The next big evolutionary step in mountain bike drivetrains looks about as spectacular as the cranks on a €1,000 hardtail. And with its three chainrings, it still has a technical appearance, at least for the layman. However, the bottom bracket shell of a Scott "Ransom" looks like an undersized single-speed bottom bracket with an anthracite anodised crank. Or like the bottom bracket of a dirt bike - a chainring framed with a black skirt ring as a chain guide. If you were to see this bike in a shop, you might wonder what a dirt bike crank is doing on a "Ransom". Only the laser-engraved "Hammerschmidt" logo gives away the fact that we've come to the right place.
The correct address is 101 Broad Street, around 300 miles south of San Francisco. Here, at the headquarters of the component forge "Truvativ", drive components with brute German-sounding names such as "Holzfeller" and "Hussefelt" are developed. We are almost on a secret mission - we are the first magazine in the world to have the exclusive opportunity to see, understand and test the new "Hammerschmidt" shifting system; virtually in its final stages, shortly before the start of series production.
You can find the practical test in Northern California as a PDF download.
