New Pinion integrated gearbox and motor (MGU)

Mrj35 said:
Pinion was bought out by Bombardier. They will have money to push this.
Click to expand...
I wasn't aware of this, thanks for the post.


“Beyond our existing powersports and marine products, we are expanding our addressable market and entering untapped categories such as urban mobility and services,” said José Boisjoli, President and CEO of BRP. “This acquisition is strategic for us as it enables BRP to leverage Pinion’s unique, state-of-the-art technology in order to spur the development of new electric human assisted products. We are pleased to welcome the Pinion team.”
Click to expand...
 
⚡ EMTB Pro Go Pro — Living Intelligence Reports, exclusive discounts & ad-free Up to 25% off Peaty's, PEMBREE, Magicshine & more · Ad-free browsing · Pro badge See the deals →
Got to try the new Pinion MGU today.

I'm sorry to say it did not live up to expectations. It was too noisy from gear 1-7 (or 8?), the gears were IMO a little too far apart and the gear changes unrefined. It also died on me 2 times during a 15 min test, which required a restart of the system. Unless there are some serious refinements which can be had through a firmware upgrade I would not have this system on a trail bike, even if I could stand the noise. Power was good but maybe not great.

I jumped straight onto a Riese & Muller ebike with Bosch motor + the newest electronic Rohloff gearing. This felt a lot better. Quieter, less gap between changes, better shift quality and probably also somewhat more powerful. Would be a good combo for a trail bike if you value low maintenance over the added unsprung mass. Perfect for a hardtail commuter bike.

In summary the Pinion MGU felt like a 1st gen product, hope they can improve on it over time.
 
TheSnowShark said:
Wow.. What model of bike was it installed on ?

Do you have a photo ? 🍻
Click to expand...
The brand was Kettler. I am not familiar with their lineup, but it was a comfort/commuter type hardtail. One thing I noted was that the display on more than one occasion stated "OEM mode". Best case it needed a firmware upgrade to soften the harsh gear changes (especially upshifts). Hope to be proven wrong as I really wanted the Pinion in my next ebike, but as a computer programmer myself I don't see it fixed with software. The Rohloff was better but as of now, sadly nothing beats the shift quality of a traditional derailleur. As a side note, I have also tried the Enviolo Vario stepless gear system - it's terrible!
 
I talked to the Gates guys at the Taipei show yesterday. Sounds like the MGU is a long way off being available to most OEMs. Pinion just working with a few German speaking brands initially.
Frustrating, but makes sense and I'd rather they took this slow approach and got it right than rushed it.
The pinion gearbox itself seems well matured now and so hopefully they will sort all this out.
 
TorAtle said:
Got to try the new Pinion MGU today.

I'm sorry to say it did not live up to expectations. It was too noisy from gear 1-7 (or 8?), the gears were IMO a little too far apart and the gear changes unrefined. It also died on me 2 times during a 15 min test, which required a restart of the system. Unless there are some serious refinements which can be had through a firmware upgrade I would not have this system on a trail bike, even if I could stand the noise. Power was good but maybe not great.

I jumped straight onto a Riese & Muller ebike with Bosch motor + the newest electronic Rohloff gearing. This felt a lot better. Quieter, less gap between changes, better shift quality and probably also somewhat more powerful. Would be a good combo for a trail bike if you value low maintenance over the added unsprung mass. Perfect for a hardtail commuter bike.

In summary the Pinion MGU felt like a 1st gen product, hope they can improve on it over time.
Click to expand...
This is hugely disappointing. However, as you said yourself, it is a 1st gen setup so fingers crossed it gets more refined soon.
 
Suns_PSD said:
This pretty much jives with the reviews I've seen of the MGU. Loud, clunky, inefficient.
I do think it's the future of full power ebikes, but not the immediate future.
Click to expand...
if its clunky loud and efficient then im ok with that if it lasts 10,000km before an oil change 😅
 
TorAtle said:
Got to try the new Pinion MGU today.

I'm sorry to say it did not live up to expectations. It was too noisy from gear 1-7 (or 8?), the gears were IMO a little too far apart and the gear changes unrefined. It also died on me 2 times during a 15 min test, which required a restart of the system. Unless there are some serious refinements which can be had through a firmware upgrade I would not have this system on a trail bike, even if I could stand the noise. Power was good but maybe not great.

I jumped straight onto a Riese & Muller ebike with Bosch motor + the newest electronic Rohloff gearing. This felt a lot better. Quieter, less gap between changes, better shift quality and probably also somewhat more powerful. Would be a good combo for a trail bike if you value low maintenance over the added unsprung mass. Perfect for a hardtail commuter bike.

