They are heavier, they are more expensive, they are inefficient. Prejudices that geared bikes have to deal with. Maybe that's why they lead a niche existence? After all, anyone who rolls through the bike park on a geared bike is not only giving the mainstream the middle finger, they are also enjoying exotic status. Because we don't pay much attention to preconceptions, we have invited two of the most exciting geared bikes of the moment to a duel. Are they rightly stuck in a niche or are the Cavalerie Anakin and the Zerode Taniwha harbingers of a new era?
Advantage for gearsticks: almost endless service life
Long before there were bike parks and the Downhill World Cup, the Torpedo three-speed gearbox (a gear hub from Fichtel und Sachs) dominated the bike market. However, the last model rolled off the production line in the mid-1980s and Fichtel und Sachs had long since been bought up by Sram. The proven advantages (attention, no prejudices!) of derailleur gears were simply too brutal: an efficiency of over 95 per cent, the ability to shift under load and the low weight of derailleur gears have driven gears into the niche in which they are still stuck today. The two market-dominating gear manufacturers Sram and Shimano do not seem to have the slightest desire to breathe new life into the gearbox system. Business with replacement chains, sprocket sets and chainrings is going too well. Anyone who has ridden a current 1x12 derailleur hard for a season will have to transfer 400 to 500 euros to Sram's account to replace all wear parts. A chunk of money that frequent riders regularly pay to the industry. This is exactly where gear manufacturers such as Pinion or Cavalerie put their finger on the problem. This is because the cost of wear is low for both gearboxes. The Zerode (with Pinion gearbox) is fitted with an inexpensive 9-speed chain, which hardly wears out due to the low skew. The Cavalerie (with Effigear gearbox) even transmits the power to the rear wheel with a toothed belt. Normally, such a belt controls the engine valves in a car. It only needs to be changed every 100,000 kilometres, even in a high-horsepower sports car. Translated to a mountain bike, this means an endless service life without consuming a single drop of chain oil. Dreamlike!
Zerode Taniwha with Pinion gearbox and 12 gears
However, when it comes to winning the Enduro World Series or - for mere mortals - the next Strava KOM, wear and tear is as irrelevant as the colour of toilet paper. On the trail, only the riding characteristics of the bikes count. The Pinion gearbox in the Zerode positions the bike's centre of gravity low and centrally. This ensures agile handling on descents despite the slack 64-degree steering angle. When things get really steep, the Taniwha with its successful geometry is bursting with confidence. The suspension eats up the bumps in such a way that nasty root passages almost become flow trails. The elimination of the cassette and rear derailleur reduces the unsprung mass on the rear triangle. The shock can therefore react extremely sensitively. The Zerode leaves no doubt about this theory. We are certain that it can easily keep up with the best bikes from the test on page 44 on the descents. No wear and tear, brilliant handling and a plush suspension make the bike from New Zealand a bike park shredder. Even though the Pinion gearbox with twelve gears and 600 per cent gear range outperforms any single chain drive, the high weight is a nuisance on moderate trail tours. Despite the carbon frame and the finest components, our test bike only weighs just under 15 kilos. In addition, before you can change gear with the twist grip, you have to take the weight off the pedals for a short time to make the shifting process smooth. This is not a bad thing, but it does take some getting used to.
Cavalerie Anakin with Effigear gearbox and 9 gears
At 13.8 kilos, the Cavalerie is significantly lighter and, with the Effigear gearbox, even shifts into heavier gears under full load (for lighter gears on the 9-speed gearbox, you also have to take your weight off the pedals), but it struggles on other fronts. With its steep 66.7-degree steering angle, the geometry feels old-fashioned and makes handling more difficult. Unlike the Zerode, steep sections require an extra portion of courage from the rider. If you open the throttle on a descent, the Anakin develops from a cavalry horse into a nervous racehorse and demands excellent bike control. In fast compressions or berms, the rear end flexes so much that the lateral flex even damaged the shock and caused it to leak during our test. The cause: In order to keep the drive belt under tension, the pivot point of the rear triangle is located directly on the drive shaft of the gearbox and is only attached with delicate screw connections. Even though the rear triangle of the Anakin has just as little unsprung mass as that of the Zerodes, it cannot keep up with its competitor either in terms of response behaviour or in terms of its traction qualities.
The developer Guy Cavalerie actually only wanted to build his Effigear gearbox. The frame around the gearbox was created out of necessity because no bike manufacturer wanted to buy the gearbox from him. This explains why the look is simple and the welding beads are rough. The frame is more reminiscent of a prototype than a production-ready bike. And the test confirmed this visual impression: the rear brake mount finally quit its job with a quiet "crack". Even if, according to Cavalerie, this component has already been reinforced on later frames, the Anakin clearly loses the gearbox duel. What good is a drivetrain that doesn't wear out if the whole bike breaks?
Conclusion on the test duel between the Cavalerie Anakin and Zerode Taniwha geared bikes
The Cavalerie has ingenious approaches with the Effigear gearbox, but is still in prototype status. The Zerode with Pinion gearbox not only wins our duel, but is actually an alternative to a conventional bike with derailleur gears. Apart from being slightly overweight, the Zerode really impressed us, especially on fast, steep or extremely bumpy sections. It will be a while before geared bikes celebrate their big coming-out, but the combination of Zerode and Pinion has what it takes to declare war on derailleurs.
That's what the testers say:
Ludwig Döhl (27), BIKE editor:
"The centrepiece of the Cavalerie is the Effigear gearbox. Shifting into heavy gears even works when sprinting under full load. However, the rest of the bike is more of a construction site: cracked brake mounts and flexing rear triangle spoil the picture. The gearbox has potential, but can't realise it in this context."
