The two are probably simply made for each other: The revolutionary 18-speed gearbox of the young and ambitious start-up pioneer, tainted with the stable odour of the sports car manufacturer Porsche, where the founders met. And high-end bike manufacturer Idworx, the leading think tank when it comes to upmarket touring and everyday bikes, works down to the smallest detail and designs for solvent cyclists with the very highest standards. Gerrit Gaastra has been aware of this for some time. But he is also a cautious person: "We don't jump on every innovation bandwagon straight away. We only use new technologies if they bring real improvements." This now seems to be the case. The Pinion gearbox has also proven itself at Idworx in extensive testing, and its clear advantage is simply the huge gear range of 636 per cent and its beautifully even gradation. The gearbox is now apparently as solid and reliable as even the most demanding designer of perfect bikes could wish for.
Idworx uses the Allrohler as the basis for the two new Opinion models: last year, Gaastra documented its claim to build the ultimate touring bike. In terms of solidity, the Rohloff Allrohler is hard to beat - so according to the company's own logic, it is now imperative to raise this concept to a new top level with the durable and extremely wide-ratio Pinion gearbox. A so-called bridge must be implemented in the Allrohler frame to which the gearbox is mounted. Gaastra attaches the asymmetrical rear triangle of the Allrohler to this, which it has elaborately redesigned with movable axle pieces: After all, the Rohloff hub shifter used an eccentric bottom bracket for chain tensioning. This is now obsolete: the gearbox takes up the space on the bottom bracket for itself.
