Kindernay VII IGH and HYSEQ Onesie shifter

[ava1ar]

When the wheel is off and you put a wrench on the lock ring, if you rotate the wrench counter clockwise (to try and unscrew the lock ring), ring and sprocket turn while the wheel stay fixed, because of the freewheel. So in order to unscrew the lock ring, you need a tool to hold the sprocket fixed while you use the wrench.

yes, this is what I see

If you rotate the wrench clockwise (to tighten the lockring), lockring, sprocket and wheel all rotate together, as this is how the sprocket turns the wheel. So in order to tighten the lockring, all you need is hold the wheel fixed (which can be done by hand), while you rotate the wrench and tighten the lockring. No tools needed, just holding the wheel.

no, this is not the case. When I rotate sprocket/lockring clockwise holding the wheel what I get is torque arm on other size is rotating counter clockwise, so to tighten lockring I need to hold it in addition to the wheel. See video here: https://www.veed.io/view/06510303-6e15-4340-a247-35940721828f. Does it work differently for you?

 

[scrambler]

My bad, you are right the hub torque arm does need to be immobilized. I was confusing the regular wheel with the Kindernay wheel.
You can may be slide a tube on the torque arm to counterbalance the wrench.
I don't remember if I torqued the Sprocket before lacing the wheel with the Hub, or after.

 

[ava1ar]

Forgot to share oil refilling response I got from Kindernay:

The correct amount of oil to be filled in the hub is 20mL for the VII, and 30mL for the XIV. Do not add more than those recommended quantities, as overfilling the hub with oil will result in leakages primarily on the drive side, but also on the non-drive side of it.

So looks like as was already shared above, 20mL is a current recommended volume.

What I don't like is that it is not clear that 20mL is a right quantity from their web site. I.e. they are selling Velvet gear oil – 5 changes with following description

Kindernay Velvet gear oil 400ml for 5 oil changes.

This is 80mL per change, not the 20mL they are recommending...

 

[scrambler]

Remember that to do an oil change you need to do a rinse and a refill.
So for the VII that is 20ml for rinse + 20 ml refill = 40ml
For the XIV it is 30ml rinse + 30ml refill = 60ml

 

[ava1ar]

After about 1500 miles I start getting issues with shifting: switching to 5th and 6th gear is really problematic, other gears are fine. This probably means the shifter is fine and the issue is in hub? Anyone has/had something like this? Any ideas what can I do? Going to contact Kindernay about the issue...

 

[scrambler]

Can you describe "problematic"
Does the shifter still activates on short motion, or else it could need bleeding.

 

[ava1ar]

Can you describe "problematic"
Does the shifter still activates on short motion, or else it could need bleeding.

Well, I will try. So, normally when you shift and press the lever, you feel a bit of resistance, then click and shifting is done. Now for my 1-4th and 7th everything still same, but when I try to shift to 5th/6th there is no click/switch, the lever just goes far end, all next presses are happening with almost no resistance at all and after 4/5 presses I usually have a switch (with almost no click). And if this was shift to 6th gear, shifting to 7th goes as normal. Hope this explains the issue a bit better...

P.S. Since some gears works fine and some are not I don't think it is bleeding-related. Sounds like some issue with shifting mechanism inside the hub to me

 

[ava1ar]

Updates regarding the shifting issue. As advised by Kindernay I did bleed the shifters and change the oil in the rear hub. Issue gone (at least after short ride I did today - will get better idea after couple of commutes). Interesting fact - hub was almost empty - I was able to squeeze only few drop of oil from it. So looks like leak I had from hub was pretty bad... I put 20ml of fresh oil now and will carefully monitor for leaks now.

 

[ava1ar]

OK, looks like my Kindernay VII hub is dying after ~1700-1800 miles ridden from April 2022.



Starting last week I start getting frequent skips on 4th and 5th gear, and on weekend ride I lost the 5th gear completely. It is simply not get engaged and instead I am getting 4th with some crackling sound from the hub sometimes (shifter works fine, issue is not in shifter, it is in engaging the gear). Also somehow my 6th and 7th gears are identical now - not sure what exactly happens here - I don't use 7th that much and only noticed they are same today. Because if this issue with 5th and 6th I have a huge drop in the cadence support: 21.5mph on 5th (which is actually 4th) is 100 and when I upshift to 6th it drops to 60 rpm. Since 5th was my primary gear and I rode on it ~50% time this make bike difficult to ride as I usually do, which is sad since I use it for commute 3-4 times a week. Oil is
Dropped a message to Kindernay and hope to getting faulty hub promptly replaced - will share the process and experience here.

