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... Steering Headset and Front Wheel Motors ...

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diverdon:

     Hello , First I have got to say I'm so VERY Happy with my Magic Pie setup .. I ride 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 hours most every day and it has helped with my health a lot ...

       Today I noticed a "knocking" noise when I went over bumps ... I ride slow 7-8 mph average .. Got home looked it over and it seems the steering head bearings came/got a little loose ..Tightened the nut 1/8th of an inch and the looseness is out now ...
 
    Thing is ...Question is .. I posted in another forum looking for an exploded diagram of the steering head .... And someone came back with a comment that  "I Better Change to a rear hub motor or the bike is going to "Grenade" ...

     I didn't really appreciate that "help" ... Been riding this bike for over 3 years with no problems ...seems to me replacing the steering head bearings would just be a maintainece item ... I have done the rear hub 2 times already ..
 
   Looking at the Bike in a picture I CAN see where a motor tugging on that front wheen could/might cause a problem ...

     Can I get some opinions ? Please ? Seems there are thousands of front hub motors and I have never heard of steering head failures from them ...
 
    Thank You for any help you can give ... Don

Bikemad:
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
 
 

diverdon:

    Thanks again Alan .. I sorta thought that way ...but didn't have the science to back it up ..Now I do ..
   
   I have torque arms on both sides .. good ones from Grin Technologies ..Canada .. And I ride pretty easy ..no big bumps and pretty slow 7-8 mph Average ..
   
     Ordered a "headset" from Electra (treck) today .. Guess 3 years or so is about time to replace them anyhow ... I just don't like the bicycle being "broke down" .. Especally when the weather is so nice here now .. I tightened the bearings 1/8 inch ? gonna take a "test ride" now ....

     Thanks Again Alan ..Your a lifesaver

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