Pinion's P1.18 gearbox attached to the bottom of a Nicolai Helius AM. It offers 18 sequential gears and a 600% range that can be adjusted to suit the terrain by swapping out the drive sprockets.
Pinion P1.18 details:• 18 gears without an overlapping gear range
• Sequential shifting
• 600% gear range
• Capable of shifting under load or while coasting
• Uses a twist shifter
• Total weight: 2.6kg (
including shifter, front and rear sprockets)
• MSRP: Helius AM frame w/ Pinion P1.18 gearbox - $3399 EUR
The Pinion is bolted to this purpose made Nicolai frame, but expect it to show up on a number of other manufacturer's bikes as well.
Smaller package, 18 gears: Nicolai was showing off one of their Helius AM all-mountain bikes that has been manufactured to accept a Pinion P1.18 gearbox. While the Pinion has been around in prototype form for more than a season now, it appears to be nearing production and looks quite promising. The fact that Nicolai, who have long championed their various G-Boxx gearbox designs for many years, are now looking to have their bikes fitted with the P1.18 speaks volumes about their confidence in the design. Not only is the P1.18 lighter than the G-Boxx, it is also much smaller.
It offers 18 sequential gears that don't overlap and a 600% gear range that can be fined tuned by changing out the drive sprockets on either the front or rear. Shifting through the gears is done with a twist shifter and much like other gearbox designs on the market, it uses a dual cable arrangement. The gearbox will only accept Pinion's own crank arms.
The gearbox's cogs are housed within a sealed aluminum housing and fully protected from the elements, making for a reliable and and nearly maintenance free system.
Photos courtesy of www.mtb-news.deThe P1.18 is quite a bit smaller than other gearbox designs on the market and will also be less expensive. The 160mm travel Helius AM shown above weighs in at a respectable 15.3kg, complete with the Pinion gearbox.
Less expensive gearbox: Gearbox bikes are known to be quite expensive, but the P1.18 looks to be more affordable than what has been available in the past. For example, the standard Nicolai Helius AM frame retails for $1899 EUR, but required a whopping $4700 EUR if you wanted it with the G-Boxx. Equipped with the Pinion P1.18 it will retail for $3399 EUR, a full $1300 cheaper. While still not inexpensive by any means, the price is coming down.
http://www.pinion.eu/Stay tuned for more from Eurobike 2011
And hey, it's not like cost is a big concern if you can afford the thing!
In the pinion preview on www.mtb-news.de is the reason why they are using a twist shifter instead of a trigger shifter explained.
“The reason why they are using a twist shifter is because of the needed movement radius of the cam shafts which are changing the gears in the gearbox. Altogether the cam shafts turn through 1020° between the smallest and the highest gear, for which reason the Bowden cable in spite of a gear ratio has to be pulled widely. This prevents the application of a real trigger shifter.”
P.S.: Sorry for my poor English-Translation
www.mtb-news.de/news/2011/08/23/nicolai-helius-am-pinion-fahrbericht-vom-ersten-mountainbike-mit-pinion-getriebe
There are some nice pictures and videos
The gears/cogs look enormous to , not far off the size of a motor bikes for the puny 1/2 BHP output our legs kick out at best.
But i'm dead chuffed people are still trying to perfect it give it a few years and they will have it sussed.
Gear boxs , in my opinion , are one of the only things left to add to mountain biking to make it perfect . (apart from maybe stuff being sold at real value and realistic prices )
This isn't quite the answer but it appears to be another massive step forward!
i'd be all over it if it had 1/3 the gears and 1/3 the weight, and came in a hub, not a boutique frame.
Some Thing between a Rohloff hub and a Shimano Nexus hub in terms of range and pricing is what we need
But there is so much cash to be made out of flimsy , weak and inadequate ( but pretty/bling ) Mechs chain devices etc it gonna be a long slog
15,3 kg Is the weight of the bike shown in mtb-bikes.de pics without pedals this in raw finish must be lighter.
This bike is a good step to light enduro gearbox bikes but... it's arround 1 kg heavier than no gearbox version :-(
More here: www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164697&page=33
This is actually smaller than the previous version (about half the size I think) but it's still large for me and it still needs a chain tensioner
And as for bikepark DHing, I some people (like me) would be better off with a singlespeed
However this is an awesome idea and a great start. I hope this kind of thing takes off and finally puts an end to the second weakest link on a bike (flat tires being #1)
All other transmissions are internal/away from harm in relative terms to a bike derailleur.
