Hi. First post here.
I’d like to get fit and get into a bit of of-road mountain biking around the surrey hills, but being the wrong side of 40 and not very fit, I have so far found it to be 80% hell climbing hills and 20% fun, coming down again.
Having ridden a friends fully suspended bike, I’d like to get one too but, with a 350Watt motor, I’d also like it to be not too obviously motorised and very quiet. I will use it to travel to work occasionally too (off road of course).
Looking at the latest trends, it seems mid mounted motors are all the rage because of the weight distribution and gears for climbing hills, but they seem to be all hardtail unless you spend mega bucks (any recommendations <£2.5k greatly received though).
So I am thinking of building my own bike using a motor kit, which seems to mean a rear hub motor (I did once find a company selling a mid-mount kit with the batteries in a backpack, but it was only 250 Watts and I can no long find it anyway).
Questions.
Will the un-sprung weight of a rear hub motor make much difference compared to a mid engined version of a fully suspended bike, bearing in mind I am currently a complete novice at the off road stuff.
Will it climb the steep hills of the north downs?(with some assistance from me) and will it overheat?
Any recommendations for a lightweight 450Watt rear hub/ mid motor kit with a professional looking installation and a battery that will last at least 2h off road and stand up to the abuse will be gratefully received.
Many thanks.
Stuart.
I’d like to get fit and get into a bit of of-road mountain biking around the surrey hills, but being the wrong side of 40 and not very fit, I have so far found it to be 80% hell climbing hills and 20% fun, coming down again.
Having ridden a friends fully suspended bike, I’d like to get one too but, with a 350Watt motor, I’d also like it to be not too obviously motorised and very quiet. I will use it to travel to work occasionally too (off road of course).
Looking at the latest trends, it seems mid mounted motors are all the rage because of the weight distribution and gears for climbing hills, but they seem to be all hardtail unless you spend mega bucks (any recommendations <£2.5k greatly received though).
So I am thinking of building my own bike using a motor kit, which seems to mean a rear hub motor (I did once find a company selling a mid-mount kit with the batteries in a backpack, but it was only 250 Watts and I can no long find it anyway).
Questions.
Will the un-sprung weight of a rear hub motor make much difference compared to a mid engined version of a fully suspended bike, bearing in mind I am currently a complete novice at the off road stuff.
Will it climb the steep hills of the north downs?(with some assistance from me) and will it overheat?
Any recommendations for a lightweight 450Watt rear hub/ mid motor kit with a professional looking installation and a battery that will last at least 2h off road and stand up to the abuse will be gratefully received.
Many thanks.
Stuart.
