For a few weeks now, Pinion has been supplying the bicycle industry with a revised, even quieter version of the P 1.18 transmission block. "This is a logical consequence of our ongoing attention to detail within series production," summarises Christoph Lermen, CEO of Pinion in Denkendorf near Stuttgart. "That's why this is not a '2nd generation' for us in that sense." The young company works according to the "Kaizen" principle, which has permeated the entire world of the automotive industry from Toyota: It is a philosophy of continuous improvement that affects not only products, but all of a company's processes and structures. It is therefore also a kind of self-commitment to act carefully and responsibly for the good of the whole.
In the case of the Pinion gearbox, this has meant that the current models now work even more quietly and smoothly in all gears. Grinding and clicking noises, which previously occurred mainly in 7th and 13th gear, have now completely disappeared. This used to be particularly annoying under load, i.e. when travelling uphill with luggage. "We have established through endurance test benches and broad feedback from the field that there are no disadvantages to redesigning the geometry of the pawls and camshaft. They now have full engagement during all shifting operations and the clicking noises have disappeared," says Lermen, describing the details.
Together with Stevens, the Stuttgart-based company assembled a demo bike with the optimised gear block and sent it to TREKKINGBIKE, which represents the series production of the Stevens P 18 Lite. The riding impression was convincing: no more background noise, not even when the bike with a test load of 22 kilos is being pushed up a 17% incline. Of course, the smooth transmission via the Gates belt plays a role here, as does the fact that there is no chain tensioner involved. The Stevens frame is cleanly designed so that resonances in the thin-walled aluminium tubes don't even occur. Careful cable routing on the bike makes shifting smooth, low-resistance and even. The smooth shifting gear centre in the bottom bracket, which can be used across its entire range, perfectly complements the balanced, sporty character of the P 18.
The improvements in the new generation of the Pinion 18-speed gearbox are immediately noticeable. In our endurance test in issue 2/2014, we criticised "loud noises", "clicking under load" and a sometimes "surprising click", but now only a "gentle clicking" remains. Paired with a belt drive, the gearstick is silent and works as smooth as butter. A compliment to Christoph Lermen's development team. The new Pinion wheels are really fun.
Tom Bierl, Editor-in-Chief TREKKINGBIKE
