Pinion impressed many people at the Eurobike trade fair in Frankfurt am Main in 2023 with the presentation of its MGU, the motor and gearbox unit for ebikes. Others were very impressed by the drive, but immediately asked for a few details that other long-established shifting systems offer. For example, fully automatic shifting. Pinion has been working on its system and can now fulfil these wishes too.
Presentation at the beginning of July
This summer, one year after its premiere, the manufacturer will once again take to the stage at Eurobike to demonstrate a comprehensive automatic gearing system. This will complete the concept of integrating the entire drive into one housing. Currently, gear changes are already carried out electronically. However, this is done with the help of a classic shift lever. The gears change within fractions of a second. If you press the shift lever for longer, the change extends over several gears. It doesn’t matter whether you are standing, pedalling, which gear the gearing is currently in or whether the whole thing is to be done under load.
TE1 shift lever for Pinion MGU
Today, there are already the semi-automatic functions of Pinion Smart.Shift available, Pre.Select and Start.Select. With Pre.Select, the system automatically selects a gear ratio that matches the riding speed measured by the system at that moment. This is primarily intended to make transitions from high to low speeds and vice versa smoother. Start.select means setting a gear with which you start from a standstill.
Cadence as the basis?
In future, Smart.Shift will give you even more riding comfort. Pinion has not yet revealed any details about the solution. However, it is highly likely that the automatic system will be based on a desired cadence specified by you. This should then be maintained in as many riding situations as possible. This requires the gearing to be responsive and the ability to change gear even under full load. With any luck, we will be able to test the system at Eurobike, which starts in a few weeks’ time, and then give you our impressions.
To the delight of all those who can already call an ebike with Pinion’s MGU their own, there is no new hardware behind the further development. According to the manufacturer, the additional functionality can be transferred to existing systems via a software update at the dealer – free of charge. Those affected will just have to be a little patient. Without being more specific, Pinion refers to the third quarter of 2024 as the period in which the upgrade should be available.
The Flyer Goroc TR:X is one of the models on which the extended Smart.Shift can be retrofitted.
Pictures: Pinion GmbH