John in CR said:
A few years ago a guy posted his battery solution hanging off both sides of the front axle just a few inches off the ground. He loved it and said it affected handling very little.
That's probably the one Sacman posted about up here:
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=605503#p605503
I remember seeing that one and pondering trying it, too, when I first found ES. I wish the pics were still there.
FWIW, the handling of a front battery (or anything else) depends a lot on how far away from the pivot point it is. If it is right on the pivot, like those boxes of SteveCA's, or Adam's or Oatnet's, or another one Liveforphysics posted pics of in one of the Grange race threads (I think), it'll probably be nearly as responsive and easy to ride as with an unloaded fork. But if you put the weight out away from the pivot, you have a lot harder time turning the bars or stopping htem at the end of hte turn, based on my experiences with various cargo loads in front baskets/racks.
Also, ifyou mount hte batteries on the axle or anywhere on the unsuspended part of the front suspsension, you get the same less-responsive suspension you would with a hubmotor in the wheel. (or worse if the battery weighs more). If you can moutn it on the suspended part of the bike, you'll get better suspension response.
One last thing--it's possible to mount the box on a frame extension from the top/down/headtubes, so that it does not pivot iwth the fork/bars, and does not affect hte steering at all. I would like to do this on the Fusin test bike, but haven't had time to make the mount for the ammocan pack.