Gradients make interesting reading. Lake District must have 30% + hairpins. I remember pedallling up a loaded tourer from Exeter to Morehampstead in torrential rain (when much younger). I did not think my brakes were good enough for cycling down. Only 6 miles on the map. I thought it would be a doddle, but a struggle.
no, the normal BB shell is strong enough. The crank motors tend to be a little heavier than hub motors. Most weigh in about 4kgs to 4.5kgs.
Seen this one in the Raleigh shop. Overpriced for my budget. Woosh Kreiger looks a better bet.
Since your budget is limited/low, you may want to decide what your priority is.
The 7 speed Shimano only has indirect gears so is overall less efficient than their 8 speed hubs which have one direct drive gear. A small difference but no rider wants their effort wasted. The 7 speed is also a little less robust.
Derailleur less efficient seem to occur after about 2000 miles on pedal bikes, problems after 4000 miles. i.e. quite quickly. Not the cheapo ones when they are ****** after 1500 miles or even less. My current bike is on 2000 miles since the last big repair and I am thinking of new bike (ebike shortlisted) when the transmission needs to be replaced.
I personally like hub gears and for the rider that has no need for more gears/wider ratios they are great. While they also require less maintenance, which is another plus, the gears and chain often get ignored. When they do fail, it is a very expensive repair compared to replacing a mech. My bike has a Shimano Alivo mech managing an eight speed cassette. two and a half years old and over 7,000 miles later, it is still as good as the day I bought the bike. Having said that mechs do require a bit more maintenance and are every bit as good as hub gears if looked after.
It depends on which hub gear you go for, the Rohloff has a wider range than most derailuer gears.
