First Look: Cavalerie's Blackbird Carbon Gearbox Bike - Garda Trentino 2019

May 9, 2019
by Daniel Sapp  
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We tested Cavaleire's Anakin, a French-made, alloy Effigear gearbox bike a few years ago. Now, the French company is finalizing their 29"-wheeled 160mm carbon enduro bike, the Blackbird.

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Views: 46,570    Faves: 22    Comments: 2

The bike is built around the French-made Effigear gearbox.

Cavalerie wanted to build a carbon bike over three years ago, however, the conundrum with carbon for Cavalerie was sourcing the the right carbon fiber. According to Cavaleire's David Roumeas, in keeping with the spirit of the rest of the bike, gearbox included, they wanted to get the carbon from France, which proved to be a challenge.

Cavalerie were able to find a carbon expert along with a 3D printing expert, and then experimented with different designs before investing in the tooling. Now, after finding the correct materials and process, and with everything in place, their supply chain is said to be short and efficient.

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The team at Cavalerie have been testing samples of the Blackbird for a year at this point and are now working on production tooling. They expect to have production bikes shipping this fall.

Batch runs for the Blackbird will be small, 5-10 bikes at a time, and Cavalerie is accepting pre-orders now. The bike will come standard with a Fast and Formula suspension set up, but there will be the option for a Fox build as well. The bike will be priced starting at $8,300 EUR. This already includes the French VAT.

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The gearbox is shifted with a standard SRAM trigger shifter.

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On the prototype, cable routing is external. For production models, customers will have the option of internal or externally routed cabling.

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The Opn Parts bar end bottle opener is a nice touch.

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For more info, check out Cabalerie's webpage.

Author Info:
danielsapp avatar

Member since Jan 18, 2007
476 articles

135 Comments
  • 87 5
 A suspension designer's dream! One cog front and back. This is the future...once gearboxes have good range and efficiency.
  • 36 0
 good range? i cant find info on the effigear but i know pinions are up to 636% range, which is more than every 1x system on the market (e13s is the biggest at 511%) and more than most 2x set ups unless you go for a rediculous cassette and huge jumps between chainrings. so yeah, the range is there, its just the efficiency thats a problem, plus initial cost and weight (though thats subjective as its centralised and sprung, not unsprung hanging off the back)
  • 6 0
 @inked-up-metalhead: Effigear lists their maximum range to be 444%. I've read the Pinion boxes, which do have good range, have drag issues.
  • 13 2
 @Explodo Whilst I don't disagree with the sentiment, people have been exactly this for DECADES now and still gearbox bikes haven't made any real market impact
  • 10 2
 @IllestT: Preach! Remember the Hammerschmidt?
  • 16 2
 @diego-b: I am working hard to forget the Hammerschmidt!
  • 6 1
 @IllestT: Main issue is bike manufacturers can sell a frame for almost all derailleur/crank manufacturer since the parts work around their designs. With a gearbox your basically forcing your entire range to one gearbox manufacturer, so you better hope your customer wants to buy and use them.

This is why you simply don't see big brands going this route. They know it will be out of the price range of some of their customers and simply not what some of their other customers want. Also going and designing/manufacturing gearbox version of their existing bikes is unlikely to pay for the costs in the end.
  • 8 3
 @Explodo: I can confirm the drag issues. I wanted a pinion bike until I rode one for more than 2 miles.
  • 16 1
 @Explodo: All gearboxes have drag issues. Two teeth intermeshing has more drag than a chain and a single tooth intermeshing. Its just physics. Also, with a derailleur, you only have two intermeshing events, the front and back cog with the chain. On a gear box you still have that, plus the actual gears transferring torque between themselves.

