http://www.bikebiz.com/news/32057/Could-this-be-the-end-of-derailleurs
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Stuff
"Is the end for derailleurs in sight?"
(3 posts)-
Posted 15 years ago #
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That's a pretty wild range they're talking about. 1:0 at one end for gearing down to a standstill, to 1:6 at the top end. An apparently 600%+ range, or a millionbillion% range if you divide by zero?
The Fallbrook NuVinci hub has been out in the real world for a few years now, and "compares favorably with the internally geared hubs on the market today and has the same or better ratio range." 2.4kg of hub is a fair chunk, and a 350% range isn't quite up to Rohloff standards, but it's still the benchmark it would seem for bicycle CVTs. And since it -- and on the face of it, the DuPont hub -- still rely on a chain from BB to rear wheel, neither is going to quite match the ~98% efficiency of a pure chain drive. But for urban activity, that might become less of an issue.
How come I've never heard of PowerCordz? Their plastic (i.e., fossil fuel made) derailleur and brake cables look very interesting from a durability point of view, to say nothing of the undoubted attraction to the gram counters over on WeightWeenies!
Posted 15 years ago # -
I remember when in Canada a few years back watching, with some fascination, a feature on a shopping channel for the latest inovation in bicycle gearing. This was the automatic derailleur (pretty sure that the word 'derailleur' wasn't used, but that's what it was).
This was a revolutionary new concept, let me tell you, and everyone who tried it, from novice cyclists to hardened pros were immediate converts. Of course being on a shopping channel the three minutes of actual information was spun out to at least 30mins.
Posted 15 years ago #
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