Also, integrate the chain tensioner to the gear box and eliminate the derailleur hanger! The derailleur hanger is the weakest link!
_MK
www.tri-ride.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/alutech-fanes-pinion-3.jpg
Another classic PB comment -_-
"Is there really a market for this? I have never seen anyone on any trail with a bike that has a gearbox. Not worth it in my opinion"
-Not worth what? The fact most of your drivetrain is completely out harms way from both physical impacts and contaminants? Geez that sucks. Haven't seen anyone with them... because this model is BRAND SPANKING NEW - IT WAS SHOWN AT EUROBIKE. Here in Whistler - I've seen a dozen different guys shredding the Zerode geabox DH bikes and loving them. Top that off with all the companies trying to develop gearboxes for bikes.
"Agreed and really heavy in comparison to more conventional parts. For that price you can replace your whole drivetrain 10 times. I replace/fix mine every 2 years."
-Just like disc brakes. Have a nice set on your bike do you? Wind back 10 years and chuck on a set of old Hayes Mags and tell me they were "lighter and more reliable" than the conventional V-brakes at the time. They weren't - it was new technology - BETTER technology that needed to be refined over the course of a few years. Early disc brakes were TERRIBLE but look now - anything less is laughed at.
Stop shouting down progression, especially progression that will evolve MTBs to a whole new level. We'll see who's bitching about gearboxes at the end of the decade when they are lighter, stronger, more reliable, less prone to damage and shift a whole lot better than your archaic chain and pulley setup.
Not worth it to me means it's too heavy, too expensive and not worth changing in my opinion. Who are you to tell what is worth it or not worth it in my opinion.
All i said is that i never seen anyone riding a gearbox. So what? You saw a dozen guys in Whistler, out of how many? It doesn't even make a whole 1% of rider using them.
Ps. gearboxes have been around for a long time, unless the price goes down dramatically and it becomes available to most riders, it will not take off and you will only keep seeing a dozen rider a year.
No where did i shut down progression, maybe you should just relax for a bit and re-read my msg. Good luck with your non sense shouting
As for regular mechs, 1x10 and 9x36cassette seems to be the future. You gain reliability and drop 400-600g right away even if you rolled on Sram XX. It's just, if you have a choice: make people buy front mechs, shifters, chain rings and cables, VS a chain guide only, then the answer is simple... front mechs are going to stay here for a while.
Same question goes to a single element: the gearbox VS cassette and a rear mech which is on top of the list of "might-get-wrecked-components"
A gearbox bike doesn't sell on how many gears it has, it sells on the fact that you can shift any time you like and its a reliable setup. The fact that this gearbox has 18 gears is totally irrelevant to this argument. I'm not saying this is better than blah blah blah because it has more gears. I'm saying a gearbox in general, no matter how many gears it has, would give you a serious advantage when racing downhill due to the fact that you're not limited to certain places where you can shift, like with a conventional setup. This argument is not specific to this gearbox, its about gearbox's over derailleurs in general for downhill purposes. Your 11-36t setups and what 'serious xc racers' think has nothing to do with it.
Old Abe had some very wise words and I believe one such quote applies directly to you: "“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
X0 derailler...203 grams
standard cassette...350grams
Bottom bracket....100grams...
That's a less than a pound and a half... am I missing something?
With your point of view guys, it would be more convenient to ride an all steel frame, M1 tank transmission, hardened steel crank, seat post, bars and stem with moto fork up front. That way the shit will never break.
You also stated that you don’t think they can lose weight. Well the G-Boxx was reduced in weight by 800g (1.76lbs) in it’s 2nd incarnation so there is no reason to assume that it cannot be done here over time and with new manufacturing techniques etc.
You (and many others) have over simplified the issue between weight and any other advantage that this product will give in the market. Also there is no need for the rear derailleur hanger again another few grams plus no stress risers for the frame. If you designed a bike to pivot around the BB then you don't need the tensioner on the chain assuming we are talking FS bikes. The box also has a freewheel which means rear wheels can have a symmetrical dish (stronger build) and have a full single speed fixed hub so again more weight to be saved there.
It is not as advantages on a hardtail as it is on a FS bike due to the weight but once it drops a few lbs (It will in time).