Electric Bike Drivetrains: Internal vs External Gears (Derailleur, Enviolo, Rohloff, etc)

#electricbikedrivetrain #ebikegears #internallygearedhubs

As the electric bike industry is growing so are the options for drivetrains, in this video, I explain the difference between electric bike drivetrains. We discuss internal and external gears with a focus on the derailleur, Rohloff, and Enviolo hub.

Musicbed ID: MB01GTNN2BFINP1

Timecodes:
Traditional derailleur: 0:37
Internally geared hub: 2:00
14 Speed hub by Rohloff: 2:47
Enviolo continually variable transmission: 3:09
Variable transmission vs. derailleur: 4:20
Enviolo hub pro/con: 6:30
Maintenance cost: 7:36
Overall costs: 9:04
Shifting delay: 9:45
Shifting without/without moving:  11:04
Which system is best for you: 12:35

[Propelbikes]

Thanks so much for watching.

If you guys are interested in leaning more about bikes with these different systems, feel free to check out the link in the video description! ✌

[michaelsprinzeles]

As always an informative video. One benefit you neglected to mention about the IGH (geared or CVT) is a single chain line which keeps a chain in a straight line, no bending between high & low gears.

[tomwhitby]

It’s all about the Gates carbon belt drive for me...no noise..no maintenance and no mess....

[tonyk]

With the Enviolo hub, you can shift under load when you have the motor turned off or in eco, but if you have the motor in turbo, you cannot shift under load and do need to stop pedaling for a hundred milliseconds or so, so that the motor can disengage before you can shift. Pretty easy and fun, but worth noting.

[michaelgx]

Good information as usual. thanks Chris.
Two things to add:
1. There are other internal gears than Rohloff and Enviolo out there in the market. But all of them are limited to 50Nm torque, hence the can‘t be combined with the stronger motors. Exception is the Shimano 5 speed, but it has a small range.
My wife and I are above 50 and the performance motor for us was a must. We want to enjoy effortless riding even in hilly sections.

2. For my wife I bought a Riese&Mueller Culture with external gear in order to save some money.
That was the wrong decission!🤢
For my wife every stop seems to come as a surprise and she is used to shift gears at stand still. Still after a year.
I regret not having ordere the Enviolo. The additional internal friction is more than off set by the performance motor and the user experiance is superb.

[daffy]

+1 for Enviolo +2 for Rolhoff well done Chris i like these videos. Owning both transmissions in separate ebikes your descriptions are spot on, my Enviolo bike tows the dog trailer almost everywhere it goes. I use the R&M Rolhoff for general recreational riding as the new Bosch CX motor is such an upgrade over the previous generation.

[Michael-wnjj]

If you aren't a sportive or rough terrain rider but looking for a clean, realiable, low maintenance drive I would always go with an internal gear hub and belt drive. Same for commuters and all year long distance riders. That lost of efficiency is easyly compensate by support of electric motor.
Having Gates CDX belt drive together with punch resistance tires all I've to do is once a year oil bath maintenance on Nexus i8 hub and control air pressure from time to time. Meanwhile the belt has 13000 km and looks to be ready for the next 13000 (8000 mls.)

[ferryengr]

We've had bikes with derailleurs, Enviolo and Rohloff E-14. Each has their merits as you suggest. One plus for the Rohloff E-14 over the Enviolo, is I find it a little easier to disconnect if I have to remove the rear wheel to fix a flat tire. On the Enviolo, you have to disconnect the shift cables. The Rohloff E-14 requires you to unplug a connector on an electronic communication cable. A little easier, but you do need to be careful to keep that cable connector free of dirt or moisture while it is unplugged.

[timyotimbo]

There's a funny development with e-bikes in the Netherlands, the amount of e-bikes sales have increased by more then 300% since the beginning of COVID.

And most consumers here buy an internal hub, Nexus being the most popular. But a 7 or 8 speed Shimano hub is just too many gears to go through since our country has practically no hills, the Shimano 5 speed hub you mentioned in the video is now the most popular hub for e-bikes in the Netherlands.

[George-Jameson]

I happened to be in the market for a r&m bike, when YouTube started suggesting your channel. Got everything and more i needed to know from your videos! Now Im happy to say, my bike is underway! Thanks for that, keep up the good work and stay safe.

[exstasis]

My biggest problem is that I don’t weight the importance of the drivetrain decision high enough to find an ebike that I like that also has the drivetrain that I like.

I want a folding ebike with an extremely low step through frame with a belt drive with internal gearing. That bike doesn’t exist yet as far as I know.

[robertrobhog]

Great video, Good to see an honest review and thoughts of the different systems

[jimbob]

You do the best explaining of bike stuff. Thanks

[pepper]

On my old, non-electric bike i have a Fichtel & Sachs derailleur / internal hub combo with grip shift (I think an equivalent system is avaliable from SRAM). Always liked it.

[TomBartram-bc]

In the seventies to change gear you hand to reach for the gear level which was mounted on the frame and feel for each gear. Thumb and trigger is a massive improvement Having a 400% range on the rear cogs is further better as you do away with the front 3 rings.

[robertphillips]

Great review, nicely done ... thank you. I ride a mountain bike and love it. Having used a derailleur system most of my life (I'm 50+) I'm very used to it and it's second nature to me. My wife on the other hand is used to a no speeds. She did learn to use a derailleur but I just got her a Specialized Turbo Como 5.0 with the automatic Enviolo and she loves it. No need to put much thought into it, just set your cadence and go; it shifts up and down by itself. I enjoy riding her bike as well, it's a whole different feeling. I can force it to shift by my peddle cadence. It takes getting used to but it's kind of fun. BUT ... for my mountain bike, derailleur all the way.

[brighton_dude]

An excellent overview of available options for gearing thank you.

[jedensamochodmniej]

Cool video! We just had a similar discussion with friends few days ago but with additional variable: mid drive vs. rear drive. I switched to internal gear mostly because of maintenence. I ride in winter, so mud and salt was damaging derallieur all the time. Now I have two systems: a) Shimano Nexus 8 + chain (Bullitt); b) NuVinci + belt (Butchers). I like the second combination a lot but it is useless when my battery is out of juice :) With chain you can still pedal quite effectively without motor.

[alafenetre]

With ebikes, it seems to me that the question of the number of gears is not as relevant any more. Since you have the motor power mode to assist you while riding uphill, why cares with a very low gear ratio for instance?

[AyoHues]

Soooo informative - great video - thank you! 🙏🏽 Most manufacturer websites skimp on this kind of info so this is really helpful for filling in the gaps. 😀👍🏽