Add rear hub motor to front wheel?

ford442

100 mW
Joined
Jan 31, 2017
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38
I have a 60V 1000W Citycoco scooter and I am thinking of attaching a rear tire with motor to the front fork. Not necessarily to run though. I want to attempt to generate power only first. The issue is that the motor appears to be physically built to bolt down to the squared off metal of the frame the accept larger bolts than the front wheel on a Citycoco.
I have not yet tried removing the front wheel and placing the second wheel in place.
Does someone know offhand? I see that there was a kickstarter/indiegogo version of the same scooter that had a front motor. Is it easy to modify the part that connects a Goldenmotor style hub motor to exterior frames? What type of business should I contact to have it done?
 
Why not use the rear motor to do regenerative braking?
Or where you thinking of using a front motor to generate energy while riding? Because that would cost more energy than it would generate...
 
regarding the mechanical installation, unless the rear wheel is the same dropout width as the front fork, you'll have to have someone cut your fork up and rebuild it into a wider one, or replace it with a fork that is wide enough to hold your rear wheel, if one even exists that can do so.

then you will need to ensure there are torque arms or clamps on teh dropouts to hold the motor axle securely. without them there can be a risk of the wheel ripping out of the fork, which could land you on your face sliding down the road.



he has a thread for the generator stuff
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=90370&p=1335368#p1317118
i'm guessing this thread si only for hte mechanical of putting a rear in the front. If not the threads should get merged to keep the whole project in one thread so he gets all the right answers from those already helping him.
 
For s similar installation, I made L shaped clamping dropouts cut from 3/8ths stock. The horizontal part clamped to the motor axle. I welded the longish vertical part of the L's to 2 pieces of tubing that were sliced open lengthwise. The tubing slid over the lower end of a motorcycle fork, and I fashioned clamps squeeze the fork as secondary security for the silicone that I slathered the inside of the tubes with to act as glue and prevent galvanic reaction between the steel and the aluminum fork lower.

Here's what they looked like in raw form
Moto fork dropout sleeve.JPG
 
John - what about the difficulty of making a little fork that merely ties to the wheel?
Making it like a one-wheel trailer simply to drag behind.
Can you think of an easy source for such a part?
 
BOB trailer

but you'd still have to add torque arms, etc. just like with a front fork.

and if you're using a rear wheel on it you'd also still have to spread it's dropouts apart, or cut and modify, etc.
 
Unless you plan to power it for 2wd, there is no meaningful upside to going to the trouble of adding a front motor. Generating net power to store or use certainly isn't possible.
 
SlowCo said:
Why not use the rear motor to do regenerative braking?
Or where you thinking of using a front motor to generate energy while riding? Because that would cost more energy than it would generate...

How would I go about adding it to my already build scooter? It is a matter of the controller's features?
 
You need a programmable controller for that (regen. braking).
The only real benefit is less wear on your brake pads and a slightly longer range.
 
OK. I think I see. There are just a lot of price ranges of them I guess. Looks like maybe $250 can do it..
 
@John in CR, can you post more fotos of the "Moto fork dropout sleeve"? I wish to make them for my citycoco...
 
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