EZee FWD effects on maneuverability & shock-absorbing forks.

Does anyone have experience with the eZee FWD? 300W continuous here in New Zealand.

I want to commute, and change tubes and tires more easily.

Is the mass enough to have negative effects on the shock forks? What about the low wattage?

What about maneuvering through heavy traffic? Is it enough? Does even the low wattage have negative impact on the maneuverability?

Or do the negatives outweigh the positives, and I should deal with a RWD eZee? How hard is it to change tubes and tires on a RWD anyway?

It's not a lot different to change than a front. You still need a big wrench, and to take loose a torque arm or two, and maybe cut a zip tie out two. Front can actually work out at low power, esp if you have a rear rack mounted battery, then it's not crazy tail heavy. But if you have center mounted battery, maybe rear works out better.

Appbeza said:

Does anyone have experience with the eZee FWD? 300W continuous here in New Zealand.

I want to commute, and change tubes and tires more easily.

Is the mass enough to have negative effects on the shock forks? What about the low wattage?

What about maneuvering through heavy traffic? Is it enough? Does even the low wattage have negative impact on the maneuverability?

Or do the negatives outweigh the positives, and I should deal with a RWD eZee? How hard is it to change tubes and tires on a RWD anyway?

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You won't really notice any adverse affects on the handling. You can't add that much mass without some effect on the suspension and steering, but it's not in any way unpleasant or unsafe.

Fit Scwalbe Marathon Plus tyres and you won't have to worry about punctures at all. Even if you use normal tyres, you don't take the wheel off to fix a puncture. You just hook the tyre over the rim on one side, pull the tube out and fix the puncture.

Size wise, it's about as big as I would want on the frt., but on the street, it's not that noticeable. It's off -road where the mass becomes a problem.
Power wise, it sounds like you are severely limited, so that is a non-issue. But 300 Watts is almost not worth the trouble. Since volts equates to speed, I'm assuming you will run a 36 Volt system to keep under the radar, but you need to get 15 to 20 Amps on the motor to climb any kind of hill. I'm not sure how the Wattage of the system could be road-side tested, but if you are truely limited to 300 Watts, you should look at a mid-drive system where the gears can provide a usable amount of power.
The Forte Gotham is a very good inexpensive copy of the Schwalbe Marathon and their extra thick tubes are great.

I truly do not like front motors. Rider weight sits mostly on the back and i have seen front wheel traction issues on sand or water with a front 350W MAC. The front forks flex under load, and the motor induces a weird steering feel.

I have never touched a front motor since 2012 for this reason. Many FWD bikes i've ridden have had similar problems.. not a fan.

I truly do not like front motors. Rider weight sits mostly on the back and i have seen front wheel traction issues on sand or water with a front 350W MAC. The front forks flex under load, and the motor induces a weird steering feel.

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So you gave it to your girlfriend :lol:

motomech said:

So you gave it to your girlfriend :lol:

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It was her idea, but she doesn't really like bikes.. That bike has been used for dust collection for some time now.

The 300W is just a rating. That motor can run happily at 48v and 20 amps. The standard Ezee controller is 20A IIRC, so at 36v, that would be something like 600W maximum ouput power. 800w at 48v.

I have seen many who built fwd and regreted it, but never anyone who was not happy with his rear motor.

So a fwd bike does suit some, but many won't like it. If you plan to upgrade power and speed some day, build on the rear. If you plan to ride on slippery surfaces, build on the rear.