Electric bike motor maker Bafang unveils new 3-speed automatic shifting hub transmission

Chinese manufacturer Bafang is a titan of the electric bike motor industry, and thus news swirling around the company generally trends toward new motor announcements. But the latest headline-grabbing product unveiling from Bafang isn’t a motor at all, but rather an internally geared hub designed to provide automatic shifting on both electric and non-electric bikes.

The new Bafang hub offers three gear ratios and is able to shift between the gears automatically based on the bike’s speed.

The hub is designed to fit a wide variety of wheel diameters and thus can have its cadence-based shifting points adjusted to meet changing wheel sizes and bike requirements.

Unlike some internally geared hubs that weren’t originally designed for the high torque of electric motors, Bafang’s offering is intended to withstand powerful motors pulling up to 80 Nm of torque.