More or less gears on a Hub drive MTB

[Kelster]

Hey Court,

Hoping you could give me your take on the benefit of more or less gears on a few hub drive MTB's you have reviewed. Is it more beneficial to have the 24 gears (3x8 ) of a NCM Moscow Plus or similar as compared to the 7 or 8 gears on a Volt Bike Outback or similar. One would think more gears would always be better. I'm wondering if it in fact would be more cumbersome with the torque the hub drive provides. Any feedback?

Thanks!

 

[Mike_V]

Hi
Mine, Not is a real MTB
Search the forums and you'll read that the gears are rarely changed on torquey or zippy geared >750W ? hub drive bikes.
Like never.
A single sprocket would be easier to clean and have no vulnerable low hanging components
Mike

 

[Stefan Mikes]

On a hub-drive e-bikes, more gears are better. The hub-drive supports the rider with a constant power for a given PAS level. On climbing, the rider has to overcome significant elevation change and the leg power has to be substantially multiplied by gearing.

Besides, a hub-drive in an e-MTB is not the smartest solution. Hub-drive climbs poorly unless multi-kilowatt motor is used; that makes the bike heavy and with wrong weight distribution. (Sometimes, an MTB has to be carried by the rider). Hub-motors overheat on climbing. I could say more.

The right e-MTB is the mid-drive. The torque of such motor is high. The leg power plus the motor-power are multiplied together by the drive-train. The centre of gravity is low and central. Mid-drive e-MTB may be low power (250 W nominal, 500+ W peak) but mid-drives are excellent climbers. Mid-drive e-MTBs are comparably lightweight due to the lighter motor and the battery. With such e-MTB, the gearing typically is 1x11 with a small chain-ring.

No big brand e-MTB is a hub-drive one. I recommend watching the Electric Mountain Bike Network videos on YouTube.

 

[AHicks]

Hey Court,

Hoping you could give me your take on the benefit of more or less gears on a few hub drive MTB's you have reviewed. Is it more beneficial to have the 24 gears (3x8 ) of a NCM Moscow Plus or similar as compared to the 7 or 8 gears on a Volt Bike Outback or similar. One would think more gears would always be better. I'm wondering if it in fact would be more cumbersome with the torque the hub drive provides. Any feedback?

Thanks!

With a hub drive, you have only so much torque available. It makes no difference how many gears are available, and it makes no difference if the hub drive is a direct drive or a gear driven unit. Adding or subtracting gears to this given amount of available torque will make NO difference in the motor's ability to climb. That's on you!

With a mid drive, the motor drives the rear wheel through the gear ratio you have selected, and the amount of torque available to the rear wheel WILL be affected by what gear you are in.

I would note that a big high capacity gear driven rear hub may have a comparable amount of torque to that of a lot of some popular mid drives. That's not to say they can compete with some of the big high capacity mid drives.

 

[rich c]

Hi
Mine, Not is a real MTB
Search the forums and you'll read that the gears are rarely changed on torquey or zippy geared >750W ? hub drive bikes.
Like never.
A single sprocket would be easier to clean and have no vulnerable low hanging components
Mike

A single speed isn't for crap for real mountain biking, unless it's sized for each trail. Even the intermediate trails I ride have some really steep climbs. I have my Haibike is full turbo and lowest gear of the 10 to make it up the inclines. That speed would be horrible when I drop out of the trail and ride the fire road to get to the next trail.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

One thing to watch out for is that most "e-MTBs" don't actually have MTB geometry. So even if it is a full-suspension e-bike but has commuter geometry it is going to ride trails with all the nimbleness of a barge. If you just want to look like a brapper when you ride rail trails that's probably okay, but actually riding difficult lines with such a bike is a good way to get a large hospital bill.

 

[ruffruff]

Ahicks has the correct answer

 

[harryS]

It depends on how you want to ride. If you're riding at a pace that burns 20WH/mile, you're likely not using the gears much at all, with the motor doing most of the work, but my personal riding uses half that level of power, so pedaling does help a lot. So I would prefer to have more gears, i.e, a front derailleur on my ebikes.

My folding bikes all use a 52T front gear only, but I have a front derailleur on my mountain bike and my 27" fat bike. I often find that shifting to the middle gear on the front allows me more granularity in finding a comfortable pedal cadence when wind or hills require more pedal force.

 

[6zfshdb]

As several have already said, your question really depends on how you plan to use the bike. If you ride single track and want a true e-MTB, then more is better.

Keep in mind that a 24 or 27 speed drive train has many duplicate or very close gear ratios. Often the only reason to use them is to reduce chain angle & sprocket wear.

I was a bit concerned when I bought a 10 speed rear hub e-bike to replace my 27 speed MTB. I found that, with the exception of steep climbs, I really don't miss the extra gears. I don't ride single track anymore but I did replace the OEM 11-42 cassette with an 11-46 for better climbing. These days, I ride mostly trails and MUP's, some of which are pretty rough, and I find 10 speeds are sufficient.