Alex Klewer (28), tester:
"I was a gear novice, but the Zerode convinced me in the bike park. The bike rides downhill like a small downhiller. On tours, however, the high weight bothered me. In addition, with both gearboxes you get the feeling that some of the pedalling force gets stuck between the gears when sprinting."
TECHNICAL DATA - CAVALERIE ANAKIN
MANUFACTURER INFORMATION
Distribution Cavalerie Bikes, www.cavalerie-bikes.com
Material/sizes Alu/S,M,LXL
Price (frame w. gearbox) / weight o. p. 3950 Euro / 13.8 kg
MEASURED DATA
Front / rear suspension travel 160 mm/ 160 mm
Rear suspension system Single-joint
EQUIPMENT
Fork / damper Formula Thirty Five / BOS Kirk
Circuit Effigear 9-speed gearbox
Brake system Formula Cura; 180/180
Impellers Stans No tubes Flow rims, Cavalerie hubs
Tyres Maxxis Highroller 2 Exo TR 2.3 / Maxxis Aggressor Exo TR 2.3
Reach 466 mm
Stack 620 mm
BB-Drop -9 mm
Technical data - ZERODE TANIWHA
MANUFACTURER INFORMATION
Distribution MRC Trading
Material/sizes Carbon/aluminium/ M, L, XL
Price (frame w. gearbox) / weight o. p. 4999 Euro / 14.6 kg
MEASURED DATA
Front / rear suspension travel 160 mm / 160 mm
Rear suspension system Single-joint
EQUIPMENT
Fork / Damper Fox Float 36 Factory Series / Fox Float X Factory Series
Cranks/gears Pinion C1.12 12-speed gearbox
Brake system Shimano XT; 200/180
Impellers DT Swiss EX 471 rims and DT Swiss 240s hubs
Tyres Schwalbe Magic Mary EVO SS TRailstar 2.35 / Schwalbe Hans dampf Evo SS Pacestar 2.35
Reach 444 mm
Stack 600 mm
BB-Drop -4 mm
The history of gears on mountain bikes
Honda legend
You can't talk about geared bikes without mentioning the legendary Honda RN01. The Japanese engine giant and car manufacturer stunned the bike scene in 2004 with the futuristic RN01 downhill bike. Two years after winning the Downhill World Cup (by Greg Minnaar in 2005), Honda cancelled the project. Apart from a stolen copy that turned up on Ebay, the RN01 was never available to buy. Allegedly, the project served as motivation and thought-provoking stimulus for Honda's motorbike and car developers.
For a long time, the inner workings of the RN01 gearbox were as secret as the recipe for Coca-Cola. When the World Cup team was disbanded, the secret was revealed. Technology nerds were amazed when they saw a conventional derailleur with a miniature derailleur inside the gearbox. The RN01 thus utilised the advantages of a gearbox without sacrificing the efficiency of a derailleur. Ingenious!
Truvativ Hammerschmidt
At the beginning of 2008, Sram subsidiary Truvativ presented a gear crank with great marketing fanfare. It was intended to replace the front derailleur and the chainrings of multi-gear systems. The advantage: more ground clearance and an integrated chain guide. But then Sram cancelled production again: Too few bikers wanted to buy the heavy crank. Although Sram eliminated the front derailleur and multiple chainrings in 2016 with the 1x12 Eagle derailleur, the gearbox was a thing of the past.
Rohloff Speedhub
Rohloff has been producing the legendary Speedhub gear hub with 14 gears almost unchanged since 1996. Around the turn of the millennium, the gearbox from near Kassel was often seen on mountain bikes, but nowadays it is almost exclusively fitted to touring and trekking bikes. Although the Speedhub can be retrofitted to almost any mountain bike, it increases the unsprung mass and shifts the entire weight far to the rear. This makes little sense for modern, downhill-orientated fullys. Shimano's Alfine and the Kinderney gear system from Sweden are based on the same concept.
Pinion gearstick in the bottom bracket
Two budding Porsche engineers no longer wanted to spend their evenings changing chains and adjusting gears, so they developed the first Pinion gearbox over 10 years ago. 12 gears, 600 per cent gear spread and central weight distribution make the gearbox from Denkendorf (near Stuttgart) the shooting star among gearboxes. Transmission bike legend Rob Metz (see right) describes the Pinion gearbox as the most perfect gearbox currently available.
Interview with Rob Metz, owner of Zerode Bikes: "Give me half a million!"
You've been building geared bikes for 12 years. Do you see yourself as a gearbox pioneer?
I didn't build the first geared bike to proselytise anyone, but because I wanted the perfect mountain bike. After the first ride on my own geared bike, I was convinced of the advantages. I knew immediately that I never wanted to ride a bike with a rear derailleur or front derailleur again. The improved function of the suspension, the low, central centre of gravity and no annoying rattling of the chain on the downhill let me fully enjoy my time on the trail.
You say that gears are superior to derailleurs. So why are geared bikes still a niche product?
Give me half a million marketing budget and I'll help the gearbox make its breakthrough. If I could hire the best mountain bikers in the world, geared bikes would be accepted immediately. You only have to think back to when Greg Minnaar rocked the World Cup on a Honda geared bike. Everyone was talking about this bike - unfortunately it was never available to buy.
Will the time come when more manual gearboxes are sold than derailleur gears?
This will happen for certain parts of the market. Unfortunately, only a few bikers have ever tried a gearbox. Many find it suspect. Anyone who buys a derailleur, on the other hand, knows what to expect. Every technology needs time to establish itself. The more bikes there are on the market, the greater the acceptance will be. In this respect, my customers are willing to take risks. But according to the feedback, no-one has ever regretted their purchase.
