What's the target market for this product? (Another way to ask this question would be, which subforum at bikeforums would be interested in this?[1]) I fit into the commuting, road biking, touring, and classic bikes sections, and want no part of this product.
As a 30 mile a day bike commuter, I want relatively few failure points as possible in my machine since I don't want my shifters to go bonkers on me as I'm going home at 9pm in sub 40 degrees weather (I'm going to be replacing my STI shifters with barend shifters soon). If I were a city commuter, I'd probably going for a simple fixed gear or similar set up, and certainly don't want a bike that would be a magnet for thieves. As either type of commuter, this component is out of my price range.
As a road race style cyclist, my front derailer is of high enough quality that I have literally zero problems shifting from small ring to big ring or vice versa. I never have a situation where I need to shift the front gear while stationary, since any adjustment I need will be small enough to be covered by moving up or down in the cassette. Thus the "shift front gear while stationary" benefit is a moot point for me. As for weight, the Shimano Dura Ace components that you'd go up against don't add up to 1kg when looking at crankset + BB cup + front derailer [2], so I don't really see a weight advantage either.
If I'm on a tour, there is no way I want a complex gear system that can break down and leave me stranded. I'm going to go for a barend or downtube shifter setup.
As a classic bike aficionado, I have negative interest in this product.
That being said, jrockway has a good point that this may come in handy for mountain biking because of the mud issue, or cyclocross for similar reasons. Maybe these segments could make sense for this product?
Dura ace is a competitor to this? When it's all said and done, it's going to be too expensive for most commuters and maybe that makes it like "durachi" but if it has any market it will be for the suburban super commuter buyers.
Put a belt pully on it and if its reliable maybe you'll see it on some of the $1500+ super commuter bikes. The nexus, roloff and alfine are all remarkably reliable, just pricy.. The appeal isn't weight, it's durable purpose built commuter stuff. Maybe some downhill honks will like it but I've seen a whole lot of those guys just riding single speeds any more
As a 30 mile a day bike commuter, I want relatively few failure points as possible in my machine since I don't want my shifters to go bonkers on me as I'm going home at 9pm in sub 40 degrees weather (I'm going to be replacing my STI shifters with barend shifters soon). If I were a city commuter, I'd probably going for a simple fixed gear or similar set up, and certainly don't want a bike that would be a magnet for thieves. As either type of commuter, this component is out of my price range.
As a road race style cyclist, my front derailer is of high enough quality that I have literally zero problems shifting from small ring to big ring or vice versa. I never have a situation where I need to shift the front gear while stationary, since any adjustment I need will be small enough to be covered by moving up or down in the cassette. Thus the "shift front gear while stationary" benefit is a moot point for me. As for weight, the Shimano Dura Ace components that you'd go up against don't add up to 1kg when looking at crankset + BB cup + front derailer [2], so I don't really see a weight advantage either.
If I'm on a tour, there is no way I want a complex gear system that can break down and leave me stranded. I'm going to go for a barend or downtube shifter setup.
As a classic bike aficionado, I have negative interest in this product.
That being said, jrockway has a good point that this may come in handy for mountain biking because of the mud issue, or cyclocross for similar reasons. Maybe these segments could make sense for this product?
[1] http://www.bikeforums.net/forum.php [2] http://www.totalcycling.com/component-weights.html