NuVinci 360 gearing

[Mac_user82]

Hi

I'm thinking hard about buying another electric bike with NuVinci 360 gearing has anyone tried this and what is your experience with it.

I'm thinking of going to a "belt-driven" bike has anybody have much experience with the belt too
* What is the mileage like with the belt
* Are the easy to source

Thanks in advance

 

[KeithMac]

I run Gates Carbon Drive and it's excellent, especially running through winter due to low maintenance requirements.

The drive is lovely and smooth, really happy with it.

Longevity wise I suppose it depends on what you're using the bike for, I expect 6,000 miles or more before requiring a new belt, may be double that..

The Nuvinci is a great hub, I have built one into another bike but haven't tested it out yet, iirc it's geared from 50% to 250% range with infinite steps between.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

They add a lot of weight for very little advantage. 3.5kg is more than many hub-motors. If you fitted a hub-motor instead, you wouldn't need gears.

There's some questions about efficiency too, but I don't notice much difference in that respect.

I think that the change cables are not really strong enough for the job when you fit it on an electric bike. It takes a lot of force to change down under load, like when going up hills, and the cables are very thin. If you pull them too hard, the end-stops slip and then need to be readjusted.

 

[Mac_user82]

The NuVinci comes with the bike i was going to upgrade the to a rolfoff hub in time i have been told they are very good and work well so that would be my plan of action


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[Crockers]

Isn't the 380 better than the 360??

 

[KeithMac]

You'd require a different rear sprocket for the Rohloff but other than that should be a simple enough swap.

Buying the bike alread built from the ground up with carbon belt system is a good idea as they are very close tolerance on the alignment.

 

[Trevormonty]

Shimano 8spd or 11spd hub with manual or DI2 shifting are worth looking at. Few bikes doing them with gates drive. Heard mix stories about 11spd reliability but 8spd seems to have good reputation.

 

[flecc]

iirc it's geared from 50% to 250% range with infinite steps between.

The NuVinci is a bit less than that 500%, it's name gives it, 360%, the actual gearing being 0.5 to 1.8

Shimano 8 speeds are 307%

Shimano 14 speed is 409%

Rohloff is 526%
.

 

[Rohloffboy]

My none ebike has a Rohloff igh, got that back in 2004 and have done a few cycle camping tours, from Manchester to Scotland via the Lakes, and the Rohloff is sweeter now than the day it was bought, having never skipt a beat, or a gear!

Not bad after 13 years usage.

I would say the Nuvinci is the ideal igh for an ebike, also the Nuvinci igh is almost half the price of a Rohloff.

I like to be in a particular gear of my choice, the CVT action of the Nuvinci for me would take some getting used to.

I find it hard to believe that in this modern age, that most ebikes come with derailleur gears, it is such an outdated technology to what is now available.

 

[Steve UKLSRA]

I find it hard to believe that in this modern age, that most ebikes come with derailleur gears, it is such an outdated technology to what is now available.

Cheap, reliable, easily serviced, ...why spend a small fortune to change something that's not broken

 

[flecc]

I find it hard to believe that in this modern age, that most ebikes come with derailleur gears, it is such an outdated technology to what is now available.

It's because it is so inconveniently efficient, so close to 100% efficiency that it's not worth trying to measure the difference.

Nothing else comes close, simply because derailleur isn't a gear system with losses, it's just a choice of a number of single speeds.
.

 

[robwalley]

The gear ratios are easier to compare to derailleur's with example, I did a spreadsheet with a 52 front and 20 rear, giving Rohloff (0.73-3.81); Nuvinci 380 (1.30-4.94) and Alfine 11 (1.11-4.52) . I have Rohloff 52/16 giving 0.91-4.77 which is almost perfect for touring. The weight of the Nuvinci might be an issue but you are already adding motor and battery, the big advantage is you won't have to back off when changing gear like you do with Rohloff and Alfine.

 

[Rohloffboy]

A 7 speed or 8/9/10 Speed rear derailleur cassette on an ebike is going to give a rubbish gear range, compared to using a Nuvinci or Rohloff, even cheapo 11 Speed Shimano Alfine igh would be better.

A 27 Speed derailleur with 3 Chain Rings up front, only gives the same gear range as a Rohloff.

Of course there is no practical way of having 3 Chain Rings up front on a Crank Drive ebike..

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Nuvinci is very heavy at 3.5kg. You can have a hub-motor for the same weight, in which case you don't need any gears.

 

[robwalley]

Nuvinci is very heavy at 3.5kg. You can have a hub-motor for the same weight, in which case you don't need any gears.

