Qulbix New high end mid-drive ebike

Offroader

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Just got the Email from Qulbix about their new mid-drive.

I have never considered a mid-drive due to the lower power and related drive train issues. I knew there will be a time when mid-drives were the only way to go for a performance bike and hub motors in the rear wheel became basically obsolete. I guess that time is getting closer and closer.

Looking at their new bike it looks like they designed it to fit a hub motor as the mid-drive motor. It also looks nice and clean.

I've been away from ebikes for a while now so I have not kept updated with what is out there now. What do you guys think of this bike and mid-drive setup?

https://www.qulbix.com/new-q140md

nlTYRBJ.png
 
Offroader said:
Just got the Email from Qulbix about their new mid-drive.

I have never considered a mid-drive due to the lower power and related drive train issues. I knew there will be a time when mid-drives were the only way to go for a performance bike and hub motors in the rear wheel became basically obsolete. I guess that time is getting closer and closer.

Looking at their new bike it looks like they designed it to fit a hub motor as the mid-drive motor. It also looks nice and clean.

I've been away from ebikes for a while now so I have not kept updated with what is out there now. What do you guys think of this bike and mid-drive setup?

https://www.qulbix.com/new-q140md

nlTYRBJ.png

I like it! Qulbix keeps evolving their designs to keep up with current technologies and makes great effort to meet consumer demand for new and innovative products.. I especially like the motor drive concentric to the swingarm pivot and that they figured out a way to keep the pedals by using a jackshaft.. not many current mid drive bikes have a pedal option.. good work.. 8)
 
Yes Qulbix never fails to impress me and that is why I bought a few of their frames. It is really the only frames I have bought.

I guess we would need to know how the drive chain actually works out. I heard this was a big issue with most mid-drive bikes is the drive chain issues.

I also wonder about the gearing, what is low and high speed like. Would it be similar to having that hubmotor in the rear, or will it drive completely different?

It looks like it has a MXUS turbo as the motor, which is a great motor and what I use on my Q76R. In the rear wheel this this motor allows me to climb anything so you could imagine the torque if geared as a mid-drive. The only issue is I would think you would suffer at high top speeds. I like to hit about 50MPH on the streets to pass cars easily, this may not be possible without gears.

Obviously the best thing about this bike is removing that heavy rear hub motor from the rear wheel. This bike would have amazing suspension and handling without that heavy rear hub motor in the wheel. You could even use bicycle tires and rims on the rear wheel. No need to use small rear wheels also, now you can have a 26" front and a 26" rear.
 
I'd love to see a pic of the other side. So is it a direct drive and the 2 chains we see are just for the pedals? If so, why not just 1 chain straight to the jackshaft? (edit: probably the way the frame is, it was the only way to run the chain)
 
devo1223 said:
I'd love to see a pic of the other side. So is it a direct drive and the 2 chains we see are just for the pedals? If so, why not just 1 chain straight to the jackshaft? (edit: probably the way the frame is, it was the only way to run the chain)

the jackshaft on this design is only for the pedal transmission and is likely used to achieve a reasonable pedal gear ratio.. the mid mounted hub motor pulls the chain to the rear wheel directly.. at least that's what it looks like to me based on the picture.. Offroader, how about sharing that email with us, any more info in there??
 
so regen then that's cool. I was thinking a Lightning Rod's direct drive for my next build but this looks appealing and I like the looks of it better than the Vector with no pedals. No more info, I got the same email, it just sends you here: https://www.qulbix.com/new-q140md. I wonder if they use the standard hub axle or they made one special for mounting.
 
brumbrum said:
Ditch the pedals,, give me pegs for my legs.

Just so you know, Qulbix has a great footpeg option that bolts into the bottom bracket. I use it on my Qulbix Q76R.

Footpegs are worlds better than pedals, everything from strain off your knees, much better control of the bike, much easier to land jumps, much more clearance. Pedals are crap compared to footpegs, but laws are laws, but no one will really look anyway and if you are afraid then...


IKengmV.jpg
 
If the hub motor is direct chain drive wouldn't you want to run higher voltage to get higher RPM for a higher Top Speed?

