[ChrisKring]

interesting link. Is the driver Rod Millen's grandson?


[edit] it appears to be his son. wow, he is rolling with some good support.

 

[LMC]

Hi HaveFaith, big respect for what you put together there!

I've got another suggestion on how to design a gearbox for your bicycle: When reassembled my historical motorbike a few weeks ago, I thought that the system it uses for transmission could be a fine solution for bicycles as well.
(I hope I'm getting this right as I'm from germany and my technical english skills are not that profound...)
It uses a 5-speed spur gear transmission which is shifted through a hollow shaft with a draw key inside. The position of the spline determines, which of the gears is engaged. So basically it works quite similar to the GBoxx2 concept, just without this complicated system of magnetic bits and pieces and belt drives. Of course you would have to switch the direction of rotation at some point, as a single-stage gear transmission obviously turns the direction of rotation the wrong way round.
But the advantages of this design are quite obvious: the space needed is relatively small, the width of the transmission I have in that old motorcycle is about 4", and it can be shifted with just one cable which makes it work with a regular trigger!

But anyway, thanks for the pics and the fantastic story!

thats basically how shimano nexus hubs shift gear.

 

[MobileChernobyl]

When Colin (Havefaith) Golby is not tinkering on frame designs or ideas, he's navigating for Team USA in the upcoming Transyberria Race.

http://www.porsche.com/microsite/transsyberia2008/international.aspx
Go to the main menu, click 2008 Teams and click on Team USA.

When he gets back in the biking world, maybe he can engineer a trigger shifter for the GBoxx.

Thats awsome, I love any off road auto racing, especially rally, haven't gotten into it yet since I'm too stubborn to go the cost effective way (co-driver) haha.

On the same topic tho - Collin - Do you by chance know Alex Kihurani? He's known as the "rally brat" across the US rally scene. I met him last winter and he's cool as sh!t, goes to the same college I did. Hes co-driven for quite a few bigger names in rally but his newest ride is by far the best - Dave Mirra, haha. He gets to hang out with Block and Pastrana on the circuit. He's scheduled to co-drive with Mirra in the X-games this year as well... damn sweet.

 

[Luniz82]

thats basically how shimano nexus hubs shift gear.

The system itself is quite common, but it has never been built for the purposes of mountainbiking, except for hubs which use planetary gears instead of spur gears.

 

[HaveFaith]

Hey guys, glad to see there is some interest while I've been gone.

As for the rally, it went well, but we ran into some issues (namely a big ass ditch) towards the end of the race that ended our run towards the podium. It was an amazing trip and at some point I will post up a ride report. Until then, here are some photos from the trip: http://gallery.me.com/colin.godby

As for the transmission idea, I definitely like where that thinking is going. My coworker and I have been exploring some ideas for a gearbox, a bit lighter and smaller than the gboxx, and one stumbling block is definitely the shifting. Getting it clean, crisp and responsive will definitely take some development (read: money) but I am still optimistic there is opportunity out there.

On the personal design front, Ryan began building the second frame this past week after we got back from the trip. The front triangle is done with a couple of the lessons learned realized in the second proto. Some things were not changed (a little to my dismay) but so far it looks good. Tonight I just made up a few quick shorty chain tensioners to make the setup a bit cleaner. This weekend we are off to Mammoth to do some more shakedown, hopefully with both frames, and g-boxxes running at the same time.

Stay tuned for some exciting info sometime soon...

 

[PatBranch]

Mammoth is a good place for gearbox bikes. I snapped my cable on a small but tech drop. Soon after, my der. was ripped off without me knowing and is probably on the mountain somewhere.

 

[UncaJohn]

Heeeyy!
Do you have any pictures of your motorbike's transmission?
Thank's.

UncaJohn

Hi HaveFaith, big respect for what you put together there!

I've got another suggestion on how to design a gearbox for your bicycle: When reassembled my historical motorbike a few weeks ago, I thought that the system it uses for transmission could be a fine solution for bicycles as well.
(I hope I'm getting this right as I'm from germany and my technical english skills are not that profound...)
It uses a 5-speed spur gear transmission which is shifted through a hollow shaft with a draw key inside. The position of the spline determines, which of the gears is engaged. So basically it works quite similar to the GBoxx2 concept, just without this complicated system of magnetic bits and pieces and belt drives. Of course you would have to switch the direction of rotation at some point, as a single-stage gear transmission obviously turns the direction of rotation the wrong way round.
But the advantages of this design are quite obvious: the space needed is relatively small, the width of the transmission I have in that old motorcycle is about 4", and it can be shifted with just one cable which makes it work with a regular trigger!

But anyway, thanks for the pics and the fantastic story!

 

[CraShRyDer7]

thats very nice, but why have a integrated seatpost? you cant adjust it. i guess its cause of the weight

 

[P.T.W]

thats very nice, but why have a integrated seatpost? you cant adjust it. i guess its cause of the weight

Id say weight is the main answer...an just how often do you adjust your saddle height anyways????

