Friction motors have always been terrible, I expect this one to be no exception.
Yeah, if I was going to convert a bike I think I'd stick with a traditional mid drive or hub conversion kit.
Front hub conversions in particular are very easy to do and produce reliable, efficient and nice to ride bikes. Bafang even has a plug-n-play set of controllers and torque sensing bottom brackets that can do proper torque assist. I'm using one of their BBs with my current non-Bafang setup and it's spectacular. It makes riding my bike pure joy. 😁
I'm currently using a light read hub, but if I was building a new bike, I'd go with a light front hub on a steel fork. The total weight would be down even after adding the extra weight of the fork and the rear drivetrain can stay stock.
That much weight cantilevering off the front fork seems like a nightmare for stability and steering.
I see no mention of weight anywhere, not even on their website.
Unless it's 20lbs, I don't see that as an issue. I probably would never use one, but I can see the appeal if it can be transferred across multiple bikes easily.