Or would you have to run a very low turned motor to get the RPM up to deal with the gearing? Or possibly both?
 
I would think a lower turn count motor because it can handle more amps and then play with the gearing to get the top speed you want
 
I do have a little pot of money put aside for the right mid drive unit. This bike has been long awaited, BUT, and its a big but, i bet Qulbix only offer it as a full bike,, which will ultimately alienate and disappoint us diy-er's.
 
devo1223 said:
I would think a lower turn count motor because it can handle more amps and then play with the gearing to get the top speed you want

the motor is likely custom wound for mid drive.. HPC has had good performance using rewound hub motor mid mounted on motoped chassis..
 
any reason not to use those golden motors? they are smaller and lighter.
The hub motor is very heavy. One of the key advantages changing from hub drive to mid drive is saving the weight
 
BCTECH said:
any reason not to use those golden motors? they are smaller and lighter.
The hub motor is very heavy. One of the key advantages changing from hub drive to mid drive is saving the weight

I think one reason is that the hub motor was easy to mount concentric with the swingarm pivot because the motor axle extends out both sides for mounting on both sides of the bike.. I have also wondered why HPC is still running mid mount hub motors on their motoped builds instead of using a bldc.. I guess because its what they are used to working with.. and it works well, albeit heavier than some other options.. also, wouldn't the added mass of the hub motor translate into better thermal management? you would have to run a pretty large bldc to match the power levels that people are subjecting their hub motors to..
 
I believe optimally you want a wider motor. However, there is probably not all that much space when you have to attach two chains (one for pedals and one to the rear wheel), and sides of swingarm to be less than 140mm or less than the width of the frame.

They probably could fit a wider motor than a typical MXUS 45mm wide stator but the there are probably few options for suitable motors. A hubmotor is so common and can come in so many different windings. I'm sure down the road if these mid-drives get more popular then there will be better motor options.

I really have no idea how this all works out.

Right now my Q76r has a top speed of around 50MPH and has lots of torque for climbing. The drawback is the motor really overheats quickly when climbing (wasted energy), but this is offset by my custom fan cooling and huge 3kw battery pack.

I wonder if it is possible with a mid-drive to have a 50MPH top speed and much better low speed climbing and less heat compared to my Q76R.

One thing we know for sure is that the handling of the bike will be much better with a mid-drive. The rear heavy wheel really hurts performance when off-road riding, probably not so much on the street unless you go over a curb at high speeds. To see how bad the rear wheel kills performance just ride over anything fast that is large, the rear wheel gets thrown up violently. The front goes over it like nothing.
 
This bike really looks the "all pack"

You could go with pedals until your local offroad place and then put the pegs an go for a blast...the price isnt bad also :)
 
bionicon said:
I think pedal this thing will be hard because you have to overpower the motor,...tell me i am wrong?

since qulbix is using a mid mounted direct drive hub motor for this model then you would only need to overcome the motor magnetic cogging if pedaling without any motor power applied.. but you would not need to overcome motor power because that would be working with you to propel the bike not against you.. the pedal transmission jackshaft and freewheel will also separate motor power influence on pedaling or not pedaling..
 
I would love to test ride this bike to compare it to a my direct drive hub motored bike.,

This may be the real deal if you want performance, this uses an actual hub motor as the mid drive motor and not some of those other wimpy mid drive hub motors that other mid drive bikes use.

Some things I would like to know are how loud is the bike with the chain system, what controller do you need to use? Can you use a Max-E with this setup? Can you use a Sine wave controller?

How is the acceleration and can it really hit a top speed of 95KPH and still have good acceleration and hill climbing performance. 95KPH is faster than my bike right now and that is really fast for a top speed, hard to imagine it can hit that top speed and also have better climbing/acceleration performance than my direct drive hub motored bike.

This bike is definitely heading in the right direction. If this bike does really outperform direct drive bikes than Qulbix should really run a comparison and show us how much better this is by comparing both bikes in a video side by side.
 
was going to buy a frame kit of this but sadly only available as a full bike
 
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