We check out this 99% efficient drivetrain designed for bicycles from new company Ceramicspeed

We’ve surely all thought that there must be a better way to operate gears than having a dingley dangly rear derailleur hanging off the back of our bikes and waiting for a sniper rock to catch it?

Indeed, we think we’ve detected a rise in interest in gearbox Bikes over the last year or so, but these do tend to have quite a limited number of gears.

So what about this then, from Ceramicspeed? Called the Driven, it uses bearings which roll into teeth on the chainring and cassette – so there’s no chain or belt drive to create any friction. Its makers claim it is a 99% efficient system thanks to this two points of contact approach.

The 13 speed prototype shown here isn’t weight bearing and doesn’t actually shift between gears, which would be switched by a battery operated shaft moving the bearings up and down the shaft. Its makers says this could potentially be combined with a power meter and other telemetry.

For now, there’s no plans to take this to market, and indeed this relatively small company seemed a little shocked by all the attention they were getting. They’ll likely be looking for a partnership or investor company to take this forward if it’s to become a commercial product.

Why would you want this system? Well, apart from the lack of derailleur, and the efficiency, there’s little limit on the number of gears they could have – the flat arrangement means there’s no running out of hub space. In addition, the makers think you could completely encase the whole system, keeping it away from mud and grime. They also reckon the weight could be as good or lighter than a high end road drivetrain.

Encasing the whole things sounds to us like a very good idea, even if it were only for use in the road. Given the trouble getting disc brakes past the UCI, can you imagine the difficulty getting this giant coffee grinder meets cheese grater meets food processor approved?!

It’s a different way of seeing the world, and whether it works out or it doesn’t, it’s always interesting to see engineers looking at things from a completely different perspective instead of just tweaking round the edges.

Check out the video to see it in motion.

Subscribe to our channel for more like this

Get more Eurobike Breaking News here [ Ссылка ]

And get more tech news and reviews here [ Ссылка ]

свернуть