Pinion Motor.Gearbox.Unit (MGU)

[Rás Cnoic]

One of the motor gearbox systems that has been developing for a number of years is the tiny Scottish firm Intradrive and their GD8 motor. They had a rideable prototype at Eurobike last year and are back this year apparently on some brand bikes, but nothing yet online from Eurobike, lost in the Avinox blitz. Also these new eCVT motors might be a death knell as, like Pinion, theirs is a mechanical gearbox.

But it has one aspect that i think could be amazing- it's designed to fit Shimano EP8/6 mountings. This raises the prospect of being able to buy a used bike with an old battered shimano motor, buy the GD8 and fit it to the bike! Hey presto a fairly cheap MGU bike! Chain of course no split frame for belt!And yeah yeah, there are loads of compatibility issues, frame dropouts, shimano battery and computer etc etc. So I've no idea if selling the motor off the shelf is part of their plan. But it might be attractive to brands who currently build frames around the EP8 system, which I guess is Intradrive's plan.

https://www.intradrive.co.uk/

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Reading all the - slightly hysterical - reporting about these new eCVT gearboxes at Eurobike, now is probably a good time to put up this vid, a restoration of a 1930s German Wanderer gearbox bike. Such remarkable engineering, clearly built to last given that bike is close to 100 years old now. The fella doing the restoring knows his trade and what's lovely is he doesn't try and 'doll it up' but carefully builds it back, paint missing and all.

I mean the bike, all steel parts, must have weighed as much as a small tank, but what a vehicle. So many beautiful parts, those slim cranks! And the lugged frame construction looks like a similar 'scaffolding' type joint that the Atherton's use on their 3d printed Downhill MTBs in 2026

If you don't fancy watching the painstaking progress, he starts opening the gearbox on 5 mins and starts building the gearbox back together around 15 mins in.

From what I've read, gearbox bikes where - I wouldn't say popular - but sold well from the 30s to the 50s until the Sturmey Archer 3 speed type hubs took over, being much cheaper to make and didn't need a special frame and by then derailleurs were also gaining traction. But in that period (outside WW2 obviously) gearbox bikes were made in Switzerland/Germany mostly and motors sold to brands in other countries, very popular in flat, cycling mad Holland of course, but there was even an English bike brand with a Swiss gearbox called, of course, the Bulldog!

They were expensive bikes and favoured by the professional classes, Doctors on their rounds liked them!

I think we easily forget our cycling history, always looking to the next big thing. Worth seeing the bikes that came before. The Safety bicycle was invented in 1885 so by the time gear box bikes emerged, bikes had been enormously popular for over 50 years.