Hey guys, you've been very helpful as I've been figuring out my first ebike. For my first ebike, I'm going to get Robinson Cycles in Owings, MD (any of you MD people familiar with it?) to build an ebike for me from a hardtail mountain bike.(I know that it's blasphemy for me to not build it myself, but just for my first one)

Since the max is a 750 watt motor in VA I'm not going to take any chances and abide by that. My recreation on the bike will be on rutte, dirt, fire roads in the mountains or even worse. I've said before that I have concerns about climbing those rutted dirt fire roads with only 750 watts. I'm going to have a mid drive motor. My reading has indicated to me the following:

1.As long as the motor has enough torque, climbing the mountains shouldn't be a big problem. How many Newton meters should the motor have?

2.E-bike torque can be increased by using a higher voltage battery. What voltage would you recommend?

Any other tips to make it easier to get up the mountains other than gearing properly while riding?

Thanks again, Stu