Let's make one thing clear from the outset: we get along wonderfully with the derailleur. Of course, it's annoying sometimes - when derailleur hangers break off when there's medium contact with stones, the dusty chain rattles, the link chain gets wedged in the bottom bracket. That happens from time to time. But we've got used to it. Just like the moment when it's time to change to the small chainring at the front and shift down three gears at the rear at the same time. This takes practice and rarely works under load without a nasty crash - but hey, what can you do? Push? Okay, that was a polemic. In fact, most of the time you ride very well with derailleur gears. With a little maintenance and regular care, it has reached a high level of perfection in terms of shifting performance. And anyone who wants to compete with this type of gear change must be able to work at least as perfectly and even better.
Michael Schmitz and Christof Lermen originally worked on optimising gearboxes for wickedly expensive sports cars at the Porsche Development Centre. Basically, these two gentlemen should know what they are doing. And it was precisely these two who started to realise their vision a few years ago: A gearbox for bikes, as high-quality and precise as the one in an expensive car. Maintenance-free, reliable, perfect. A beautiful vision. A few days ago, the vision arrived at our office. A solid-looking black box with strange bulges on the left-hand side. Two cable sleeves run to a twist grip. A fairly large, single sprocket sits on the rear wheel. At the front is an even larger one and a chain tensioner. The box is bolted to an Alutech enduro frame. Apart from Nicolai, this is the only manufacturer to offer a full-suspension bike for the harder pace with the Pinion "P1.18". But only for a lot of money. A "Fanes" with Pinion costs 1250 euros more than the identically equipped model with derailleur gears. Is it worth it? We think so: Only if the geared bike works just as well as one with derailleur gears and still has advantages. Let's see.
You can find the results of this comparison test in the PDF download.
