front hub, mid drive or rearhub motor choice

[luap321]

what would you choose and why
for me i would not choose front hub 1 .least weight over front wheel and 2. if you lost traction on a corner you cant out steer it
mid drive i think it would put to much strain on the drive train, but be ok if belt drive
rear hub the one i would choose because the rear wheel carries the most weight doesn't put strain on any thing

 

[Nealh]

For me it is lightweight front hub all day long for anything bar extreme off road, no worries about lack of weight over the wheel and my one gamefully pulls very well with a loaded trailer in tow.
The highly geared lightweight hub rides quite nicely unpowered.

One can't dispell them without actually riding one for a long while, the lightweight hubs over heavy hubs are chalk and cheese.

 

[Malcolm]

I recently converted my mountain bike using a front wheel hub from Topbike (China). I was a bit sceptical about front wheel drive as well, but I already had an Alfine internal gear hub at the rear and didn't want to lose that. Front wheel drive works very well for me and I've not experienced any loss of traction yet. When you think about it you're getting two-wheel drive - sharing traction between two wheels.

I built a DIY mid-drive a few years back and although it worked well I prefer the stealth look and simplicity of a lightweight front wheel hub.

 

[Zlatan]

Think it all depends what use bike is going to be put to. Normal flattish road use and hub motors will suffice. Built 2 rear hub and 4 mid drives over years, once off road or doing steep climbs mid drive every time.
Don't believe all the hype about mid drive destroying cassettes/chains. In 6000 moles my first crank drive is on 2nd cassette, 3rd chain and original chain ring. Torque kills chains/cassettes (along with poor gear changing) and torque any motor produces is smooth and pales into insignificance against a big bloke stood on a pedal when stopped.

I, d highly recommend Tongshen mid drive. Mine has been superb. (fitted on a Cubr mtb)
Often go out for rides with a mate who has a 1kw rear hub, on road he can beat me (for 15 miles or so!) off road on any climb any of my crank drives leave him (a yamaha Haibike, A Tongshen Cube, A Bafang Raleigh and a Giant Fathom, (built for wife, daughter and a mate, Giant mine).. All the crank drives are legal and have way more range and smaller batteries than 1kw rear hub mate uses)
Try a few before deciding. I, d never go back to hub drive.

 

[matthewslack]

The strong support for all three says they all work well in the right circumstances.

You'll find your favourite from amongst the ones you try, and have to continue to wonder about the others!

 

[ChrisMeBike]

I'm using a Swytch kit on my mountain bike so I have a front hub motor. I've in a hilly area (Vermont) and mostly ride gravel roads. I'm pleased with a front hub motor setup and in fact find that peddling the back wheel and a motor assist on the front wheel is about like having all wheel drive for a bicycle. Plus, the bicycle drive train is not subjected to anything beyond what is was designed to do. Works fine for me.