20" Magic Pie V5 front wheel

[RosieG]

Well, I bought without doing enough research apparently. I wanted to put a Magic Pie V5 on the front of a 20" crank forward bike for an e-commuter. Luna cycles sold the front motor built into a 26" wheel but for other sizes offered "motor only". The difficulties of building that honking big hub into a 20" front wheel did not occur to me until I opened the box. Very silly me.

I've seen a writeup on using moped rims for a build like this. Has anyone got any more info on that, or done it?

Once the difficulty struck me, I started searching around and it looks like Golden Motors sells the Magic Pie in a cast-aluminum wheel, presumably to avoid the short-spoke issue I'm facing if I were to proceed.

Help!

 

[Drunkskunk]

A 36 hole 16" moped or motorcycle rim could be used, but I don't think that would solve any problem. A non Deep V rim would do just as well. While the spokes are short, a single cross is still possible without extreme angles. This is a case where thinner spokes are going to be much better, as they will be able to flex more without causing stress cracks. A Sapim 15g spoke would work well for a road bike like this.

Here's a pic for example a 20" single cross on a deep V rim. notice the angles aren't that bad. a non-deep V rim would be even better.