 

[Luniz82]

You can get the idea of how it works on this drawing

 

[UncaJohn]

Wow! (thanks)

So, when that rod moves inside the gears acle it pushes out those bearing balls & locks the selected gears, eh?
I was working on a simmilar idea (see the rough image), were a steel rod pulled by a cable would push balls or ratchet triggers into the inner of the selected gears....
Just an idea though.

UncaJohn

 

[bikemonkey]

have faith. what if you based your new gearbox on the insides of an alfine hub? the shifting is spotless, effortless and it can be done under heavy pedaling. and it takes trigger shifting.

 

[freakrock]

Wow! (thanks)

So, when that rod moves inside the gears acle it pushes out those bearing balls & locks the selected gears, eh?
I was working on a simmilar idea (see the rough image), were a steel rod pulled by a cable would push balls or ratchet triggers into the inner of the selected gears....
Just an idea though.

UncaJohn

There is an italian homemade gear box that uses the same principle... i'll try to find it's website and post it here as soon as i come back home.

 

[UncaJohn]

Yep,
I know about that. it's called the Phaser (i believe). It's working perfectly exept that it cannot change gears with the pedals still 'cause it uses some kind of derailleur system.
I guess it's exactly the same system Alex Morgan was working (if i remember well Alex was a bit down because the Guy from Italy manage to patent the idea before him. But here it just matters who is going to patent first, exept if the big names deside to rip you, my case....)
Then Nicolai reappeared with his electromagnetic triggering system that looks like the my idea but without the activating sphere.
I cannot wait to see that new G-Boxx in action!

UncaJohn

Mind you that the system in the rough image is not composed from cog disks but gears!

 

[HaveFaith]

Wow! (thanks)

So, when that rod moves inside the gears acle it pushes out those bearing balls & locks the selected gears, eh?
I was working on a simmilar idea (see the rough image), were a steel rod pulled by a cable would push balls or ratchet triggers into the inner of the selected gears....
Just an idea though.

UncaJohn

I think this is a very logical and simple method of engaging the gears. We were actually toying with the same idea as well...

 

[HaveFaith]

Id say weight is the main answer...an just how often do you adjust your saddle height anyways????

Weight, stiffness (using a huge 38mm tube), simplicity, doing something different. Basically, the fun stuff you can do with a prototype! I have some updates regarding the first frame, and the second proto frame has been built and is being tested around socal and Mammoth. Ill check back in with some pics and details later!

 

[tfj77]

Wow! (thanks)

So, when that rod moves inside the gears acle it pushes out those bearing balls & locks the selected gears, eh?
I was working on a simmilar idea (see the rough image), were a steel rod pulled by a cable would push balls or ratchet triggers into the inner of the selected gears....
Just an idea though.

UncaJohn

hello!!
i´m also working on a draw key gearbox:
7 speed and a little bit smaller than the gearbox2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tfj77/2781468289/sizes/o/in/set-72157606859594857/
my first projekt doesn´t really works:
http://picasaweb.google.de/TFJ777/Rahmenbau/photo#5236646332494167282

greetings from austria
tfj77

 

[UncaJohn]

Heeey!
This is.. wonderful. My idea is almos the same but instead of cassette cogs i would prefer normal gears. That's because without messing with an internal chain the gear activation is more fast and you won't hav eto pass from all the cogs if you wish to have a wider change (let's say from granny to high).
I am always faschinated when i see the same idea been developed by different people who have no connection between them, it's almost occult!

Have you procceed to patending?
I advice you to do so, although my suspension system have been ripped from many major manufacturers, you may have the chance to have some good money from that.

Great.
UncaJohn

 

[Surfwax]

Hi guys,

Just curious if anyone has found any patents pertaining to the internal shifting mechanism?

Thanks!
-Morgan

 

[HaveFaith]

Heeey!
This is.. wonderful. My idea is almos the same but instead of cassette cogs i would prefer normal gears. That's because without messing with an internal chain the gear activation is more fast and you won't hav eto pass from all the cogs if you wish to have a wider change (let's say from granny to high).
I am always faschinated when i see the same idea been developed by different people who have no connection between them, it's almost occult!

Have you procceed to patending?
I advice you to do so, although my suspension system have been ripped from many major manufacturers, you may have the chance to have some good money from that.

Great.
UncaJohn

Very similar to what my buddy has modeled up as well!!

 

[wuchi]

i've might have missed it but, do you have a frameweight with the g-boxx and all hardware except the shock?

 

[HaveFaith]

i've might have missed it but, do you have a frameweight with the g-boxx and all hardware except the shock?

Bare frame weight without gearbox and shock is about 8lbs. Add the 4.4kg (or so) for the box, cranks, cables and shifters.

 

[HaveFaith]

Some updated looks at frame #4...

http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3260017&postcount=356

 

[b4stealth]

What you guys are all drawing up is brilliant, and it's called a ball shifter, or ball lock shifter. It's not really patentable since it's considered fairly common knowledge among engineers, and it's been around for a God awful long time. Sorry to burst your bubble, and Havefaith, BRILLIANT BIKE. I am thinking of doing something similar myself, though with an eye towards production and a custom gearbox.