New High Torque IGH announced by 3x3

[scrambler]

There is possibly a newcomer for High torque IGH that will take 250Nm of torque

Home - 3X3

FREE YOUR BIKE. For 3X3, this means building a maintenance-free gear hub that always works perfectly in all weather conditions.

www.3x3.bike

3X3 Nine internally geared hub promises performance with ZERO maintenance

New 3X3 Nine internal gear hub promises NO maintenance. No gear adjustments, no oil change. Just smooth lifetime shifting for bikes & ebikes!

bikerumor.com

250Nm, 554% gear ratio range, no maintenance not even oil change, 9 gears, mechanical or electronic shifting.

Sounds interesting for the eBike market

 

[Stefan Mikes]

2 kilograms in the hub and 25% spread between the gears? Err... thank you, no

 

[JES2020]

There is possibly a newcomer for High torque IGH that will take 250Nm of torque

Home - 3X3

FREE YOUR BIKE. For 3X3, this means building a maintenance-free gear hub that always works perfectly in all weather conditions.

www.3x3.bike

3X3 Nine internally geared hub promises performance with ZERO maintenance

New 3X3 Nine internal gear hub promises NO maintenance. No gear adjustments, no oil change. Just smooth lifetime shifting for bikes & ebikes!

bikerumor.com

250Nm, 554% gear ratio range, no maintenance not even oil change, 9 gears, mechanical or electronic shifting.

Sounds interesting for the eBike market

Mid drives are going to need something like this, to replace the standard drive trains.
There is a power limiting wall, past which the torque of the motor just chews up and spits out the drive trains. Something like this, or make the drive trains out of depleted uranium.

 

[scrambler]

2 kilograms in the hub and 25% spread between the gears? Err... thank you, no

On a low power eBike you are probably right.
On a high power one, it would be great.
I have a Kindernay VII on my high-power bike, and I love it. The 28% step of the Kindernay is actually a plus, as I don't have to change gear as much, and with high power, you can afford to pedal from a lower cadence in all situations.

 

[tomjasz]

There are a number of working solutions for mid drives. But all need more attention than I care to invest. 25%, no problem given the claims. Another future product likely a few years before any trickle down. For me derailleurs are to conveniently easy to replace and repair.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

On a low power eBike you are probably right.
On a high power one, it would be great.
I have a Kindernay VII on my high-power bike, and I love it. The 28% step of the Kindernay is actually a plus, as I don't have to change gear as much, and with high power, you can afford to pedal from a lower cadence in all situations.

For a casual rider and a very heavy high-power e-bike it really does not matter. For a long distance rider "the cadence is the King", so tightly spread gears are of big importance. And these 2 kg extra? I'd prefer to carry a spare battery instead

 

[Deacon Blues]

This hub will definitely be another great option for companies that build high torque powered ebikes.

 

[ava1ar]

More options of ebike-friendly IGH are always welcome, will be following the progress of this one! Looks pretty impressive on paper! One thing though I think Kindernay did better is a shifting! Their hydraulic shifter is awesome and so joy to use, so I would consider going back to cable as a real downgrade. Electric option is nice, however needs to be evaluated - I got a chance to try Rohloff with electric shifting and was not impressed by the response time at all...

 

[TrevorB]

Here is overview of this hub and others.

 

[Merlin]

I have the 3x3 Nine on my Ebike, and I love it. The IGH shifts smooth, and at a stop. The 3x3 handles 250 nm of torque, and requires no maintenance. Add a Gates belt, and you have a drive train that finally handles the power of the Bafang Ultra. This is a game changer, and my dream bike has finally arrived.

 

[ava1ar]

I have the 3x3 Nine on my Ebike, and I love it. The IGH shifts smooth, and at a stop. The 3x3 handles 250 nm of torque, and requires no maintenance. Add a Gates belt, and you have a drive train that finally handles the power of the Bafang Ultra. This is a game changer, and my dream bike has finally arrived.

That's great! Can you share more? Did you get this with bike? Or bought and retrofitted yourself? Where did you buy it from and how much it cost? With Kindernay our of business, this is probably next great 3rd-party hub out there, so I am really interested to learn more from real user!

 

[AvalancheRun]

Wow, 554% gear ratio and electronic shifting.. Maybe I'll swap my Enviolo for this.

 

[ava1ar]

Wow, 554% gear ratio and electronic shifting.. Maybe I'll swap my Enviolo for this.

It is mechanical on the photo. Electronic theoretically possible, but I didn't find any place where it being sold.

 

[AvalancheRun]

It is mechanical on the photo. Electronic theoretically possible, but I didn't find any place where it being sold.

