Radical new drivetrain

[ruffruff]

Radical new electric bike drive system requires no chains or belts, entirely ride-by-wire

German company Schaeffler has just revealed an innovative new drive system for electric bicycles that eschews traditional bike chains and...

electrek.co

 

[reed scott]

Radical new electric bike drive system requires no chains or belts, entirely ride-by-wire

German company Schaeffler has just revealed an innovative new drive system for electric bicycles that eschews traditional bike chains and...

electrek.co

hmmmmmmm .... prolly out of my price range though.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

"Bike-by-Wire" - Chainless Ebike Drive System

Gotta hand it to Google News feed - it keeps leading me to intriguing ebike info. The following piece seemed worthy of an EBR post: https://www.electrive.com/2021/08/31/schaeffler-presents-chainless-e-bike-drive/ Excerpts from a press release: The central component of the Free Drive system is...

electricbikereview.com

 

[retiredNH]

The only thing radical here is the hype behind it Why would anyone want to trade a system that's 95% or more energy efficient for one that's 50-80% efficient?

The promoter is targeting cargo bikes initially at a big trade show in Europe right now. Seems to me that what they're really selling is just cargo scooters with big batteries and some pedals for hype and show.

 

[TNC]

The only thing radical here is the hype behind it Why would anyone want to trade a system that's 95% or more energy efficient for one that's 50-80% efficient?

The promoter is targeting cargo bikes initially at a big trade show in Europe right now. Seems to me that what they're really selling is just cargo scooters with big batteries and some pedals for hype and show.

Yeah, without more detail, I'm not seeing a big "whoop" here. That thing at the crank is a generator? Even if that generator is powerful enough to really pump the power to the motor, the motor is still in the hub, and for mountain biking that is a non-starter in my books. Those who look to pavement, cargo, etc. style bikes may indeed have a future in something like this. I'm all for innovation, and this technology may find a good use in some future applications...just not seeing it for off road.

 

[RunForTheHills]

So the "generator" becomes a throttle for a hub drive bike? You basically clown pedal a low resistance, low output generator and the motor does all the work. There is no way to combine the power of your legs with the power of the motor. With the 250W limit of European motors, I am not seeing the appeal.

 

[TNC]

So the "generator" becomes a throttle for a hub drive bike? You basically clown pedal a low resistance, low output generator and the motor does all the work. There is no way to combine the power of your legs with the power of the motor. With the 250W limit of European motors, I am not seeing the appeal.

I get the impression that there is indeed a battery, but this generator supplements the battery power via pedaling. The alleged primary benefit is no drive chain, belt, etc. connecting the cranks to the rear hub...if I'm reading correctly. Again, not a mountain biking benefit in my book, but if more of the engineering and science in this system is made public, maybe there's some "magic" that makes it work in a useful fashion. I'm skeptical, but there's not much data and real info to make a bonafide determination at this point. I hate poo-pooing new tech out of hand...even if I'm skeptical.

 

[PedalUma]

Weigh the generator and weigh the hub, adding them together. Compare that to a 7-pound mid-drive. Then race them. This is something that someone who does not ride bike thinks is a good design. If you were to run it without a battery that would be much more cumbersome than a regular drivetrain. It is brilliantly iodic while overly complex.