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General Discussions / Re: ... Steering Headset and Front Wheel Motors ...
« Last post by Bikemad on February 28, 2024, 12:04:41 PM »Hi Don,
As you have steel forks that are also fitted with a torque arm you don't need to worry, as the load on the headset is significantly greater from heavy braking forces applied to a conventional wheel than the torsional forces generated from a front mounted hubmotor under full power.
Forks that are able to be used with disc brakes would be the best option for a front mounted hubmotor as they are designed to withstand torsional forces at the lower end, whereas non-disc brake forks only had to withstand directional forces from the wheel's axle:
The biggest safety concern with a front mounted hubmotor is that the fork's dropouts are simply not designed to cope with any torsional loads from the axle in either direction when a conventional front wheel is used as the wheel bearings prevent this from happening.
However, with a hubmotor, the high torsional forces produced by the stator have to be transmitted through the axle, which is why torque arms should always be fitted when using a hubmotor to help withstand the bidirectional torsional forces produced by the axle within the dropouts while under power and during regenerative braking.
Alan
As you have steel forks that are also fitted with a torque arm you don't need to worry, as the load on the headset is significantly greater from heavy braking forces applied to a conventional wheel than the torsional forces generated from a front mounted hubmotor under full power.
Forks that are able to be used with disc brakes would be the best option for a front mounted hubmotor as they are designed to withstand torsional forces at the lower end, whereas non-disc brake forks only had to withstand directional forces from the wheel's axle:
The biggest safety concern with a front mounted hubmotor is that the fork's dropouts are simply not designed to cope with any torsional loads from the axle in either direction when a conventional front wheel is used as the wheel bearings prevent this from happening.
However, with a hubmotor, the high torsional forces produced by the stator have to be transmitted through the axle, which is why torque arms should always be fitted when using a hubmotor to help withstand the bidirectional torsional forces produced by the axle within the dropouts while under power and during regenerative braking.
Alan