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The Holy Grail. {What you have all been waiting for.}

HaveFaith

Monkey
Mar 11, 2006
338
0
Well, the long awaited upgrades to the g-boxx2 platform have finally been rolled out.

Everyone said they wanted a lighter weight to make it race-able. How does sub-41 pounds sound?


Everyone said that they could not live with the clunky gripshifter. How about electronic push-button shifting? Rapid-fire shifts through 5 speeds in under a second?


And the cheesy method of converting a DH spacing hub into fixed using zip ties and spacers? How about the lightest DH specific rear hub made, with ceramic bearings to roll oh-so-smooth and fixed ring to allow for the widest flange spacing around?


Yes, indeed, all of these issues have been addressed. It is locked, cocked and ready to blow your socks off. You will not have ridden anything like it, guaranteed.




No more giant grip shifter to hurt your hands, no more clumsy cable runs and no more slipping rear freewheel. This chiseled piece of race metal is guaranteed to open your eyes to what a gearbox bike will do to the performance of downhill machines. I will be racing along with Ryan on two different incarnations of the g-boxx frames this weekend at the Red Bull Burner at Angel Fire, so come out and have a ride. Check it out and leave smiling.

 

EVRAC

Monkey
Jun 21, 2004
757
19
Port Coquitlam, B.C., Canada
That is the best piece of gearbox news in a long time.

Very very well done.

That shifter looks great, but maybe find a way to mount it below the bars so your thumb doesn't have to reach as far.

So is that a stepper-motor controlled by a little integrated circuit and battery?
 

HaveFaith

Monkey
Mar 11, 2006
338
0
That is the best piece of gearbox news in a long time.

Very very well done.

That shifter looks great, but maybe find a way to mount it below the bars so your thumb doesn't have to reach as far.

So is that a stepper-motor controlled by a little integrated circuit and battery?
Ive got a little mount designed up, should take me a day to make. Just have been having a hard time balancing real work, bike stuff and the rest of life!

Its actually not even a stepper-motor. Just a high-power RC servo with a small 6.4V li-ion battery and audruino board. The box will definitely shrink and be more integrated, but for the time being, it works.
 

HaveFaith

Monkey
Mar 11, 2006
338
0
Looks great, any chance itll ever be running a belt drive at all??? Just a thought
I would love to run a belt drive. However, the current box design will not allow for it, as your final drive has to have a rear cog that is pretty small 12t-14t in order to get the right gearing. The belt drives can't handle that small of a pitch diameter.

I do think it is on the horizon though, and should be one of the next steps forward when the box is redesigned/iterated.
 

frango

Turbo Monkey
Jun 13, 2007
1,454
5
This is so cool, HaveFaith! Making and using all these things makes me believe, it's possible to make bikes better :)
 

bdamschen

Turbo Monkey
Nov 28, 2005
3,377
156
Spreckels, CA
That is so awesome! I am sort of torn on the electronic shifting thing though- On one hand it would be sweet to ditch worrying about stuff like shifter cables and all the headaches that go along with them, and on the other hand I haven't done a night ride in like a year because I keep forgetting to re-charge the battery for my light...
 

crohnsy

Monkey
Oct 2, 2009
341
0
T Bay
Wow that is sweet. What is the expected battery life between charges? Do the buttons require much pressure to shift or just a light tap?
 

fluider

Monkey
Jun 25, 2008
440
9
Bratislava, Slovakia
This bike is one of examples why I LOVE bikes.
Have you considered mounting the shift-box vertically, so that both buttons were equally far from rider's thumb?
Did you turned the rear hub from Alu or steel? What's that widest flange spacing? And are those flanges angled, or perpendicular to hub axis? How much does the hub weigh?

Not to ask only, I'll add my fixed SS hub design. Symmetrical, thru-axle, 135/10mm spacing, sprocket mounting to be revised, flange spacing 66mm (if I remember correctly), running on 2 double-row angular bearings and 2 single-row deep-groove bearings. Overall weight without sprocket slightly lower than standard 9sp hub.
 

trib

not worthy of a Rux.
Jun 22, 2009
1,456
388
Is this the version of the bike spooky will be seling soon or are there more revisions to come?
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,005
Seattle
Looks really well thought out. What's the deal with spooky? Totally out of the loop on that one.
 
Aug 4, 2008
328
4
What I would like to know is ETA for a frameset like this (2011-12?) and ~MSRP.

