How much you are willing to pay for Mid Drive?

[The Strong Goat]

Hello guys,

I think we all know the benefits of Mid Drive E-bikes but how much you are willing to pay to get it?

To be specific, there are two variants under the same design, the only difference is that one is Mid Drive and the other is Hud Drive. Then how much more you are willing to pay for getting the Mid Drive? 200 quids, 300 quids? Or you have a different number?

 

[Fat Rat]

It’s whatever suits
I wouldn’t buy a hub motor because it’s not what works off road for me
So it wouldn’t matter how cheap the hub motor was
Your riding more picks what you need not the monetary value

 

[DynatechFan]

what Fat Rat says

Had a £2k mid drive Merida and it was "okay". Got a mongrel rear hub drive I built myself from bits and it works perfectly for my needs - see no merit in mid drive at all myself, sorry

 

[Benjahmin]

Also ride a hub conversion. Wouldn't want a mid drive. Greater fault liability, crunchy gear changes and drive train wear. Also it seems that most manufacturer mid drives come with a tie in to only their parts and service. Rip off.

 

[Gubbins]

The price difference in ebikes is thousands, not hundreds of £'s so looking at the money suggested does this question refer to home builds?
I have been looking around the bike shops of late I didnt see many, if any hub drive bikes and not being a spanner monkey any sort of self build is of no interest to me and I suspect to most of the ebike buying population, and if I was so inclined a mid drive conversion looks much more complex than simply fitting a rear hub wheel.
Personally I have never tried a hub drive bike, but back to the question.. I am in the process of purchasing a new bike and my bike of choice was based on the whole package not the drive system alone so if this bike had a hub drive I would probably still buy it..

 

[DynatechFan]

does beg the wider question, are manufacturers taking ebikes down the mid-drive route to lock folks in to their proprietary systems?

Hub drive feels like Open Source tech, mid drive more like Apple

 

[The Strong Goat]

does beg the wider question, are manufacturers taking ebikes down the mid-drive route to lock folks in to their proprietary systems?

Hub drive feels like Open Source tech, mid drive more like Apple

its an interesting analogy!!!

 

[Gubbins]

does beg the wider question, are manufacturers taking ebikes down the mid-drive route to lock folks in to their proprietary systems?

Hub drive feels like Open Source tech, mid drive more like Apple

You may be right and I dont invest in Apple for that reason alone, and all this talk about Bosch not letting anyone repair their kit could be looked at differently. I consider myself to reprisent the wider non technical e-bike buying population and if I was told that my noisy bike could be pulled apart and repaired or I could have a brand new motor, I know which I would choose.

 

[KirstinS]

I have both systems and had gsm, bafang mid and mxus and bafang hubs

I built different bikes for different uses

mid drive bbsxx on my mtb
Hub for town and road (light trail maybe)

Price is dependant on many factors . For example

1. Is the tech tried and tested ?
2. How easy to get spares
3. How good is the warranty/customer service of the seller


I paid a chunk more for my BBS kit than from China direct. But for that I get local support with a local warranty and I support a local business

So, with respect , your question is unanswerable because it depends on so many factors




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Woosh]

Hello guys,

I think we all know the benefits of Mid Drive E-bikes but how much you are willing to pay to get it?

To be specific, there are two variants under the same design, the only difference is that one is Mid Drive and the other is Hud Drive. Then how much more you are willing to pay for getting the Mid Drive? 200 quids, 300 quids? Or you have a different number?

your question is hypothetical. In practice, no manufacturer offers a CD variant for their hub motors. People pay a premium for CD motors for a number of reasons:
1. torque sensor
2. software control
3. power to weight ratio
4. build quality

The torque sensor is sometimes supplemented with a throttle like on the Tongsheng CD motors but as a feature, those who need it would pay £50-£100 extra for it. As for the rest, especially for build quality and ergonomics, we are talking several hundred pounds.

 

[kangooroo]

I have two rear-hub e-bikes which serve me well despite living in a hilly area. I have no desire for a mid-drive.

 

[flecc]

your question is hypothetical. In practice, no manufacturer offers a CD variant for their hub motors.

There was one exception here and still is in Japan. Panasonic make mid drives and front and rear hub motors. One of the front hub motor variants had the mid drive's controller and pedalshaft torque sensor in a reduced size bottom bracket alloy housing, so it was possible to choose the motor position on a similar system.

You can see all of the components of the front hub motor system on this web page

or view both mid and hub to compare on this link

 

[sjpt]

How practicable would a hub motor with two or three gears be? As they are (mostly) already geared it seems it shouldn't be too difficult, but I'm not an engineer.

 

[flecc]

How practicable would a hub motor with two or three gears be? As they are (mostly) already geared it seems it shouldn't be too difficult, but I'm not an engineer.

There are two already with two speed gearing, from SRAM and Xionda. They have two orbital gears and work by reversing motor direction to engage the freewheels of one or the other. Both are wide though, the SRAM only being single rider chain sprocket in consequence.

Three speed isn't really practical for space reasons and in any case isn't necessary. Two gears easily covers the pedelec assist speed range of 5 to 16 mph.
.

 

[E-Wheels]

How practicable would a hub motor with two or three gears be? As they are (mostly) already geared it seems it shouldn't be too difficult, but I'm not an engineer.

Something like this?
https://www.sram.com/sites/default/files/techdocs/Sparc_Ins_E_4_03.pdf

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/sram-sparc-how-does-it-work-technically-two-motors-how-in-practical-use.508/

 

[flecc]

Something like this?
https://www.sram.com/sites/default/files/techdocs/Sparc_Ins_E_4_03.pdf

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/sram-sparc-how-does-it-work-technically-two-motors-how-in-practical-use.508/

The discontinued SPARC wasn't a two speed system, it simply had two drill-like motors driving together. It was a failure.

Their much later two speed automatic hub motor system you can see on this link
.

 

[flecc]

your question is hypothetical.

A couple of photos to illustrate my earlier post. The top one is the Kalkhoff Agattu F with the front wheel motor but mid controller and torque housing with battery mounting. So looking like the Agattu C mid (centre) motor bike in the second photo, but note the low chain line due to the motor's jockey sprocket. Both were sold by 50cycles in 2008/9.