# My Nuvinci bike



## Cody Broken (Oct 28, 2006)

I wanted to post this on an existing Nuvinici thread, but I screwed up and picked one with the wrong title, so nobody was reading it. I hate to waste server space, but I couldn't delete the damn other post. I haven't seen anyone else's self-built Nuvinci bike, so here's mine.

I fell for the Nunvinci hub late last summer and finally got one. My wife and I own a bike shop, but even at wholesale the wheel I got with the Nuvinci hub was pretty expensive. I think it would retail for around $500.00. The rim is a Sun Rhyno Lite XL. I weighed the wheel with the shifter and cable, and etc. Yeah, that's pounds! (photo)
Truth is I spent so much dough on the wheel, I hashed together the rest of the bike from cheap and leftover parts (except crankset). I call it my mutant bike. Whole bike weighs 39-1/2 pounds. It is a workout to ride, but I like the way it shifts, and I am impressed with the range of ratios.
Here's some photos:


----------



## Bikinfoolferlife (Feb 3, 2004)

I don't have any interest in the Nuvinci hub for mtb use; it's waaaay too heavy. That saddle you've got is a big porker too. 40 lbs for a rigid mtb is just silly, especially when 25% of the weight is in the rear hub alone. No balance or utility in my mind.


----------



## Cody Broken (Oct 28, 2006)

As I said in my post I built this bike with mostly stray parts as it was an already expensive experiment. It is silly, but there it is and I a getting a kick out of it. If you don't like it, don't buy one. Not everyone is into what you are into. I am simply sharing my experience in case anyone is curious. You were curious enough to read the post, and negative enough take time to knock it. That's fine.
I am going to put road tires and cargo racks on it and make it an errand bike.


----------



## OhNooo (Jan 20, 2007)

Thanks for posting... I saw a couple of blurbs about this new gearing in association with the weird cruiser that Turner announced recently. I never saw anything regarding the sheer mass of the hub or the weight before. It's less than half the price of my Rohloff and about twice the weight, so like anything there is a tradeoff. 

The most important part... where's the detailed ride report? Does the CVP hold up to rough usage? Is the shifting as seamless as the marketing hype states?


----------



## OhNooo (Jan 20, 2007)

Whoops.. I just realized that the weird cruiser is an Ellsworth, not a Turner. My bad.


----------



## Guest (May 17, 2007)

*Interesting....*

I appreciate seeing that someone has taken the plunge with this new hub; I've been curious about it ever since I saw it built up into a 700c application (forget with what rim).

I rode a Rohloff once, be curious to hear how it rides compared to that. However, I'm more curious to learn just what kind of shoes you are wearing in that photo!


----------



## Cody Broken (Oct 28, 2006)

I have now ridden at least 50 miles on it and my opinion is forming. Most of the riding has been off pavement. I have fairly aggressive like 2.125 tires on the bike, so that has screwed the pavement riding. I am going to put more road-worthy tires on it next time I ride pavement to get a better assessment.

But here's so far:

There is some resistance in the hub, and it is most evident at high speeds or coasting downhill. I did not have my torque wrench set-up when I installed it on the frame, and so I cannot rule out excessively tight axle nuts as the cause. But my hunch is that the resistance is inherant in the hub, and not the result of overly tight axle nuts.

I will tell you this: I think this thing is bombproof. I have dialed it in low and stood on the pedals. I have mashed the pedals hard and long. This hub can take anything. I think a 400 lb. NFL lineman could grind on this hub all day and do no damage.

My opinion is that Falltech over-built the crap out of this thing, and who could blame them? This is totally new stuff they are throwing out into the massively traditionalist bicycle industry.

How would it go over if they under-built these hubs? Yeah, they would be light-weight, and bikers would oooh and aaaahh! Then they would fail out on the roads and the trails and that would be it. The technology would be declared a failure and the door would be slammed shut.

I am not enamored with this hub by any means, but even with my cheaped-out bike I am impressed with some of the capabilities this hub shows. I enjoy climbing trails with this bike. The heavy-arse wheel actually helps with the climbing.

I say look for the next incarnation of the Nuvinci bicycle wheel hub. It will most likely be lighter and cheaper.


----------



## Cody Broken (Oct 28, 2006)

Oh, and the shoes I am wearing are a brand called Mion (pronounced "My-own").

It is the brain-child of Martin Keen, of Keen footwear. He sold his Keen brand and teamed up with Timberland to persue his oringinal dream shoe line. They are neat, but not cheap.


