In 2015, Steve Domahidy set about to see if the Pinion gearbox was all it was hyped up to be. He’s no stranger to making waves in the bike industry, having played a small part in 29” wheels becoming the dominant wheel size. “The derailleur is the dodo bird of mountain bike technology. It’s been around awhile, and will likely continue on for a few years, but it’s antiquated and it’s time for it to go extinct.”
What is the Pinion Gearbox?
The Pinion Gearbox is a system of gears enclosed in a sealed box, in this case 12 gears situated in a magnesium case with a completely sealed oil bath constantly lubricating the gears, much like a car or motorcycle transmission. It looks like an e-bike motor, and many people might mistake it for one, but it’s just the concentration of gears at the crank/bottom bracket area. This system is simply immune to inclement weather and trail debris and is a self contained unit that only requires an oil change every 6,000 miles (and your first oil change is on us!).
Why Pinion?
Viral Bikes has partnered with Pinion from the beginning. We’ve been dedicated to making bikes with a drivetrain that’s virtually indestructible, lasts forever, and is nearly maintenance free. Christoph Lermen and partner Michael Schmitz founded Pinion in 2012, having both worked in the transmission department at Porsche in Germany. So far, their drivetrain technology has been the class leader in maintenance free operation and durability.
The Pinion C1.12 we spec with each of our bikes is the pinnacle of their product range. Although some people believe the P-Line gearbox’s are Pinion’s ‘Higher End’ gearbox, the truth is that their internals are the same (the P1.12 and C1.12 share ALL of the exact same internal mechanisms). The C-Line gearbox features Pinion’s magnesium outer casing, which brings the weight down considerably from the P-Line, and since the C-Line was always dedicated to having a maximum of 12 gears (the P-Line comes in an 18 speed), the C-Line has a narrower belt line and narrower Q-factor.
What Is The Range Of A Pinion?
The C1.12 Utilizes a 600% gear range with exact 17.7% jumps between all gears. The gears themselves are housed inside the sealed magnesium casing and are running through an oil bath at all times. Maintenance on the gearbox requires an oil change every 6,000 miles. With the 1:1 final drive ratio we use on all of Viral’s bike line, this gear range feels like a 9-54 tooth cassette with a 32t front chainring. That’s a lower low and a higher high than a traditional ‘Eagle’ cassette at 10-52t. Shifting is flawless and can be performed while pedaling (with a slight let up on torque) or without even taking a pedal stroke at all. The gearbox shifts any number of gears either direction and doesn’t need to pass through all of the gears in between to ‘activate’ the selected gear. Go from 1 to 12 and the gearbox will be in that gear. It’s as simple as that. Almost no maintenance, perfect shifting every time, and faster than any derailleur mechanism on the planet, the gearbox is a do-it-all drivetrain and a true ‘transmission’. Coupled with the Gates CarbonDrive CDX Belt system, which also requires no lubrication or maintenance, the Pinion C1.12 will be the last drivetrain you’ll ever own.
The Pinion SmartShift is the all new electronic shifting gearbox from Pinion that now features an electronic shifting trigger shifter for flat bars, or electronic shifting levers on the all new TRP Hywire drop bar shifter/brake levers for our new Wanderer adventure bike. The SmartShift system is a dedicated gearbox and is NOT an upgrade to existing C-Line gearboxes. It takes shifting performance to the next level, with shift-under-load performance not yet realized on the gearbox until now. The SmartShift gearbox is the fastest shifting bicycle drivetrain in the world and can shift up and down the range seamlessly while pedaling or coasting. This system is simply a game changer in the world of bicycle drivetrains and is compatible with our current Dérive and all upcoming models of Viral Bikes.
What is Pinion SmartShift?
Introducing the all new Pinion SmartShift, a game-changing experience for the gearbox
“There’s a lot of room to play with when you only have a single final drive ratio. Kinematics become constant throughout the gear range and it’s glorious!”
— Steve Domahidy