Hi All.
As mentioned in my 'hello' introduction post, I'm a noob looking to nail together a e-Bike unit for my wheelchair which is capable of a bit of off-road stuff.
Not a full-time user, as I often just use crutches, but there are times when having the wheels is handy for long distances and keeping up with friends.
I'm not interested in the few limited commercial 'Power Trike' offerings and want to build my own for 3 main reasons:
1. They are too expensive for the performance they offer
2. Their performance is too restricted given that I will be using this off-road or on tracks
3. I'm a 'tinkerer' by nature and buying something off the shelf is just too easy/boring
Let me just say, that by 'performance', I'm not talking speed here, 15.5mph when you're being towed along in a wheelchair feels plenty fast enough I can assure you, no I'm talking about having enough power and torque to cope with bump terrain and reasonable slopes.
Research has led me to conclude that:
DD hubs are probably out as they are both very heavy (not good for taking on and off or lifting into a boot) and not really set-up to provide lots of low speed or standing start torque.
So my options would seem to be a powerful geared hub motor, or a mid-drive.
So the question is whether there is actually a geared hub motor, wound for high torque that will do the job, or if a mid-drive with a suitable (probably in-hub) gear train would be a better bet.
FYI weight is not a massive consideration, in fact it's probably helpful for traction in my application, and the build would need to be based on a 20" wheel.
Input most welcome!
As mentioned in my 'hello' introduction post, I'm a noob looking to nail together a e-Bike unit for my wheelchair which is capable of a bit of off-road stuff.
Not a full-time user, as I often just use crutches, but there are times when having the wheels is handy for long distances and keeping up with friends.
I'm not interested in the few limited commercial 'Power Trike' offerings and want to build my own for 3 main reasons:
1. They are too expensive for the performance they offer
2. Their performance is too restricted given that I will be using this off-road or on tracks
3. I'm a 'tinkerer' by nature and buying something off the shelf is just too easy/boring
Let me just say, that by 'performance', I'm not talking speed here, 15.5mph when you're being towed along in a wheelchair feels plenty fast enough I can assure you, no I'm talking about having enough power and torque to cope with bump terrain and reasonable slopes.
Research has led me to conclude that:
DD hubs are probably out as they are both very heavy (not good for taking on and off or lifting into a boot) and not really set-up to provide lots of low speed or standing start torque.
So my options would seem to be a powerful geared hub motor, or a mid-drive.
So the question is whether there is actually a geared hub motor, wound for high torque that will do the job, or if a mid-drive with a suitable (probably in-hub) gear train would be a better bet.
FYI weight is not a massive consideration, in fact it's probably helpful for traction in my application, and the build would need to be based on a 20" wheel.
Input most welcome!
