Is this the future of EMTBs ?

[HGmtb]

It didn't get much publicity at Eurobike, but this could be groundbreaking:

Valeo & Effigear Merge an E-Bike Motor With a Gearbox - Eurobike 2021 - Pinkbike

The Valeo/Effigear Smart e-Bike System features seven gears with a range of 450% and a whopping 130 Nm of maximum torque.

www.pinkbike.com

 

[Pdoz]

Can anyone with a better engineering mind explain why they are running the drive sprocket at the cranks rather than having a seperate drive sprocket located where the swing arm pivots? ( like the efigear system) . It seems crazy to me - why add the complexity of all those chain tensioning pulleys ?

 

[DtEW]

Can anyone with a better engineering mind explain why they are running the drive sprocket at the cranks rather than having a seperate drive sprocket located where the swing arm pivots? ( like the efigear system) . It seems crazy to me - why add the complexity of all those chain tensioning pulleys ?

I would assume:

1) So the suspension system isn't locked into an elevated swingarm pivot location. The casting for the motor/transmission is probably an expensive investment, and they probably want to sell this drive unit to as many frame builders as they can. And more can adapt their existing designs to a chainline that revolves around the bottom bracket. It would be a much safer investment for a drive system that is already avant garde and requires a leap of faith for both framebuilders and consumers alike. To put it explicitly... the bike is the minor investment. The integrated drive unit is the major investment. The project would be a success if the bike turns out to be a total POS and doesn't sell a single unit, but the integrated drive unit becomes a viable option for frame manufacturers.

2) To simply maintain the visual illusion of a traditional human-powered bicycle.

 

[HGmtb]

Can anyone with a better engineering mind explain why they are running the drive sprocket at the cranks rather than having a seperate drive sprocket located where the swing arm pivots? ( like the efigear system) . It seems crazy to me - why add the complexity of all those chain tensioning pulleys ?

The combined motor / gearbox is the groundbreaking part of the bike - the chainline is not important.

 

[R120]

The most interesting thing in that article IMO is actually the updated regular gearbox, working with a SRAM trigger shifter.

we all know that combined motors and gearboxes are coming, it’s just a matter of when, so great to see things beginning to trickle through.

shimano have a patent out for a combined motor gearbox sytem, willbe interesting to see when that sees the light of day.

My understanding is that when combining a motor with a gear box that some of the current issues of shifting under load with existing gearboxes are overcome as electronic shifting can sync the shifts with the motor for pretty much seamless shifts. Exciting stuff

 

[steve_sordy]

As exciting as this is, I would not buy a bike with it on unless the motor/gearbox combo was repairable or had a long transferable warranty. By long I mean five years.