In summary the Pinion MGU felt like a 1st gen product, hope they can improve on it over time.
Click to expand...
Is the motor noisy or is it the gearbox? I've ridden the non-motored gearboxes, and they are virtually silent.
 
Bikes are a bit on the pricey side, and they sounded quite loud on the video, but it's good to see some finally being listed in the uk

www.love-ebikes.co.uk

Simplon Rapcon Pmax Pinion Electric Mountain Bike (Grey/Dark Grey)

The Rapcon Pmax Pinion marks the beginning of a new era of E-MTBs and outshines everything that has come before. The revolutionary Pinion drive combines motor and gearbox in one housing and makes vulnerable derailleurs obsolete. The centre of gravity of this system is more central than ever. In...
www.love-ebikes.co.uk

www.love-ebikes.co.uk

Simplon Rapcon Pmax Pinion

The Rapcon Pmax Pinion marks the beginning of a new era of E-MTBs and outshines everything that has come before. The revolutionary Pinion drive combines motor and gearbox in one housing and makes vulnerable derailleurs obsolete. The centre of gravity of this system is more central than ever. In...
www.love-ebikes.co.uk
 
Last edited:
This integrated gearbox is exactly what I'd want. I've a bit of hate-hate relationship with dérailleurs, and still have fond memories of the IGH (shimano nexus) on my old analogue commuter. So much so when I bought my current bike I toyed with the idea of of converting it to an enviolo (bad idea BTW). (In fairness I must say I've been pleasantly surprised by the deore even though its only a lowly M4120, perhaps I've been lucky).

These are well outside of my budget, not surprisingly for a new tech.

When my current bike passes to the great scrapyard in the sky hopefully I'll have saved enough pennies and there'll be version 2 and my next bike will have an integrated gearbox.
 
After having not bust a derailleur since about 2016, with all the gales here in recent weeks the windthrow has accounted for 2 mangled rear mechs In a couple of weeks. the expense is a pain, but of course the ride ending faff is more Problematic.

I’m in.
 
Streddaz said:
Is the motor noisy or is it the gearbox? I've ridden the non-motored gearboxes, and they are virtually silent.
Click to expand...
I'm guessing it's from the straight cut gears since it's pretty silent in gears 9-12, but I can't say for sure. What you hear in the EMBN video is how I remember it. I have owned emtbs with Brose, Mahle, Shimano, Bosch and TQ. This Pinion MGU is the loudest of them all. It's not an ear-friendly noise either like the low hum of the Brose.

It's sad really that Steve @ EMBN doesn't have the balls to touch on the negative aspects, he rarely does.

I'm hoping to have another go on the Pinion MGU bike again soon as I want to demo another bike at the shop. If I do I'll report back.
 
Pyr0 said:
Bikes are a bit on the pricey side, and they sounded quite loud on the video, but it's good to see some finally being listed in the uk

www.love-ebikes.co.uk

Simplon Rapcon Pmax Pinion Electric Mountain Bike (Grey/Dark Grey)

The Rapcon Pmax Pinion marks the beginning of a new era of E-MTBs and outshines everything that has come before. The revolutionary Pinion drive combines motor and gearbox in one housing and makes vulnerable derailleurs obsolete. The centre of gravity of this system is more central than ever. In...
www.love-ebikes.co.uk

www.love-ebikes.co.uk

Simplon Rapcon Pmax Pinion

The Rapcon Pmax Pinion marks the beginning of a new era of E-MTBs and outshines everything that has come before. The revolutionary Pinion drive combines motor and gearbox in one housing and makes vulnerable derailleurs obsolete. The centre of gravity of this system is more central than ever. In...
www.love-ebikes.co.uk
Click to expand...
This sounds a bit goofy but could you wrap the mgu in some automotive sound absorption vinyl/foam stuff? I want this thing to work so badly…
 
Nicolai Saturn 16 MGU

IMG_0366.jpeg
 
Onetime said:
You’re probably right, but we can dream! I hope you’re wrong though. I know Rob wants the same thing. If enough people voice what they want, they might well make it.
Click to expand...
I think Nicolai is very much tuned to the market. Therefore, in comparison to 160mm market, there would be much less of the potential client base for the 190mm and up ebike, similar to the Pole setup.

Yes, some people would love to have one, myself including. It is all about what sells. Nothing more. Nothing less.

And since we speak about what we dream about, I would also want to have the 800W 45km/h MGU version available, purely for shits and giggles of it.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Keep reading
    Browse all

    Similar Threads

    Community Stats

    Since 2018
    670K
    Messages
    41,181
    Members
    Join 30,000+ Riders, it's free!
    Back
    Top