Mountain bike gears are changing. At Eurobike 2016, there were hardly any triple cranks to be seen on high-quality mountain bikes. Double or single gears have long since taken over. The Pinion gearbox or the Vyro crank represent new approaches to conventional derailleur gears.
Kappstein Doppio breaks new ground
Kappstein, a company from Gotha/Thuringia, also wants to revolutionise the gear shifting sector. The young company wants to establish itself on the bicycle market with a gearbox bottom bracket that fits into any BSA bottom bracket. The Doppio bottom bracket has two gears with ratios of 1:1 and 1:1.57. The square-toothed bottom bracket can be combined with any square-toothed crank. The gearbox can shift into the larger of the two gears under full load; when shifting into the lower gear, you have to briefly take pressure off the pedal. Shifting is done using a separate lever. In another variant without a gear lever, the gears are changed by briefly stepping backwards.
At the moment, the 700 gram Doppio unit is mainly used on urban and trekking bikes, but according to Managing Director Christian Gerlach, a mountain bike version is being worked on. In the mountain bike sector, such a system could combine the advantages of a 1x11 drivetrain with those of a 2x11 drivetrain, but bikers will still have to wait around two years before the gearbox can cope with heavy off-road use. The current version costs 449 euros.
Silent freewheel hub from Kappstein
Kappstein also had a conventional rear wheel hub on the Eurobike stand. The Silent Freewheel hub has a unique clamping roller freewheel that cannot yet be shown for patent reasons. Advantages: The freewheel engages immediately, without delay, which minimises the idle travel when engaging the crank. The freewheel is also completely silent. The 430 gram hub will be available from April.
