Better than Wilderness

Actually it's well known that Electric Rider is a Crystalyte dealer.. it says so in the URL you posted. This means Electric Rider doesn't build their own motors, their motors come from Crystalyte, so far as I know. Crystalyte motors are sold through a couple other vendors.

There has been a long standing thing between Crystalyte & Wilderness Energy. I'd say which one is "better" depends on the requirements of the person making the choice. There's no doubt that the top end Crystalyte is more powerful, but is "more powerful" better when it comes to bicycling? FWIW Crystalyte motors have a great reputation.

I can't ever remember posting that WE was better than Crystalite. When I got started, a mere few months ago, the WE kits were MUCH less expensive. Alas, that is pretty much history now. The now almost unavaliable WE brushed motor was the cheapest way to get close to 30 mph by adding one battery. Customer service can be just as bad for either, depending on who you buy from. I found a legitimate warrantee claim pretty painless with WE, but that was back when they could keep up with stocking parts. WE is notorious for bad chargers, and the wheels allways need professional truing. The C'lyte wheels, usually spoked by the local shop, tend to be much straighter out of the box and may have a nicer rim. And of course, if you want a rear hub, forget it from WE. Technologically, they come out of the factory very similar, but the service after the sale is the big difference with similar models. There is of course no comparing a WE hub with a 5304 crystalite hub. Kinda like comparing a vw bug with a porche.

I also got started with WE because it was fairly cheap, just to see if it was feasible transportation to and from work mostly. Turns out that it is. I will probably get a Crystalyte at some point, because if I run the WE hard at all it can get fairly hot. I've seen some posts about WE motors being killed with some rough use, but haven't yet heard of anyone killing a Crystalyte (at least not one of the big ones) yet.

I've no doubt that what I was doing this summer would have killed a golden, or a crystalite 400 series motor just as quick. The 5000 series crystalites handle heat better due to the sise of them. I'm told that for hills like I climb, in hot weather, a gearmotor will run cooler. If it's under 100 F and humid at all, I wouldn't worry too much about the heat. My ride is about 80% uphill home in the afternoon, and when it's 105 and no humidity, air cooling is very ineffective. As soon as the summer rains arrive, the motor is ok. I just saw a post on the sphere comparing WE and Chrystalite brushed motors, and they are as close to identical as can be for made in different factories. I have seen posts of hot 400 series motors losing the magnet glue from heat, much like mine did.

dogman and/or 'brushed master',

How hot is too hot for the motor? I'm taking a temp gun home from work to see things more accurately. I'll let you know....