Gearboxes are inherently inefficient, aren’t they? That’s always going to be there.

Not necessarily.

In other news – what the heck is this:

In other news – what the heck is this:

Blimey. Interesting.

+1 for Zerode, I have had the pleasure of riding a G1 and it was ace. Let down a little bit by the sizing at the time I think but the G2 has gone some way to sorting that out I believe.

In other news – what the heck is this

Expanding cog I guess.
A london design student won some awards last year for doing something similar to a chainring. I think it was actually patented about 100 years ago though..

Did you not know the bicycle industry have already solved this one, and called it singlespeed, no gearboxes, no shifters, very light, perfect imaginary shifting everytime.

🙄

Yes please chaps…

18 Bikes Pinion P1.18 853 Hardtail by 18bikes, on Flickr

Oh wow!

I am full of admiration for that hardtail by 18bikes, but, well, it just looks a bit, weird.

It looks like a poorly hung bloke as gone out without any pants or under crackers on.

well, it just looks a bit, weird

+1

I think it needs bigger wheels.
And as for riser bars and bar-ends….

badbob – what will happen with “gearbox” bikes is that there will be an expansion of the break down of standards, at the moment, pretty much any mech, cassette and so on, will fit any bike, if companys invest in gearboxes, that will stop, cannot see any company wanting to share their designs

There already are a few open standards gearbox mount designs. Problem is gearbox design is moving fast so why use last year’s standards when its 3 times the size you need?

ir_bandito – podge, so what is it? (obviously a Nic) any info?

Its a Nicolai with an Effigear, you’ll have to BRUSH UP ON YOUR FRENCH

cookeaa – What I want is a Gear box that can be retrofitted to my perfectly good HT, I want it to cost no more than a basic SLX drivetrain would, weigh no more than an XT drivetrain and require no more servicing than an oil change every 6-8 months and a proper strip and clean every 24 months…

You want XT weight at SLX cost? I wish I could buy normal gears like that. My alfine gets an oil change every 12 months, NEVER had a proper strip. I think Pinion are suggesting a 10000 mile service interval.

tasteslikeburning – A gearbox is also a solution for the low suspension pivot problem. Conventional bikes need a low pivot to overcome chain growth and this means that rear wheel travel is essentially vertical or vertical and forward.

Not quite true, any system can work like that if it has an idle gear which is essentially what the Zerode does. Swarf Cycles just did one that looks proper nice.

Is it me or does that 18 bike look to have a very high BB?

I like to think that somewhere in shimano’s deepest R&D bunker they have a team about to unveil a nice ten speed gearbox that fits in existing BB shells (or at least one maybe twice the diameter)

in a few years time the slx version will be out too

-wistful sigh-

Have heard of and seen a few issues with the Pinion gearboxes, seem to be a little fragile.

It’s the packaging, weight and cost that are the issues with current designs, hub gears aren’t great from suspension performance or weight distribution either

kimbers – I like to think that somewhere in shimano’s deepest R&D bunker they have a team about to unveil a nice ten speed gearbox that fits in existing BB shells (or at least one maybe twice the diameter)

in a few years time the slx version will be out too

-wistful sigh-

More likely SRAM as they’ve got hub gears and had the Hammerschmit history. However confining it to the BB size / area is a total none starter. why restrict your design and compromise it?

Haven’t they had a lot of issues with the Pinion gearbox?

Swarf Cycles just did one that looks proper nice.

It does doesn’t it 😀

Pivot is quite high though, would be interested to ride it and see what the link is doing as can’t see it properly from the pictures

Linkage drives the shock & provides some additional stiffness

High pivot but jockey wheel mounted directly over the pivot means little or no pedal / chain growth & forces

Best looking & by far most interesting custom build I’ve seen in a long time

That’s not quite what I meant, the shape of the plate and any other plates pivots that are ‘in it’ are what I wan’t to see 😉

I love the Swarf and have been a fan of Balfa and Apalache who also used this design. With 11 speed you probably have the gear range to dispense with 2+ chain-rings and make this work for Trail riding.

I’d love to see a completely sealed gearbox running a high pivot at the same weight as a conventional set up. Something like the Honda derailleur in a box should be possible.

The red/black bike doesn’t have a high bottom bracket, I think it’s an optical illusion caused by the tiny front chainring (24t) and the fact that the chainstays don’t go to the centreline of the bottom bracket, they point upwards. The rest of the components were the customers own as that’s what he gets on with.

As far as reliability is concerned he’s not had any issues with it yet, time will tell on that one I suppose. The Germans have been very helpful with all of our technical questions (and there have been a lot as we’ve made our own mount for the second one) so I imagine any issue will be sorted promptly.

I will also be looking into making a standard bottom bracket conversion so any Pinion frame can be retrofitted to conventional cranks although this will probably be restricted to 1x

Matt

gofasterstripes – Member
Not necessarily.

In other news – what the heck is this:

It’s the bastard offspring of this 16 speed front ring:

I’ve taken several photos of mine – if you click the link you’ll see more detail.

This idea is regularly reinvented every generation. There was one in the 30s which was a 5 speed, I’ve got pics of that too somewhere.

Is that Red/black a butchered Inbred?

Having trashed two rear mechs in the past 6 years. An LX, which frankly was past its best anyway and it’s SLX replacement, both during my during my “return to mtb” phase, which could at best, from a technique p.o.v be described as point and hope. I’ll stick with what we know thanks. Both terminal failures were down to riding in freshly cut forest areas, with brash all over the place and one at night. I doubt my total investment in “current” technology in these components would outstrip the price of a “gearbox” in the first instance. Mech hangers do their job and derailleurs work. I’ll warrant it’s lack of maintainence or misunderstanding of how simple mechanical kit works, which cause more problems

Dear Bike Industry. Stop. Please, please, please, please Stop. 😀

I too cant wait to see some decent light weight gearboxes, I’m dead keen to build a high pivot frame with the geabox built into the frame (like the Zerode and Lahar) but without the bulk of the currently available hub gears. The pinion system looks interesting.

Loco, ref the Swarf frame above, there is a small link that connects the lowest point of the rocker to the seat tube.