----------



## disraeli (Mar 8, 2007)

Thanks for the info! I for one was really curious about the real world application for this hub.

Strange that someone who comes up w/ a nick like Bikinfoolferlife would poo poo ANYTHING related to the sport.

Well done, and beautiful kids!

Onward.


----------



## Speedub.Nate (Dec 31, 2003)

What's your impression of the amount of twisting required to shift, say, from a flat to a climb, or when topping a climb and trying to spin back up to speed?

When I demoed one, I felt the 3+ turns from "lock to lock" was excessive, but I didn't test the hub on any real terrain, and couldn't get a feel for more realistic shifting patterns.

Also, how much fiddling do you do to achieve the "perfect" cadence? Seems that, in theory, an obsessive rider could constantly tweak the shifter on anything but the most consistent grade. And since we're all obsessive to some degree, and this shifter opens unlimited adjustability, how (or how often) do you find yourself using it?

Nuvinci says they're working on an electric version of this. The rider will have a shifter, but will use it to dial in their preferred cadence. The hub will constantly adjust the gearing to keep the rider within their preferred zone. I doubt this will be targeted at serious riders, or at mountain bikers in general, yet I find myself extremely curious.


----------



## Cody Broken (Oct 28, 2006)

*your impression*



Speedub.Nate said:


> What's your impression of the amount of twisting required to shift, say, from a flat to a climb, or when topping a climb and trying to spin back up to speed?QUOTE]
> 
> No doubt, lots of twisting. Two cables from the shifter, it's a pulley system. Not too slick. Here's the thing:
> You can't shift when pedalling hard. That shifter won't budge when you grind the pedals. You have to let up to shift. Watching that Falltech video I can see why. That ball-array and those plates are locked with friction when you pedal hard.
> ...


----------



## swift (Apr 3, 2007)

I have a couple questions.
-Are you running a rear brake? 
-Does the hub accomodate a disc? 

The front brake you are running looks pretty interesting, in a cool, retro-tek sort of way. 
I have visions of this hub built into an electric-assist commuter. It's just begging for such an application. 

Thanks for sharing.


----------



## Cody Broken (Oct 28, 2006)

swift said:


> I have a couple questions.
> -Are you running a rear brake? No
> -Does the hub accomodate a disc? Yes
> 
> ...


Your welcome. I have long since torn that bike apart and sold the hub. I was fresh out of Barnett's when I built that thing and full of zany ideas. I really like the hub, but until they can drastically reduce the weight it is really more suited to small motorized applications.

I'd love to run that hub with a little 4-stroke engine.


----------



## Hand/of/Midas (Sep 19, 2007)

Cody Broken said:


> Your welcome. I have long since torn that bike apart and sold the hub. I was fresh out of Barnett's when I built that thing and full of zany ideas. I really like the hub, but until they can drastically reduce the weight it is really more suited to small motorized applications.
> 
> I'd love to run that hub with a little 4-stroke engine.


i heard fallbrook has been working with several car makers researching ways to use it in automobiles. i think this is perfect for that situation, bikes maybe never. even still, i feel this is a huge advancement in tech,and i hope them the best.


----------



## MABman (Oct 5, 2008)

Cody Broken said:


> Your welcome. I have long since torn that bike apart and sold the hub. I was fresh out of Barnett's when I built that thing and full of zany ideas. I really like the hub, but until they can drastically reduce the weight it is really more suited to small motorized applications.
> 
> I'd love to run that hub with a little 4-stroke engine.


There is plenty of that action going on and more to come when the Developer Kit becomes a reality here in the near future. It turns the hub into an automatic transmission which in the eyes of the regulations makes it legal for use on motor assist bicycles.


----------



## ALMEIDA (Mar 23, 2008)

I have ridden a Nuvinci bike a few weeks ago and I must say "it's great".
The stepless shifting is much more comfortable as shifting the Rohloff hub. The shifter design is imposing.
BUT !! - The weight is out of the question. Guess, it's out of the engineering view impossible to build this kind of technology smaller. But who knows?!


----------



## pursuiter (May 28, 2008)

This hub is made for a long wheelbase bike such as the Surly Big Dummy.

Starting to think....OUCH...if my wife see this thread :nono:


----------



## ALMEIDA (Mar 23, 2008)

WOHHHHW!!!
I didn't know that bike. Looks graet. But what if the mountain comes?!


----------

