Anyone else like the look of it (front page if you haven’t seen)? Definitely considering a GB 160mm ish bike for the future, if it’s not this time, then will be next time. Keep meaning to arrange a demo of the Zerode too.

My only issue is hating grip shift. Managed to avoid it on the one GB bike (not really, was a nexus hub mounted in the frame) I’ve had with an Alfine shifter, but does any manufacturer (or pinion themselves) have any plans for a trigger, even leccy, shifters?

Spidey sense kicks in as soon as I hear ‘motor sports designer’.
Files in same box as Robot Bike Co 160, Arbr Saker etc.

Maybe if they did lots of swearing in Scottish words and told people it was gnar? Might just get you on side?

Yep, would love a go on it especially having read the review. The shifter works fine for me and not having to pedal to change gear is a big bonus. Couldn’t buy one as I have bought more bikes than I can afford already

Not sure the build/pic does it any faours, looks a bit short and steep, though the number suggest otherwise.

Think you’re stuck with the grip shift – it’s a problem the gearbox makers are always threatening to solve but they haven’t done it yet. Some sort of electronic shift might be the solution, though it might need a bit more heft to the electrics than Di2. Not shifting under load is the other thing.

Wonder if someone will try the Honda-style “mech in a box” route.

Seat tube a bit too long for the reach on offer, considering we now have 170mm droppers.

Woukd also rather fit it with a float X2 or DHX2.

Maybe the best gearbox effort to date. I look at the pulleys and just think it’ll be wearing the teeth out quickly in local winter and will be noisier than a mech as it’s more in the firing line.
Why can’t a shifter be made with two cables?

Because it would look like this:

Rorschach – Member

Files in same box as Robot Bike Co 160

I quite like the Robot. It’s a clever way of offering custom geo in a (mostly) carbon frame. Would love that one that Paul Aston had made with the Geometron numbers

Effigear have solved the trigger shifter issue for their gearbox but it requires a huge spring on the downtube.

looks cool, brave to make their first bike from carbon

I like the look of it, despite having no real interest in those sorts of bikes. Solely in terms of drivetrain it’s about 1kg heavier for the gearbox compared to conventional I think? If it really improves suspension dynamics for the sort of bikes where weight isn’t a total premium it kind of makes sense

Yeah short and steep 65.5 HA 😀

fergal – Member
Yeah short and steep 65.5 HA

Given the geometry it must be an optical illusion bought about by the 2-3″ too long seat tube and the daft looking bend in the downtube. I simply couldn’t ride it with a dropper as no-one now does a 75mm one I’d need to ride that. It’s a major oversight.

Both of these issues are frustrating as otherwise it looks blinking great from the spec.

Best of luck to them

Looks oddly tall and just seems wrong having the shock there. Styling too close to Evil for my taste.

Would like to try one to see what the gearbox is like and I can see having all the weight low and central might make sense.

Agree the seat tubes are needlessly lofty. Geometry seems OK otherwise though.

Sooooooo I had no issues with the twist shifter. It became second nature very quickly. As for being designed by a motor sports engineer, if this is what they are capable of, I wish we had more in the bike industry. The suspension delivers what no other suspension bike I have owned or have ridden has ever done. It stays supple while still pedalling. Like I said in my review, my own full susser doesn’t feel anywhere as supple nor active.

I am not a fan of carbon by any means but the Deviate is seriously burly. It has seen a season of Alpine guiding but it felt like a new bike to me when I rode it. At no point did I back off on steep, rocky and raggedy trails when I rode it. Fragile it isn’t.

I would strongly encourage folk to try it. It is not the kind of bike I would ever have considered buying but after riding it, I want one. I was out on it again today riding my local xc trails. It is a burly bike but felt at home in tight wooded, slow speed, tech single track. Sadly, I have to give it back now.

I’m genuinely in awe of what Chris and Ben at Deviate have achieved. It’s great to be reminded that British engineers and riders can take on the big boys.

Sanny

fergal – Member
Yeah short and steep 65.5 HA

Try reading to the end of the sentence

Sooooooo I had no issues with the twist shifter. It became second nature very quickly.

I haven’t ridden a gearbox bike but I’ve done thousands of miles on hub gears and it’s just a feel thing – it doesn’t take long to get used to if you have some mechanical sensitivity. It’s a bit like changing gears in the car without using the clutch. And I never pedal hard when shifting with a rear mech, it just feels wrong – I pedal but with lower force for that very brief moment.

I think this bike looks great – I’m puzzled by the long-ish seat tubes but that seems to be an affliction affecting tons of fancy carbon frames (less so on alloy frames – presumably due to the tooling for carbon being made longer ago and harder to change as longer droppers appear).

sanny, cheeky question, feel free not to answer.

It’s pretty spendy, would you part with your own money?

And at retail price, not magazine rates….

BTW It looks nice. Pinion really appeals to me.

nickc – Member
It’s pretty spendy

Remember that price includes most of the transmission and I’m pretty sure nothing short of a triple will touch it’s range.

Anyone else notice the cock and balls shape the chain makes?

The frame is £3399 which includes the Pinion gearbox and DB inline shock, so actually not that expensive considering a Santa Crux Nomad frame is only £100 less with a lower spec shock and no gearing/drivetrain components. And a Yeti SB6 frames are just as much or even more for the fancy carbon version, again with an inferior shock and no gears/drivetrain.

So spendy yes, but no more spendy than other bikes. I’d usually never consider spending that much on a frame, but with the pinion gearbox, which appeals, might cause me to contemplate it.

