I was thinking about the attention the Pinion gearboxes received this year from several outlets as the invention/innovation of the year.
It brought back to mind this bit. A patent from Shimano on a gearbox in 2019.
It has me wondering if we might see something from them in the next year or two (2024-2026) for the following reasons:
1.)Shimano hasn’t really had any major releases. While linkglyde,hyperglyde and the overall 12 speed lineup are great recent introductions, they don’t really strike me as the major innovations a company with a history like Shimano is capable of.
2.) The Shimano motor unit is debatably a bit underperforming compared to its competitiors. Shimano has made continuous improvements to their motors, but again, nothing I would consider major.
They were one of the earlier players to the emtb market though… so they see its potential, and had the R&D headway to get a good product out front. So a great head start and then a bit of complacency after.
3.) From various content, including but not at all limited to the below example. I get the impression Shimano, and it’s culture, give 100%.
While this video reads like a sales pitch, the key thing to me is the investment and interest in the team.
It’s an ebike team, so I’m sure they want to win races. But that kind of engineering support and the logistics involved, for a relatively smaller series, give me a feeling of “seems like unusually low ROI at the surface”.
Or, it’s a great opportunity for the engineers to gather data and hands on experience for another project. I may be biased, but that for sure happens in my line of work.
4.) This patent was in 2019. A mass produced MGU and the contracts to get them on large brands is a long term and slow process.
They filed this, likely after the idea was reviewed and given some internal attention. So it’s possibly been in development for a while, but keep in mind they were ahead with the form factor and motor concept before. So it makes the contract agreements and development much easier for the big bike manufacturers much easier.
I could just be drinking too much coffee. Many coincidences and wishful thinking make for good stories, but reality is often less exciting.
What are your thoughts on this?
by mxalex229