That being said, I think I like effigear's approach better than Pinion. Pinion uses a series of staged overdrives, requiring the power to move through many gears. This [effigear] seems cleaner, and I bet has less power loss. The problem is that all the gears are being driven no matter what gear you are in. if they could figure out a selector device so the other gears would remain stationary when not in use, then efficiency could be dramatically improved.
  • 6 1
 @IllestT: Manufacturing technology marches on. 10 years ago printing Ti parts was only experimental in labs.
  • 12 1
 @hardtailparty: being an owner of Zerode Taniwha for 6 month already, can't notice any significant drag in the gearbox.
  • 12 2
 @hamncheez: i don't feel too much drag with my pinion. Yes, it is there, but it's not that bad. The upside is a bulletproof shifting system with huge range AND fine spacing. The real problem with the pinion box is that it's overbuilt - coarse teeth and heavy duty gears make for high weight and a slightly "chunky" pedal feel. It feels sort of like pedaling on a 13t cog with a cassette, nowhere near as bad as the 10t SRAM uses to get a better spread number.
Other than that, I HATE getting back on my MTB with traditional shifting after riding pinion. Shifting while coasting or stationary is so convenient, and the fine spacing is just awesome. And the shifter has a very rewarding feedback when you bang through gears, absolutely no delay and it NEVER misses a beat.
  • 32 2
 @hardtailparty: I own a Pinion gearbox and the drag on it once broken in is basically similar to riding a bike with a chainguide with a lower roller. You can barely perceive it - the idler pulley on my bike adds more drag than the gearbox (comparing back to back with a Zerode, the Zerode feels like any other normal bike to pedal). The range is great and efficiency is good enough for me, but what's not fine is
1. Proprietary cranks (damaged one set already, good luck finding those when you're on a riding holiday somewhere that isn't Germany)
2. Proprietary rear cogs (not many people making 30t single rear rings... and they do wear out)
3. Ridiculous clip-on plastic dust covers that fall off all the time
4. Grip shift only - just make a double trigger ffs
5. High weight
6. High cost
7. Having to send them back to Germany for repair when they leak (and many of them do, my first one included)
8. Having a second freewheel for no good reason (like 20 degrees between engagement points too, and tons of noise because the chain can overrun forwards).

Inability to downshift under power isn't great either but it's a reasonable tradeoff for being able to shift when not pedaling at all.

Efficiency and range are IMO the things they HAVE got sorted. It's all the other stuff that sucks.
  • 13 4
 @hardtailparty Taniwha owner here, my gearbox is about a year old. There was very slight drag to begin with but it quickly came out of it and is now basically drag free. Keep it oiled (once a year) and it's as smooth as a baby's bottom.

Gearboxes have a single chainline all the time, which reduces drag/friction compared to derailleurs which are usually always cross chained.

Mine's a P12 Pinion so it's a bit on the porky side compared to the cast magnesium C12 Pinions, but that is the only negative where it absolutely pisses over derailleur systems in every other respect.

The range on the 12 speed is 600% and is HUGE! I was riding 10 speed for years (never rode 11 or 12 speed because I didn't see the point). There is a 9 Pinion speed version which is lighter than the 12 speed and STILL has more range than Eagle. I genuinely think I would be happy to spec the 9 speed on my next bike.

I really don't get the incescant quest for more gears tbh. Just get fitter ffs.

The shifting is beautifully precise and mechanical, you just grab a gear and go. Even when you're stopped at the trail head, or exiting a corner in the wrong gear, you just click click click, lay down the power and go, seamlessly.

