MGU (E1.12)
Pinion's MGU E1.12 is a radical full-power motor with a 12-speed gearbox built into the same housing, replacing the derailleur entirely. It trades 4.1 kg of mass for a 600% gear range and genuine tractor-like climbing.
Builds fast from low cadence and — unusually — keeps pulling hard at very high cadence where rivals fade, with peak output arriving high in the rev range (around 100-120 rpm in its strongest gears) rather than at a mid-cadence plateau. Both BIKE Magazin and Velomotion note it holds power to 110-120 rpm, gear four pushing hardest.
Pinion MGU (E1.12) is the most ambitious unit in the full-power class: a motor Pinion rates at 600 W peak and 85 Nm, fused with a 12-speed gearbox in one die-cast housing that shifts electronically in fractions of a second even under load. On the bench the labs read it differently gear-to-gear: BIKE Magazin (PT Labs) logged 519 W in gear five but 552/642 W across its strongest gears, while Velomotion measured roughly 580 W at the wheel after losses. Either way it sits broadly level with a Bosch Performance Line CX and a touch ahead of a Shimano EP801.
Where it stands apart is the gearbox. Because the motor always works through whatever ratio you select, the easiest gears multiply torque to as much as 160 Nm at the cranks. No climb is too steep for the gearing, and the assist comes on early and full even at low rider input. The flip side is character: testers call it 'more brute-force than caress', with little of the gentle power trailing (Nachlauf) that helps on slippery technical climbs.
It is also the heaviest motor in the field at 4.1 kg, and audibly louder in the lowest four gears — though near-silent in the high gears and downhill thanks to the belt drive. On heat it is reassuringly undramatic: both BIKE Magazin's lab/trail test and Velomotion's climb runs report no derating problem under sustained load, so the headline figure is sustained climbing pace rather than a number that collapses after a few minutes.
Sustained power & heat
How long the headline number actually lasts under sustained climbing load.
No published derate floor or retention figure. The cited tests report stable output on long climbs; any '400 W after 10 min' claim traces only to a banned aggregator group test and is not corroborated by BIKE Magazin, Velomotion or Pinion.
Character
The case for and against
Strengths
- Integrated 12-speed gearbox with 600% range
- Up to 160 Nm crank torque in the low gears
- Strong, early assist matching Bosch CX / Shimano EP801
- Holds power to 110-120 rpm where rivals fade, and no derating reported on long climbs
- Near-silent in high gears and downhill (belt drive); ~10,000 km gearbox-oil service, no derailleur to wear
Compromises
- Heaviest unit in the test at 4.1 kg
- Audibly louder than rivals in gears 1-4 under climbing load
- Raw, brute-force delivery with little power trailing
- Lab peak swings by gear (519 W gear 5 up to ~642 W), so a single 'measured' number undersells it
How it stacks up
Bikes running this motor · 21
