Has anyone proposed this yet? I searched but could not find. In case it is not clear, the black circular things are gears, the purple thing in the middle is the motor, and the white spikey thing at the one end is the final output. It is a redundant 2 stage gear reduction with a final ratio of 25:1 (in this case) but the gear diameters can be changed around quite a bit for any desired ratio. This would bring a 10,000 rpm motor down to 400 rpm, which on a 26'' wheel translates to around 46kph, if I did my math right.
The advantage, other than being relatively compact, is that it balances out forces on the motor shaft, leaving only an axial torque. No lateral load on the motor bearing. Of course, there will still be a lateral load on the final stage, but I figure it will be easier to do it this way than putting in new/different bearings into a motor? These are just my thoughts. I welcome feedback or a, "silly dozentrio, we've solved this years ago"
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