Please design a pedal assist thumb control for mountain biking

[Craig Crowder]

This post is for the Bosch designers....Please design a pedal assist thumb control that is designed for mountain biking. Something similar to a gear shifter would be nice. When you're bouncing around on the trail the current design of the Intuvia is very difficult to hit the + or - buttons and there is no tactile feedback. I find myself having to look at the thumb control and the display to see if I got it to shift and I'd much rather keep my eyes on the trail. It's big and bulky and I've tried many different positions. I'd call it the weakest link to a very nice system. If I had the resources I'd design one myself and it would be like an indexing shift lever. I'd be able to feel the click when it shifts and not worry about accidental double shifts when I'm riding the bumps. I'm sure there are others who feel the same way. Thanks

 

[Sonoboy]

Check out the eMTB discussion starting at about the 24:20 mark. It seems, now that the eMTB mode encompasses the full upper range, that a simple two position tactile feedback switch that provides either Eco or eMTB would fit the bill. A rugged 1 inch or so long lever action maintained position switch that you could feel even with gloves on. Or maybe two maintained position pushbuttons, mechanically linked, so when you depress one the other pops up, again providing a binary choice for the rider along with tactile feedback. And without having to look at a display.

It's the same premise that automotive designers are just realizing with the touchscreen displays. They are starting to add volume control knobs back on dashboards. Yippeee!

 

[MLB]

Why don't you just use the gears and the shifters provided for changing THEM?

 

[Craig Crowder]

Why don't you just use the gears and the shifters provided for changing THEM?

I am, the gear shifter works just fine, it's the Intuvia pedal assist thumb shifter (image below) that needs to be redesigned.

 

[rich c]

I can even have trouble with the setting with urban riding. I can double punch sometimes when I hit an expansion joint. Luckily, it's safer to look at the console while riding in a straight line! Even something like a ratchet shifter would work nicely.

 

[Chris Nolte]

You seem to be describing the controls on the new Shimano E8000 system. You should check it out. Below is an image, it's almost identical to the Di2 MTB Shifter.

 

[Craig Crowder]

You seem to be describing the controls on the new Shimano E8000 system. You should check it out. Below is an image, it's almost identical to the Di2 MTB Shifter.

View attachment 17956

Yes, that is what Bosch needs to make. Unless Bosch starts saying attention to the emtb market they'll lose it to Shimano.