My choice of hybrid bike for front hub

[pdg]

Some advice on choice of hybrid bike would be much appreciated.

I'm going to put a Crystalyte Model 407 front hub in a 700c rim on a new hybrid bike. I'm trying to select a suitable bike for this hub and my tall (6'5") / heavy (270 lbs) body:

1. Is it better to go with (a) aluminum alloy, (b) chromoly steel or (c) high tensile steel for the frame/forks?

2. Is it better to select a hybrid that has a front suspension fork or a rigid fork?

3. If I add a torque arm on both sides of the front fork (doubling as an axle holder to keep the wheel on the bike even if the lower fork area wants to breakaway), will this be equally effective on a suspension fork as on a rigid fork?

4. Other things to consider when selecting a bike?

Thanks in advance ... pdg

 

[flecc]

I can't help from experience on your height and weight, but here's some thoughts on the rest.

I think you need to start at the road surface with the tyre choice, since that can influence the other factors. I'm not a fan of suspension forks on bikes, but there's no doubt that the high unsprung weight of front hub motors can give a very harsh riding experience, with hammering up to the handlebars. Although sprung forks don't affect the weight of the front wheel assembly, they can at least absorb the transmitted impacts. This is the first area where tyre choice can affect the decision, a large section fat tyre will absorb some of the transmitted road shocks, but wont absorb the "throw" of the wheel/hub weight in the way suspension forks can. If you go for suspension forks which seem on balance to be the better for this job, obviously be careful with the quality of your choice, since many are very sloppy in their support. Research your choice though, since some of the less sloppy ones have a reputation for seizing. As ever, there's a tendency to get what you pay for, Ohlins at a premium price being very good, with the many cheap makes like Zoom being very variable in reliability.

I've got no directly comparative experience of the three metal choices for the frame and forks with hub motors, but would personally tend most towards aluminium alloy and least to high tension steel, especially if the first choice was no suspension forks. Again the reason is shock and force absorption, made more important on hub motorised bikes. High tensile steel would be the most likely to give spring reaction and least damping to forces, aluminium the opposite if the design is satisfactory.

I can't say with any certainty on the torque arms question, but I suspect they would work equally well with either suspension or rigid forks. They could even add some desirable control to suspension fork damping (or lack of) characteristics.
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