Lal Bikes Supre Drive – A Better Derailleur Solution?

Ta Da!*

(* Out of stock/probably not enough range/probably not quite what you had in mind).

Indeed 🤣

Reminiscent of something

http://toptrail.co.uk/transmission.htm

http://toptrail.co.uk/

Not really

Still has a dangling mech when in the smaller sprockets. And more idlers. And, well, look at it.

It’s not a revolutionary game changer but it’s nice to have options.

if this is successful or not this chap has gone and got himself a patent on a new invention, realised that invention, and built two bikes to test it. and started a company to exploit it. and got another bike company interested in it. at 26. this may not be ‘it’ for him, and it may not be your idea of a better mousetrap, but i’d put money on him doing very well indeed with something. congratulations Cedric.

@ayjaydoubleyou The former is correct.

@shermer75 For the Supre Drive, taking the wheel out and changing the chain aren’t any harder than on regular bikes. On the chain tensioner, there’s a position lock feature that locks the position of the tensioner arm in a way that gives chain slack and makes it easy to get the wheel on and off. I didn’t have this on the first prototype bike and that was a pain, but the second prototype bike has it and it’s great. This feature also makes it easy to change the chain.

@Del has it.

The inertia in the bike industry is incredible.

Everything has to be compatible with everything else, look at where the gear hanger still is to this day, surely not the best position is it.

It may not be next year but at some point bike drivetrains will look completely different.

At that point if they look like this then this guy will be cashing in.

He might sell a few bikes in the interim.

This actually looks nicely resolved, and extra idlers are now mainstream on high pivot bikes.

The only question I’d have is where do I get a rear mech in 5 years time if things don’t work out…

If no one tried this stuff we’d still be riding what were effectively road bikes offroad like we were in the 90s.

I’ve spannered 3 mechs in 20+ years. One onf those on the road bike. And amother one of those was actually my mate running into the back of me and using my mech as a instant stopping device.

Shimano told us about 10 years ago they’d solved the rear mech vulnerability with the ‘shadow’ mech design.

@cedrico – congrats on making it this far and hope you get it nailed down into production.

I’ve been convinced that a high pivot / gearbox / alternative drive train solution is the direction for mountain bikes to go. Ive tried a lot of them over the years and some have come close but this looks on paper that it is a a very neat package. Can’t wait to try it at some point, when you get out into the wild.

I like this idea and wish cedrico all the best. I’ve 3 xt mechs on the bench awaiting repair / canabalising so this can’t come soon enough.

+1 on Del’s comments.

Congratulations @Cedrico it’s an awesome achievement & I wish you every success with it.

I’m no mech breaker (don’t think I’ve broken a single one in 30+ years of MTBing but then I’m pretty careful on line choice and very mechanically sympathetic) but I can definitely see the benefit of this. I despair when I see mechs dangling down at rim level on MTBs just to get the 5x range needed in modern drivetrains, it’s just asking for trouble.

I do wish it solved the unsprung weight issue as it’s still beholden to the massive cassette and all the weight that adds but a frame mounted gearbox would add a bucket load of drag so swings and roundabouts.

wzzzz

The inertia in the bike industry is incredible.

Everything has to be compatible with everything else

Except when it doesn’t – I don’t see this being significantly different to 15mm axles or “Boost” or “SuperBoost” or any other new standard that’s designed to solve 1 single problem but consigns all the old stuff to history. It’s fine for those that replace whole bikes but for this of us that develop their bikes along the lines of triggers broom it sucks.

This is definitely a new bike worthy development and for that should be applauded.

cookeaa

Ta Da!*

(* Out of stock/probably not enough range/probably not quite what you had in mind).

That’s what I’m adding to my retro gravel bike to give enough range for an old frail person like myself to ride offroad and Rough Stuff in the Highlands, so surely it’s enough for all the superbly honed hard riding heroes of STW? :).

Cedric is to be congratulated. He looks to have overcome most of the disadvantages of the derailleur while maintaining its main advantage, efficiency compared to other gear systems.

There’s just one more thing needed.

Full enclosure so that the transmission lasts the life of the bike. That requires a quick detach wheel that leaves the freehub and cassette attached to the frame.

There’s just one more thing needed

That’d be the Millyard DH bike then. Shame more wasn’t made of that.

@andyspaceman

And is exactly how the 2 and 6 speed Bromptons shift between their rear cogs today.

Have you seen the new 4 speed Brompton derailleur system – one jockey wheel mech and separate tensioner- unfortunately does not appear retrofitted to ordinary Bromptons