drivetrain
Our gearbox mountain bike drivetrain offers automotive quality, worry free durability and a super silent ride. Choose for a chain or belt drive, grip or trigger shifting.
gearbox mtb
The gearbox mountain bike drivetrain gives you more control as your rear wheel is lighter. That means more grip, more confidence.
The magnesium Pinion gearbox is almost maintenance free and eliminates the risk of bending or breaking your derailleur.
Shifting a Pinion mountain bike is up to five times quicker then shifting a derailleur bike. And you can even shift when coasting or standing still. It takes a few hours to get used to, but gearbox shifting is surely a big step forward.
faster shifting
Our gearbox mountain bikes can be run with either Pinion’s DS2 grip shifter, or with our intuitive trigger shifter. In both cases; shifting is fast, instant and precise.
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The DS2 shifter is great for shifting a number of gears up or down with a single action. It is light, clean and very fast.
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Instinctiv’s unique trigger shifter offers an interaction that is resembling a derailleur shifter with the speed of a gearbox.
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The system has two stacked levers for thumb actuation. It allows you to shift one gear heavier, or one or two gears lighter with a single thumb stroke. The thumb stroke will feel first a bit heavier compared to the derailleur trigger you were used to, but the gear shift is fast and very direct. After some time on the trail you will feel totally at home with your new cockpit.
it ride?
“Shifting a gearbox mountain bike is a different experience. It takes a few rides to get familiar.
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Once you are used to the instant response, who wants to go back to grinding gears on a cassette?”
600% range
With the gearbox mtb drivetrain you will have a huge 600% gear range, 20% more than an SRAM Eagle 1×12 10-50t layout.
Pinion C.1.12
chainring/cog
30t x 26t
30t x 30t
lowest
0.63
0.55
highest
3.85
3.33
SRAM Eagle
chainring
32t
34t
lowest
0.64
0.68
highest
3.20
3.40
equal gear steps
The Pinion C1.12 provides equal gear steps throughout all gears making your selected gear ratios more predictable than ever.
Pinion C1.12
1
2
17,7%
3
17,7%
4
17,7%
5
17,7%
6
17,7%
7
8
17,7%
9
17,7%
10
17,7%
11
17,7%
12
17,7%
SRAM Eagle
50
42
19,1%
36
16,7%
32
12,5%
28
14,3%
24
16,7%
21
18
16,7%
16
12,5%
14
14,3%
12
16,7%
10
20,0%
Pinion C1.12
gear steps
17.7%
SRAM Eagle 1 x 12
gear steps
12,5% – 20,0%
efficiency
What happens to the watts you put out? How does a Pinion gearbox mountain bike compare to a conventional derailleur in terms of efficiency?
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The short answer is that out on the trail, in varied terrain and changing conditions, it is practically impossible to notice any difference.
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Efficiency depends to a large extent on the load situation gear, which is why we cannot pin a single number on any drivetrain efficiency.
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Studies have shown that the efficiency of the Pinion drivetrain ranges from 91% in the heaviest gear to 98% in granny gear.*
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For comparison, a derailleur layout, under perfect ‘laboratory’ circumstances, has an efficiency of 93% to 98%**.
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However when dirt comes into play and builds up the efficiency tends to drop a good few percent.
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A major benefit of the gearbox drivetrain is the straight, constant chainline, ensuring great efficiency between chainring and rear wheel. This in contrast to derailleur layouts where cassettes seriously compromise the chainline at either end of the cassette.
weight
We believe you can do the math. Yes our gearbox drivetrain weighs around 600 – 800 grams more than a conventional 1×12 derailleur groupset.
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However about 600 – 900 grams of weight is moved from the rear wheel to the frame. This makes the rear wheel lighter than ever before, the suspension is more responsive and riding losses while riding over rough terrain are reduced. And during climbing it is difficult to notice the extra weight.
durability
Pinion gearboxes are used all over the world, in all conditions no matter how challenging. They have proven their robustness in numerous round-the-world rides. Ice cold temperatures at the Arctic Circle or sweltering desert heat do not present a problem for these transmissions.
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High altitudes, humid conditions or even the occasional transfer through a river is not a problem either if you occasionally check and make sure the inside of the gear shift box remains well greased.
running in
The Pinion gearboxes have an initial period when they are getting dialled-in. From day one they are fully functional and can be strained to the full of your ability. However throughout the first few hundred km the gearbox will run ever smoother as components are getting tuned in.
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A transmission always gives the impression that it runs less smoothly in the high gears. This is due to the gear ratio in the transmission, and it is just a perceived effect. In actual fact, a Pinion gearbox mountain bike runs with silky smoothness in all gears.
* 2017 ASEE Zone II Conference An Experimental Study on the Efficiency of Bicycle Transmissions R. Bolen and C. M. Archibald Grove City College, Grove City, PA
** Efficiency Measurements of Bicycle Transmissions – a neverending Story? by Bernhard Rohloff and Peter Greb, Wirkungsgrad von Fahrradantrieben von Prof. Dr. Ing Hubert Hinzen, Fachbereich Technik, Hochschule Trier
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