P.S. I am sad since I liked Kindernay a lot - they shifter is grear, cage idea is awesome and hub itself is pretty good. Only issue I have from day 1 was oil leak, but this was not causing much issues and I just need to re-fill it every couple of month. But now issue is bigger and more serious. I hope I just got faulty unit from 1st batch (since I pre-ordered mine on September 2021 and was among first who received it) and replacement will work better. Otherwise I would probably start looking into Rohloff since their reliability is proven.

P.P.S. Those of you who also riding on Kindernay hubs - how your's are doing? How many miles you have on them and how do they work? Any issues? Hope my one is an bad exception and hub is good otherwise!

 

[Deacon Blues]

I have a Kindernay VII hub on my Watt Wagons Hydra (purchased in July of this year) and when I changed the hub oil at 250km no fluid came out. Not a drop.

I flushed the hub out a couple of times and refilled it with oil and I'm now inspecting the rear hub after each ride for oil seepage.

 

[ava1ar]

I have a Kindernay VII hub on my Watt Wagons Hydra (purchased in July of this year) and when I changed the hub oil at 250km no fluid came out. Not a drop.

This sounds promising that issue is specific to my hub, not the model itself. In my case most oil is leaking via shifter - the bottom of the shifter cap (the black part which connects to hub for shifting) is almost always covered with oil leaked from the hub - I start having this since first change of oil somewhere after first 300km or so.

 

[TPEHAK]

After about 1500 miles I start getting issues with shifting: switching to 5th and 6th gear is really problematic, other gears are fine. This probably means the shifter is fine and the issue is in hub? Anyone has/had something like this? Any ideas what can I do? Going to contact Kindernay about the issue...

Read this

Dengfu E22 Frame Thread

Looks like the same part to me. Except with a hole cut near the terminals to prevent water pooling.

www.emtbforums.com

 

[ava1ar]

Read this

Dengfu E22 Frame Thread

Looks like the same part to me. Except with a hole cut near the terminals to prevent water pooling.

www.emtbforums.com

Thanks but this is different issue. In mu case I got issues to shifting up to a specific gear - other gears worked well. Issue on the link is a shift up/down issue for all gears.

Update regarding hub - Kindernay accepted RMA and I am about to ship my faulty hub to them and expect to get a replacement soon.

 

[ava1ar]

Got the replacement Kindernay VII hub few days back and it looks quite different from the early one I had before (original hub photos are here):
1. The surface is matte now, not glossy.
2. The break disk rotor side manufactured completely different way: old hub was cnc-machined, new is definitely manufactured using casting.
3. The oil screw now uses torx head, not slot.
4. Sprocket fix ring is notched now, not hex, which makes it much easier to work with (hex one required expensive adapter from Kindernay to tighten reliably).

Going to rebuild the wheel now and hope this time I get more luck with this great hub!

 

[TPEHAK]

Are these bushings with holes is mounting interface for standard 6 bolts brake rotors?

 

[ava1ar]

Are these bushings with holes is mounting interface for standard 6 bold brake rotors?

Yes

 

[TPEHAK]

Yes

Wow, I did not know this feature exists on Kindernay VII. On my Kindernay XIV I have to purchase expensive proprietary design Kindernay rotors and do not have such premium to put regular brake rotors. The Kindernay brake rotors suck, they are too thin and I bust them faster than regular cheap brake rotors I used before I installed Kindernay XIV. The Kindernay brake rotors also develop inconsistent brake feeling.

 

[ava1ar]

Wow, I did not know this feature exists on Kindernay VII.

Yes! This is another reason I choose VII over XIV (in addition to price and unwanted extra gears for ebike). Standard mount is so much better! Using it with Magura MDR-P 180mm rotors on both wheels and breaks work great!

 

[TPEHAK]

Yes! This is another reason I choose VII over XIV (in addition to price and unwanted extra gears for ebike). Standard mount is so much better! Using it with Magura MDR-P 180mm rotors on both wheels and breaks work great!

OK, now I see why I was confused. Originally Kindernay VII did not have 6 bolts interface

 

[ava1ar]

OK, now I see why I was confused. Originally Kindernay VII did not have 6 bolts interface

There are two versions (6 bolt and 7 bolt) and 3 sizes (135x10, 142x12, or 148x12mm) for Kindernay VII, so you choose what you prefer while ordering. They offer both from the beginning, since original hub I had was pre-ordered in September 2020, months before they start shipping them.