The smaller 50mm outrunners have very high kV's, and the slightest hill can build up heat fairly fast, with the smallish motor not having enough mass to survive a hill thats a little too steep and a little too long. For the Kepler/Adrian style drive with the can being the drive surface, the 63mm motors seem to be the size that has the most satisfied customers.
If you have the budget, you will not be disappointed with the Castle Creations ESCs. I have had NO sync issues with my CC-ESC under ALL conditions, and I have TRIED to get it to bog. The Hobbywing ESC did have sync issues at the lower voltages (22V-24V) when I could feel the drive bogging down on hard acceleration. No sync issues using the Hobbywing with 10S (37V), and I suspect it would be even better at 12S (44V).
The very affordable high-amp generic ESCs I tried (Miking?), had sync issues under all conditions.
The problem with using higher voltages on a shell-drive is the high kVs available. I recently saw a 63mm motor with a low kV of 150 (Leader Hobby?). If I was using a shell-drive I think I would try that kV at 8S (28V) using the CC mid-price Phoenix-ICE line which will go as high as 8S.
"If you have a friction-drive where the roller and motor are separate"...on flat land the 1-1/4 inch roller using 22V and a CC ESC is IMHO the most affordable solution. For hills, the Hobbywing esc using voltages at 10S (or more) on a one-inch roller is my daily ride when the weather is nice (I'm a winter wimp).
I am happy with the Blue Exceed 63mm at a kV of 295, http://www.hobbypartz.com/mopose.html and the popular kV of 200 would allow 20-ish MPH at 44V-48V. Amp-draw on my friction drives is so consistently low (based on felt heat of the motor on hills, and reports from others) that I suspect the drives are not battery-chemistry limited (LiPo is good, but not
required).
the website lists the 8S (33V max) Phoenix ICE-75A as 75A continuous, and 130A temporary peak. I made eight back-to-back hard acceleration runs on a slight uphill using 24V of SLA with a 1.0" diameter roller and the 295-kV motor, 180-lb rider on fat 26" tires.
The data-logging showed that all the runs were 60A peak, 30A to maintain constant top speed on a slight uphill, and downhill amps were almost unreadable because they were so low.
The Hobbywing ESC is a 70A continuous unit, and other than added input capacitors, I haven't been able to fry it, and I have hammered them all. For a shell-drive (which is effectively a 2-1/2 inch diameter roller), I would use a 120A ESC at a minimum.
I just looked for a CC ESC link, and found out they are now selling a 50V four-capacitor pack for $25. I highly recommend this for 10S and lower voltages (for 12S the 63V caps are best).
http://www.castlecreations.com/products/cc-cap-pack.html