I can't praise it enough, it's the system every mtb'er deserves.
  • 4 1
 @hamncheez: The BeOne PeteSpeed gearbox (currently owned by Hayes) is basically a derailleur in a box so it wouldn't have the downsides you mentioned about too many gears intermeshing.
  • 3 2
 @Pom4eG: I think that's a bit of hyperbole, I can definitely notice some in mine, especially in the harder gears, but it's not a big deal.
  • 1 2
 @inked-up-metalhead: 636%.?? Real men only use ????%????
  • 3 0
 @hardtailparty: Yeah, spun a Pinion bike on a stand at Interbike (RIP).. Gearboxes for DH would be dope, but a bit of a drag for a pedal bike.
  • 3 0
 @Socket: most of the things you listed will most likely be fixed in a few years if they get more popular and advancements are made.
  • 4 1
 @rockchomper: I hope that turns out to be the case, but the idea that they're more reliable and therefore justify the fact that pretty much everything else is objectively worse is total BS - mine's caused more downtime than a derailleur ever has. At least Gates' customer service in North America is absolutely excellent. Every issue they currently have CAN be fixed (weight aside perhaps) but I'm not interested in buying your company's long term potential, I only care about whether option A is a better purchase for me than option B. And right now gearboxes distinctly lose the battle there, to the point where I've considered machining up a conventional BB and a derailleur mount for my bike just to get rid of it.
  • 1 0
 @Socket: random: i stumbled across a small builder that's building said conversion gizmos for their pinion bikes. can't recall the name atm. i kinda like your thinking though. make it happen!
  • 1 0
 I'll be the negative one, and say, "entire gearbox hanging below the rear chainstay". Nothing's perfect I guess.
  • 3 0
 @Socket: wow, this is a comprehensive list of important drawbacks. I hope they see it and consider it!
  • 1 2
 @bulletbassman: as if bottom bracket unstandards dont exist
  • 1 2
 @excavator666: because your mountains are the size of pimples
  • 2 0
 @Socket: a double trigger shifter had already been made for the pinion gearbox, it will be released this Fall of 2019 from Quip (I think that’s their name?) , ALSO, a belt drive system will be released this summer or Fall as well from carbon gates. You can contact cycle monkey as well for details
  • 2 1
 @Pom4eG: same goes over here... non-issue
  • 3 2
 @diggerandrider: I don't want a belt drive, they suck in the mud and require concentric outputs to maintain proper tension, which has many other drawbacks (although brilliant for less noise). A double trigger shifter might have been designed but none are available today for the bike I rode today. As I said before, not all that interested in what the future may hold based on the gearbox concept - interested in what I can actually ride TODAY. If I can't actually buy it and ride it now... I don't really care. We'll be living on Mars one day too, should I invest in martian real estate? Wink
  • 3 0
 @Explodo: I've read that is is equivalent to a shimano 1X11. I'm personally super excited about this bike, and might try to have one shipped to the US for next year. Pinion had drag issues, especially with Zerode's enduro bike a few years back. And also a twist shift was always offputting... this is seriously in the right direction, and i'm very excited for it. Gearbox here we come!
  • 13 0
 @hamncheez: The drag issues on gearboxes are more common belief :
We have done some test bench, the Effigear efficiency is close to derailleur on short gears and becomes better on long gear. Before publishing data we want to do more test to confirm the first result.
We also want to do the test bench after 1-hour rides on the muddy and dusty ride, that's where the gearbox is a game changer!
  • 5 0
 @Cavalerie-Bikes: Are you doing the test with a freewheel in the rear hub or with a fixie rear hub?

Props for the bike, looks amazing! Would you do a (cheaper) metal version too at some point?
  • 5 0
 @vinay: With and without a freewheel.
The blackbird is 148x12 boost standard so the customer can use the wheelset he wants, thanks to this choice we try different freewheel hubs and discover that in many situations the gearbox freewheel as less drag than the hub will freewheeling on a downhill.
For an aluminium version hard to say now: we already have a lot of work because of ongoing projects (including this one!) so we don't want to mess by going in too many directions
  • 2 0
 @Cavalerie-Bikes: Thanks. I get that you don't want to end up with a million variations of basically the same product. Cool to hear that the freewheel drag in the frame with moving chain/belt is actually lower than in the rear hub. Makes for cheap spare wheels.

Thanks for the update and good luck with your bikes!
  • 1 2
 @multialxndr: This is true. So when you getting an e-bike?
  • 47 10
 Soon there will be e-bikes with a gear box. Then, someone will replace the motor with an engine. Then, cranks will be replaced with stationary pegs and a switch on the handlebars to control the speed of the engine. We'll be on to something by that point...........
  • 2 0
 Need some trail advocacy for Category 1 G-Bikes.
  • 23 17
 Seriously. How much time have you put in on a pedal assist e-bike? Be honest.

The whole ignorant "it's a motorbike" thing is getting so tired. It's like saying that a powered paraglider is the same as a 747 and should only be able to take off and land at Heathrow or JFK.

