Electric bicycles, most commonly known as e-bikes, are becoming a more common form of two-wheeled transportation. It has become a tool for having commutes and leisure activities. Likewise, it’s good to take note of its motor. The most familiar electric motor styles used in various electric bikes are hub motors and mid-drive motors. But what are these two types of electric bike motors?
Two Types Of Electric Bike Motors
A hub motor is usually installed on the rear wheel, although you can also find some front hub configurations. The hub motor is nearly lightweight, quite affordable for manufacturers, and reasonably straightforward.
On the other hand, a mid-drive is where the motor is closer to the center of the electric bike. Here, the motor’s power is transferred to the rear wheel through the bike’s chain drive. This type of motor placement has become more usual over the last 2-3 years and has affected the popularity of hub motors as the leading motors for e-bikes.
Overall, if you want to be informed about how mid-drive motors are different and if it’s fit for your travel. This article will delve into that.
Why Is Mid-Drive Motor Different?
There are various reasons why the mid-drive motor has now become a more popular and preferred motor used in e-bikes. So, read on to explore what makes an electric bike mid-drive different.
- Easy Maintenance
The maintenance and servicing of the mid-drive motor of an e-bike are significantly easier and less challenging. The whole motor components can be removed and replaced by removing two special bolts without impacting any other bike’s aspects.
With this, almost any regular bike shop can undertake, with less effort, any repairs and troubleshooting of the mid-drive motor. If you think that having easier maintenance is ideal for you as a biker, you can learn more about mid-drive electric bicycles online for more information https://www.chargebikes.com.
- Higher Performance
An electric bike mid-drive is well-known for its higher performance than typical hub motors. One main reason is that the mid-drive steers the bike’s crank rather than the wheel, boosting its power and providing a way for it to capitalize on the gears present on the electric bike.
Possibly, the best way to think of this is to imagine a situation where you’re riding near a steep hill. You would alter the bike’s gears to allow more effortless pedaling and keep a similar rhythm. Likewise, if you have a mid-drive placed on your electric bike, such a motor can take advantage of that change in gearing, allowing it to offer more power and distance.
- Leverageable Gears
Leveraging the gears of an electric bike mid drive is one of its significant advantages. Electric motors are more efficient at higher revolutions per minute (RPM), and mid-drive motors are tuned to work effectively at a natural pedaling cadence. And so, when you’re pedaling with the right gears, the mid-drive motor will work in its standard form.
This concludes that given a similar torque and power, this motor will generally work better when you ride up steep hills, presuming that you shift to the right gear. Likewise, its ability to function with other gears has other advantages, such as the increased distance you can travel on a single charge, which adds to the natural riding experience.
- Good Ride Quality
As a mid-drive work with pedals, people often notice it as a better option. The torque of the motor is employed to the chain so that the riding experience can feel more natural.
Because the electric bike mid drive is located at the bike’s center and directly beneath the rider, the riding experience also feels more balanced and more natural to control than an electric bike with a hub motor. The reason is that a hub-drive bike will possibly have a weight that tends to be more inclined towards the front or rear of the electric bicycle. In addition, the regular feedback about a hub motor is that it looks to pull (front hub) or push (rear hub) you along.
Note that another reason why mid-drive motor has a better ride quality doesn’t have much to do with the technology itself. Instead, it has good ride quality because it uses a torque sensor, whereas a typical hub-drive motor uses cadence sensors. If you have a cadence sensor, this will only measure how quickly you’ll pedal the bike, whereas torque sensors will detect how much effort you’ll put into pedaling.
Final Thoughts
Electric bikes are becoming a more popular form of transportation for commuters. It has also been deemed fit for leisure activities. Likewise, every electric bike has a motor attached to it, and the two most common electric bike motors that exist are the mid-drive and the hub-drive.
Concerning the mid-drive motor, it’s a motor found closer to the electric bike’s center. Nowadays, mid-drive motors are becoming more noted as the right motors for electric bikes. It differs from the typical hub motors of other electric bikes, and there are many reasons why.
Some of the reasons it differs from the hub motor are found in its performance, maintenance, gears, and ride quality. Overall, may this article assist you in deciding if a mid-drive motor is the best fit.
