Are Gearboxes the Future for Road Bikes? | GCN Tech Show Ep. 205

Shifting is an integral part of cycling (fixie riders aside!) as we need to optimise the gear we’re in for the terrain we’re riding. Some mountain bikes have now started using gearboxes in place of cassettes and derailleurs, so we've been wondering if this could be the future of changing gear on road bikes? We’ve got this and all your favourite weekly segments on this week’s show!

This Week’s Poll:
Are gearboxes the future of road bikes?

This Week’s Upgrades:
Pub Bike vs Gravel Crusher

This Week’s Bike Vault:

#Cycling #GCN #GCNTech #RoadBike

00:00 Intro
00:30 Last Week's Poll
00:57 Main Talking Point
06:09 This Week's Poll
06:23 Hot Tech - Part 1
08:27 Castelli Unlimited Competition
08:58 Hot Tech - Part 2
16:02 Screw Riding Up Grades, Buy Upgrades
20:09 Bike Vault

Would you consider a road bike with a sealed gearbox? Let us know in the comments below! 👇

If you enjoyed this video, make sure to give it a thumbs up and share it with your friends. 👍

Watch more on GCN Tech...

Music - licensed by Epidemic Sound:

Brought to you by the world’s biggest cycling channel, the Global Cycling Network (GCN), GCN Tech is the only channel you need for all things bike tech – past, present and future.

Simply put, we’re obsessed with tech: we seek out and showcase the best in bikes, components, tech, accessories, upgrades and more from races and events, tech shows and product launches across the globe to bring you the best in road bike technology.

We’ve also got great maintenance videos to help you get the most from your bike; pro-bike tours from all the biggest races; special features and the weekly GCN Tech Show. We also take a deeper look into the future of cycling, apps, smart tech and virtual riding.

Join us on the channel and the GCN App to submit your content, vote on the latest tech and keep abreast of exciting new trends.

[gcntech]

Would you consider a road bike with a gearbox?

[chm]

The plexiglass divider isn't lined up with the brick wall and the painted blue wall background. Going to have to give this episode a "nice" only.

[mikefule]

Gear box on the bottom bracket: special frame design, expensive components, specialist repairs and servicing. What a fine marketing opportunity! Gear boxes have existed since Victorian times, but usually installed in the rear hub. Everyone says internally geared hubs are heavy — and they are — but so are all the extras you need for a derailleur system, including the cassette, the extra length of chain, and the derailleur mechanism itself. Back in the day, club cyclists rode bikes with 3 speed internally geared hubs, and there was a pride in using the close ratio version. They didn't need loads of gears, or a granny gear, they just pedalled harder or faster. Point is, they had every bit as much fun, and spent less. Cycling shouldn't always be about the next big thing because that implies that what went before was somehow rubbish — and it wasn't.

[chrisridesbicycles]

Remember in the 90s when even your entry level bike came with touch up paint in the right colour?

[road_rider]

Betteridge's law of headlines: Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no

[bennetthasty]

Pinion’s gearbox amazing IMO with a Gates carbon belt drive it’s near perfect

[svenpe]

For repairing scratches on the frame I just use nail polish. costs less than a euro and you got so many colors and its available in matt an glossy and so on. Just the best thing I explored the last few years

[Soldier]

The first time I watched this programme I wondered why it was so light hearted and almost cheesy but,

I realise it now… cycling is light hearted and is the passion and light hearted hobby we all fell in love with!

And this show reflects that perfectly, with its humorous and relaxed approach from the start to the very end!

Thank you GCN, you have nailed it!!

[matt_acton-varian]

Gearboxes may make an appearance on commuter and urban bikes but out-and-out Road bikes, they are unlikely to make any impact for 3 reasons: 1. They are significantly less efficient and naturally incur more friction, 2. They are significantly heavier than derailleur gears and 3. The risk of striking and damaging a rear derailleur is not as prominent on the road.

[banksjon]

That red and white Trek had a “dork disc” and it got a Super Nice!!!! You guys … what have you done?!?!?! 😅

[alxie]

Wait, what's the novelty about gearboxes? We've had back wheel internal gear hubs for over a century now (even older than the cassette), which is essentially a gearbox, but not mounted on the bottom bracket. Is the innovation moving it to the bottom bracket?

[fixieebro]

Thx for the shout out to us Fixie Riders! (Coasting is overrated) 🚲😎
We already have most of the advantages of the gearbox- but w/out the box to weigh us down.

[kaupo]

and not a single word about the additional friction of the gearbox compared to "chain, cassette and derailleur" setup

[tongoxavier]

I think gearboxes for bikes are a wonderful idea. If the technology is refined to bring the weight down, along with making the boxes more aerodynamic, I would certainly consider buying a bicycle with one installed. I'm really surprised that with all the advances in bike engineering over the years that there hasn't been a serious challenge to the traditional group set system.

[Seppster]

I love technology so the gear box looks like a nice advancement. Maybe add an inclinometer, some sort of auto-transmission and take the hills by storm without thoughts of what gear to shift. The sky is the limit for bike tech these days. Thanks Alex and Ollie for this weeks geek fix :)

[duncanmacarthur]

Ollie needs to hand in his geek card, the "dork disk" is and aero improvement and is therefore fast and cool!

[xsubsquid]

Not only would I, but I have! In addition to Cannondale Synapse carbon road bike, Cannondale Topstone aluminium gravel bike, and two recumbent trikes, I've recently purchased a Priority 600 which comes equipped with a 600% Pinion 12-Speed gearbox and a Gates Carbon belt drive. A YouTuber by the name of Ryan Van Duzer has ridden this model, and it's successor, the 600x, thousands of miles with only one failure (and that was operator error). The cost for the bike is not significantly different than any other road, mountain or gravel bike.

[DavidWhiteOfFleet]

For gearboxes, how is drive chain efficiency affected? Time for an experiment?

[sureshot]

Lightweight wheels all the way! I finally made it on the bike volt! Thank you :)

[nissenalf]

A completely sealed system with a carbon driveshaft would be the way to go IMO. l would argue that the small sprockets wear out pretty fast, and chain efficiency is bad compared to a big chainring.