bicycle Wheel(Hub) motors

["VanDerWal, Peter MSgt" <vanderwp@fhu.disa.mil>]

>Have had to get some digests from Yahoo as they aren't all coming
>through, so I don't know who said:
>
>"Don't get me wrong wheel motors are cool, especially direct drive wheel
>motors. But for most people the high cost, poorer handling and
>performance aren't worth the few extra percent in efficiency."
>
>The wheel motors used in bikes are nice although the ones I've seen
>don't use gearing to allow the high rpm needed for decent power. Are
>there hub motors available with a planetary rpm differential ? This
>could get much better hill performance with less heat.

Most (all?) bicycle hubs motors use fixed internal gears and generally don't
have all that great efficiency (I've haven't heard of any production units
over 90%).  Also, on most bicycles, everything is unsprung weight so hub
motors don't make any difference.

The main problem I've seen with most bicycle hub motors is that design
and/or legal constraints result in motors that are really too small.  That
being said, I've heard that Heinzman (sp?) makes a really nice bicycle hub
motor.