Momentum magazine invited the major bike motor manufacturers to participate in a unique contest, powering heavily loaded cargo bikes on the notorious streets of The City. I was down there for the beginning of the contest. There was a bit of info. leaking from the organizers that initially there were some strong performers, and it was going to be a fight.
In the end, there was only one system from one manufacturer that will take the Momentum Magazine Slapdown Crown. The winner was a no brainer; it was the only system that did not blow up. The winner ran the others into the ground. Last man standing, to the death. I was going to tell you which product will be announced as the winner, but I changed my mind. It does rhyme with "sky"; or "I saw tragic sky over many continents." Puzzle it out for yourself. I don't want to spoil it for you.
Check it out as the info. becomes available at www.SlappitySlapdown.com
Very interesting.
Thanks for the heads up mate.
I looked into the slapdown page.
I got this excerpt from the site.
As the cargo bike industry experiences record growth, consumer interest in heavy-duty electric conversion kits for those cargo bikes has continued to build.
This growing market wants to know: “Which high performance electric hub-motor kit is best suited for my cargo bike?”
To answer this question, The San Francisco Slappity Slapdown has teamed up with the San Francisco Bicycle Music Festival’s team of experienced, load-hauling roadies to compare the performance of the bike industry’s most powerful electric hub motor conversion kits when installed on the industry’s most popular cargo bike: Xtracycle’s FreeRadical, loaded with 150 lbs of gear, and tested through San Francisco’s legendary terrain - including 22nd St., a 31.5% grade monster that is “one of the steepest navigable streets in the Western Hemisphere.”
Armed with voltmeters, wattmeters, weight scales, stopwatches, bicycle computers, cameras and videocameras, The BMF’s roadies (made to be equally body weighted at 150 lbs, and of equal riding level) - led by Slapdown Producer Gabe Dominguez, and the Slappity Slapdown’s professional photography and videography team, will record the specific performance details of each conversion kit.
Each kit will be rated for its performance in 9 different categories, and individual honors will be awarded to the hub motor kit that performs the best in each.
l Best hill-climber (torque),
l Best hauler on the flats (speed),
l Most efficient (distance),
l Best value,
l Lightest kit,
l Easiest installation,
l Most satisfying user experience,
l Best looks,
l and Most quiet.
The Overall Winner will be the hub motor kit that receives the highest marks on average across all of these fields, with speed, torque, and efficiency scores weighted heaviest. The Overall Winner takes home not only serious bragging rights, but also The Slapdown Crown.
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Very broad overview of the performances to be tested.
Im not sure I would want a bike that does a little bit of all that and not a lot of a couple of points listed.
We will see what happens. I'm sure there is the ultimate hub out there and it isn't the fastest or most powerful but efficiency should be the balance point to all EV pursuits IMO.
