Suspension on the hub motor

[taiwwa]

Does it make sense to put the hub motor on a suspension part of the bicycle?

So for a recumbent, is it best to have a rear suspension to help deal with the weight of the hub motor?

 

[offGridDownUnder]

The hub motor is not above the suspension, so the suspension doesn't hold the weight.

A greater concern is that you are increasing the mass. Before the motor you have the mass of the wheel and swingarm - and the suspension is tuned for that (well or poorly - I don't know how you like it now). Add the mass of the motor to the wheel and swingarm and you've probably made a large change - the spring and damper you have now might not be correct for that mass.

 

[Chalo]

Unsprung weight harms the effectiveness of suspension no matter how well tuned the spring rate and damping are. But there's no way around that except to not have suspension on the motor wheel (which has its own shortcomings).

Because your front wheel probably doesn't have enough weight on it to serve as a motor driven wheel, and because you can't stand up from your seat while riding, the best compromise is probably to use rear suspension with a rear hub motor, increase the damping rates if you can, and accept that it won't work as well as it did with a lightweight wheel.

 

[Hillhater]

Or,…avoid these issues and chose a “mid drive” motor mounted on the chainwheel !
Which will also give you the benefit of gearing the motors power if needed.