Yeah, I’m failing to see how this is preferable to just swapping your rear wheel with a hub motor and calling it a day. You can get a very nice conversion kit and battery from the Usual Scumbags for that kind of money, or if you’re careful you can pay a lot less, and still wind up with a final product with significantly more range and performance.
And, you know, doesn’t look nearly as stupid. Front wheel friction drives are a uniquely terrible solution to the bicycle propulsion problem, and they have been ever since their inception with those nasty two stroke things from the '50’s. Their energy transfer is quite inefficient, and their failure mode when you encounter a hill too steep for the motor is to steadily fuck up your front tire.
The only possible benefit I could see from this is if you plan to regularly swap it between multiple bicycles or perhaps bikes you don’t own, like beach rental bikes or something.
Novel design but I think I’d stick with a traditional conversion kit
Yeah, I’m failing to see how this is preferable to just swapping your rear wheel with a hub motor and calling it a day. You can get a very nice conversion kit and battery from the Usual Scumbags for that kind of money, or if you’re careful you can pay a lot less, and still wind up with a final product with significantly more range and performance.
And, you know, doesn’t look nearly as stupid. Front wheel friction drives are a uniquely terrible solution to the bicycle propulsion problem, and they have been ever since their inception with those nasty two stroke things from the '50’s. Their energy transfer is quite inefficient, and their failure mode when you encounter a hill too steep for the motor is to steadily fuck up your front tire.
The only possible benefit I could see from this is if you plan to regularly swap it between multiple bicycles or perhaps bikes you don’t own, like beach rental bikes or something.