why ride a gearbox
mountain bike?

If you want automotive quality, worry free durability and a super silent ride, then you better choose a gearbox mountain bike. Let us give you a few other reasons.

control

The gearbox mountain bike drivetrain gives you more control as your rear wheel is lighter. That means more grip, more confidence.

Shifting a gearbox mountain bike is a different experience. It takes a few rides to get familiar.

Once you are used to the instant response, who wants to go back to grinding gears on a cassette?

Pinion gearboxes are made in Germany and are developed by automotive engineers that built upon the knowledge they gained at Porsche.

worry free

The magnesium Pinion gearbox is almost maintenance free and eliminates the risk of bending or breaking your derailleur.

Due to the sealed housing design, dirt can’t get into the system. Frequent drivetrain cleaning and lubrication is a thing of the past!

The magnesium housing of the gearbox is treated with a durable, anthracite metallic colored powder coating. For additional peace of mind, a protective film protects the gearbox from stone chips.

fast shifting

Shifting a gearbox mountain bike like the Instinctiv M 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.

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.

Instinctiv’s unique trigger shifter offers an interaction that is resembling a derailleur shifter with the speed of a gearbox.

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.

huge 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.

The Pinion C1.12 provides equal gear steps throughout all gears making your selected gear ratios more predictable than ever.

efficient

Studies have shown that the efficiency of the Pinion drivetrain ranges from 91% in the heaviest gear to 98% in granny gear.*

For comparison, a derailleur layout, under perfect ‘laboratory’ circumstances, has an efficiency of 93% to 98%**. However when dirt comes into play and builds up the efficiency tends to drop a good few percent.

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.

durable

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.

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.

* 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

why ride a gearbox mountain bike?