I can afford a Nicolai Ion GPI but I got something else, so this isn't hypothetical. I respect Zaf's reasons but these are the things holding me back. See red.
1. The weight penalty is too high. 500g ok, 2kg not ok. Sure the removal of unsprung weight is great but on a guy who weighs 120kg+ it's not such a big deal. Dragging around an extra few kgs that I can't diet off and having to pay a premium will annoy me a lot. Weight centralised between ankles is barely noticeable and actually helps as it puts the center of mass of the bike there, making the bike want to work around it, like a ballast.
Either way, the weight penalty is far outweighed by the energy saved by being in the right gear all the time, not some compromised gear due to hill, rocks, corners, jumps whatever.
2. The transmission losses are too high. I've heard all sorts of numbers but lets assume ~10%. FTP/kg isn't everything in mtb but it still counts for something. Energy loss is probably non existent compared to most bikes with a used drivetrain. Again easily counter balanced by being in the right gear easier and not having to think about when to shift.
3. Having to ratchet in order to shift into a lower gear. I might be able to ride around this, but some long term testers haven't, so who knows. What’s “ratchet” you just shift. I wouldn’t believe any tests on anything, especially for something new and different like a gearbox. Tesers can’t bite the hands that feed them, are human and therefore scared to bank heavily on their love of the gearbox without having to add a negative thinking it’s sounds sophisticated. I sell zerodes, never had one disappointed Taniwha customer. Had one customer that didn’t love his gearbox DH Zerode in about ten years of selling them. Talk to an owner in person, hear what they have to say. Forget infomertail reviews. Get it from the horses mouth.
It’s the opposite, you have to listen to the customers total stoke on how much they love their bike, like hey e found some new massia. All with strava happily report about smashing Koms first or second ride. Even an Xc endurance racer after a days test ride was smashing his strava times.
4. For some people, twist shift is ok, but it feels distinctly worse than mechanical XTR trigger shifts to me. Di2 just expands that gap.
It’s just shifting man. Really isn’t any big deal. Save that silly talk for the cafe. Being able to slam multiple gears in one hit without having to lift your thumb, the whole thing that makes gripping work.
On the positives side, I don't tend to break derailleurs and I rotate and lube my chains a lot so my drivetrain costs are pretty low. So the benefits of a gearbox don't really stack up.
Next to no chain or cable stretch compared to mech bike. Next to no maintanence. Good idea rotating chains, but what a dirty pain in the arse. And still your using up your chains and gears way quicker than a gearbox bike.
If pinion or someone else could address the weight and losses issue, I would give gearboxes a good hard look. Otherwise I will stick to 10speed XTR/XT for as long as I can.
Just ride one for a day, instead of trying to talk yourselves and others out of the massive benefits. Taniwha, and Nicolais and some others are awesome designs that’ll make you faster, you’ll have to think less, you’ll always have your thumbs around the grips, you’ll have to do less makntanence and lose less energy every ride, enabling you to ride more.
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