Rick

Priority bicycle offers three models with the 12 speed Pinion gear box. The newest one is listed as a pre order and has an electric thumb shifter on it. They specialize in belt drive only.

veganbikes

Cool news. Priority for the most part makes some neat stuff. Did you have a question or something to discuss?

Rick

[QUOTE][Did you have a question or something to discuss?/QUOTE]

I like the internal geared bicycles and Priority has the cheapest cost on belt driven 12 speed Pinions. I have a Belt driven Rohloff myself.

veganbikes

[QUOTE=Rick;23012547]I also have a belt driven Rohloff and yes Priority is probably the cheapest pinion out there. Did you want to talk about Pinions or belt drives?

Bald Paul

[QUOTE=veganbikes;23012620]Why not discuss which is better for belt life - lube or wax?

Rick

Priorities new 12 speed Pinion model has an electric shifter. Pinion unlike Rohloff is now offering an electric shift for a non ebike. This lowers maintenance time. You only need to charge the battery once or twice a year. It will flawlessly shift at any time even under load. The electric shift can't be added to existing Pinion bicycles.

seypat

What exactly is your question/discussion point of the thread? I'm not getting it. The thread sounds like a shill.

fredlord

I enjoy owning a Priority single-speed and am a big fan of belt-drive bikes in general. My next bike will be another belt drive, but I’m undecided as to whether it will be a Rohloff or a Pinion. I already have another belt-drive with Nexus which I really like, but I’m after a wider gear range.

Rick

What exactly is your question/discussion point of the thread? I'm not getting it. The thread sounds like a shill.

I like internal gears and the Pinion with electric shift at a reasonable price looks good. I posted so others would notice. shill: this isn't for that purpose.

Rick

I have the Rohloff with gates belt. I ordered my bicycle in 2013. It has enough range for me.

Robert C

I just got a Priority 600 with belt drive and pinion, as in, it arrived on Friday. It was pretty easy to set up.

The only real problem was the front fender. I had to get a bit unconventional to make it work. I turned the mounting nut around so that the rod and nut are outside of the bracket. Doing this called for the addition of a #12 stainless washer on both sides.

As it happened, I am pretty under the weather this weekend, so other than setting it up, I haven't had the opportunity to ride it much yet. A part of me expects that my daughter will ride it more than I will. This would be my third belt-drive bike, so I would say I am pretty well sold on belt-drive. The first one went to my sister. She works a lot of hours but doesn't make a lot and the fuel cost of driving to work was getting to her. The second one is a belt-drive e-bike that I use for commuting, the wind here had me driving more than I wanted.

So, this will be my third belt drive bike. I definitely like the lack of need for maintenance and the cleanliness. New to me on this is the pinion 12. My daughter has a Rohloff, so I will have some comparisons. But her Rohloff equipped bike is different in nearly every way, so it will not be a real ceterias paribus comparison.

Rick

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I have had an ENT problem for more than a week. So finishing up on my handlebar swap, improvements and other changes to my Pangea Rohloff are behind. Nice to hear you have the Pinion 12 speed. Priority has three models with the Pinion 12 speed. I started my grandson on a Woom balance bike a while ago. I am going to get him the Priority Start 16" for his first pedal bike. It has a belt instead of a chain also.

DaveSSS 

Priority's website seems to lack information and frame geometry, the gearing range and mentions nothing about electric shifting. Seems to be low level stuff.

GamblerGORD53

The trouble with Priority bikes, is the steep slope top tubes on the Pinion models. The EX with a bungie fork is HORRIBLE. Barely has any frame at all.
Maybe they are getting closer to Rohloff14. There are lots of users on YT doing tours.
Yesterday I saw videos of a couple with Rohloffs, that had done most of the way from Alaska to her home town in the middle of Mexico. She really wasn't much of a cyclist before. Who wants defaileurs?? LOL.
My R14 has a chain and 20,500 miles. gets better everyday. 120 lbs on 2 tours. LOL.

Rick

There are three models with the Pinion 12 speed. The newest one is on a preorder for january. Priority 600 HX has the Pinion Smart Shift.

Alan K

I am trying to find more details about bikes using fully enclosed shifting mechanisms and would have liked to see a discussion about them from individuals who have used such bikes for some time, ideally a long time to know all the quirks besides the obvious advantages.
Thanks

Rick

I would search the forums and look at YouTube videos about the different internal geared setups. I have The Co-Motion Pangea Rohloff since March 2014. The Rohloff has 14 gears. There is little maintenance to do with it. Even less if you have the gates belt. It is very dependable. The Rohloff being a hub can be setup on many different bicycle types with a chain. If you use a belt then the frame needs to have been made for using a belt. Cyclingabout has the most info about modern internal geared setups like the Rohloff and others that I have seen.

Alan K

Thank you, Rick.

I am headed to “Cyclingabout”.
I have already read many good comments about Rohloff using chains that, as you said, can be readily adapted to conventional bicycles. If I decided at the end that I would go with belt driven system, obviously I’d need to buy a new bicycle or at least an appropriate frame. And then it becomes like buying a new Mac story, as long as you are buying a new machine after so many years, it already costs enough, you may as well buy it with a better processor, extra RAM and then add a larger storage memory and the next thing you know, you are looking at $5000 bill! 😉

On the other hand, at my age (pushing 70), it will probably be my last bike so why not!

john m flores 

My girlfriend bought a Priority/Brillian L Train at my suggesting. It's a nice, maintenance-free bike for the city - Gates belt drive, Shimano Nexus IGH. It's quick and agile. Road feel is a little wooden though - not sure it it's the frame, wheels or tires.

tcs

The Pinion crew said they looked at motorcycles with mid-gearboxes and asked "Why aren't bicycles made this way?"

Okay, but maybe a better question would have been, "There have been other mid-gearbox geared bicycles in the past. Why, in 130 years, have they never established a long-lasting place for themselves in the market?"

Whatever. I wish Pinion all the best. This 12-speed Priority is using is from Pinion's lower-cost C-Line. They say the 600% range is broken into 18% equal steps. The weight is, of course, centered, but the gearbox alone weighs a ponderous 2100g.

The only road test I read said the cranks had to be stopped to shift the Pinion.

CrimsonEclipse

Don't most internal hubs suggest you stop or at least back off while shifting?

Rick

Modern derailleur systems, do the backing off with the design of the springs. It wasn't always this simple. When I shift my Rohloff I still spin the crank but with less pressure. I never miss a shift and when stopped I can shift through all the gears.

Robert C

My observation is that I do not need to be at 0% pedalling input to shift, just a bit below 50% input and it seems to shift fine. But then, I have only used it for some local errands and to go to lodge, none of those are things that are really pushing me or the bike.