advice here.
I am leaning towards converting a circa 2010 Giant anthem full suspension 26-in bike to a rear hub motor with much more power than my current bike. Having only used one mid drive bike before but having a lot of experience with a rear hub, here's my dilemma that you guys can answer. I like to cruise with throttle only from a stop to full speed very often, am I correct that with the mid drive I would have to rev up through all of my gears to get to my top speed like on a motorcycle? Since I will want to use this bike for commuting as well as mountain biking trails, I don't want to have to be shifting gears that much when cruising around and not needing maximum torque for steep uphill sections. Let me know if I'm way off base here? I'm at the point where I haven't invested anything so I'm open to ideas.
For those that have done rear hub high powered full suspension mountain bike builds, do you recommend a lower wattage geared hub motor in the 1500 watt range, or one of the 2000w or 3000w larger direct drive hub motors? I understand the torque will be way lower on the direct drive but not sure if the higher wattage bursts overcome that, versus having all that weight compared to a smaller motor. Basically I'm wondering where the sweet spot is so the bike doesn't weigh too much and other considerations.
Right now my flat ground speeds max out at 31 or 32, and I can get up the trails I want for about a couple miles before things overheat too much to start doing damage. I want to improve on this plus have full suspension, and be overpowered to the point where I can run things at lower settings and not worry about burning out and still have more in the tank to crank it up if I just want to have some fun. The limited is so fun but I guess I'm hooked at this point and want more!
With your experience and trial and error building which direction would you go? Let me know what other details would help.
I am leaning towards converting a circa 2010 Giant anthem full suspension 26-in bike to a rear hub motor with much more power than my current bike. Having only used one mid drive bike before but having a lot of experience with a rear hub, here's my dilemma that you guys can answer. I like to cruise with throttle only from a stop to full speed very often, am I correct that with the mid drive I would have to rev up through all of my gears to get to my top speed like on a motorcycle? Since I will want to use this bike for commuting as well as mountain biking trails, I don't want to have to be shifting gears that much when cruising around and not needing maximum torque for steep uphill sections. Let me know if I'm way off base here? I'm at the point where I haven't invested anything so I'm open to ideas.
For those that have done rear hub high powered full suspension mountain bike builds, do you recommend a lower wattage geared hub motor in the 1500 watt range, or one of the 2000w or 3000w larger direct drive hub motors? I understand the torque will be way lower on the direct drive but not sure if the higher wattage bursts overcome that, versus having all that weight compared to a smaller motor. Basically I'm wondering where the sweet spot is so the bike doesn't weigh too much and other considerations.
Right now my flat ground speeds max out at 31 or 32, and I can get up the trails I want for about a couple miles before things overheat too much to start doing damage. I want to improve on this plus have full suspension, and be overpowered to the point where I can run things at lower settings and not worry about burning out and still have more in the tank to crank it up if I just want to have some fun. The limited is so fun but I guess I'm hooked at this point and want more!
With your experience and trial and error building which direction would you go? Let me know what other details would help.