Hi,
I am looking to build a custom three wheeled electric trike and have been reading electricbike.com and browsing the various manufacturers sites for the past few days. Some of these sites aren't very well organized so I'm a bit lost in all the information. Perhaps some of you guys can recommend an ideal motor for me. The trike will have the two front wheels driven and the rear will be used for steering. As such, I can use any motor (hub or regular attached to the wheel with a timing belt). The concern here is weight because the motors that I have found are all 15 lbs + which is very heavy. So here are the parameters of the bike:
-Desired max speed on level ground: 35mph
-Wheel size: 14"-16"
-Brake type: disc with regen if possible
-Rider weight: as much as 220lbs
-Terrain: some small hills
-Budget: under $1000 per wheel
After searching, it seems like my options are to either use a heavy hub motor which are usually designed for full sized bicycle wheels and just run them at a higher voltage to get the speed I want. Or get a a much lighter Astroflight and gear it down about 12:1.
Are there some lighter hub motors or other mid-drive motors that spin at a lower RPM and don't need such aggressive gearing? Thanks
I am looking to build a custom three wheeled electric trike and have been reading electricbike.com and browsing the various manufacturers sites for the past few days. Some of these sites aren't very well organized so I'm a bit lost in all the information. Perhaps some of you guys can recommend an ideal motor for me. The trike will have the two front wheels driven and the rear will be used for steering. As such, I can use any motor (hub or regular attached to the wheel with a timing belt). The concern here is weight because the motors that I have found are all 15 lbs + which is very heavy. So here are the parameters of the bike:
-Desired max speed on level ground: 35mph
-Wheel size: 14"-16"
-Brake type: disc with regen if possible
-Rider weight: as much as 220lbs
-Terrain: some small hills
-Budget: under $1000 per wheel
After searching, it seems like my options are to either use a heavy hub motor which are usually designed for full sized bicycle wheels and just run them at a higher voltage to get the speed I want. Or get a a much lighter Astroflight and gear it down about 12:1.
Are there some lighter hub motors or other mid-drive motors that spin at a lower RPM and don't need such aggressive gearing? Thanks