( I'm not 100% sold on them by the way and definitely get the land access issues etc)
  • 2 0
 @Dustfarter: Personally, I haven't but want to. I'd hate to have them banned and then years down the road can't ride without one due to excessive butthurt or something.
  • 2 2
 @slovenian6474: my apologies. I was replying to judgerider348 comment not yours
  • 9 1
 @Dustfarter: of course an Ebike isn't a motorcycle! It has got pedals... so, it is an E-Moped
  • 4 1
 @Dustfarter: agree..I get a chuckle from all the hate from riders who are hardcore DH (shuttle and uplift and then coast down)
  • 5 4
 @Dustfarter: I find it hilarious that proponents of ebikes think those that are opposing ebikes in the sport, or call them motorbikes, only do so because they haven’t ridden one. If you want ignorant just take a look at the people that seem to think “”haters” just need to ride one and they’ll change their tune / be hooked”. What nonsense.
I’ve ridden a number of different ebikes on at least a half a dozen occasions in a few different locations. I’ve also ridden motorbikes most of my life, mainly sportsbikes but also dirt bikes. And I’ve been riding push bikes since shortly after I learnt to walk, probably like most people on this forum. I certainly think ebikes are neat and really fun devices. However, and my recent ride on a Merida 160 ebike confirmed this, they are definitely not mountain bikes in the traditional sense. They are pretty much just piss weak motorbikes with the throttle in a different spot. Still good fun though, after all they still have 2 wheels and a set of handlebars.
  • 8 0
 @Dustfarter: They are motor bikes. They have motors.

The "pedal assist" is a red herring- you can gently spin your legs generating about 10 watts, and the bike will happily blast out the other 200 on your climb up. Converting a pedal assist to a straight throttle, or incorporating a throttle is easy as well.

For reference: I own one, and think it's the bee's knees for commuting. But I'm also not so willfully blind as to pretend they aren't going to be ludicrously overpowered in a very short time frame.

Embrace the e-bike for what it is: a nifty new class of motorized vehicles that are going to open up some very interesting possibilities.

But don't pretend that magical fairy dust legalize somehow makes them not motorized.
  • 3 1
 @tsheep: You're right in the most literal sense, however, as long as there is a built in speed limit and you have to pedal to make them work they are absolutely not motor bikes in the traditional sense.
It doesn't matter how powerful they become if you're limited to roughly 20mph.
They're definitely NOT motorbikes when comparing them to say a dirt bike and likewise they're not mountain bikes, however, they're a damn lot closer to a mountain bike.

As they stand now the risk they pose to other trail users and the trail damage they can do is no different to a traditional mountain bike. That's a fact. To judge them against the standards of a motor bike is simply not fair. Everything else is negative bias and hype.

It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. They're not going away no matter how much whining there is.
For me. I can go either way. They're super fun but if they went away tomorrow I'd be just fine on my regular bikes. I ride them more anyway.

It's the closed mindedness and unwillingness to accept new things and look at it from a different angle that irks the shit out of me.
I've done so many sports where this has been an issue. Water skiers hated wakeboarders, snow skiers hated snowboarders , windsurfers hated kitesurfers and surfers hate EVERYONE.
  • 3 2
 @Dustfarter: Lol, no, now you have gone full magic fairy dust.

As you admit, they are motor vehicles, and that's the end of the story.

Everything you wrote past that is A) bad physics, B) wrong, and C) an attempt to wriggle out of them being motor vehicles.
  • 28 3
 I love how the idler isn't hanging down so far like other gear box bikes. Also that it uses a trigger. I'm hoping Effigear makes some headway against Pinion.
  • 10 2
 It also seems that the effigear has less drag because it has no planetary gears
  • 8 2
 To me, Effigear always made more sense than Pinion.
  • 3 2
 what is the efficiency of effigear?
  • 7 1
 I like how the drive sprocket isn't concentric with the BB, allowing for higher anti-squat without increased kickback. It's like a high(ish) pivot and idler set-up, without the idler.

