[Acadian]

Anyone heard of them before
http://www.monotorque.com/

Monotorque's patented 8-speed automatic gear was developed by a 31-year old publicity-shy Israeli inventor.

It is being brought to market by Eran Jonathan Kali, co-founder of Israeli IT firm Wizcom Technologies, maker of the Quicktionary scanning pens.

According to Globe, an Israeli business website, Kali was instrumental in gaining seed funding for Monotorque via the Kinarot-Jordan Valley Technological Incubator. Monotorque received $250,000 from Kinarot and another $50,000 from tank-fitter AOB Technologies.

Kali knows there are other automatic gears for bicycles on the market.

"The problem is that these mechanisms are heavy, complex and expensive."

Monotorque - which was displayed at the recent Interbike - will be lightweight and retail for under $1000.

Kali says Monotorque could become a company selling $10m per year - "Less than that is not worth the effort." - but he wouldn't be averse to a takeover bid from Shimano, which has bought many competing technologies over the years.

"We wouldn’t mind becoming one of [Shimano's] suppliers. Truthfully, we probably wouldn’t object if a company like that were to acquire us, and convert us into its R&D centre in Israel."

If neither Shimano or SRAM makes a bid for Monotorque, Kali says the company will go it alone.

"The advantage of this component is that it is easy to install on bicycles. It is fully compatible with all existing gear mechanisms, and any bicycle shop can do it. A quarter of the bicycle components market is after-market."

Monotorque could get more business angel funding:

"We brought [a Monotorque-equipped bike] to our meeting with our investors. [This] bicycle cost about $10,000. We lifted it up and put it on the investor's table and said, 'This isn’t a transportation vehicle; it's a sex symbol.'"

 

[Acadian]

sorry if this is old new...just never head of them before today!

 

[Kornphlake]

it's a sex symbol

It sounds like this Kali guy is pretty confident in his design if he's planning on shimano or sram buying him out, well that and saying it's a sex symbol. Was this shown at interbike Las Vegas as in the one that was last week? Where are the pictures?

 

[UiUiUiUi]

never heard about that.
sounds interesting
the website doesn't offer to much information though

anybody found the patent?

 

[CBJ]

Arn't publicity-shy Israeli inventors known for their sex appeal?

 

[surfinguru]

It's pretty vauge on details and that axle looks WAY pinner! At any rate, it clearly looks like the next big change we're going to see in bike technology is some form or another of an "automatic" type gear mechanism sans derailer.

 

[bizutch]

that read like one of those Nigerian Ebay scammer's letters to me. WTF??

 

[zedro]

The new bicycle will improve riding performance in quite a few scenarios. One is a quick change from downhill/flat to uphill, another is a switchback – a quick turn of more than 90 degrees. In both cases a quick reduction of speed is required and lower transmission ratio. Lack of quick response may result in falling of bike.

yeah, this happens to me constantly

i wonder if the inventor realises the exact performance needs of the high end rider/abuser, or if he only had the commuter in mind.

 

[Kornphlake]

yeah, this happens to me constantly

i wonder if the inventor realises the exact performance needs of the high end rider/abuser, or if he only had the commuter in mind.

I think he was just thinking about how many chicks he'd pick up with his sex symbol of a hub.

 

[zedro]

I think he was just thinking about how many chicks he'd pick up with his sex symbol of a hub.

oh...like throwing the hub at their heads and then picking them up?

 

[ssaddict]

that read like one of those Nigerian Ebay scammer's letters to me. WTF??

I was thinking the exact same thing.