Originally Posted by
mstateglfr
Cool?
So would this be good for commuting since it would be enclosed? And for MTB or would it not shift fast enough and be a tank in weight?
So far I havent been riding and come upon a situation where I wished I had all the gears located in the bottom of the main triangle, so I havent explored this tech at all.
I've always thought how nice it would be to have most of the drivetrain covered for a touring bike or gravel bike or anything that gets ridden in dirty conditions. Yeah it's obviously not a big deal, but I look at those vintage city bikes with a three speed hub and enclosed chaincase and I get jealous.
It would be nice for mtb if you could transfer the half pound of weight that is a cassette from the rear wheel to the bottom bracket. Getting rid of the rear derailleur hanging down would be a nice benefit. With full suspension bikes it would simplify the chain routing!
I'm excited for this patent because of three things - Shimano's work on chain coatings, new XTR's perfect shifting under load, and just the point we're at in regards to cost effective manufacturing. Oh, and that Shimano is the defacto bike component manufacturer.
With the new coatings and under a constant oil bath the internal components could probably last 100,000 miles so that makes it economical to finally have chain drive vs gear drive. Lighter weight, way less friction loss.
With Shimano perfecting shifting technology this chain driven box could shift as positively as a gear drive. Perfected shifting means there's no chance of killing the gearbox with a bad shift under load.