Maintenance-Free Drivetrain

December 5, 2007 in Off Road Bikes
Tags: bicycle, bike, bikes, capsuled, drivetrain, free, geared, hub, internally, Katz, maintenance, maintenance-free, Rohloff, swiss

The swiss bicycle manufacturer KATZ-Bikes has one objective: Maintenance Free Bicycles!

Here is the first concept for a maintenance free MTB.

The drivetrain consists out of a Rohloff Speedhub in combination with a completely capsuled chain drivetrain. The rear wheel can be removed without touching the chain. This is realized by a special couppling between the internal geared hub and the rear pinion gear. The rear pinion gear stay on the bike and is a part of the drivetrain.

The efficiency is pushed by the following details to a high level:

– capsuled drivetrain

– the chain has a wide overlapping on the chain wheel and the rear pinion by using to little guiding pinions. These two guiding pinions are on the untensioned side of the drivetrain with a low influence on the efficiency. The tensioned upper chainline has a straight effective direction!

– the chain will be tensioned by the two guiding pinions (like a derailleur).

There is a whole bundle of maintenance free details on this bike concerning other parts. A price is not defined but the bikes will be available next spring. Phil´s veloblog is also discussing the benefits of this concept.