Chainless bike

[DJ]

Sorry if this has been aired before,I found this bike drive system unusual and interesting.

http://www.dynamicbicycles.com


I wonder if it will become popular?

 

[mickle]

There is some very misleading information on their site. Shaft drives are inefficient, they'll never catch on.

 

[Gareth]

I don't see why they should not become popular. I like the look of the tempo 8, and would consider purchasing one if they were available here in the UK.

Initially, I was impressed with Christini's all wheel drive bike that was released last year. But on closer inspection I did not lke the open gearing transmitting the drive to the front wheel. I thought this a little too exposed to dirt and grit let alone the bits & pieces of the rider.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/adventures/1276766.html

 

[Fab Foodie]

Shaft drive bikes have been around for donkeys years. There's a good reason why you don't see many about (refer to Mickle's post). The chain, crude and cruddy as it is is very very efficient, also light and simple.

 

[DJ]

Thanks for the link to the Christini bike Gareth. That was interesting too,didnt like the articles maeketing approach though!

 

[DJ]

Shaft drive bikes have been around for donkeys years. There's a good reason why you don't see many about (refer to Mickle's post). The chain, crude and cruddy as it is is very very efficient, also light and simple.

I hear what you are saying , I would like to try one though,

 

[mickle]

I don't see why they should not become popular. I like the look of the tempo 8, and would consider purchasing one if they were available here in the UK.

Initially, I was impressed with Christini's all wheel drive bike that was released last year. But on closer inspection I did not lke the open gearing transmitting the drive to the front wheel. I thought this a little too exposed to dirt and grit let alone the bits & pieces of the rider.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/adventures/1276766.html

That's been around since at least 2000 and it's not the first, there was a similar abortion knocking around ten years earlier.

Shaft drive bikes are available in the UK; http://www.zerocycles.co.uk/bikes.php

 

[TheDoctor]

Wot Mickle said.
Anyone who reckons they've got something new and innovative probably hasn't done enough research. Shaft / belt drives, automatic / electronic or CVT gears, all been done before.

 

[mickle]

I once entered a magazine competition to design a new logo for the Deal Drive automatic transmission. Months later I read that they had gone bust and the accompanying picture had my bloody logo on it! These things come and go as one idiot industrial designer after another imagines he can change a hundred years cycling overnight. There are a few notable exceptions such as Schlumph and Rohloff, really sound products, but history is littered with failed cycling 'innovations'. Shaft drive, oval chainrings, two wheel drive, solutions looking for problems which don't exist.

 

[Ivan Ardon]

"Our shaft drive is designed to have twice the life expectancy of a chain under comparable riding conditions."

Is that all? I wonder what the replacement costs are?

 

[TheDoctor]

Must be almost time for L shaped cranks to make a comeback...

 

[mickle]

"Our shaft drive is designed to have twice the life expectancy of a chain under comparable riding conditions."

Is that all? I wonder what the replacement costs are?

Good point.

 

[Monkey Spanner]

Chainless. Pointless?

http://www.lynskeyperformance.com/b/pages/2009-products/utility/houseblend-crosstown.php

 

[Gareth]

OK, So what are, and where are the inefficencies in a shaft driven bicycle?

 

[Gareth]

Hmmmmmmm! Just as I thought, the shaft drive inefficentices that everyone are going are just a myth.

I don't dispute that a bicycle's chain drive system is both effective and efficent. However, in these enlightened times, I think that the majority has been blinkered by past poor quality and performing systems. With the availability of modern materials and excellent quality bearings, that not only is a shaft drive system effective, but it is also the way forward.