Thinking of converting an old trek. Anyone have thoughts on front / rear wheel drive?
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No, the bigger issue with front drive is that the front wheel has less weight over it (so significantly less traction) and that should it ever lose traction, you are more or less guaranteed to crash while the rear wheel slipping is perfectly recoverable. This is exacerbated since a human motor knows not to turn the power on going through a turn in the wet, but e-bike motors don't bring any such intelligence.
I converted an old trek steel frame touring bike and moved the conversion kit to a modern hardtail after a month of commuting. It didn’t feel safe.
That said what you want is a mid drive bafang bbshd. Dead simple conversion for any bike.