Weissach, the valhalla of the German car freak. The giant Porsche site stretches between the woods and fields near Stuttgart. Tightly guarded buildings for production, research and development, a fast car track for test drives and even a Porsche museum. In the high-tech departments, the world’s finest engineers tinker with the fastest cars.
Among them: Christoph Lerman and Michael Schmitz. Two young talented engineers designing gearboxes for the expensive sports cars. Always better, more powerful and more durable. Not only are both colleagues passionate about their work, they are also both avid mountain bikers, about which they can not remain silent in the afternoon in the canteen.
What would it give, they imagine in 2006, if we converted the gear device of a Porsche to the size of our bike?
As reliable, as precise and as intuitive as in a sports car? Their idea becomes an obsession, they join forces and take up the challenge together.
Five years of development, numerous prototypes and long hours on the test bench will produce an impressive result in 2010. They get the weight of the gear from originally 23 kilos to less than 4 kilos, so it fits perfectly on their bike. And look: their first gearbox, the Pinion P1.18, is a fact!
A genius prompting
With eighteen gears, the Pinion P1.18 is ideal for cycling holidays, no matter how relax or adventurous. The genius of the new system is that the gearbox is completed in the stair shaft. And not in the rear wheel like an acceleration second, for example from Rohloff. The advantage of placing more at the front of the bike is that you can pedal much lighter and heavier than with a gear seam. After all, the full pedaling force is directly absorbed and converted into movement.
It’s best to compare the gear with that of a car.
There is a series of gears on several axles that you can put in the right position with the vitesse poker. The same with a Pinion bike, only the poker there has been replaced by a turning lever on the handlebars. The device itself is of course also a lot smaller. So small even and discreetly hidden in the stair shaft that most people don’t even see it. They’d almost think you’re riding an e-bike!
The stair shaft is part of the Pinion, and the Pinion is part of the frame. If you want a Pinion in your bike, the bike builder has to provide a special frame for that. Such a new system therefore represents a substantial investment for bicycle manufacturers. It takes a relatively long time for the Pinion gearbox to enter the market more widely.
More than 100 manufacturers
But slowly but surely the Pinion has become a reference. It’s not just the bike manufacturers who believe in it and are building custom bikes. Pinion itself continues to develop. For example, new models are coming out for touring and trekking bikes, but also for mountain bikes, city bikes and e-bikes. Everything gets the ‘P-line’ quality label along with the ‘P’ of Premium.
In 2017 Pinion will step up a notch with a second product line, the C-Line. From now on, the gearbox can also be used in modern bicycles in the upper middle class. This range of gearboxes is even more powerful than its predecessor, and slightly lighter.
It is therefore logical that every bicycle manufacturer who takes his job a little seriously, likes to work with Pinion. Eight years after the introduction of the very first model, more than 100 bicycle manufacturers have already opted for pinion’s durability. Regardless of whether the bikes have a motorcycle or not.
And the bike shops are only too happy to offer such bicycles. So did Cycling Jurgen. If we build dé perfect bike for you, the choice and placement of the gear is crucial. We are therefore fans of the Pinion.
And you, have you ever driven a Pinion? Come and test it yourself and find out the difference!