Nuvinci N360 New for £132!

[Deleted member 4366]

If it looks to good to be true, it is too good to be true; however, I can't see anything wrong with this. Even with the extra £30 for duty, it's very, very cheap:
NuVinci N360 Internal Gear Bicycle Rear Bike Hub 32 or 36 Disc/Roller/Rim Brake | eBay

Line up because they'll go quickly.

 

[cwah]

If I use a big power crank drive with it, would that stand it for long?

I mean if I put for exemple a 750W bafang or 3000W cyclone on it?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I think it would be OK with a 750w Bafang with your light weight on it, but the Cyclone would be too much for it. Mine slipped a couple of times with my GNG at 36v and 30 amps when I was too lazy to change from top gear to a lower one up a hill.

 

[cwah]

when I tried the Nexus 8 on the bosch bike it was really pleasant to shift gears. I really loved it. Too bad it can only handle limited power.

I was wondering if I have to stop acceleration while shifting gear (like for cars?)?

And of course if I buy the 750W bafang, I'd push 2000W on it. I don't know if it would handle it as well as the mac motor

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You can change gear under load, but it's much harder.You have to twist hard on the changer, which can make the cables slip.The cable-stops are held in place with a small grub-screw, which can slip.then you're stuck in gear. It wouldn't be a problem on a 250w motor, but at 1000W or more, it's better to turn down the throttle for a second to allow an easy gear-change.

Having a Nuvinci on a crank-drive is a bit weird. I use a cruise control to fix the speed of the motor, and then the Nuvinci gear-changer works a bit like a speed controller.

 

[cwah]

Why is it weird? It allows to always have the motor running on its efficiency band

 

[Croxden]

I see it's not Gates compatible. I wonder if that where my problems originated?

 

[Scimitar]

I see it's not Gates compatible. I wonder if that where my problems originated?

Bill must be gutted.

 

[cwah]

nuvinci review:
Endless-sphere.com • View topic - Nuvinci N360 hub

apparently it's not a mature technology yet

 

[Deleted member 4366]

nuvinci review:
Endless-sphere.com • View topic - Nuvinci N360 hub

apparently it's not a mature technology yet

I wouldn't take too much notice of that. Nearly all the problems were because they didn't install the cables properly. IMHO, for an electric bike, the cables need to be stronger, because the higher loads on the drive mean that you need more force on the changer to change down for hill-climbing. I can imagine some of these guys pulling as hard as they can until the nipple slips on the cable. On a non-electric bike, the changing is easy because of the lower loads. The cables are thin, and the nipples are held in place with tiny grub-screws that have to be done up tight otherwise they'll slip, and you end up with less gear range until you re-adjust the cable.

The only other complaint was aboutefficiency, but only one guy mentioned that. There probably is a slight loss cpmpared with a derailleur, but not enough to notice. I think that if you have a 250w or 350w cranl-drive, it's a good match,and it solves completely the crashing gear-changes when going up hill that you get with a derailleur system.

When I said it was weird, I meant that the way you control the speed of the bike is different because the gear-changer becomes the speed control rather than the throttle. The throttle controls the power,but the gear-changer controls the speed. It would work well with those S series controllers with "torque simulation", which are set to current control rather than speed control.

 

[cwah]

I re-read again and they are a few to complain about efficiency loss. One of them gave precise loss:
"With a derailleur system I could reach speeds of 30km/hr on a 5% grade and 40km/hr on flat ground. With the N360 it is now 24khm/hr on a 5% grade and 35km/hr on flat ground. On my commute to work I average about 26.5km/hr with the Nuvinci N360 compared to 31km/hr with a derailleur, a difference of about 15%.

Now you could claim that I have lost fitness since buying the Nuvinci N360, unfortunately I use a Stokemonkey electric assist on a Surly Big Dummy, and this does the majoriy of the work. Note that if you introduce an additional 15% inefficiency that turns a 400% Nuvinci N360 into just 0.85 x 400 = 340% range for an equivalent derailleur system."

Few of them complained about leaking fluid or broken hub, and almost all about the cables and difficult installation.


Overall the reviews don't look too positive

 

[trex]

One would assume that it should be effortless to shift under heavy load but apparently this is not happening, bang goes the main attraction.
No wonder they cut the price.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

One would assume that it should be effortless to shift under heavy load but apparently this is not happening, bang goes the main attraction.
No wonder they cut the price.

It won't be a problem with your 250w motor,and it's hardly a problem with a much more powerful one. I run my GNG with double the power of yours, and it's OK, but not perfect. Go down to your local bike/electric bike shop and try one rather than basing your judgement on second-hand information.

 

[cwah]

Dave, is your GNG a NuVinci N360? You have one and it's working well?

 

[trex]

It won't be a problem with your 250w motor,and it's hardly a problem with a much more powerful one. I run my GNG with double the power of yours, and it's OK, but not perfect. Go down to your local bike/electric bike shop and try one rather than basing your judgement on second-hand information.

I wonder why the new lower price. Two months ago, I asked my Chinese contact for the price of the 2013 N360, I was quoted $300, not worth that much I thought.
The new price is $160, it's probably the right price for this equipment to compete with other hub gears.

 

[Croxden]

I must say I liked the NuVinci but when the bike was returned we noticed the gear cable was on the verge of breaking. Gear changing was always stiffer than I expected but that could be deliberate to prevent gears from wondering about.

 

[Kramer]

I wonder why the new lower price.

I presume this is due to the fact it's old stock, with the newer stock being Gates drive compatible.

In any case, unless the exchange rate has fluctuated massively it seems they've realised they were offering it too low and have increased the price to approx £150.00 ($249.50) I assume it was around $219.50 earlier, shame as I am thinking of getting one and missed the thread when it was first posted.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I'm sitting here smugly with mine sitting next to me. It worked out £173 including duty etc. All I need now is a decent crank motor to go with it.

 

[Kramer]

If you don't mind me asking, what was the breakdown of that price? Original cost, shipping, tax/duty etc?

 

[Kramer]

All I need now is a decent crank motor to go with it.

And the Harmony auto-shifter perhaps?

http://www.emotion-technologies.de/e-bike-service/ebike-nachrüstung/nuvinci-nabe-nachruestung/