For those who have ridden a Pinion box – what are they like regarding changing gear as you can’t change them under load? I tend to avoid changing gear under load with a conventional drivetrain anyway, but occasionally you get caught out and I do and the drivetrain can take it, but the Pinion can’t do it at all from what I can gather.

Tbh not changing under load really isn’t an issue for me, owning an ebike and not wanting to shred it’s drivetrain soon got me out of that habit…

Must get a test rode organised once I’m back riding…

Rorschach – Member
Spidey sense kicks in as soon as I hear ‘motor sports designer’.
Files in same box as Robot Bike Co 160, Arbr Saker etc.

I’m not sure what that box is but it should also contain Whyte Bikes

The frame is £3399 which includes the Pinion gearbox and DB inline shock, so actually not that expensive considering a Santa Crux Nomad frame is only £100 less with a lower spec shock

sure, but… SC are a well established brand with a pretty good dealer network, excellent back-up and warranty, great reviews, and a strong reputation.

This is a brand new company making a complex frame/bike with reasonably non standard parts and with Cane Creek suspension that will, (not if when or maybe, but will) spill it’s guts…that’s a lot of money to risk. No?

nickc – Member
This is a brand new company making a complex frame/bike with reasonably non standard parts and with Cane Creek suspension that will, (not if when or maybe, but will) spill it’s guts…that’s a lot of money to risk. No?

From that I’d say it’s not for you. 😆

sure, but… SC are a well established brand with a pretty good dealer network, excellent back-up and warranty, great reviews, and a strong reputation.

Sure, but Evil kicked off with a poor reputation for both frame quality/robustness or customer services on warranty issues, but by all accounts they seem to be pulling through and changing that view. But I always think the warranty issue is a red herring and don’t really place any value on warranty in the purchase price – what is the point in bumping up the price and offering a good warranty…all you’re doing is pricing in warranty replacements into the purchase price. I suspect that is what SC has done with their carbon wheels, time will tell. I’d rather pay a premium and get a good robust frame in the first place. But granted, they’re a new company and those early adopters will certainly be taking a leap of faith.

Nickc

Not a cheeky question at all. Would I buy one with my own money? Yes I would.

I love 29ers, plus and fat bikes. The Deviate wouldn’t normally be on my radar but it is a really impressive bike that put a big smile on my face.

Interesting Santa Cruz comparison. I have had three and broke them all. The qc on my first gen Heckler was dreadful. My first frame got sent back as the 135mm rear end would have fitted a boost hub! oh and the paint flaked off after only a few months. I imagine they are better now than when I ran them but for my money, I would be going for the gearbox option. I need to get rid of a couple of bikes first to justify it though!

Bendy top tube and seat tube brace section look weird. Otherwise I’d like to ride one.

I’d buy one in a heartbeat if I had the cash.
I’ve ridden pinion’s before and I’m a huge convert, buy sadly a skint one. As for changing under load, your style changes to accommodate this – just back off or a quick timed back pedal in those caught out sections.
Cost seems spot on, spec is pretty much what I’d go with on a custom build (maybe different wheels), and the med size would fit me with a 150mm dropper.

Also if they are specing the 200mm 9point eight dropper, you can shim it to any length drop you want. So even with a long ish seat tube, you can get perfect ride hight with max drop.

Thanks sanny.

would I buy one, probably not, I think gearboxes and internal hubs never going to be the drive train revolution that some think (or hope) they are. Cost, serviceability,interchangeability all worse (or non- existent) with a gearbox, as the designers of these bikes found, even if you bash up your mech in the Alps you can get going again, pretty much every time. That pinion needs to break just once and it’s away back to them for repair, and your kicking your heels (as it happens I reckon the CC shock will go looong before the gearbox, but that’s another thread waiting to happen), but any part on a bike that’s effectively a sealed unit to the end user is a bad development IMO. See CP’s comments on the front page.

I’m probably biased; in 25 years I’ve never bent/destroyed a mech, and to the question “I keep ripping off my mech” the answer could be, “Here’s an expensively radical bike” another answer is “Stop riding like a oaf then…” 😆

These gearbox bikes.. Can you just use 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th gears?

Asking for a friend’s wife…. 😉

Cost, serviceability,interchangeability all worse (or non- existent) with a gearbox

How often do cars need anything doing to their gearboxes, other than regular oil changes? I’ve never smashed a mech on a rock but I’ve had them implode in hideous mud, so the same end result.

Regarding the Cane Creek suspension – the original DBinline was horrifically unreliable but nothing else they’ve made has been. And the new version of the DB-IL is proving to be as reliable as anything from Fox or Rockshox. My DBair has been great for almost four years, serviced twice, fantastic performance, never let me down.

I like it. The design is pretty unique and its nice to see something in carbon thats not just another full or half rebadged factory frame set claiming to be their own design. Good luck to the boys!

That said, its no so surprising to see it in Carbon – the economics of small batch carbon vs alu actually mean that as long as you’re pretty confident in your external design, the ultimate cost of set up and profit you’ll make from one batch are about the same. You’ll find it easier to shift say 30 fairly niche carbon bikes than 100 alu ones most likely.

Shirley the top idler pulley will wear really quick, all the chain force is going through it and it’s small.

all the chain force is going through it and it’s small

But it isn’t being used to drive the bike like a chainring or sprocket, it’s just having the chain pulled across it which shouldn’t cause so much wear

sooo, what happened here then?

I am beginning to wonder about these pinion equipped bikes.

I’ve always written them off as too heavy and expensive, and I read a recent review where the fella just couldn’t get past having to stop pedalling to shift which made it sound like a problem, but my existing FS is 33lbs anyway, and there are some significant benefits from that design.