Weight doesn't worry me a great deal, especially when the unsprung mass is reduced. Drag is a huge concern, though, and I'm keen to see further details.
  • 5 1
 @Naturel: I don't care about more range. Less weight would be a plus for sure. Better efficiency is a must but also a hard goal to achieve.
  • 2 1
 @getsomesy: nobody really talks about this, but it's a good question. Especially considering the efficiency of a standard bike drivetrain.
  • 3 0
 Cinq makes the shift:r which is a trigger shifter for Pinion. Still of course, surprising to see they haven't realized it themselves considering so many mountainbikers prefer triggers over grip shift. Personally I liked Effigear too, especially for people who want a high pivot anyway. Effigear has different layouts though, they do a lower pulley too.
  • 17 1
 The conundrum for me is sourcing the money from my bank account. Looks pretty rad.
  • 12 1
 I'm curious as to how much difference the drag actually makes. I don't care about losing a few seconds in an XC race either. Granted most any test is bound to be a bit subjective but I would like to do a like 20 mile ride with 4k feet of climbing on this bike and then like a week later the same ride on my current bike and see how much more gassed I feel at the end. I mean I know people have put out numbers but a coefficient of friction just doesn't give you a great idea like riding would. But if we are talking adding 5 minutes to a 5 hour day I can live with that for the convenience. Unfortunately the average Joe Blokef doesn't set the bike trends, the average Joe Blokef just buys what the pros buy and the pros can't lose 5 minutes over 5 hours.
  • 4 3
 I'm no racer, and I wanted to love the pinion boike, but I noticed drag about half a mile into a 5 mile ride on a Zerode. It was significant. I felt exhausted the entire time.
  • 2 1
 I don't know the numbers but let's say it adds 5 percent extra drag. That means about 5 percent in time on a steep climb. The same as adding 5 kg to your weight if you weigh 100kg (220lb). So 3 minutes per hour. On the flat it will be less time difference but similar to more weight.
  • 4 1
 You feel it. And then you get used to it. Think of it like an 2.3 Enduro vs. 2.5 DH tire. Getting used to the shifter takes a bit longer, but it is much harder to go back to a derailleur afterwards.
  • 3 1
 @ak-77: It's even worse than that! Your calculation for energy loss due to mass is the upper limit of the possible difference, assuming zero rolling resistance, zero tire slip rate, zero air resistance, zero drivetrain friction, etc.

When pedaling on flat ground, mass has virtually no impact on your speed, but drivetrain drag always will.

I want to love geaboxes, but the drag issue has to be solved.
  • 2 4
 @R-M-R: the drag from the Pinions at least is pretty minimal once they're broken in. If you jumped on a Zerode and nobody told you it had a gearbox, you wouldn't notice the difference in the pedaling drag. That part is the least of all the issues. Nobody's really noticed for example that literally only one company in the world (Shimano) makes decent cranks - what are the odds that the gearbox manufacturers, who are making cranks basically as an afterthought because they have to, are going to do a better job than SRAM, E13, Raceface etc who keep churning out weak pieces of crap in spite of having decades of experience with it?
  • 4 1
 Saw this personally in Riva, as I stopped the builder outside a cafe for a photo. This bike is simply awesome, a lot of details and it's really really well made. Plus, the builder is a super nice guy and Effigear is a step ahead of Pinion, in terms of drag.
  • 3 0
 And it uses a trigger shifter! I love gearboxes but just can't get along with a gripshift no matter how hard I try
  • 3 1
 If you look on effigear website the weight penalty to 1x11 is +0.5kg, but its 1kg less than pinion, but the gearbox case is part of the frame not a complete swap out component like pinion.
Having had a pinion bike, no you can't shift under load, not tried an effigear, the pawl like shift mechanism might allow it.
  • 1 0
 Not sure what you're talking about, the Effigear bolts into the frame the same way a Pinion does.
  • 3 0
 @TheOriginalTwoTone: Not exactly, the Pinion one bolts "under" the frame into a solid cabinet/bridge/mount/whatever you want to call it, while for the Effigear the box housing is part of the frame, and then you close the gearbox with the two halves covers.
So you could say the Pinion is a component bolted to the bike frame, while for the Effigear the gearbox is an integrated part of the frame.
So it looks similar, but it's different.
  • 1 0
 @Will-narayan: There is absolutely no practical difference. You can't bolt a pinion to a frame that's not made for it.
  • 1 0
 @TheOriginalTwoTone: Yup', no practical difference (though a lot of differences for the design of the bike), but it doesn't bolt the same way.
  • 2 1
 @Will-narayan: Don't be so purposely literal. They both bolt to a frame that is specifically build for them.
  • 2 0
 gna-gna-gna gearbox drag, gna-gna-gna false rumor and idea about gear box and gearbox bikes.

Mens, try and ride some gearbox bikes, and stop earing false rumors / clichés.
Have myself a Cavalerie Anakin, the 27" Aluminium enduro bike of Cavalerie equiped with an Effigear Gearbox.

