Originally Posted by awagner
So on one side, say the front, of the hub you have pawls engaged with teeth and expanding, and on the other side, say the back, you have pawls contracting and engagine with new teeth. The more eccentric the outer diameter of the outer sleeve, the farther down the pawls "squish" during each cycle.
The design does have some elegant properties:
- You don't have to change the dimensions of any of the parts relative to each other to change the gearing range of the hub. This is in contrast to the much seemingly difficult to design and dimension gears in a traditional gear hub.
- While there is a rediculous number of parts, there are not really very many types of parts.
- It may not be as difficult to service as it seems; It seems like each pawl holder and associated two sets of pawls stays together when you pull the mechanism apart.
- I could imagine it being very smooth when in good working order and at lower speeds. I imagine the pawls whining a bit at higher speed, i.e. not when they are engaging, but when they are slipping to new teeth.
- It is, IMHO, easier to understand than a rohlhoff.
- Does not rely on friction like many other continuous gearboxes.
So no, they don't seem to be a hoax, yes, it seems that have a workable mechanism, and no, I wouldn't recommend buying one until they bring the price down by a factor of ten or so and hire a competent marketing department.
Almost sounds like that one from Honda I saw in DirtRag last year, only their's, I believe, didn't "step" at all.