Goodbye Chains?

[Sombeech]

Are these going to replace chains and deraileurs?

http://www.webbicycle.com/

[derstuka]

Would you be sad if they can make this superior to chains & deraileurs? How do you feel about it?

[accadacca]

Huh? It doesn't look as cool as a chain. So -2 on the style points.

Selling points:

[derstuka]

Do you mean THE:

AutoBike
Automatic shifting bicycle
4 payments of $59.99 equals $239.95 plus $49.99 S&H
800-240-1596; AutoBike Classic, 14 Norfork Ave., South Easton, MA 02375

[accadacca]

That's it!!! Do you have one?

[derstuka]

Hell, yeah, it's all I ride. Who needs to manual shift when the shifting is done for you? Haven't you seen the part of the commercial where the guy on the Autobike is blowing by the guy on the regular bike as they go up a hill? That's what happens when I ride on the trail, only thing is I put a Marzocchi 888 on it for when I do drops, and some 8 inch rotors to stop the monster!

[Sombeech]

I'm not sure. I'd like to see how durable they are.

If they had a 5000 mile guarantee maybe.

[derstuka]

I would honestly try it out if it was durable. Look at Greg Minaar (South African) who is winning all those US downhill races with Honda's internal tranmission bike. Everybody questioned it, now it's doing good. Like I mentioned over on UMTNBIKING. GT has just released (or is close) an internal transmission downhill bike, but it still has a chain, just no external deraileurs

[Fuzzy TheBikeGuy]

I first saw this "revolutionary" shaft drive crap in the mid-80's, and it was an old, lame idea THEN.

The real revolution is at least 5-10 years away, and it will be HYDRAULIC DRIVE. Infinite gear adjustment (instead of 9, 10, or ? speed) and ZERO maintainance. I'll bet a growler on it.

[Sombeech]

I first saw this "revolutionary" shaft drive crap in the mid-80's, and it was an old, lame idea THEN.

The real revolution is at least 5-10 years away, and it will be HYDRAULIC DRIVE. Infinite gear adjustment (instead of 9, 10, or ? speed) and ZERO maintainance. I'll bet a growler on it.

Sounds cool. How will the hydraulic drive work? Kind of like a hydraulic pump and lines?

[derstuka]

Hydraulic! That sounds messy! Yucky, but, a regular chain and deraileur setup isn't the cleanest either.

BTW, these new internal tranmissions that Honda, and Hayes are prototyping are just basically a deraileur in a box, shielded from all the mud and grime. However, I guess you can shift easily at anytime no matter if you under power or not...so they say!

[crazy horse]

I saw somthing, don't remember where exactly, about some Japanese company that had built a working prototype of a hydro derailuer. Thing was clunky and huge, and I sure wouldn't want to put it on my bike, but it'll be interesting to see where things go. As for the internal drive, i think its kinda a cool idea, but not cool enough to spark a revolution of the way we think of bikes.

[live2ride]

Come on this crap comes and goes, just people looking to make life easier so they can get even fatter and still go riding, chains kick ass, especially when they get stuck around the bottom bracket and have a little chain suck!! Why not just ride a motorcycle???

[Fuzzy TheBikeGuy]

Sounds cool. How will the hydraulic drive work? Kind of like a hydraulic pump and lines?

The one viable prototype I've seen was a hydro-pump at the cranks and a rear hub roughly based on an Allison automatic transmission. It was ugly and heavy, but it WAS a 1st prototype and actually worked quite well. It had a thumb-shifter on the bars to adjust SOMETHING in the rear hub. It was a little over my head, just being a lowly Bike Guy, and the inventor-guy wasn't giving away his secrets, but the C'dale Gemini it was on climbed like a goat.

When you guys comin' ridin'?

[live2ride]

Aug 20th for the riding right????

[Fuzzy TheBikeGuy]

Aug 20th for the riding right????

YUP!!

We'll start congregating at 8:am and roll-out at 9:am sharp. 500 north & 100 east in Price (Pioneer Park). See ya there! Bring some friends!!