No lies here, bike and gears are just smooth as f*ck, gears passes under charge, up&down, on and off the bike, WITH classic Trigger, Bike is definitely tailored for enduro use and abuse, and cherry on the cake transmission stay at the top even in mud .
444% is not enough for you to get to the top??? So you are not really a moutainbiker and i don't think with even 600% will get you to ride your bike to the top.
come on guys, come to a gearbox, it's so natural that you will wondering why even big brands don't do this kind of transmission. Wink
  • 5 0
 Now that is a sexy bike... I give it 10 years and Gear boxes will be dominant in the bike industry
  • 5 1
 Gear boxxes should be introduced into downhill racing first. The improved suspension performance would surely far outweigh a bit of friction in the system when pedalling
  • 1 0
 Last year there was a command on Nicolai G16 with Pinion.
  • 3 0
 I see a gearbox and think, ok maybe worth the read... then I see a Formula shock and think ‘Formula + gearbox, that’s 6 months wages, oh f-word!’ I guess I’ll go back to browsing the buy/sell ads.
  • 5 0
 The key to success is to know your audience ... and they added a bottle opener
  • 6 1
 bar end bottle opener win!!
  • 1 0
 i definitely want gearbox in the furure, but with same drag and weight like today setups with deraileur... also with VPP and belt drive and there will be problem with putting belt to back triangle...

also, Please do the light version of inner cogs with carbon inners and steel tooths or something, those full metal cogs lookin superheavy just from a picture, its like in motorbike, but you definitely dont have a such a torque in your legs Smile
  • 5 0
 In fact, you have high torque in your legs. You can easily apply more than 200N.m on the crankset, we just don't spin crankset at 4000-14000 rpm like motorbike engine only 70-100rpm. That why our "power" isn't as high as a motorbike can be.
  • 1 0
 actualy, i rode shimano Alfine hubs, they are pretty heavy, we have it on citybikes and roadbikes in one company, and that shifting under load in accelerating was amazing, you can compete with cars on traffic lights Smile but there was also problem with downshift, longtime reliability,
BUT i feel some micro DRAG, but that was totaly OK, was better than dirty or dry chain, which also have brutal drag of multiple Watts! (5W i think? )
  • 2 1
 These seem cool but are they really solving what that many people consider to be a major problem these days. The added weight, complexity, and price just don’t seem to justify it when for most people a derailleur works just fine. Even cheaper setups now have wide ranges, clutches, and designs that tuck them pretty far out of harms way, all while offering very good overall performance. Obviously you could still break one but at today’s prices they are almost disposable parts at this point.
  • 2 0
 I for one hope all bikes look something like this in a few years time. Come on bike industry, give us the sudden, expensive, unavoidable "standards" change that people are actually asking for.
  • 6 2
 now make it belt drive, this is the future.
  • 3 0
 ...like shown in the video.
  • 1 0
 @marky-d: yes yes
  • 5 1
 Can gearboxes be shifted while under load yet?
  • 5 1
 From the Effigear site:

"Instant and smooth shifting of gears in any situation.

Shifting of gears under load, without pedaling, or even stopped."
  • 3 3
 Pinions can be, as well. I demo'd a Zerode last year.
  • 4 4
 @sngltrkmnd: no they can't.
  • 1 0
 @spaceofades: Dude massive brain fart. What the hell was I thinking? They CANNOT be. How embarrassing. My brain was not functioning this morning.
  • 3 0
 Effigear can shift under load
  • 4 1
 This bike looks Great, they really stepped their game up! Also a trigger shift gear box!!!!!!!! GIMMIE GIMMIE GIMMIE!!!
  • 3 1
 Remember that time in the 7th grade when the teacher called you to the board, but you couldn't stand up. One of those moments seeing this thing.
  • 2 1
 So any engineers out there want to help me design a bolt-on gearbox, that would be compatible with most frames? Think like the Hammerschmidt, but 5-6 gears with the same range as a DH cassette.
  • 1 0
 shimano alfine? Rohlof?
  • 1 0
 @faul: Hub transmissions work great on hard tails, but not so much on suspension frames because the weight isn't central in the chassis and the transmission isn't suspended.
  • 1 0
 I have a Zerode with an Alfine gearbox and have ridden the Tahiwa with the pinion and the pinion has drag but my alfine has very little.... sure this bike is nice tho
  • 3 0
 Finally a normal trigger shifter on a gearbox!!!!
  • 3 0
 Finally a gearbox with a trigger shifter rather than gripshift!
  • 4 1
 Starting at 8300€
Oh la lá
  • 2 1
 The components are absolutely spot on. They can be built up to around 14-14.5kg which is pretty light- If I only had the money....
  • 1 1
 For 8400€ you'd think they would at least have helical cut gears in the gearbox. No syncros, no helical cut gears, no wonder they shift so well when the pedals aren't turning...
  • 1 0
 Curious about your answer (restless brain curious about everything :p), I googled helical gear and found a link explaining that helical gears create axial forces through the axles and then on the gearbox case. Well a human pedaling may not produce enough torque so as to create axial forces, but it seems like straight gears are also the lightest, which matters for a bike.
  • 2 0
 Straight cut gears are stronger than helical cut gears.
  • 4 0
 Helical gear brings axial forces that will kill the gearbox efficiency and require stronger so heavier parts design.
  • 2 0
 Beautiful bike. If they made a size XXL I’d be very tempted...
  • 3 0
 We would love to build XXL sizes and S too! 10 pre-orders for these sizes and we build the tools!
  • 4 1
 This looks just awesome.
  • 2 3
 Enduro am and dh only . Trail and xc will never use gear boxes . Whatever exotic and expensive materials you make them from they wil always be considerably heavier than mech and block ,
  • 3 2
 This is the first Gearbox I've seen with trigger shifting... Best thing I took away here. That's progress in itself.
  • 3 4
 I used to think alike. But I commute on a pinion bike since half a year now, grip shift is superior. Super fast shifting through the finely spaced gears... Going back to a derailleur is like going back two decades in time.
  • 5 1
 @Kainerm:

