Inspired by some of the amazing build threads on here I’m planning to build myself an electric longboard.
Currently reading up on boards, batteries, and motors, but there doesn’t currently seem to be an clear winner between hubs vs belts. It sounds like a year or 2 ago belts were the obvious way to go. but with new hubs being developed its now less clear cut.
I’m 70 Kg
live in a medium hilly area
would like to hit 25 Mph
and want to keep it under £500 (I’m good at finding deals!)
I dont have any low end belt drives so I cant comment those but Ive seen many people that make it work, low end hubs all have major issues though. If thats your bugdet then a single drive belt set up is probably your best bet I dont recommend single drive hubs as they will all get hot from my experience, even if you are light.
Belted systems Rock!
No urethane falling off
No broken axles
No bolts backing out and cutting phase wires
Climbing everything in sight without overheating.
Hummies v4 motors are the only ones gaurenteed to have no axle breaking issues (12mm instead of 8, over 20 times as strong), no wheel falling of or deformation issues (thanks to our high heat core), great rebound with almost as much urarhene as a non hub motor wheel (only 15% less).
For $450 for 2 motors, maybe out of your price range, but more torque then a dual drive belt with equivalent gearing.
We have solid working hubs, that will last Just most do not.
The noise claim is really debatable. Plenty of DIY belt/chain drives that run really quiet. The less moving parts thing is a cool bit of trivia, but realistically the belt drives are proven reliability. I’ve definitely seen my fair share of hubs motors burning out due to heat , vibrations due to thin urethane, or both.
Cheap hub motors sub 40$ are doomed to break but that’s that.
Im 93kg and have been riding meepo type hubs for a while now, no problems whatsoever. Looking forward to hummies hub motors though
True, but at the same time here I am with a broken set of Jacobs. Ultimately, size is the bigger decider of how much abuse hub motors can take. However it’s undeniable that hub motors take on much more abuse and vibrations than belt drive motors, and thus you are bound to have more hub motors fail from a statistical point of view.
Hehe. It looks to me that you have decided for the motors that you want. Anyway, 500 $ build with quality parts is a hard challenge. Hobbyking.com has a set maby you should look it up. Have heard good words about it.
I’ll agree a 500$ build is hard if you want a reliable setup. However I still think you are better off with a cheap belt/chain drive setup rather than a cheap hub motor setup. I had a 6374 single drive that worked wonders for most inclines. Hummies are the only hubs I would really consider at this point, if you still want to go with hub motors.
What gearing? Hubs are 1:1 and not adjustable. There is no way a hub can beat the torque of a belt drive unless it has a 250mm wheel wrapper and weighs 3 stone LoLz
I have done some research and came out with these result. True or not true this is my opinion. Does not have to be yours or others. I don’t either sell hubs, or other motors so I’m totally unbiased. I did not say wich one is better in general I just pointed some pros for hubs in my opinion.
Now:
Hub pros :
Clearance. -Yes unless you mount belt motors in the back or top of your board.
Cleaner look. -Yes by a mile.
Les noise. - yes, motor is enclosed and not open, in adittion to les moving parts, where each of them makes noise on itself.
Les moving parts. -Okay, got me there
No belt wear/break. - It’s true. How often it happens is other thing.
Pushing it with empty battery possible. I can do it. Not as easy as a normal board but possible. At least on flat ground.
If I did insult you or your beliefs I’m sorry, but every one has the right to share its thoughts.
