[Closed] Shimano e-MTB patent. A sign of the future?

A gimmick for the future.

That diagram is quite upsetting. Caliper brakes and full sus? What can it all mean?

Custom shock, what looks like those early Marzocchis with the drilled lowers, and about 10mm of travel it looks like.  And an ingenious free-floating rear caliper brake 🙂  Still 1x though.

It's logical though, as soon as you've got a big-ass battery attached to a bike it makes sense to use it for anything else that can usefully be electronic. Up til now bike electronics have mostly been a bit reinventing the wheel, and had to bring with them the whole logistics for power. And it obviously makes sense to integrate it.

It'll be steering for you as well soon!

But it does make sense to use the battery to do other things while you're lugging it about.

I can see the logic of making as much use of the onboard battery as possible, but given suspension is being integrated too, Shimano are at a bit of a disadvantage especially since SRAM have already done EI as a live product.

If this sort of thinking is going on, it does go some way to explaining Shimano’s apparent ‘off the ball’ behaviour with mechanical drivetrains of late. SLX Di2 might be very interesting.

Overall, I’m not convinced this stuff will make a better mountain bike, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the target market...

Whatever next. Wifi gears!!

Wireless shifting is already a thing.  SRAM eTap definitely does it. I’m not sure if there’s a Di2 version yet although I assume there will be, ditching wires seems like such an obvious thing for the weight conscious...