Originally Posted by
DJH8098
This is confusing and contradictory, first the hubs are only able to spin at a max of 1.7 wheel rotations to one rear cog rotation. Secondly if you were spinning at a higher RPM you would have seen the wheel spin at around .5 rotations per rear cog rotation. If you look at the max under/overdrive on the nuvinci link this will show that the lowest and highest "gears".
To put this in perspective, the Sturmey-Archer's highest gear is 1.33 wheel rotations to rear cog rotations. The Shimano Nexus is 1.36. So the overdrive gear is a higher one. The low gears for SA=.75 and for Shimano=.73. So the NuVinci hub does have more of a low gear. Maybe you are turning the shifter in the wrong direction, but the gearing should be more than enough to enjoy the riding in the city.
Also if you look at the Sheldon Brown gear calculator, as I did below, you can see an immense difference. The overdrive on the Nuvinci is a little skewed because Sheldon Brown does not have the 330 hub just the 360 and 380, so I used the 360. Also the video might help, it is in a different language but it explains how the hub works from the shifter to the actual internal parts. I hope that helps because I love riding my Priority bike with a 330 on it and can't wait to get back to New York to get on the new Citibikes!
Commercial Groupset N330f - Products - nuvincicyling.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkNhZ4WIjsE
I saved myself the trouble of taking the rear wheel off and turning the rear sprocket directly, instead, just went ahead and turned the crank, thus encountering some unknown multiplier due to the front chainring having more teeth then the rear sprocket. Thus the reason my output ratio being much higher than their specs.
As for higher rpm, i was spinning a higher rpm on the nuvinci's highest gear seeing while going the same speed as another rider with the S/A bike on its highest gear. Both of us were going probably 15mph. Not sure if i can see my rear cog while riding at that speed. All i can say is, higher rpm = lower gear ratio.