New Pinion integrated gearbox and motor (MGU)

irie

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Subscriber
May 2, 2022
2,624
2,682
Chichester, W.Sussex, UK
Pinion was bought out by Bombardier. They will have money to push this.
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.”
 

TorAtle

Member
Aug 4, 2018
102
95
OSLO
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.
 

TorAtle

Member
Aug 4, 2018
102
95
OSLO
Wow.. What model of bike was it installed on ?

Do you have a photo ? 🍻
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!
 

G-Sport

Active member
Oct 7, 2022
324
259
Yorkshire
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.
 

tooFATtoRIDE

Active member
Sep 18, 2023
132
131
Zug - Switzerland
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.
This is hugely disappointing. However, as you said yourself, it is a 1st gen setup so fingers crossed it gets more refined soon.
 

Mrj35

Member
Sep 29, 2023
194
124
canada
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.
if its clunky loud and efficient then im ok with that if it lasts 10,000km before an oil change 😅
 

Streddaz

Active member
Jul 7, 2022
302
429
Tasmania
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.
Is the motor noisy or is it the gearbox? I've ridden the non-motored gearboxes, and they are virtually silent.
 

Pyr0

E*POWAH Master
Sep 22, 2019
535
391
Wirral, UK
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


 
Last edited:

DieBoy

Active member
Jul 14, 2023
127
189
EU
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.
 

big_scot_nanny

Active member
Subscriber
Nov 23, 2022
96
127
Scotland
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.
 

TorAtle

Member
Aug 4, 2018
102
95
OSLO
Is the motor noisy or is it the gearbox? I've ridden the non-motored gearboxes, and they are virtually silent.
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.
 

doochenozzle

Member
May 16, 2023
37
17
Dildo, Newfoundland
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


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…
 

Rob Rides EMTB

Administrator
Staff member
Subscriber
Jan 14, 2018
6,260
13,700
Surrey, UK
Nicolai Saturn 16 MGU

IMG_0366.jpeg
 

tooFATtoRIDE

Active member
Sep 18, 2023
132
131
Zug - Switzerland
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.
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:

EMTB Forums

Since 2018

The World's largest electric mountain bike community.

555K
Messages
28,073
Members
Join Our Community

Latest articles


Top