Originally Posted by
FiftySix
That's because IGHs are "maintenance free".
No mechanism is "maintenance free". They might require less maintenance but not zero maintenance. And the other parts of the bike require the same maintenance as any bicycle does. If IGH is widely used in the US, I would expect to see at least a few with bearing issues, chain issues, cable issues, and brake issues.
On the other hand, people might be buying lots and lots of these bikes but finding the limitations and just putting them in the garage.
Originally Posted by
I-Like-To-Bike
I find it easy to believe a guesstimate of a 4X IGH figure for world wide use if "IGH" also includes bicycles with single speed (with or without coaster brake) hubs as well as hubs with multiple internal speeds.
Single speed hubs with and without coaster brakes aren't internally geared. A single speed coaster brake may
look like an IGH but they don't have any gears
in the hub.