There’s a lot to love about the Pinion MGU motor when combined with the Gate’s Carbon Drive Belt. With no chain, the bike is super silent on the descents and you’ll never have to lube a chain again. Bonus!

You can also shift gears under load or without having to turn a pedal. And the electronic shifting is fast, precise and accurate. Best of all, with the 4kg mass of the MGU centred in the full-carbon frame, the Haibike rides much lighter than its weight suggests. And that’s because the wheels are much lighter relative to the centre of the bike, which makes the Haibike AllMtn CF11 Pinion MGU remarkably easy to manual and move around, both in the air and on the ground.

Now for what we hated. Most notably, the operating noise of the motor is really loud, especially when spinning the cranks in the lower gears. Also, due to the planetary design of the gears, the motor has to shut down briefly when shifting between gears four to five and eight to nine, so there’s no overrun and no motor assistance, often when you need it most.

So what about the range of the MGU? Given that the Pinion MGU motor only delivers 600watts peak power, with 85Nm torque, we were expecting it to be comparable to the best performing bike to date, the Gen 4 Specialized Turbo Levo (666w) which delivered 1,633m of vertical on a single charge of its 840Wh battery.

However, the Haibike only managed 1,305m of vertical, which is still way less than the more powerful DJI Avinox Amflow PL Carbon (850w/105Nm) which managed 1,430m from an 800Wh battery. So this clearly highlights the inefficiencies within the gearbox/belt drive design, and it’s why gearboxes have never gained popularity on regular pedal bikes. Do gearboxes have a future on e-bikes? Possibly, but manufacturers need to increase the efficiency of the design, and figure out a solution so you can have continuous support throughout the gear range. They need to be quiet, and not just when freewheeling.