Originally Posted by
noglider
Hmm, so it's good for small horsepower motors, cargo bikes, and why not touring bikes, too? If you're doing long distance touring and carrying lots of stuff, the extra weight of the hub won't be too bad. Plus, it reduces the chance of needing a mid-tour repair.
There are a few downsides I can think of.
1) It
is heavy. 10lbs+ for the wheel. Even for fully-loaded touring that much extra weight may not be desirable. Or it may not matter; I don't do fully-loaded touring (yet).
2) From what I gather, removing a NuVinci rear wheel is a pretty significant pain. Definitely not a quick-release setup, and possibly even worse than other internally geared hubs. Don't get flats.
3) Because the NuVinci is so unusual, if it
does fail you're basically SOL. Even if you can find someone who can fix it, getting parts in a reasonable amount of time will be difficult or impossible.