I got good advice here when I did my first DIY ebike in 2015. Put a 500W hub motor on my aluminum Diamondback and was advised to use torque arms. Instead, I shifted the motor to my steel Trek, and it's been in place for five years now. No flat tires, thankfully. One of my favorite bikes to ride. Shown here with my "stealth" battery.



The following year, I put a bafang mid drive in the Diamondback. I've had some memories with it. On my first big test ride, 26 miles up/down the Chicago lakefront, my battery wiring failed after 300 feet, so I ended up pedaling all of that w/o power..Couldn't go home. On the other hand, when I took it to Colorado, we had some fantastic rides at 9000 feet. I couldn't hike a half mile uphill at that elevation w/o running out of breath, but it was easy to ride. Last week, I had a flat tire 4 miles from home. No tools. No tube. Had to do the Walk of Shame. It was awful.



And here's my electrified minvello. I went with front motor and two torque arms on this one. I marked the axle nuts with a sharpie pen. They haven't moved at all in 3 years. It's a Sundeal mini, only $159 on clearance from Bike Nashbar. Abut 36 pounds with motor/battery.