Websites quote 2.45, 1.82 and 1.59 kg's respectively for N380, Rohloff and Alfine 11. The difference is not enough to dismiss the N380 for a tourer or even trails given the advantage of planetary gears.

 

[Danidl]

My none ebike has a Rohloff igh, got that back in 2004 and have done a few cycle camping tours, from Manchester to Scotland via the Lakes, and the Rohloff is sweeter now than the day it was bought, having never skipt a beat, or a gear!

Not bad after 13 years usage.

I would say the Nuvinci is the ideal igh for an ebike, also the Nuvinci igh is almost half the price of a Rohloff.

I like to be in a particular gear of my choice, the CVT action of the Nuvinci for me would take some getting used to.

I find it hard to believe that in this modern age, that most ebikes come with derailleur gears, it is such an outdated technology to what is now available.

All life is a compromise . The hubgear you admire is apparently very reliable, and requires minimal maintenance. Against that it is extremely heavy, extremely expensive, and relatively speaking extremely inefficient in comparison with a derailleur.
The belt drive you also admire is clean, non oiling and looks very neat. Against that it is slightly less efficient in transmitting energy, needs very close tolerances and is currently very expensive.

 

[KeithMac]

Tollerance wise with the belt drive, it's set and forget.

I would choose belt and igh over chain and derailleur every time due to maintenance alone..

 

[RobF]

Gates - who make the belt - quote life as 'about twice that of a chain'.

Not too clever when one is £100 and the other is a tenner, although I suspect Gates are being conservative and many owners will get longer life.

The belts are OK on good surfaces, but not so clever on tracks because if a bit of grit lodges on the internal surface of the belt it can break it.

The problem is made worse because the belts are made wider - dual track as Gates call it - to prevent roll off.

Also, the wider the belt, the higher the friction losses.

Belts can also make a bit of noise in the wet, no big deal, but a chain is silent which is one of the reasons it is close to 100 percent efficient.

As regard the NuVinci, the one I tried was noticeably draggy.

It's no coincidence that next no push bike makers use NuVinci, in that application every bit of drag counts.

Not so important with an ebike, although if you are pushing battery capacity for distance, the extra power used may make a difference.

 

[Mac_user82]

Gates - who make the belt - quote life as 'about twice that of a chain'.

Not too clever when one is £100 and the other is a tenner, although I suspect Gates are being conservative and many owners will get longer life.

The belts are OK on good surfaces, but not so clever on tracks because if a bit of grit lodges on the internal surface of the belt it can break it.

The problem is made worse because the belts are made wider - dual track as Gates call it - to prevent roll off.

Also, the wider the belt, the higher the friction losses.

Belts can also make a bit of noise in the wet, no big deal, but a chain is silent which is one of the reasons it is close to 100 percent efficient.

As regard the NuVinci, the one I tried was noticeably draggy.

It's no coincidence that next no push bike makers use NuVinci, in that application every bit of drag counts.

Not so important with an ebike, although if you are pushing battery capacity for distance, the extra power used may make a difference.

I normally get about 500 miles out of a chain and that about my limit no more so just roughly i should only get about 1000 miles out of a belt and if it is 100 pound for belt that is a lot money to go to belt driven bike it sounds like the chain would be a cheaper option

People have told me in the past that you can get about 6000 miles out of belt and this is the reason why i was thinking about going to a belt set up to save the money on buying chains all the time and not have to worry about it and other thing is that the roads that i commute down are very dirty all the time

When i have come back from commuting down these dirty roads the chain is completely black and the chain does need degreasing straight away if I don't then the next time i ride then more then likely i will have problems changing gear all the time which i have had in the past

I think their is only about 2 months of the year in the high of summer when it nice and clean and clear when their is no mud on the road and it safe to say

I don't have to bother cleaning my chain it just doesn't stop and buying degrease you have to buy all the other products to keep the chain in good condition to get the most of the life out of the chain

Saying that i would only chain the belt on one if it was nearly falling off to get the most of the life out of the belt and i would always carry a belt with me all the time so if anything did happen then i would be able to chain the belt straight away the good thing is that i wont have to keep buying oil and degreaser all the time

On my bike it harder to change the chain because i have a guard to stop the chain catching your leg and it nearly impossible to on the road side because i would need to have a torque wrench to hand to be able to tight the pedal arm back up to 40 newton metres

I have been watching how to install a belt on YouTube and it looks very simple to do and i think it would be easy to do on the road side if needed too

 

[flecc]

People have told me in the past that you can get about 6000 miles out of belt

I can easily get 6000 out of chains on hub motor e-bikes and used to get over 4000 miles on unpowered bikes.

I find your only 500 miles bafflingly short.
.