"commute on a pinion bike" - yeah fine for commuting but thats not smashing through rock gardens at speed. I want to be able to hold onto my grips without any shift mishap that'll occur.

"Going back to a derailleur is like going back two decades in time" - You realize that roughly two decades (really three decades at this point) is when gripshifters were a thing.

I want a gearboxes to be a thing, but they have some issues they still need to work out.
  • 4 3
 @connorjuliusjohnson: trust me, the grip shift is superior for gearboxes. Even if you shift accidentally, it really doesn't matter! There is no loss of power transmission, no skipping, no rattling when backpedalling after a shift. Just a very slightly different gear. And the shift forces are so much lower than with derailleurs. All of that means grip shift sucks on "old" drivetrains, but none of that applies to the pinion.
I understand it's very difficult to convey the ease of shifting by words. It's even not that evident when you test ride a gearbox bike. But after 2000 miles, going back onto a traditional bike, I really had to re-learn how to shift "properly" - not when standing, not when coasting, repeatedly hammer on a heavy thumb shifter before going into a climb... This is when you realize what a crutch derailleurs are.
  • 3 1
 @Kainerm: I've ridden a Zerode with a Pinion for a few decent rides, I'm not saying this without experience with a gearbox. A trigger shifter is better for mountain biking. Once they get that as at least an option, I'd consider going that route, but currently the shifting method is worse and they're heavier. Not saying they're without upsides, but the downsides are going to hold them back from the masses till then I think.
  • 1 1
 I used to be on the fence - but when my wife let's me upgrade my 2016 bike maybe I'll be able to get a gear box bike from a readily accessable brand. Here's hoping.
  • 3 1
 What is that rear shock?!
  • 3 0
 Fast Suspension Fenix
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 How much does it weigh? Did I miss something?
  • 2 0
 this is goood! look so cool,also efigear superior to pinion
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 No link to their web-page?
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 Definitely like the idea of internal gearing, but the weight and cost is the limiting factor.
  • 1 0
 That is beautiful Drool I would consider one as my next bike but that price tag is a little insane and out of my budget Frown
  • 2 1
 What is that water bottle and holder?
  • 2 1
 Its a magnetic twist-off fidlock setup, pretty neat and they do proper sized bottles!
  • 1 2
 Cool that it comes with it's own hip flask so you can do some bourbon shooters after your done riding... Smile
Other than the tiny water bottle that bike looks pretty sweet!
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 Would love a 135/140mm rear travel version of this.
  • 2 2
 ...awww cute! It comes with a baby-bottle!
  • 1 1
 Is that a Split-pivot rear end?
  • 1 1
 doesn't even need a kickstand this bike dosent fall over.... ever.
  • 2 2
 Looks pretty good, but I think the Zerode looks better.
  • 1 3
 Not sure if Dartmoor will be happy with the name.... Does look good though. If love to give a gearbox a go one day.
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 Mega 290, Sick? Mmhh Effi
  • 2 3
 Too short, too low.
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