dminor 

Leave it to those Germans to keep thinking up ways to ditch the derailleur. Pinion p1.18: 18 speeds; 636% range with no overlaps; 11.5% gear steps (similar to a close ratio cassette); 3179g total weight (including shifter and cranks); oil change only once a year.



Best of all (IMO at least), it's not a stressed-member part of the frame (like the G-boxx / V-Boxx setups) - - although, it does require a specially-machined 'bottom bracket' housing.

Even better new is that Pinion is supposed to already be working on a 6-speed DH-specific version. Doo-dah . . . .


More info here:
https://www.descent-world.co.uk/2011/...the-gearboxes/

embankmentlb

ed 

SS on Hammerschmidt FTW.

samburger

I finally learn to service my own bike & they make my knowledge obsolete

Seriously though, looks nice. I'm too lazy to do the research...is 3100g for the whole drivetrain good in comparison to derailleurs? And do any of you mechanically-inclined folk know what a rebuild for one of those would be like?

born2bahick

7 pounds. pretty cool for the right crowd though!

3speed

Well, as for the 7lbs, when you take into account that does include the shifter and cranks... I don't know how much it all weighs, but you'd be replacing a front and rear derailer, front shifter, cable, cassette, and cranks. It doesn't seem like you'd gain that much with this system. Then when you throw a belt drive on it I think you would have a Seriously Easy maintenance set-up for only a 2-3lbs more. And that's 18sp straight through with no overlap like on a 27sp bike when you shift from ring to ring and half of the gears are overlap. TOTALLY worth it, IMO. Unfortunately I'm sure it's Not gonna be cheap. Probably not even really affordable for 95% of MTBers. But who knows. Only time will tell. I know I'd be interested, though.

EDIT: However, the grip-shift-only factor really blows. I don't know if I'd wanna go back to that crap.

dminor 

To put it in perspective too, a Rohloff hub weighs 1820g and is unsprung weight. Also, the Pinion gearbox's 3179g is with the crankarms, which you could assume could account for 8-900 (?) grams. So, figuring maybe 500 more grams (a quarter-pound) more than a Rohloff and getting the weight off the back wheel and instead centered down in the bottom of the frame - - that's not too bad of a trade-off. Besides the fact that the Rohloff is only a 14-speed with 526% range and 13.6% steps.

Sam - - good rule of thumb with the conversion: 1kg ≈ .454 lb. Gets you pretty close most of the time. As far as rebuild: I think with as robust as the gears look and running in an oil bath, rebuilding might not ever be an issue.

mikeinroch

Actually, 1kg = 2.2 lbs., so 500g is more than a pound difference. I would think your frame might gain a little weight too with that big BB gearbox shell. Still would be totally worth it for those who can come up with the cash.

dminor 

Oops! Thanks for the correction - - you are, of course, totally right. I got myself turned around, as I use the divisor of .454 to convert kg to lbs.

So, 500g (.5kg) ÷ .454 = 1.1 lb. difference between the Rohloff and the gearbox, as you said. And how did I ace calculus back in the day?

Still probably worth the trade-off for the right application IMO.

Zephyr11

Lots of stuff and a first ride impression from PinkBike: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/Pinion-...ride-2011.html

commo_soulja

Not quite like a Rohloff. This application requires a specific frame whereas you can easily retrofit any frame for a Rohloff set up. Looks like a cool exercise in bike engineering much like the Cannondale fulcrum DH bike of the early 90s.

cryptid01

No CVT, no care

dminor 

^^ Too bad Derek Lahr got his doctorate and moved on to other, non-biking things.