Before I get into the topic, No this isn’t about gear drives being called direct drives I understand the differences and want to focus on comparing these two distinct drive systems.
I’m starting to rethink my build’s motors/drive as direct drive is real difficult to come by and while there are a few promising options now, notably @torqueboards and @BoostedBuilder’s direct drives, they are likely a way off still. Gear drives already have a fair number of producers like @Nowind@Kaly@Kug3lis to name a few. I’d hate to sit on a build that only lacks only the drive train.
I like torque and braking which I understand due to the gearing and pulleys that gear drives are superior in this aspect while DD’s have fairly good brakes but don’t shoot off the line as quickly or brake as well.
DD’s are very stealthy and are probably the quietest around though not sure how they hold up against helical but I think I may still hand it to DDs. I noticed mini gear drives are also quite compact as the gear boxes are nicely tucked away near the wheels without hangars and other parts sticking out too far in the back.
As for weight, I’m guessing DDs are a tad bit lighter and also offer a AWD version without adding a whole lot of weight.
I wanted to ask if you guys ever encountered the same question and choice as I’m try to balance out waiting for these DDs or go for a more widely used gear drive.
I don’t plan on going full on ETB for this build but rather an all around urban build foroght off roading and bad asphalt/cement. Looking forward to what you guys think!
My personal choice would be gear drive since you have the option to choose gears to adjust the board to your needs
But on the other hand direct seems super cool and fancy but depending on your roads I would crush those motors within a month
Roads are quite bad thus I began to consider an AWD if going for DDs with pneumatics for better motor clearance too though its gonna double the weight and hike up the price quite abit
Which i forgot to mention is a current plus of DDs as far as Carvon is able to provide though I believe swappable pneumatics to urethanes for gear drives area already in the works.
woah! Now I wanna try one though those Maytech Hubs look like they were abit lacking on torque due to the size? I’ve never seen a direct drive on Trampa hubs before so that looked really interesting!
Edit:
forgot to mention it looks suuper stealthy! if not for the top mounted enclosure, you’d be hard pressed to think it was just a standard Trampa board lol
Yeah I think I would be introducing alot of added complexity with 4WD. I’m not sure whats got the most torque for a DD as well. I know torqueboarsa may come out with a 6380 DD but still a ways off while the 6374 sdxl on carvon I think shows potential for pumping out the torque
Yeah I’m starting to hear the same sentiments more and more. Would torque and braking on a DD only get near a Gear drive if it were AWD? I feel like its quite a significant difference of torque between a beefy DD and a gear drive.
The same motor on direct drive would have to be able to make a 3-4 times the tourqe as the one thats geared down on the same size wheels
Making the geared one have much more torque, I do not know what motors are used on DD but tyey must be beefy since I didnt see anyone complain about torque on them
I understand the differences and want to focus on comparing these two distinct drive systems.
though those Maytech Hubs look like they were abit lacking on torque due to the size? I’ve never seen a direct drive on Trampa hubs before so that looked really interesting!