switched from 20" > 24" wheels

[littleskull99]

What A SLUG!!!!

20" wheels for street


24" rear wheel for offroad


I switched from 20" wheels to 24" rear wheel and what a slug! lost all that torque ad acceleration. Honestly guys I dont know how anyone runs 24" with a 1k motor. I weigh 63kg and the 24 struggles to maintain speed on stupidly small hills whereas the 20 would eat it up accelerating all the way. I need to find an inbetween size to do both. Dont get me wrong the big wheels are fun offroad but i dont want to up the power to get back what i had only to load up with tons more weight. Could go 17" mc but ooooh that weight.

Anyone have any thoughts on a good compromise between weight and power for offroad?

 

[MadRhino]

Anyone have any thoughts on a good compromise between weight and power for offroad?

Yep. 20Kw on a 34Kg 46er.

 

[John in CR]

Thanks for sharing the difference. Someday the crowd will understand the penalty for large wheels on a hubbie.

Mid-drive is the correct solution for off road, and then you can even go to 29ers, much lower unsprung weight, and lower overall weight...or invest the motor weight savings into higher power and more battery for even more fun than your 20's....No cost effective solutions yet though, so you have to DIY custom installs. If you're really only running 1kw max, then the motor could be tiny enough to easily fit somewhere on the swingarm where it belongs, since the ideal (torque anchored to the swingarm centered in the pivot) is virtually impossible using a bicycle as the basis for your ebike.

 

[neptronix]

think about it.. 24" is not much smaller than a 26"
Did you bump up the amps perchance? because you now have a faster top speed, and maybe not the amps to drive it now..

Time for a more powerful motor. Try a leaf 1500w in a 24".. it's already a wheelie popper on a 26".

 

[MadRhino]

it's already a wheelie popper on a 26".

My commuter starts lifting the front above 10 Kw.
A "wheelie popper" is the result of a bike's geometry, not the power it has.

The worst I've tried is a bike with geometry on the tail and batteries in a backpack.

 

[SlowCo]

I'm amazed that you feel such a difference as the change in diameter doesn't look very large. If that is a 3+ inch high tire on a 20" bike rim (=16"?) then you have a 22"+ outer diameter tire . So less than 10% increase in diameter with a 24" tire. If that street tire is even higher than 3" than the difference should be even less?

Could you measure the actual outer diameters of both tires? I ask this because I'm thinking of changing from a 26" to a 20" tire on my hub motor. Thanks.

 

[Ypedal]

Agreed. at 1000w max the 24" will be " ok " but not stellar.. off-road... a geared hub will be better than a direct drive ( lighter, better low rpm efficiency )

When you get into 10,000w + then you can pick your wheel size and it all just goes, but it's either going to be very short range .. or very heavy , determined by the battery pack to supply it.