They have a two-button digital control as well. Haven't found it for sale either, but if it's some dumb price like a Rohloff I won't bother.

 

[scrambler]

That's great! Can you share more? Did you get this with bike? Or bought and retrofitted yourself? Where did you buy it from and how much it cost? With Kindernay our of business, this is probably next great 3rd-party hub out there, so I am really interested to learn more from real user!

Of course the one million dollar question, is how long will THEY stay in business....

 

[kevinmccune]

Of course the one million dollar question, is how long will THEY stay in business....

probably not long unless they are absorbed by some long established company,market saturation,limited demand makes new things temporary.

 

[Merlin]

This UCpro was purchased from Wattwagons which is now out of business. It had a Kindernay IGH which failed after 350 miles, then tried a Revolute hub which did not work, then shipped back to me from Wattwagon with a derailleur system. I have been closely following the progress of the 3x3 nine IGH from Germany and contacted Vapor Propulsion Labs in Colorado when they got the contract to supply the hubs in the USA. VPL have people there that came from Gates, and other places experienced in Ebikes. I ordered all the parts from their website appropriate to the 3x3 Nine, and had a local bike shop do the build. It was an easy build according to the bike shop being a mid drive system, and they wanted some experience on the Gates belt. My goal for the past 4 years was to have a bike with the Bafang Ultra, Gates belt, and an IGH that could handle the torque. This journey has been expensive, frustrating, and close to be infuriating. If this hub fails, I would still support 3x3 nine for pushing the limits and supplying an IGH that will work with the need for high torque motors. There is an electric shift option, but they had not arrived at VPL at the time of my purchase. Electrification is the future, and cargo bikes will play a huge roll in accomplishing that. As a side note, my first Ebike was an EVG Lee Iacocca bike I purchased in 1999 as shown in my member picture. I have been an avid supporter of ebikes now for 25 years. https://vpl.bike/collections/3x3

 

[ava1ar]

This UCpro was purchased from Wattwagons which is now out of business. It had a Kindernay IGH which failed after 350 miles, then tried a Revolute hub which did not work, then shipped back to me from Wattwagon with a derailleur system. I have been closely following the progress of the 3x3 nine IGH from Germany and contacted Vapor Propulsion Labs in Colorado when they got the contract to supply the hubs in the USA. VPL have people there that came from Gates, and other places experienced in Ebikes. I ordered all the parts from their website appropriate to the 3x3 Nine, and had a local bike shop do the build. It was an easy build according to the bike shop being a mid drive system, and they wanted some experience on the Gates belt. My goal for the past 4 years was to have a bike with the Bafang Ultra, Gates belt, and an IGH that could handle the torque. This journey has been expensive, frustrating, and close to be infuriating. If this hub fails, I would still support 3x3 nine for pushing the limits and supplying an IGH that will work with the need for high torque motors. There is an electric shift option, but they had not arrived at VPL at the time of my purchase. Electrification is the future, and cargo bikes will play a huge roll in accomplishing that. As a side note, my first Ebike was an EVG Lee Iacocca bike I purchased in 1999 as shown in my member picture. I have been an avid supporter of ebikes now for 25 years. https://vpl.bike/collections/3x3

Thanks for sharing! I am also early adopter of Kindernay VII and my first one failed after about 8 month (and ~1800 miles on it), but they did replace it for me (was lucky to get the replacement before they got into troubles and stop selling stuff) and replacement is currently in use for 16 months, having ~3200 miles on it and still working fine (hopefully it will stay like this for some time, but new hub still leaks oil). As a hub, 3x3 looks more superior to Kindernay - no questions, but how do you like shifter? I used bikes with Shimano Nexus and Envoilo before and familiar with this type of shifters, but once I tried Kindernay shifter, I don't want go back to rotating one - I so much in favor of trigger shifting especially hydraulic ones. What is you experience? You like it more or less than trigger shifter by Kindernay? Are you going to change to electric once available?

 

[Deacon Blues]

I suspect one of the main reasons Kindernay went out of business is they couldn't get their hubs to stop leaking.
I'm on my second hub and so far it hasn't started to leak, although so far I've only put a couple of hundred miles on the new hub.

 

[ava1ar]

I suspect one of the main reasons Kindernay went out of business is they couldn't get their hubs to stop leaking.
I'm on my second hub and so far it hasn't started to leak, although so far I've only put a couple of hundred miles on the new hub.

Agree! Good luck to both of us to get some reasonable mileage from our hubs. This is why my interest for 3x3 - if (when?) 2nd Kindernay fails I will need something to replace it and 3x3 option looks promising. I actually like Kindernay VII - it is super nice when it works, but it doesn't last and this is game-stopper