Mofopotomus

Ever thought of just getting a single speed? Takes away the worry of gears at least.

waterrockets 

EDIT: oh, wait, I saw "Mc" and didn't catch the SLR. Yeah, that's an auto, which I think is ridiculous.

The McLaren F1 has a 6-speed manual transmission. At some point, I think they ran a sequential manual transmission. EDIT: yep, they went to a seq in 1997 for the race GTRs (still manual).

No automatic. No torque converter. No delay in shifting, and no suck.

Wested

Booger

If implemented correctly, yes. Most of my local roads are rolling hills, so I'm almost constantly shifting and trimming. I know I'm going against the crowd here, but I'm not particularly attached to the constant finger flapping. I'd much rather focus on other aspects of my ride.

A performance oriented truly automatic shifting system has eluded science for > 100 years, but electronic shifting may prove to be a happy medium. Again, true cyclists will scoff, but I can see benefit. For one, front derailers should be able to operate autonomously. No more trim, no more cross chaining, easier maintenance/adjustment, etc. I imagine a setup with one button for higher ratio and one for lower with perfect shifts every time.

skinnyone

Truer words hath never been spoken.

KevinF

There are these old-fangled things called single-speeds and fixed gears for those who find shifting to be too mentally taxing.

KtecR

I've played Gran Turismo enough to know that car really isnt fun .

Plus I used to own an M3 with SMG transmission (therefore really a manual trans with electrohydraulic pump to control the clutch) and currently a 6 spd 330i. The 6spd is hands down more fun even though slower in overall speed and shift speed. So OP, to anyone who considers cycling a sport shouldn't replace what could be done with hands fingers and legs with additional convoluted mechanisms.

Booger

Yes because if I don't think shifting every 15 seconds is the coolest thing ever I should only ride with 1 gear. Boooo technology. I can't believe all the lazy girly men who use index shifting because downtube shifters are just too difficult for them .

bryroth

I'm no engineer but I think that CVT only works if the engine's torque is a "given." I don't know how it would work if you were to drop a very large (pro racer) or very small (once in a while rider) under the hood.

Seems like an automatic bike would have to be tailored to each individual rider, and then adjusted as he became stronger.

BlazingPedals

Already out there. Nuvinci CVT Hub. Costs... Yikes! $403 if you can find one. Weight 'only' 4Kg.

DrPete 

You can already go to a gym and ride a cycle ergometer. No shifting, no steering, just pedaling.

The rest of us will continue to actually ride a bike and enjoy what goes along with that, thanks.

AndyK 

Half the fun of riding is flicking the right side lever with my thumb and nailing it! Automatic bikes would be 100 times more boring than automatic cars.

Now, electric shifting, that has potential!

umd

I'd much rather not have my bike shift suddenly from under me.

kc0bbq

There's always room for mad science. Always. It should be so internally complicated and tweakable that your gruppo comes with a laptop like some supercars.

logdrum

Automatics suck. That is why I still do not understand why Chevy doesn't offer a manual tranny for their Duramax powered diesels.

DrPete 

+1. If they come up with a CVT that can look up the road and pick a gear based on what's ahead and how hard I want to go, then I'd be interested.

Gas engines don't get tired, so they can afford getting bogged down briefly while the transmission adjusts. I don't have that kind of reserve.

umd

One really cool thing in this year's tour are the TT bikes with the EDA, with the e-shifter buttons on the brake levers and the bar extensions.

Booger

Probably not going to happen. What about an electronic system that shifted according to cadence and % grade? i.e. As your cadence fluctuates from the setpoint, the bike shifts gears accordingly. % grade could be used as a variable to manipulate the shift intervuls so that they occur faster or slower in response to changes in grade. Pragmatic issues aside, I believe a system like this could potentially help develop faster, smoother riders.

waterrockets 

Yeah, I think if you had some torque sensing in there so it wouldn't shift during the powerful part of the stroke, this could possibly be useful to people who are currently clueless regarding shifting (my mother in law, for instance).

caloso

Exactly. Get a fixed gear and dial it up to 400W.

jsmithepa

That's what the Flex Capacitors are for.

Avalanche325

NO!!!!!!

Also, Any car that has more than 200hp and/or makes any attempt at being a performance or sports car should not have automatic shifting either.

I test drove an M3 with an SMG. That transmission absolutely ruined the car.

Why Mercedes has gone to auto only is beyond my comprehension. I mean really, an AMG with an automatic???? A true sin.

With all of the electronic nanny devices in "performance" cars today, you might as well ride a bus for all the "driving" that you are really doing. Traction control, stability control, launch control, lane departure warning system, parallel parking assistance, panic brake assistance, yikes! Keep that crap off of my bike please.

Am I ranting yet?

yobtah

I agreed until I drove a Volkswagen GTI with DSG. The DSG has two clutches and gears on two shafts. Gears one, three, and five are on one shaft and two, four, and six are on the other. When it shifts, it simply releases one clutch and engages the other. It shifts really quickly, and it's easily as smooth as any torque converter automatic.

I ended up buying a GTI with DSG despite only owning manual transmission cars before it. I've done a few track days with my GTI, and I'm definitely faster than I would be with a manual. Aside from not getting the specific experience of using a clutch and rowing a shifter (which I occasionally miss), there's really no downside. I think at some point soon most sporty cars will offer transmissions like this and actual manuals will become even less common.

Edit: But... yeah, not a good idea for bikes. Light weight and simplicity are much better there.

DataJunkie

What a god awful idea. I can barely stand automatic transmissions in cars.

BackRoadsBiker

I had to build a Lime at the shop, and it was one of the stupidest things ever. Unlike a car, where you can at least hear when it was about to shift, you had no ida when it was about to shift.

Ultimately, a bad very idea.