Looks cool.
Hub mounted motor? No thanks. I would rather do normal chain/belt care then deal with the inevitable maintenance issues that would lead to.
What would the maintenance issues be? I know on ebikes you eventually have to replace the nylon gears, but the chain and cassette last longer because they have less force put on them.
My main concerns are:
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More unsprung weight is always bad for suspension performance and handling.
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Whenever you have to replace the rear tire, you’re also going to have to disconnect the electric connections from the motor, which coupled with the extra vibration from being unsprung, introduces a greater risk of one of the connections coming loose during riding.
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If you are in an accident or hit a pothole that damages the rear wheel, you’re going to have to get an OEM replacement that will be expensive because the motor is integrated into it
- The heavier the wheels the harder motorcycle turns, because wheels are essentially gyroscopes;
- More exposed to the elements;
- Weight is significantly shifted to one axle rather than shared contributing to tire wear;
- Separate cooling mechanism if needed;
- Harder to implement ABS due to higher rotational mass;
- Increased complexity when fixing a flat tire;
- Significantly harder to implement common breaking system like disc breaks…
All good additions!
Current layout of motorcycles is not an accident or a whim. It’s a result of decades of tried and tested variations until engineers found a good and robust solution. Honda is especially one to note there with their kaizen manufacturing method where each iteration is improved if possible by any worker. Also, believe it or not, there was an ICE motorcycle with engine mounted on front wheel. You couldn’t break with it, because it didn’t have clutch and gear. So you just choke it out.
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What are the maintenance issues with it being hub mounted?
Check higher up for answers, looks like there are a lot of drawbacks.
Now that’s one ugly motorcycle.