I would also like to know if a version with larger amount of suspension fluid resistance discs will be available?
 

xy9ine

Turbo Monkey
Mar 22, 2004
2,940
353
vancouver eastside
I actually like grip shift for DH. my thumb bounces around to much too not overshift on most thumb shifters.
i like my rohloff shifter as well. i've got it trimmed down close to grip diameter & moved inboard so just my thumb & bit of hand (not even up to the first knuckle) wrap around it. totally comfy & unobtrusive, lightweight & absolutely bomber. dumping gears is quick & intuitive.

that said, not everyone likes twisters (whether based on actual experience or preconception), and i think there needs to be an alternative offering to facilitate gearbox acceptance. pretty freaking neat work building that servo controller. tho still think building a purely mechanical option should be a priority for the box manufacturer(s). reducing costs & complexity are important in developing a viable production based gearbox platform.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,921
borcester rhymes
nice work dude, way cool. Throw a ABP on there and a slightly less awkward shifter paddle, and you're serious business. You could also try a toggle kind of switch where sliding if forwards goes up, back goes down, and if you push it past a detent you get more gears...if that makes sense.

How do you dump multiple gears now, multiple clicks?
 

Prettym1k3

Turbo Monkey
Aug 21, 2006
2,864
0
In your pants
Looks VERY well thought out and the weight is spot on.

My only fear? What happens if you eat it and you rip the electrical cables out? Those aren't in every mechanics tool box like extra cable and housing are.
 

epic

Turbo Monkey
Sep 15, 2008
1,041
21
I'd like to see two shifters left hand for downshift, right hand for up.
 

bdamschen

Turbo Monkey
Nov 28, 2005
3,377
156
Spreckels, CA
Looks VERY well thought out and the weight is spot on.

My only fear? What happens if you eat it and you rip the electrical cables out? Those aren't in every mechanics tool box like extra cable and housing are.
They will be in in the future maybe? A while back no mechanic would have thought to carry around DOT fluid for brakes.
 

Raingauge

Monkey
Apr 3, 2008
692
0
Canadia
Awesome.

Rotate the toggle 90 degrees and point the arrows up and down and the shifter would be cool for me.

41lbs is good. I bet with a refined design you could save more weight and add even more sex appeal.
 

LMC

Monkey
Dec 10, 2006
683
1
Ive got a little mount designed up, should take me a day to make. Just have been having a hard time balancing real work, bike stuff and the rest of life!

Its actually not even a stepper-motor. Just a high-power RC servo with a small 6.4V li-ion battery and audruino board. The box will definitely shrink and be more integrated, but for the time being, it works.
did you build/program the board yourself?

do you have any plans to build a circuit board specifically for this application? it could save a bit of space.
 

spocomptonrider

sportin' the CROCS
Nov 30, 2007
1,412
118
spokanistan
Just a thought (I am by no means an engineer) but if the control box could be slimmed down a bit would it be possible to mount it behind the shock? Making the weight closer to the bottom bracket and cleaning up the overall look.?
 

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,195
4,419
Looks awesome. I'm looking forward to seeing this as it becomes more refined. Very nice!
 

MMcG

Ride till you puke!
Dec 10, 2002
15,457
12
Burlington, Connecticut
Well, the long awaited upgrades to the g-boxx2 platform have finally been rolled out.
Is this being done in collaboration with Spooky bikes? That's where I first saw this thing I think - from a post by Mickey on one of the New England bike forums (Bustedspoke I think it was).
 
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Kanye West

220# bag of hacktastic
Aug 31, 2006
3,740
470
Really? I like the idea, less likely to hit the wrong button and downshift instead of upshifting. One could also have more freedom to mount the buttons wherever makes the most sense(IE Integrated into the lock-on collar of your grips)
I agree. Or have them oriented vertically, or even in a standard front/rear (index finger/thumb) config. It looks easy to keep hitting that one that's to the far right.

At least it's not a dual control lever...
 

Jason4

Monkey
Aug 27, 2008
338
0
Bellingham
Keep the buttons on the same side. This way there is a reduced parts count as both buttons can be mounted to the same board and bar mount and also one lead can be used from the buttons to the motor. This reduces the possiblity of failures from snagging the leads and damaging them from two leads to one lead.

Thinking in terms of failures it would be nice if there was a manual shift mechanism on the gearbox housing that would allow a specific gear to be selected to get out of the woods in case of a failure.